hadith works on dua (prayer, supplication, litanies)

an ugly character named akram nadwi berated someone when asked for 'dua in the hadith'

this thread was to list well known works of dua in hadith (published and available)

 

imam dhahabi has compiled a comprehensive manual of dua and named it "mukhtasar silaH al-mu'min".

one would think that it is an abridgement of another work named "silaH al-mu'min" but it seems he named it as "concise guide" himself. some historians such as ibn hajar have said that it was an abridgement of a work by imam abu'l fat'H:

"silaH al-mu'min became famous in the lifetime of the author (i.e. abu'l fat'H) and i have seen in dhahabi's own hand that he was abridged it in the year 730 AH.

in kashf al-zunun [2/994]: silaH al-mu'min by taqiyuddin abi'l fatH muhammad ibn muhammad ibn muhammad ibn ali ibn hammam al-misri al-shafiyi (d. 745 AH) - this book became famous in his lifetime in granada...he composed it in 21 chapters; imam dhahabi, muhammad ibn ahmad (d.748 AH) abridged it. it is a beneficial book.

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mulla ali qari - ali ibn sultan al-qari [d. 1014 AH], the famous hanafi scholar and master of hadith and qir'at has written a commentary on al-HiSn al-Hasin. published in 3 volumes [1648 pages].

 

imam muhammad ibn muhammad ibn al-jazary [d. 833] the imam of qira'ah, the author of works such as: muqaddimah al-jazariyyah, al-nashr fi'l qira'at al-ashar, and many other works on tajwid and qira'at.

has compiled this work: al-HiSn al-HaSin min kalami sayyidi'l mursalin. sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam.

 

the mongol hordes laid seige to the city. unlike their forefathers, these mongols were ostensibly sunni muslims. the inhabitants of the city were besieged and a major part of the city sacked. and people were taking refuge wherever they could. a scholar at this difficult time completed his hadith work on dua and saw RasulAllah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam in his dream. the scholar asked RasulAllah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam to do dua and by the barakah of his dua, the enemy fled in 3 days.

the scholar says: i had taken refuge in an impregnable fortress. and this book was named "the formidable fortress" or al-HiSn al-HaSin.

---
imam ibn al-jazary writes in the preface:

and when i had completed the editing and reviewing of the book - the enemy sough me out - and i was not possible to repel the enemy except by Allah. i fled and hid myself and sought refuge in an impregnable fortress. and i saw [in my dream] the leader of all Messengers [sayyidu'l mursalin] sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam - and i was sitting on his left side.

[he looked at me] as if he were asking: what do you wish?

i told him: O Messenger of Allah! pray for me and for muslims.

so he raised his blessed hands and i was looking at them; and he prayed. and then wiped his noble face with those blessed hands.

this was on thursday night.

and the enemy fled on sunday night.

Allah ta'ala gave succour to me and to muslims by the munificence [barakah] of his honourable words contained in this in this book.​

in the completion of the book, imam jazary writes:

the author [shaykh shamsuddin muhammad ibn muhammad ibn muhammad al-jazary] says: may Allah's providence be upon his [the author's] desolation, and grant mercy from His Infinite Mercy:

i completed this book: "the formidable fortress from the speech of the chief of all Messengers" on sunday afternoon, the 22nd of dhi'l Hijjah of the year 791 AH [1389 CE] in the school which i established in [or by] a textile factory within the ramparts of the fortified city of damascus - may ALlah protect it from every calamity and so also [protect] every muslim dwelling.

this was when all the doors of damascus were closed - in fact, the closed doors were bolstered by rocks; and people were beseeching Allah for succour [istighatha] about the ramparts of the city; the populace was in a great difficulty due to the siege - access to water was cut off - and the hands of men were raised towards Allah invoking him arduously - the outer part of the city was burned down - and a large part of it was ransacked - every man was afraid for himself and for his family and his property - and fearful [that this misery] was due to his sins and his bad deeds - and was trying to seek refuge wherever he could...

and i took refuge in this fortress [i.e. the book] - and put my trust in Allah. He is sufficient for me and He is the best to whom one can entrust their affairs [so they are completed].​

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the genre of dua books has a few subgenres

- explanations and commentaries on Divine Names

- on the superiority of salawat upon the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam and salawat collections such as dala'il (check collection of 70 works here: https://archive.org/details/kafaa or here: https://archive.org/details/salate3lanabi/3rasael/ )

- ahZab and collections of dua in vogue among sufiya

- on the adab of dua (usually mentioned as a preface in books - but some dedicated works on the topic as well)

- on dua in certain special days and months​

and of course mawlids - because that is also dhikr. remembering the prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam. but the wahabis (and devbandis are closet wahabits) will get heart attacks at the mention of mawalid.

we can explore some of these later, but we will stick to adhkar works based on hadith.

