and dignity.
– mutaḍarriʿan (imploring): tadarruʿ and tadhallul mean to beg earnestly, to intensify one’s plea and longing, openly displaying helplessness. Hence they belong to the various modes of remembrance and supplication. mutawāḍiʿan, and the rest … all of these expressions appear as active participles and are in the accusative because they function as circumstantial qualifiers (ḥāl).
Lessons derived from the ḥadith
1 – The purpose of istisqāʾ is to stand before Allah in supplication and humble entreaty, showing brokenness, weakness, poverty and absolute need of Him. For that reason one goes out for it in bodily humility, with reverence in the heart, the tongue engaged in supplication, and with humble dress and appearance. Such a state is closer to having one’s prayer answered and one’s plea accepted, and this was how the Prophet ﷺ used to go out, so that he might be a model for his community.
2 – The well-known authentic ḥadiths establish the legitimacy of the prayer for rain (ṣalāt al-istisqāʾ). This is the view of the vast majority of earlier and later scholars, apart from Abū Ḥanīfah; so it is recorded in Musannaf Ibn Abī Shaybah with a sound chain. Abū Ḥanīfah (d. 150 AH) exercised his own independent reasoning, for some reports mention only supplication without a formal prayer. Nevertheless, his two companions disagreed with him and, like the majority, upheld the ḥadiths that affirm the performance of ṣalāt al-istisqāʾ.
It is prayed as two rakʿahs, like the ʿĪd prayer: its time is mid-morning, its place an open field, and it includes the extra takbīrs in both the prayer and the sermon. The sermon, however, is a single one, and it is filled with abundant supplication and asking forgiveness.
3 – The narrator’s statement, “He did not preach a sermon like the one he delivers today,” indicates that the Prophet ﷺ did in fact give a sermon, but one that differed in subject matter from the sermon the narrator had just heard. Therefore, it is preferable to restrict the sermon to the theme the Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to address, as it is more suited to the occasion. In the wording recorded by Abū Dāwūd: “Rather, he remained engaged in supplication …”