Question

Salaam Alaykum Sheikh, There is a hadith which states: The Prophet said: "There is one hour on Friday in which a Muslim does not ask Allah for anything but He gives it to him." (Reported by Muslim.) Long time ago when I was a child my father told me about this and further said that one has to repeatedly ask ALLAH (سبحانه و تعالى) and supplicate him without wasting a single minute or second. Is that true? If we supplicate after asr prayer and then rest will that particular time be elapsed? I want to know how can we continuously supplicate because we might sleep or get tired between asr and maghrib? Moreveor, My father said he should keep on asking patiently like "O ALLAH give me such and such" "O ALLAH give me such and such" without wasting any single duration (between asr and maghrib) and if you got that time, you will get it. I asked even treasure or bag full of money and he replied in affirmative as it will suddenly appear before us. Is that true? LAsting can you guide us for what is the best way to supplicate so that we receive it suddenly before us like a bag full of diamonds and so on? Jazaak ALLAHu Khair.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

The mentioned Hadeeth is Saheeh (sound) and it was reported by Al-Bukhari and Muslim . There is no doubt that repeating the supplication and persisting in it is permissible; however, it is not a condition for the supplication to be answered that the supplicator says it repeatedly and continuously; rather, what is meant is that the supplicator supplicates during the hour (opportune time) in which the supplication is answered. Therefore, whoever supplicates during this hour, his supplication is answered even if he stops during his supplication and then supplicates again.

It could be that your father ordered you not to waste a moment in other than supplicating because he is keen that you would coincide with that hour (when you supplicate) and not because saying the supplication continuously is a condition for it to be answered. Hence, whoever endeavors to coincide with that hour (when supplicating), it is most likely that he will catch it, Allah Says (what means): {And those who strive for Us - We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good.}[Quran 29:69]

However, it should be mentioned that the fact that this hour is in the time that you mentioned in the question [between ‘Asr and Maghrib] is the preponderant opinion according to many scholars but not a conclusive opinion.

Therefore, you should be keen on coinciding with this hour and if you feel tired or asleep, you should not overburden yourself as the Prophet said: “If one of you feels sleepy while he is performing the prayer, let him lie down till his sleepiness goes away because when one of you prays while he feels sleepy, he does not know whether he seeks forgiveness or abuses himself.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

As regards the acceptance of the prayer and whether or not Allah would give you what you wanted, then the answer is that Allah promised to answer the supplication of the one who supplicates Him, as Allah Says (what means): {And your Lord says, Call upon Me; I will respond to you.”}[Quran 40:60] So, if one supplicates Allah, the answer will be one of the three following things: either Allah gives the supplicator the very thing that he asked for, or that He saves its reward for him in the Hereafter, or that He repels harm from him which he does not know about and this will be instead of what he asked for. The evidence for this is the saying of the Prophet : “There is no Muslim who supplicates Allah with a supplication that does not contain any sin or cutting off kin relations except that Allah will give him one of three things: either He will speedily answer his supplication or that He will save it for him until the Hereafter or that He will repel something bad from him equal to the value of his supplication. The companions said: “So, we will supplicate a lot.” Thereupon, the Prophet said: “Allah will accept even more.” [Ahmad]

Nonetheless, it appears to us that Allah's answering the supplication of the supplicator who coincides with that hour will be by giving him the very thing that he asked for; as the Prophet said: “…and he asks some good from Allah except that Allah will definitely meet his demand.”

On the other hand, it is permissible for you to ask for worldly matters as the Prophet used to seek refuge in Allah from poverty, humiliation, sin and loss, and from being overwhelmed by debts and from being empowered by men; all this is confirmed in the Ahaadeeth. But you should reserve the biggest share (of the supplication) for the Hereafter, and your concern should not be about bags of money and treasures; as Allah dispraised the one who only supplicates Him about his worldly matters while being neglectful about his Hereafter; Allah Says (what means): {And among the people is he who says, ‘Our Lord, give us in this world,’ and he will have in the Hereafter no share.}[Quran 2:200] Ibn Katheer said: “This dispraise includes repelling people from imitating such a person. Sa’eed Ibn Jubayr, narrated from Ibn ‘Abbaas, may Allah be pleased with him, that he said: “Some Bedouins used to come to the standing area (Arafah) and supplicate saying “O, Allah, make it a rainy year, a fertile year and a year of good child bearing.”, and they would not mention any of the affairs of the Hereafter.” So, Allah revealed about them (what means): {And among the people is he who says, ‘Our Lord, give us in this world,’ and he will have in the Hereafter no share}. The believers who come after them used to say {‘Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.’}[Quran 2:201] Thereupon, Allah revealed (what means): {Those will have a share of what they have earned, and Allah is swift in account.}[Quran 2:202] It is for this reason that Allah praised those who ask Him for the affairs of both this life and the Hereafter, as Allah Says (what means): {But among them is he who says, ‘Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.’}[Quran 2:201]

Finally, the best manner for a person to supplicate is to choose the best time where the supplication is most likely to be answered: he should face the Qiblah while being in a state of purity and he should raise his hands and supplicate with an attentive and submissive heart and he should choose the supplications that are mentioned in the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Prophet as these are the most blessed supplications.

 Allah Knows best.

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb