What is the ruling on a Muslim asking a brother in Islam who he thinks is a good person to make du’aa’ for him when he is going for Hajj or on some other journey, and asking him to make du’aa’ for him in his absence? Because the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) praised Uways and urged his Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with him) to ask him to make du’aa’ for them (the hadeeth of Uways al-Qurani was reported by Muslim, no. 2542). Did Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah regard it as makrooh to do this and say that the hadeeth applied only to Uways? Please explain to us.
Praise be to Allah.Asking a person to make du’aa’ for you who you
think will have his du’aa’s answered, either because of his righteousness or
because he is going to a place where one hopes his du’aa’s will be answered,
such as travelling or going for Hajj or ‘Umrah, etc., is OK in principle. But if
there is the fear that something that is not right may result from it, such as the person
who makes the request relying on the person whom he has asked, or always relying on other
people with regard to matters in which he should call on his Lord, or there is the fear
that the person of whom the request is made may become arrogant and think that he has
reached such a level that people ask him to make du’aa’ for them, then this is
sufficient reason not to do this, because in this case it leads to something that is not
right. If it does not lead to something that is not right, then in principle it is
permissible, but still we say that it should not be done, because it was not the custom of
the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with them) to ask one another to make du’aa’
for one another. The hadeeth in which the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) is reported to have said to ‘Umar, “Do not forget us in your
du’aa’, O my brother” (reported by Abu Dawood, no. 1498, and
al-Tirmidhi, no. 3557) is a weak hadeeth and there is no proof that the
Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said this.
With regard to the fact that the Sahaabah (may Allaah be pleased with
them) asked the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to make
du’aa’ for them, it is well-known that no one else can reach the level of the
Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him), so when ‘Ukaashah ibn Muhsan
asked him to pray that he would be one of those who would enter Paradise without being
called to account or being punished, he said, “You will be one of them” (reported
by al-Bukhaari, no. 6541; Muslim, no. 216, 218, 220), and when another man
came and asked the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) to ask Allaah to
send them rain, he did so (reported by al-Bukhaari, no. 1013; Muslim, 897).
With regard to the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
advising his companions to ask Uways al-Qurani to make du’aa’ for them, this
undoubtedly applied only in his case, and it is known that Uways was not on the same level
as Abu Bakr or ‘Umar or ‘Uthmaan or ‘Ali, or other Sahaabah. The Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) did not tell anyone among his Sahaabah to ask
anyone to make du’aa’ for them.
To sum up, we can say: there is no sin in asking someone to make
du’aa’ for you that you hope will have his du’aa’ answered, on the
condition that this does not involve anything that is wrong, but it is better and more
appropriate not to do this.