Children in the Qur’an and Sunnah

Chapter 6: Supplication

6.1: Encouraging Supplication for Children

“And those who say: ‘O’ our Lord! Grant us from our wives and our offspring the joy of our eyes, and make us for the pious ones (their) Imams.”[^1]

“My Lord! Make me a performer of the prayer, and of my offspring (too); Our Lord! And accept my petition.”[^2]

“My Lord! Grant me that I may give thank Your favour which You have bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I may do good which pleases You and do good to me in respect of my offspring; surely I turn to You, and surely I am of those who submit.”[^3]

396. The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “The father’s prayer for the child is useful like water is for plants.”[^4]

397. The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “The father’s prayer for his child is like the prayer of a Prophet for his nation.”[^5]

398. The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “May the mercy of Allah be upon he who helps his child in being righteous, which is to forgive his faults and supplicate to Allah for him.”[^6]

396. رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: دُعاءُ الوالِدِ لِلوَلَدِ كَالماءِ

397. عنه صلى الله عليه وآله: دُعاءُ الوالِدِ لِوَلَدِهِ مِثلُ دُعاءِ

398. عنه صلى الله عليه وآله: رَحِمَ اللهُ مَن أعانَ وَلَدَهُ عَلى

6.2: Reproaching of Supplicating Against the Children

399. The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “Do not supplicate against yourselves, do not supplicate against your children and do not supplicate against your properties.”[^7]

400. The Prophet (s.a.w.) said: “Do not supplicate against your children, lest it is accepted by Allah.”[^8]

401. Imam al-Sadiq (a.s.) said: “Any man who supplicates against his child will be stricken by Allah with poverty.”[^9]

399. رسول الله صلى الله عليه وآله: لا تَدعوا عَلى أنفُسِكُم، ولا

400. عنه صلى الله عليه وآله: لا تَدعوا عَلى أولادِكُم أن تُوافِقَ مِنَ

401. الإمام الصادق عليه السلام: أيُّما رَجُلٍ دَعا عَلى وَلَدِهِ

6.3: The Supplication of Imam al-Sajjad (a.s.) for his Children

402. Imam al-Sajjad (a.s.) said, in his supplication for his children: “O Allah, grant me by keeping my children alive, making them righteous for me and allowing me to be happy with them!

O Allah! Extend their ages for me, prolong their lives for me, raise the small ones, strengthen the weak ones, and safeguard their bodies for me and their faith and moral traits. Make them well in their souls, their limbs and everything that concerns me of their affairs, and pour out for me and through my hands their provisions!

Make them pious, fearing, insightful, hearing and obedient to You, and loving and advising to Your friends, and strictly resistant and detesting to all Your enemies! Amen!

O Allah! Strengthen my arm through them, straighten my bending back, multiply my number, adorn my presence, keep alive my remembrance, suffice me when I am away, help me in my needs, and make them loving towards me, affectionate, approaching, upright and obedient, and never disobedient, disrespectful, opposing, or offending!

Help me in their upbringing, their education, and my devotion to them. Give me male children among them from Yourself, make that something good for me, and make them a help for me in what I ask from You!

Give me and my progeny refuge from the accursed Satan, for You have created us, commanded us, and prohibited us, and made us desire the reward of what You have commanded, and fear its punishment! You assigned to us an enemy who schemes against us, gave him an authority over us in a way that You did not give us authority over him, allowed him to dwell in our breasts and let him run in our blood vessels; he is not heedless, though we are heedless, he does not forget, though we forget; he makes us feel secure from Your punishment and fills us with fear toward other than You. If we are about to commit an indecency, he gives us courage to do so, and if we are about to perform a righteous work, he holds us back from it. He opposes us through passions, and sets up for us doubts. If he promises us, he lies, and if he raises our hopes, he fails to fulfil them. If You do not turn his trickery away from us, he will misguide us, and if You do not protect us from his corruption, he will cause us to slip.

O Allah! So defeat his authority over us through Your authority, such that You hold him back from us through the frequency of our supplication to You and we leave his trickery and rise up among those preserved by You from sin!

O Allah! grant me my every request, accomplish for me my needs, withhold not from me Your response when You have made Yourself accountable for it to me, veil not my supplication from Yourself, when You have commanded me to make it, and be kind to me through everything that will set me right in this

world and the next, in everything that I remember or forget, display or conceal, make public or keep secret!

