Chapter: What to Say When One Fears People—or Anyone Else

981 – Abu Musa al-Ash‘ari (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that whenever the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was afraid of a people, he would say, “O Allah, we place You before them and we seek refuge in You from their evils.” Narrated by Abu Dawud and al-Nasa’i with an authentic chain.

Explanation

The author, al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him), states in his book Riyad al-Salihin: “Chapter on the Supplication of the Traveler.” A traveler is a person who has left his homeland and remains a traveler until he returns to it. The traveler’s supplication is most often the plea of someone in need, and when a person is in need and calls upon his Lord, his prayer is close to being answered, for Allah responds to the supplication of the distressed and the needy more readily than to that of others. He then cited the hadith: “Three supplications are assuredly answered without doubt: the supplication of the oppressed, the supplication of the traveler, and the supplication of the parent.”

As for the supplication of the oppressed, it means that if someone wrongs you, taking your wealth or anything else