 

from imam bayhaqi's work below:



about aafiyah (seeking safety, security, protection, asking to be safeguarded from myriad troubles and diseases and strife, etc):




allahumma inni as'aluka'l aafiyah.


----
the hadith of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam - and prayer, invocation, beseeching, asking Allah taala in the august, most beloved and most honourable words of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam is more desirable and beneficial than in the words of the entire creation put together.

and RasulAllah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam taught us a dua for every occasion. and every muslim will be eager to know and learn THAT - except a zindiq who thinks it is 'bad culture' to seek out prophetic prayers. inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un.

may Allah humiliate the zanadiqah and protect muslims from the shayatin al-ins who are minions of the shayTan al-jinn who incited the enemies of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam in dar al-nadwah.

laa Hawla wa laa quwwata illa billah.



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a short list from a list of 136 duas from the contents of imam bayhaqi's dawat

- prayers for the morning and the night

- when the sun rises
- what to say when the call of prayer is raised
- entering the toilet
- exiting the toilet
- dua at the time of wudu
- dua entering the masjid
- duas in prayer (salat)

- tasbih after prayer (salat)
- istighfar

- what to say when one leaves from a gathering
- entering marketplace
- when there is a storm gathering
- lightning and thunder and downpour


- when one cannot sleep and is disturbed in the night
- prayer to say in the prostration of recitation (sujud al-tilawah)

- when one wishes to go on a journey
- when one mounts his steed
- when one descends in a valley
- when one enters a dwelling on his way
- when one returns from journey


- when one looks in a mirror
- upon breaking a fast
- after finishing a meal
- before starting to eat

- when entering one's home
- seeking protection from fire
- when one spots the new moon
- dua on the day of jumuah
- laylatul qadr
- laylatul bara'ah
- the 10 days of dhul hijjah

- on the day of eid
- seeking rain
- during eclipses

- dua for marriage
- dua for the newly married couple
- dua before cohabiting with one's spouse
- dua for the sick
- dua for someone in trouble and misery


- dua when one sees something desirable
- dua when the dead man is placed in his grave

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imam abu bakr ahmad ibn al-Husayn al-bayhaqi (d. 458 AH)

al-da'wat al-kabir - the big book of invocations. 671 narrations; published in 2 volumes.

 

imam abu sulayman hamd al-khaTTabi al-busti (319-388 AH). look for a short bio elsewhere on this site.

sha'an al-duaa has about 143 narrations in 256 pages; and explanation of the meanings of words mentioned in various duaa.

in this book we find brief explanations of the meanings of Divine Names of Allah (which is a separate genre now - nearly a dozen or more published works on explanation of the Divine Names of Allah, in addition to the explanation from an aqidah point of view in imam al-bayhaqi's superlative: al-asmaa wa's sifat.)





topics:

 

among books in this genre that are mentioned by hadith masters but have been either lost or still remain as manuscripts are:

1. kitab al-dua by imam abu dawud - sulayman ibn al-ash'ath al-sijistani (d.275 AH), the compiler of the sunan, which is one of the six mother-books of hadith. ibn Hajar has mentioned this in tahdhib.

2. kitab al-dua by imam ibn abi'd dunya - abdullah ibn muhammad al-qurashi (d.281 AH) as mentioned by imam dhahabi in his siyar. this is a different than the available work: mujabu al-da'wah.

3. kitab al-dua by imam abu bakr ahmad ibn amr ibn DaHHak - ibn abi aaSim - (d. 285 AH). ibn Hajar has cited from this work in nata'ij al-afkar.

4. kitab al-dua by imam Hasan ibn ali ibn shabib al-ma'amari (d. 295 AH). ibn Hajar has cited from this in nata'ij; and Tabarani in his al-du'aa.

5. kitab al-dhikr by qaDi yusuf ibn ya'qub (d. 297 AH). ibn Hajar has cited in nata'ij and Tabarani has copied 77 narrations from him in his al-du'aa.

6. kitab al-dhikr by abu bakr ja'afar ibn muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-firyabi (d. 301 AH). ibn Hajar has cited in nata'ij and Tabarani has copied 10 narrations from him in his al-du'aa.

