For nearly one year, I have been offering du‘aa’ (supplication) to Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, by sending blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) only. In other words, I made all my du‘aa’s sending blessings and peace upon the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), apart from the regular dhikrs and du‘aa’s such as the adkhaar of the morning and afternoon, qunoot al-witr and others, in which I recite what was narrated from the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him.

I started to do this after I heard a commentary on a hadith which says that when one quarter of the night had passed, the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) stood up and said: “O people, remember Allah, O people, remember Allah, for the first Trumpet blast at which the earth will tremble has come, and it will be followed by the second Trumpet blast; the first Trumpet blast at which the earth will tremble has come, and it will be followed by the second Trumpet blast. Death has come, with all that it entails.” Ubayy ibn Ka‘b said: I said: O Messenger of Allah, I send a great deal of blessings upon you; how much of my du‘aa’ should be sending blessings upon you? He said: “Whatever you wish.” I said: One quarter? He said: “Whatever you wish, and if you do more, that will be better.” I said: One half? He said: “Whatever you wish and if you do more, that will be better.” I said: Two thirds? He said: “Whatever you wish and if you do more, that will be better.” I said: I will make all of my du‘aa’ for you. He said: “Then your concerns will be taken care of and your sins will be forgiven.”

Narrator: Ubayy ibn Ka‘b; Status of the hadith: hasan; Muhaddith: Ibn Hajar al-‘Asqallaani; Source: Muwaafaqat al-Khabr al-Khabr, p. 340/2, hadith no. 71475

A man said: O Messenger of Allah, should I make one third of my du‘aa’ sending blessings upon you? He said: “Yes, if you wish.” He said: Two thirds? He said: “Yes.” He said: All of my du‘aa’? The Messenger of Allah said: “Then Allah will take care of all that concerns you of the affairs of this world and the hereafter.”
Narrator: Hibbaan ibn Munqidh ibn ‘Amr al-Ansaari; Status of the hadith: Hasan because of corroborating evidence; Muhaddith: al-Albaani; Source: Saheeh at-Targheeb, 1671.

From the commentary we see that what is meant is: I will offer all my du‘aa’ for you, i.e., I will not pray for anything for myself; rather I will make all my du‘aa’ and prayer sending blessings upon the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him).

What is your opinion? May Allah reward you with good.

Praise be to Allah

This hadith was narrated by at-Tirmidhi (2457), Ahmad (20736), Ibn Abi
Shaybah in al-Musannaf (8706), ‘Abd ibn Humayd in al-Musnad
(170) and al-Bayhaqi in ash-Shu‘ab (1579): 

It
was narrated that Ubayy ibn Ka‘b (may Allah be pleased with him) said: 

I
said: O Messenger of Allah, I send a great deal of blessings upon you; how
much of my du‘aa’ should be sending blessings upon you? He said: “Whatever
you wish.” I said: One quarter? He said: “Whatever you wish, and if you do
more, that will be better for you.” I said: One half? He said: “Whatever you
wish and if you do more, that will be better for you.” I said: Two thirds?
He said: “Whatever you wish and if you do more, that will be better for
you.” I said: I will make all of my du‘aa’ for you. He said: “Then your
concerns will be taken care of and your sins will be forgiven.” 

At-Tirmidhi said: A saheeh hasan hadith. It was classed as hasan by al-Mundhiri
in at-Targheeb wa’t-Tarheeb, and by al-Haafiz in al-Fath
(11/168). In ash-Shu‘ab (2/215), al-Bayhaqi indicated that it is
qawiy. It was classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh at-Targheeb
(1670) and elsewhere. 

Mulla ‘Ali al-Qaari said:

“I
will make all of my du‘aa’ for you” i.e., I will spend the time I used to
spend offering du‘aa’ for myself in sending blessings upon you.

“Then your concerns will be taken care of” al-Abhari said: i.e., if you
spend all the time in which you offer du‘aa’ sending blessings upon me,
whatever concerns you have will be taken care of. 

At-Toorbashti said: What this hadith means is: how much should I allocate to
you of the time I spend in du‘aa’ for myself? 

“Then your concerns will be taken care of” i.e., whatever concerns you have
in your religious or worldly affairs. That is because sending blessings upon
him involves mentioning Allah and venerating His Messenger, and being
preoccupied with fulfilling his rights, thus being distracted from one’s own
aims and goals. 

End quote.


