Chapter on Supplication
Introduction
The term duʿāʾ—with a lengthened alif—is defined in al-Miṣbāḥ as follows: “daʿawtu Allāha adʿūhu duʿāʾan: I turned to Allah in entreaty, imploring Him and yearning for the good that is with Him.”
Supplication is of two kinds:
- The supplication of petition (duʿāʾ masʾalah).
- The supplication of worship (duʿāʾ ʿibādah).
What concerns us here is the first type.
Ibn al-Qayyim says in al-Jawāb al-Kāfī:
“Supplication is among the strongest means of repelling harm and obtaining what is desired. It is the foe of calamity: it confronts it, treats it, prevents it from descending, removes it after it has descended, or at the very least lightens it once it has taken place. It is the weapon of the believer.
When supplication is joined to full attentiveness of heart, the heart being wholly focused on what is sought; when it coincides with one of the accepted times; when a state of humility prevails within the heart, brokenness before the Lord, submissiveness to Him, earnest imploring and tenderness; when the supplicant faces the qiblah, is in a state of ritual purity, raises his hands to Allah, begins with praising and extolling Him, follows that with blessings upon Muhammad, His servant and Messenger ﷺ; then sets before his plea both hope and fear, seeks nearness to Allah through His Names, His Attributes, and His affirmation of divine oneness, and precedes his supplication with charity—such a supplication is scarcely ever rejected.”