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The answer to this question will be given in three parts. The
first deals with supplicating (dua) after obligatory (fard)
prayers, the second looks at raising the hands whilst supplicating
and the third part discusses the issue of supplicating
collectively (in Jama’ah).
As far as the first issue is concerned, which is to
supplicate after the Fard prayers, it is an established fact that
to supplicate and make Dua after the various Fard prayers is an
act of Sunnah. This was the practise of the blessed Messenger of
Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace), his Companions
(Allah be pleased with them) and the pious predecessors (Allah
have mercy on them).
Some evidences in this regard:
1) Abu Umama al-Bahili (Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The
Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) was
asked as to which supplication (dua) was most quickly accepted? He
replied: “In the middle of the night and after the obligatory (fard)
prayers.” (Sunan Tirmidhi, 5/188 with a sound (hasan) chain of
transmission).
2) Mughira ibn Shu’ba (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that
the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) used
to supplicate three times after every prayer. (Recorded by Imam
al-Bukhari in his Tarikh al-Awsat)
3) Thawban (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger
of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace), after completing
his prayer, used to seek forgiveness from Allah thrice and say:
“O Allah! You are peace, from you is peace, You are exalted
through Yourself above all else, O Majesty and Beneficence.” (Sahih
Muslim, 5/89)
4) Mughira ibn Shu’ba (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that
the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace),
used to say after completing his prayer: “There is no god but
Allah, alone without partner. His is the dominion, His is the
praise, and He has power over all things. O Allah, none can
withhold what You bestow, none can bestow what You withhold, and
the fortune of the fortune avails nothing against You.” (Sahih
al-Bukhari, 11/133 & Sahih Muslim, 5/90)
5) Muadh ibn Jabal (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the
Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said to
him: “I advise you O Muadh that you don’t leave the following
words after every prayer: “O Allah, assist me in remembering
you, showing gratitude to you and worshipping you in a good
manner.” (Sunan Abu Dawud, 2/115 & Sunan Nasa’i, 3/53)
The above are just some of the narrations that encourage
supplicating to Allah after prayers, both obligatory and optional.
There are many other such narrations which I have refrained from
mentioning, as not to prolong this article.
Raising the hands whilst supplicating
Raising the hands whilst supplicating is also a Sunnah of our
beloved Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace).
There are general narrations that indicate that the hands should
be raised whilst supplicating, and then there are narrations that
specifically relate to raising the hands whilst supplicating after
prayers.
Some general narrations:
1) Ali ibn Abi Talib (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the
Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said:
“Raising the hands (whilst supplicating) is from the humbleness,
regarding which Allah Most High said: “We inflicted punishment
on them, but they humbled not themselves to their lord, nor do
they submissively entreat.” (Sunan al-Bayhaqi & Mustadrak
al-Hakim)
2) Salman (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger
of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said: “Verily
Allah is inhibited and too beneficent that when an individual
raises his hands, He rejects them empty and deprived.” (Sunan
Abu Dawud, 2/1105 & Sunan Tirmidhi, 5/217)
3) Malik ibn Yasar (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the
Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said:
“When you ask Allah, ask Him with the palm of your hands, and
don’t ask Him with the back of the hands.” (Sunan Abu Dawud,
2/104, & Musnad Ahmad with a authentic (sahih) chain of
transmission)
4) Umar ibn al-Khattab (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that
the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace),
when he used to raise his hands in supplication, he did not place
then down until he wiped his face with them.” (Sunan Tirmizi,
5/131)
Narrations specific to raising the hands whilst supplicating
after prayer:
1) Anas ibn Malik (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the
Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said:
“There is not a servant of Allah who raises his hands after
prayer, then says: O Allah, my Lord, Lord of Ibrahim, Lord of
Ishaq, Lord of Ya’qub, Lord of Jibril, Lord of Mika’il, Lord
of Israfil, I ask You that answer my prayer………….except
that Allah takes it upon himself not to reject his (raising) of
hands empty.” (Recorded by Ibn Sunni in his Amal al-Yawm wa al-Layla,
P. 38)
2) Abdullah ibn Zubayr (Allah be pleased with him) saw a person
raising his hands and supplicating before he completed his prayer.
When he ended his prayer, he said to him: “The Messenger of
Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) never used to raise
his hands until after completing his prayer.” (Recorded by
Tabrani in his al-Mu’jam, and authenticated by al-Haythami in
Majma’ al-Zawaid)
3) Abu Huraira (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the
Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) raised
his hands after making salam, and then whilst facing in the
direction of the Qiblah, he said: “O Allah, …. liberate the
weak Muslims from the hands of the non-believers.” (Recorded by
Ibn Abi Hatim & Imam Ibn Kathir in his Tafsir)
4) Abu Wada’ah (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the
Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him peace) said:
“The (optional) prayer of the night should be performed in sets
of two Rak’ats, meaning you recite the Tashahhud after every two
Rak’ah, express devotion and humility in your supplication,
raise your hands and say: “O Allah, forgive me”. Whosoever
fails to do so, his prayer will be incomplete.” (Sunan Abu Dawud,
2/40 & Sunan Ibn Majah, 1/419)
There are many narrations that relate to the raising of hands
whilst supplicating, both general and specifically after prayers.
