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Child asking parents to supplicate Allah for him

Question

If I ask someone to supplicate for me, like my parents, does that mean that I miss the chance of being among the 70,000 who will enter paradise without judgement? If so, then if I did ask people to supplicate for me, do I still have a chance of being among the 70,000?

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, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

We could not find any statements of the scholars indicating that when someone asks others to supplicate Allah in his favor, this disqualifies him from being among the seventy thousand who shall enter Paradise without prior reckoning or punishment. ‘Ukkaashah ibn Mihsan, may Allah be pleased with him, asked the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, to supplicate Allah to make him one of them, and he, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, told him that he was one of them.

The Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "Seventy thousand of my nation will enter Paradise without reckoning." The Companions said, "Who are they, O Messenger of Allah?" He answered, "They are those who do not seek cauterization or Ruqyah (Quranic healing) and they put their trust in their Lord (i.e. they prefer being patient at trials and tests to seeking treatment)." On that, ‘Ukkaashah got up and said, "Supplicate Allah to make me one of them." He, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "You are one of them." Then another man got up and said, "Supplicate Allah to make me one of them." He, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, "‘Ukkaashah has beat you to it!"

If asking others to supplicate for you disqualifies you from being included in this category of Muslims, ‘Ukkaashah ibn Mihsan would have been disqualified. In fact, there is no harm in asking one's parents to supplicate Allah in one's favor; the parents' supplication for their child is answered. There is no harm in asking anyone in general to supplicate Allah in one's favor as long as his intention is that the person he asked benefits of it (by earning reward from Allah).

Shaykhul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah  may  Allaah  have  mercy  upon  him wrote:

"Whoever said to another, 'Supplicate Allah for me or for us,' and his intention is to benefit that person and to benefit himself as well, and that person does what he was commanded to do – just as he (may) command him to do any other good deed – then he (the one asking another to supplicate for him) is following the example of the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. However, if his intention is only to ask for his need without intending to benefit the one he commands (by making him earn reward for performing worship through supplication), then he is not following the example of the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. Rather, this is considered a less preferred request. It is more preferred in this case to aspire for the rewards of Allah, the Exalted, and (following his) Messenger than to aspire to people and to ask them. All this falls under the category of the permissible and prescribed request for the living people to supplicate Allah in one's favor."

Please refer to fatwa 9468.

Allah knows best.

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