7. kitab al-dua by abu abdullah muhammad ibn futays al-andalusi - ibn futays (d. 319 AH) mentioned by dhahabi in tazkiratu'l huffaz (3/802).

8. kitab al-dua by abu abdullah husayn ibn ismayil ibn muhammad al-Dabbi al-maHamili (d. 330 AH) - a surviving part of the book is preserved in the Zahiriya library filed under "hadith, #438".


[source: preface of kitab al-dua by tabarani; researcher: dr. sayid al-bukhari]

 

imam tabarani (260-360 AH) compiled ahadith that mention dua (published in three volumes 1458 pages; includes one volume dirasah) and contains 2251 narrations.

imam abul qasim ahmad ibn sulayman al-Tabarani, author of the famous ma'ajim: al-mu'jam al-saghir, al-mu'jam al-awsat and al-mu'jam al-kabir; and musnad al-shamiyyin etc. imam dhahabi says that imam tabarani has narrated from more than a 1000 shaykhs.


Kitab al-Dua.

 

imam jalaluddin suyuti compiled a small subset of these duas gleaned from ibn al-sunni's work and ibn taymiyyah's al-kalim al-tayyib and minhaj al-sunnah. instead of narrations, the book contains only invocations (duaa).

published in about 72 pages.

 

but it is the book of imam nasayi's student ibn al-sunni which has the same name as his shaykh's work that is more famous and cited more often. in fact imam nawawi in his al-adhkar and imam ibn al-jazary in his al-Hisn al-Hasin draw from ibn al-sunni's work.

ibn al-sunni is: imam hafiz abu bakr ahmad ibn muhammad ibn is'haq..al-dinawari, ibn al-sunni. (~260 AH - 364 AH).

the book amal al-yawmi wa'l laylah has about 775 narrations (in 512 pages).

 

imam nasayi's book amal al-yawm wa'l laylah has 1141 narrations, 716 pages.

imam nasayi is ahmad ibn shuayb al-nasayi (215-303 AH) and is famous for his hadith compilation included in the six motherbooks.

 

among the earliest works that collected dua'a ma'thur (wording of dua found in the august speech of our master, the Messenger of Allah sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam) is that of ibn al-Dabbi

kitab al-dua has 160 narrations with asanid, printed book is 486 pages.

abu abdur raHman muhammad ibn fuDayl ibn ghazawan al-Dabbiy (d. 195 AH)

[for timeline perspective, he passed away one year after imam bukhari was born; or the same year as imam bukhari's birth].

 

i recently came across an abridgement of al-adhkar by
shaykh shamsuddin muhammad ibn ibrahim ibn sa'ayid al-anSari ibn al-akfani (d.749 AH). edited and published by shaykh nizar hammadi of tunis.

lawamiy al-anwar fi talkhiS al-adhkar. (142p A5 size)

this is a handy work with duas without the isnad and complete narration.

 

imam abu bakr abdul rahman jalaluddin suyuti (d. 911) compiled his annotations in a work (about 120 pages) titled:

tuHfatu'l abrar bi nukati'l azkar

 

shaykhu'l islam imam ibn Hajar al-asqalani dictated annotations (amali) on the takhrij of the hadith mentioned in al-adhkar which remained incomplete at the time of his passing. it has been published in 5 volumes under the name:

nata'ij al-afkar fi takhriji aHadith al-adhkar.

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one should not think that by 'takhrij' it is just a referencing activity. "this hadith is found here here here". rather, shaykhu'l islam comments on rijal, sometimes mentions his own sanad to that hadith and comments on various aspects of hadith.

this is a very important work for students and researchers, and provides a glimpse of a class being taught by shaykhu'l islam.

 

imam muhammad ibn allan al-siddiqi al-shafiyi al-makki (d. 1057 AH) compiled a 7-volume commentary on al-adhkar titled:

al-futuhat al-rabbaniyyah ala'l adhkar al-nawaawiyyah.




which has been recently republished in modern fonts and typesetting (also in 7 volumes)

 

imam abu zakariyyah yahya ibn sharaf al-nawawi muhiyuddin (d. 676 AH) compiled this from hadith works and earlier work on dua. a scholar told me that the indication that imam nawawi has a very high rank near Allah ta'ala and his work is accepted near Allah* is the unprecedented acceptance among muslims continuously from his time. no other book of dua is cited and used as much as imam nawawi's adhkar.

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this work has received commentaries and was cross referenced by no less than shaykh al-islam imam ibn Hajar.

so i will list works related to adhkar and then proceed to other works on this subject. this will be a very long list.