In all of this, place me through my asking You among those who set things right, those who are answered favourably when they request from You and from whom is not withheld when they put their trust in You, those accustomed to seek refuge in You , those who profit through commerce with You, those granted sanctuary through Your might, those given lawful provision abdundantly from Your boundless bounty through Your munificence and generosity, those who reach exaltation after abasement through You, those granted sanctuary from wrong through Your justice, those released from affliction through Your mercy, those delivered from need after poverty through Your riches, those preserved from sins, slips, and offences through reverential fear toward You, those successful in goodness, right conduct, and propriety through obeying You, those walled off from sins through Your power, the abandoners from every act of disobedience toward You, the dwellers in Your neighbourhood!

O Allah! Give me all of that through Your bestowal of success and Your mercy, grant us refuge from the chastisement of the burning, and give to all the Muslims, male and female, and all the faithful, male and female, the like of what I have asked for myself and my children, in the immediate of this word and the deferred of the next! Verily You are the Near, the Responder, the All- hearing, the All- knowing, the Pardoner, the Forgiving, the Clement, the Merciful! And give to us in this world good, and in the next world good, and protect us from the chastisement of the Fire! [^10]

.402الإمام زين العابدين عليه السلام مِن دعائِهِ لِوُلدِهِ‏ اللّهُمَّ

A Father’s Prayer for His Child

There is a prayer narrated in Makarim al-Akhlaq by Shaikh al-Tabarsi entitled: ‘A Father’s prayer for his child’ that has been recommended to be recited by some of the great contemporary authorities in favour of improving the state of on’es children, and it is also encouraged for the mother to recite this prayer as well.

This prayer consists of four units (rak’ah). In the first unit, after reciting Surah al-Hamd, the following verse should be recited ten times:

“Our Lord make us submissive to You and show us our ways of worship, and turn to us (mercifully); for surely You are the Oft-Returning, the Most Merciful.”[^11]

In the second unit, after reciting Surah al-Hamd, the following verse should be recited ten times:

“My Lord! Make me a performer of the prayer, and of my offspring, (too): Our Lord! And accept my petition;” “Our Lord! Forgive me and my parents, and the believers on the Day when the reckoning shall come to pass.”[^12]

In the third unit, after reciting Surah al-Hamd, the following verse should be recited ten times:

“…Our Lord! Grant us from our wives and our offspring the joy of our eyes, and make us for the pious ones (their) Imams.”[^13]

In the fourth unit, after reciting Surah al-Hamd, the following verse should be recited ten times:

“My Lord! Grant me that I may give thanks for Your favour which You have bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I may do good which pleases You and do good to me in respect of my offspring; surely I turn to You, and surely I am of those who submit.”[^14]

After completely finishing this prayer, the following verse should again be recited ten times: “…Our Lord! Grant us from our wives and our offspring the joy of our eyes, and make us for the pious ones (their) Imams.”

[^1]: . Qur’an, 25:74.

[^2]: . Qur’an, 14:40.

[^3]: . Qur’an, 46:15.

[^4]: . al-Firdaws, vol. 2, p. 213, h. 3038, narrating from Ibn ‘Umar.

[^5]: . Tarikh Asbahan, vol. 1, p. 226, h. 344. al-Firdaws, vol. 2, p. 212, h. 3037. Both narrating from ‘Anas.

[^6]: . Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 104, p. 98, h. 70, narrating from ‘Uddah al-Da’i.

[^7]: . Sahih Muslim, vol. 4, p. 2304, h. 3009. Sunan Abu Dawud, vol. 2, p. 88, h. 1532. Both narrating from Jabir ibn’Abdullah.

[^8]: . Tarikh Asbahan, vol. 2, p. 296, h. 1784, narrating from ‘Abdullah ibn Dinar ibn ‘Umar.

[^9]: . ‘Uddah al-Da’i, p. 80. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 104, p. 99, h. 77.

[^10]: . al-Sahifah Sajjadiyah, p. 105, Prayer 25.

[^11]: . Qur’an, 2:128.

[^12]: . Qur’an, 14:40-41.

[^13]: . Qur’an, 25:74.

[^14]: . Qur’an, 46:15.