No Transgression in Your Supplications

23-6-2019 | IslamWeb

Question:

Asalamo aleikoum wa rahmutalhi. I want to ask if these two duas come under the اعتداء that is forbidden:
1-asking Allah to allow me to sleep less hours because Im a student of knowledge and I would like to sleep about 5-6 hours instead of 8 hours.
2-Asking Allah not to let the tip of my nose drop with the pass of the time as mi tip is already drop.
Thanks

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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 transgression in supplication that is forbidden in the Saying of Allah (which means): {Call upon your Lord in humility and privately; indeed, He does not like transgressors..} [Quran 7:55]; is due to two matters as Ibn Taymiyyah said:

“Transgression in supplication is sometimes for a person to ask for what he is not permitted to ask of help to do what is forbidden, and sometimes he asks what Allah does not do, like to ask to make him live until the Day of Resurrection.” [End of quote]

The first supplication that you have mentioned does not appear to be a forbidden supplication, or what Allah does not usually do. Indeed, some Taabi’oon supplicated with what is similar to this supplication.

For instance, Ibrahim an-Nakha'i narrated that Hammam ibn al-Harith used to supplicate: “O Allah heal me from (long) sleep except a little [i.e. that he considered sleeping more than necessary or for a long time as a disease – that’s why he said ‘heal me’] and bless me with wakefulness in your obedience.” He said: “He only slept a little while sitting down.” This was reported by ath-Thahabi in as-Siyyar.

Also, there is no transgression in your second supplication.

Finally, it is more appropriate for a Muslim in any case to supplicate with general supplications for the goodness of this World and the Hereafter. The best of which is what is confirmed in the revelation from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of the Prophet .

‘Aa’ishah said: “The Prophet liked comprehensive supplications (i.e. supplications with very few words but comprehensive in meanings), and abandoned other kinds of supplications.” [Abu Daawood and Ibn Habbaan and al-Haakim classified it as Saheeh (authentic)]

For more benefit on transgression in supplication, please refer to Fataawa 354910, 370420, 343522, and 31019.

Allah knows best.