for one who is absent."

Thus, when a person prays for someone else, both the supplicant and the one prayed for benefit—even if the former is of lower rank than the latter. A believer’s supplication for his brother brings profit to them both. So if someone says to another, “Pray for me,” intending that they should both share in the benefit, the two of them are cooperating in righteousness and piety: the petitioner has alerted the one asked and guided him to something that will avail them, and the one asked has carried out what will help them. It resembles a case in which a man enjoins another to perform an act of righteousness; the one commanded is rewarded for doing it, and the one who gave the command receives a reward equal to his because he called him to it. This holds true all the more when the supplication itself is one the servant has been commanded to make. Allah says: “And seek forgiveness for your sin and for the believing men and believing women” (Q 47:19). He instructed him to seek forgiveness, and He also says: “If, when they wronged themselves, they had come to you, begged Allah’s forgiveness, and the Messenger had begged forgiveness for them, they would have found Allah ever-relenting, merciful” (Q 4:64).

Here the Almighty mentions their seeking forgiveness and the Messenger’s seeking forgiveness for them—something the Messenger was ordered to do when he was told to ask forgiveness for the believing men and believing women. Never has Allah commanded any created being to ask another created being for something that Allah did not command the latter to perform. Rather, whatever Allah makes obligatory or recommended for a servant is itself an act of worship, obedience, and a means of drawing near to Him.