417 – Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: “A man entered the mosque on a Friday while the Prophet ﷺ was standing and delivering the sermon. The man said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, our livestock have perished and the routes are cut off, so pray to Allah to grant us rain.’ The Prophet raised his hands and then said, ‘O Allah, send us rain! O Allah, send us rain! …’ The narrator went on to relate the rest of the ḥadith, which also includes the supplication for the rain to cease once it became excessive. Agreed upon (1).

Vocabulary of the ḥadith
– “a man”: al-Ḥāfiẓ Ibn Ḥajar states in Fatḥ al-Bārī that he did not discover the man’s name.
– “while he was delivering the sermon”: a verbal clause functioning as a circumstantial qualifier.
– “wealth” (al-amwāl): here it refers to livestock, as indicated in some versions; their “perishing” means they lacked fodder because the rain had been withheld.
– “the routes are cut off”: as-subul (routes, roads), plural of sabīl; they were blocked because of the drought—animals found no forage along the way, so travel came to a halt.
– “yughīthunā” (“to grant us rain”): with the yāʾ pronounced with ḍamma (u-sound), derived from aghātha – yughīthu – ighāthah (form IV). Lexicographers usually employ the form ghātha – yaghīthu when speaking of rain: “Allah caused the people and the land to be rained upon,” using the fatḥah (a-sound) on the yāʾ; the sense is that of bestowing assistance, not merely requesting rain.
– “yughīthunā”: the verb appears in the indicative mood; the more eloquent recitation would have it in the jussive, for it is an answer to a request.
– “Allahumma aghithnā” (“O Allah, send us rain”): one may say aghāthahu – yughīthuhu or ghāthahu – yaghūthuhu (ghawthan). Al-Farrāʾ remarked that the nouns ghayth and ghawth are close in meaning.