and our wealth has been swept away, so implore Allah to hold it back for us.” The Prophet ﷺ smiled, then raised his hands and said, “O Allah, let it fall around us, not upon us. O Allah, send it upon the mountain crests, the hillocks and ridges,⦗1⦘ the valley beds, and the places where trees grow.” He scarcely pointed with his hand to any patch of cloud before it opened up like a cavity⦗2⦘. In another narration: “I saw the clouds split all around Madinah, to the right and to the left, like a circlet.” In yet another: “The clouds withdrew from the city the way a garment is drawn aside,”⦗3⦘ so that it rained all around us while not a drop fell within it. We even went out walking in bright sunshine—Allah showing them the honor of His Prophet ﷺ and the acceptance of his supplication. The valley of Qanah ran with water for a whole month, and no one arrived from any direction without speaking of the copious rain⦗4⦘.

Anas ibn Malik⦗5⦘ also reported that whenever drought struck, ʿUmar ibn al-Khattab would seek rain through al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, saying, “O Allah, we used to seek Your favor through our Prophet ﷺ and You would bless us with rain; now we seek Your favor through the uncle of our Prophet, so bless us with rain.” And they would be given rain.