The great Jurist, Hadith expert and scholar, Imam al-Suyuti (Allah
have mercy on him) mentions in his Tadrib al-Rawi that there are
approximately 100 narrations with regards to raising the hands
whilst supplicating, even though they concern separate incidents,
thus reaching the level of certainty (Tawatur bi al-Ma’na).
(See: Tadrib al-Rawi, P. 461)
Supplicating collectively
Supplicating collectively is also not foreign to the Qur’an and
Sunnah. There are many proofs for the collective dua in the
Qur’an and Sunnah, both inside and outside Salat.
1) Allah Most High said to Sayyiduna Musa and Sayyiduna Harun
(peace be upon both of them):
“Accepted is your prayer (O Musa and Harun)!” (Surah Yunus,
89)
The reports from the Companions and Salaf concur that the modality
of this supplication was that Musa (upon him be peace) supplicated
while Harun (upon him be peace) said Amîn, as narrated by the
Imams of Tafsir from Ibn Abbas, Abu Huraira, Abu al-Aliya, Abu
Salih, Ikrima, Muhammad ibn Ka’b al-Qurazi, Rabi` ibn Anas and
others. (See the Tafsirs Ibn Kathir (2/656) and al-Suyuti's al-Durr
al-Manthur (3/315).
2) Habib ibn Maslama al-Fihri (Allah be pleased with him) narrates
that I heard the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give
him peace) say: “No group of believers assemble, one of them
supplicating while others saying Amîn, except that Allah answers
their prayer.” (Recorded by Tabrani in al-Mu’jum al-Kabir,
4/26 & Hakim in his al-Mustadrak, 3/347 and he classed it as
authentic (sahih)
3) Anas ibn Malik (Allah be pleased with him) narrates that a
villager came to the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him &
give him peace) on Friday and said: “O Messenger of Allah! The
livestock are dying, the dependents are dying, and the people are
dying! Whereupon the Messenger of Allah rose his hands in
supplication and the people raised their hands in supplication
with the Messenger of Allah…..” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of
supplications).
4) Abu Shaddad narrates while Ubada ibn al-Samit was present and
confirmed him (Allah be pleased with them both): “We were in the
house of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him & give him
peace) when he said: “Is there any stranger amongst you?” He
meant one from the People of the Book. We said, “No, O Messenger
of Allah”. He ordered for the door to be shut and said: “Raise
your hands and say Lâ ilâha illAllâh. We raised our hands for a
while. Then he said: “O Allah! Truly You have sent me with this
phrase and promised me Paradise for it. Truly, You do not break
the trust”. Then he said: “Be glad, for Allah has forgiven
you.” (Recorded by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad, 4/124, Tabrani in
Mu’jam al-Kabir & classed by Haifidh al-Munziri to be sound
(hasan).
The above and other narrations are clear proof on the fact that to
supplicate collectively is not against the Sunnah or an innovation
(bid’a). This relates to supplicating inside or outside prayer.
In light of the above, it becomes clear that to supplicate
collectively after prayers is not an innovation rather something
that has been proven from the Sunnah. There are evidences that one
should supplicate immediately after obligatory prayers, and that
raising one’s hands whilst supplicating is also a Sunnah, and
finally collective supplication is also established in the Sunnah.
Now, keeping these three types of evidences in mind, if one was to
supplicate with the Imam and the other followers, then there is
nothing wrong in doing so. We don’t need an explicit Hadith that
says, to supplicate after Salat, whilst raising your hands and in
congregation is Sunnah, rather, combining the three types of
evidences are sufficient to prove its authenticity.
For example, The Imam supplicates after obligatory prayers because
this has been clearly mentioned in the Sunnah, with raising his
hands, as that has also been established by the Sunnah, and the
followers joined him, as supplicating collectively has also been
proven in the Sunnah, then I don’t see where the problem lies.
Moreover, if all the worshippers supplicate simultaneously after
Fard prayers, then automatically there will be collective
supplication.
Having said that, it must be remarked here that the status of
collective supplication after obligatory prayers is Mustahab or
Sunnah. Many individuals seem to believe that the supplication is
an integral part of Salat, thus the one who does not supplicate is
doing something which is wrong.
This belief must be avoided, as to supplicate after a prayer is
not obligatory. If an individual does not supplicate, then he
should not be rebuked or looked down upon. People must be left
free to do what they want. For this reason, some of the scholars
have stated that it would be better if the supplication was left
out once in a while so that the concept on ‘necessity’ is
removed from the minds of people.
This supplication can be carried out loudly or silently. However,
it is preferable to supplicate silently, as Allah Most High says:
“Call on your lord with humility and in private.” (al-A’raf,
55)
In it stated in the Hanafi reference book, al-Bazzaziyya:
“If the Imam supplicated loudly with the followers, then there
is nothing wrong in doing so, so that people learn the Qur’anic
and Prophetic supplications. When they learn them, then
supplicating loudly would be wrong.” (al-Bazzaziyya)
In conclusion, there is nothing wrong in supplicating and making
Dua collectively after Fard prayers. However, one should not
regard it as necessary or in any way part of Salat.
And Allah knows best
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