Mirqaat al-Mafaateeh Sharh Mishkaat al-Masaabeeh
(4/16-17) 

Ibn ‘Allaan al-Bakri (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

The reason why one’s concerns will be taken care of if he spends that time
sending blessings on the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)
is that it involves complying with the command of Allah, may He be exalted,
and remembering and venerating Him, and venerating His Messenger. So in fact
the worshipper does not miss out on anything by diverting his time to
sending blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him). Rather, by engaging in this great praise of the Prophet he will attain
something better than what he had been asking for himself, and in addition
to that he will attain the tenfold blessing of Allah and the prayer His
angels, in addition to what may be added to that of great reward that cannot
be matched by any other. What benefits could be greater than these? How
could a worshipper attain anything like it, let alone anything more precious
than it? How could his du‘aa’ for himself equal any of these unmatchable
virtues? 

End quote.


Daleel al-Faaliheen li Turuq Riyaadh as-Saaliheen
(5/6-7) 

Ash-Shawkaani (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

The words “Then your concerns will be taken care of and ypur sins will be
forgiven” in these two virtues is best that one could hope to attain in
theis world and the hereafter, because if Allah takes care of a person’s
concerns, he will be free from trials and troubles in this world, because
every trial inevitably causes some concern, even if it is little. And if
Allah forgives a person’s sins, he will be safe from the trials of the
hereafter, because nothing dooms a person to suffering in the hereafter
except his sins. 

End quote.


Tuhfat adh-Dhaakireen
(p. 45) 

The scholars of the Standing Committee were asked: 

The Sahaabi said to the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him): Should I make all my du‘aa’ for you?

The Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said to him: “Then
your concerns will be taken care of”… What is meant by “Should I make all my
du‘aa’ for you?”? 

They replied: 

What this hadith means is to encourage people to send a great deal of
blessings and peace upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) because of what there is in that of great reward. 

End quote.


Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah
(24/156-157) 

You should understand that the hadith does not mean that a person should not
offer du‘aa’ for himself at all, and only send blessings upon the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). This is contrary to his own
practice and his teaching of various du‘aa’s in various situations, such as
the du‘aa’s during the prayer, those that are recited morning and afternoon,
istikhaarah, and so on. 

The scholars of the Standing Committee said: 

This hadith does not mean that a person cannot call upon his Lord and ask
Him concerning all his affairs by offering du‘aa’s as prescribed in Islam,
and at the same time send a great deal of blessings upon the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). In fact he should combine both. 

End quote.


Fataawa al-Lajnah ad-Daa’imah
(24/159) 

Perhaps what is meant by the hadith is that Ubayy ibn Ka‘b had a specific
du‘aa’ that he used to recite, and he asked about replacing it with sending
blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). This
is suggested by the words of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have
mercy on him) who said:

He
had a du‘aa’ that he used to say, and if he replaced his du‘aa’ with sending
blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), Allah
would take care of all his concerns in this world and the hereafter. So
every time he sends blessings upon him once, Allah sends blessings upon him
tenfold, and if he prays for an ordinary believer, the angels say: Ameen,
and may you have the like thereof. So his du‘aa’ for the Prophet (blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him) is even more deserving of reward. End
quote. 


Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa
(1/193) 

Shaykh al-Islam also said: 

What the questioner meant is: O Messenger of Allah, I have a du‘aa’ that I
used to say, to attain good thereby and ward off evil. How much of this
du‘aa’ should be devoted to you only? He said: “Whatever you wish.” And when
he came to say: Should I make all my du‘aa’ for you? He said: “Then your
concerns will be taken care of and your sins will be forgiven.” 

According to the other report: “Then Allah will take care of your concerns
in this world and the hereafter.” 

This is the utmost that a person may ask for for himself: to attain what is
good and ward off what is harmful.

End quote


Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa
(1/349-350) 

All of this is based on the assumption that the hadith is saheeh, and we
indicated that it was classed as saheeh by some of the scholars. However the
narrator of the hadith, ‘Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Aqeel, was classed as
da‘eef by most of the leading hadith scholars, who said that his hadith
cannot be taken as evidence. Imam Ahmad even said concerning him, according
to the report of Hanbal: His hadith is munkar (odd). Ya ‘qoob al-Jawzjaani
said: Most of what he narrates is ghareeb (strange). 

See: Tahdheeb al-Kamaal (16/80ff) 

If
we assume that his hadith is hasan, as is the view of some of the scholars,
it does not seem that we should accept his hadith when he is the only one
who narrated this text. Moreover, it says in it, ‘Should I make all my du‘aa’
for you?’, which appears to be contrary to what is taught by Islam in most
of its texts and reports, which is that one should offer a lot of du‘aa’ of
all kinds, in prayer and otherwise, whether that du‘aa’ is not connected to
any time or situation, or is connected to a time or situation. Furthermore,
this also appears to be contrary to the actual practice of the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and his companions, and those who
came after them of the salaf. It is not known that any of them abandoned
offering du‘aa’, in prayer or otherwise, asking for what he needed of good
in this world and the hereafter, and was content only to send a great deal
of blessings upon the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). 

And Allah knows best.