Book of Supplications
Chapter: The Merit of Supplication

Allah the Exalted says, “And your Lord has said, ‘Call upon Me and I will respond to you.’” He also says, “Call upon your Lord with humility and privately; truly, He does not love the transgressors.” And He says, “When My servants ask you about Me, I am indeed near; I answer the call of the caller whenever he calls upon Me.” He likewise says, “Is He not the One who responds to the desperate person when he calls upon Him and who removes harm?”

[Commentary]

The author—may Allah have mercy on him—opens his compilation Riyad al-Salihin with the Book of Supplications. The word adʿiyah is the plural of daʿwah, meaning a servant’s plea to his Lord: he repeats, “My Lord, my Lord,” and the like, asking Allah to grant him what he seeks and to remove from him what he dreads. He then entitles this chapter “The Command to Supplicate and Its Virtue,” citing the verse, “Call upon Me, I will respond to you.” This is a declaration from Allah, the Mighty and Majestic