104 — Categories of Supplication According to the Person for Whom It Is Made

The discussion continues concerning the virtue of a Muslim supplicating for his fellow Muslims. This is one of the implications of the Islamic brotherhood that unites them and the bond of religion that binds them together. Allah Most High says, “The believing men and believing women are allies of one another”1, and He says, “The believers are but brothers.”2 There is no doubt that this brotherhood requires every Muslim to pray for Muslims in general, asking that they be granted goodness, well-being, forgiveness, mercy, and the like. A Muslim loves for his brothers the good that he loves for himself, as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself.”3 We have already encountered a number of proofs demonstrating the virtue of supplicating for others and the immense reward, recompense, and goodness that result from it.

It should also be known in this regard that every supplication a Muslim makes falls into one of four categories, according to the person for whom it is made:

The first is for a Muslim to supplicate for himself for whatever good he wishes in this world and the Hereafter. He may say, for example, “O Allah, I ask You for guidance and rectitude”; “O Allah, I ask You for guidance, piety, chastity, and self-sufficiency”; or “O Allah, forgive my sin,” and other similar supplications. He uses the singular form when making them, even when he is the imam in