Authentic Supplications of the Prophet

Introduction

All praise is to Allah, we praise Him, seek His aid, and ask His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of ourselves, and from the bad consequences of our deeds. Whoever Allah guides there is none to take astray, and whoever Allah takes astray there is none to guide. I testify that there is no 'iläh except Allah alone without any associates, and I testify that Muhammad is His bondservant and messenger.

As for what follows,

This, my dear brother, or sister in Islam, is a book put together with the English speaking Muslim in Mind. Its main advantages are that

1. it includes only authentic traditions of the Prophet ;
2. it includes a reference section which tells who reported each hadeeth in this book;
3. serious effort was exerted in order to maintain the conciseness and sentence structure of most of the supplications;
4. it includes English Transliteration of the supplications which is based on a defined system of transliteration;
5. it includes the Arabic text, with nearly complete placement of diacritic marks, for the convenience of those brothers and sisters who do not like to read transliteration; and
6. the organization of the book is such that the English hadeeth, the Arabic supplication, in both English and Arabic letters, and the English meaning of that supplication are all easily referenced on the same, or immediately following page.

This book is was initially based on Ibn Taymiya's The Good Sayings. From Ibn Taymiyas book, however, it only includes those ahadeeth that Al-Albani included in the 8th edition of his The Authentic of The Good Sayings. It was furthermore supplemented with authentic supplications from Shaikh 'Al-`Adawee's book: As-Saheeh 'Al-Musnadu min 'Athkari Al-Yawmi wal-Laylati which is perhaps one of the best books of supplication. It includes the full chain of narration for each hadeeth, extended referencing, and it only includes authentic supplications.

Two of the supplications, #113, and #168, in The Authentic of The Good Sayings have been left out of this book. Number 113 was substituted with a more reliable wording which is #162 in this book. Number 168 was about making the call to prayer in the right ear of a newly born. Upon further examination 'Al-'Albani has found that it is weak, and that it is not permitted to act upon it. This I heard him say in an audio tape, where he mentions that when he was finally able to get hold of Al-Bayhaqi's Shu'ab 'Al-'lman -it was previously in manuscript form only- he found that there were two people accused of Iying in the chain of narration. Previously he thought Al-Bayhaqi's report was only weak, and not very weak because it was referenced as such on page 16 of Tuhfat Al-Wadood by'Ibn 'Al-Qayyim. A very weak hadeeth cannot be used as testimonial for a weak hadeeth, and therefore, the ruling on this hadeeth is that it is not authentic.

The section on the reporters of each hadeeth is based on the source of the respective hadeeth. When no reference is made as to the source of a reference, that means that it is from the body of Ibn Taymiya's The Good Sayings. Any reference to 'Al-'Albani, unless otherwise mentioned, is obtained from his commentary upon Ibn Taymiya's book. All references to 'Al-'Adawee are from his As-Saheeh Al-Musnad min 'Athkari Al-Yawmi wal-Laylati.

We ask Allah, Glory and Exaltation be to Him, that He accept of us our effort, and that it be sincere to Him.

Some Hadeeth Terms:

Sound on its own account (saheeh li-dthaatih)

A hadeeth reported by a person that is juste, and is known to have precise recollection. The hadeeth must have a connected chain, and it must be free from deviance and without slanderous faults.

Sound due to others (saheeh li-ghayrih)

Ahadeeth with more than one channel, each comely on its own account. These chains,taken together, raise the hadeeth to the level of sound due to others.

Comely on its own account (hasan li-dthaatih)

A hadeeth reported by a person that is just, but known to have a light recollection. The hadeeth must have a connected chain, and it must be free from deviance and slanderous faults. Therefore, the only difference between the comely, and the sound on its own account is that the latter requires precise recollection.

Comely-sound (hasan saheeh)

To say that a hadeeth is comely-sound can mean one of two things; a) there is more than one chain of narration where one is comely, and the other is sound and b) the hadeeth scholar was hesitant in deciding if the hadeeth was comely or sound, and therefore said that it was comely-sound.

Quality of being just ('adaalat)

To be upright and straightforward in religion, and in manliness. People can be know to have this quality by abundance like the famous Imam's: Al-Bukhari, Malik, 'Ahmad , 'Abu Haneefah, and so on; and by assertion of those that are of that category.

Upright Manliness

That he does what people consider to be praiseworthy, by way of etiquette, and behavior; and that he does not do those things which are considered by people to be blameworthy.

Uprightness in Religion

Carries out the obligations, and avoids acts of disobedience implying corruption.

Precise Recollection

That he delivers what he has heard or seen as he saw, or heard it, without any addition or subtraction. Minor mistakes, however, do not count against him because no one is beyond making them. The precision of recollection is established by matching his reports against those of the known and trustworthy hadeeth reporters. It can also be established when a person is recommended by another whose say is reliable in that respect.

Deviance (shudthoodth)

A report is said to be deviant when it contradicts the report of a narrator believed to be more trustworthy than its narrator.

Slanderous Faults ('il-lah qaadehat)

Upon examination of a hadeeth certain slanderous faults may be discovered. For example, finding out that the narrator is corrupt, has a bad memory, or is an innovator whose innovation is being served by such a hadeeth. A hadeeth is not judged to be authentic if it is not free of slanderous faults.