It is preferred that one makes supplications on this night for things that are of great importance from this worldly life and from the Afterlife; and the most important of these is seeking forgiveness and asking for good health and well-being, especially through the use of Prophetic Invocations.

A Supplication attributed to Sayyid al-Wināʾī

The Erudite Scholar, the Sayyid al-Wināʾī, may God Most High have mercy on him said, with regards to special nights such as the Night of mid-Shaꜥbān and others such as the nights of Ramadan,

“It is more appropriate to recite the following on these nights:”

These should be recited nightly until the Night of Decree arrives, for it is the best night after these aforementioned nights.

Allāhumma innaka ꜥafuwwun karīmun tuḥibbul ꜥafwa faꜥfu ꜥannī.

Allāhumma innī asʾaluka al-ꜥafwa waʾl-ꜥāfiyata fī dīnī wa dunyāya wa ahlī wa mālī.

O God, You are Oft-Pardoning, Most Generous, You Love to pardon so pardon me!

O God, I ask you for Your pardon, for well-being, and permanent exemption (from sins) and recuperation (of health), in matters of my religion, my worldly affairs and my Afterlife.

The Supplication of our Father and Master Ādam, upon him be peace

Preferable also, is to recite what was related by a group of narrators[1] in which there is no doubt, that Abī Barzah said, “The Messenger of God ﷺ said,

“When Ādam descended to earth, he circumambulated[2] the House[3] for weeks, and then prayed a two-cycle prayer at the shrine and then supplicated:

Allāhumma innaka taꜥlamu sirri wa ꜥilāniyati, faqbil maꜥdhiratī, wa taꜥlamu ḥājatī, fa aꜥṭinī suʾlī, wa taꜥlamu mā ꜥindī faghfirlī dhunūbī, asʾaluka īmānan yunāhī qalbī, wa yaqīnan ṣādiqan ḥattā aꜥlamu annahū lan yuṣībanī illā ma katabta lī, wa raḍḍinī biqadāʾik.

O God, (I ask You by Your Most Perfect Names), You know my inner secrets and my external realities so accept my apology. You know my needs so give me what I ask for, and You know what is in my soul so forgive me my errors.

I ask You for faith that will overtake my heart, and a true sincere conviction until I am convinced that nothing shall happen to me except that which You have written for me. Make me pleased with what You have Decreed!

So, God ﷻ revealed to him, “O Ādam! You have beseeched me with a supplication, so I have answered you through it. No one supplicates Me (with this invocation) from your offspring that shall come after you, except that I shall Answer them, and forgive them their sins, and remove their worries and sorrows, and shall take care of their business dealings from behind every trader, and the Worldly-life will be obliged to be subservient to them, whether they want it or not.”[4]

A Well-known Special Supplication for the Night of mid-Shaꜥbān

There is a mass-transmitted supplication for this very occasion, specific and well-known to be recited on the Night of mid-Shaꜥbān, recited by the Muslims on this auspicious night individually or as a group in their mosques or elsewhere, whereby one person leads them in reciting the supplication (and they follow in reciting), or recites the supplication and they say “āmīn“, as is known.

How to perform it:

Recite firstly before this supplication is read out, after the Sunset [maghrib] Prayer, Surat Yā Sīn three times, with the following intentions:

• The first – with the intention of being granted longevity and a long life span.
• The second – with the intention of protection from tribulations and trials.
• The third – with the intention of not being dependent upon others.

Every time you recite Surat Yā Sīn once, you recite the supplication after it once and the supplication is as thus:

Bismillahir-raḥmān ir-raḥīm

Al-ḥamdu lillāhi rabbiʾl-ꜥālamīn

Wa ṣall-Allāhu ʿala sayyidinā Muhammadin wa ʿalā ālihī wa ṣaḥbihī wa sallim

Allāhumma ya dhal-manni wa la yumannu ʿalayhi ya dhal-jalāli wa’l-ikrām ya dhaṭ-ṭawli wal-inʿām, lā ilāha illā anta ẓahr al-lājiʾīna wa jār al-mustajīrīna wa amānal-khāʾifīna

Allāhumma in kunta katabtanī ʿindaka shaqiyyan aw maḥrūman aw maṭrūdan aw muqattaran ʿalayya fīr-rizqi fa’mḥu-llāhumma bifaḍlika shaqāwatī wa ḥirmānī wa ṭardī wa iqtāra rizqī wa athbitnī ʿindaka fī ummil-kitābi saʿīdan marzūqan muwaffaqan lil-khayrāt, fa innaka qulta wa qawluk al-ḥaqqu fī kitābik al-munzal ʿala lisāni nabiyyik al-mursal:

Yamḥullāhu mā yashāʾu wa yuthbitu wa ʿindahu umm ul-kitāb

Ilāhī bit’tajallī al-aʿẓam fī laylat in-niṣfi min Shaʿbānal-mukarram il-latī yufraqu fīhā kullu amrin ḥakīmin wa yubram nasʾaluka an takshifa ʿannā min al-balāʾi mā naʿalamu wa mā lā naʿalamu wa mā anta bihi aʿalamu, innaka anta al-aʿazz ul-akram

Wa ṣall-Allāhu ʿalā sayyidina Muḥammadin wa ʿalā ālihi wa ṣaḥbihi wa sallim

In the Name of God, the Benevolent, the Most Merciful.

All praise is due to God Lord of the Worlds.

O God, bestow prayers and peace upon our Master Muhammad and upon his Family and Companions.

O God, You are the Bestower of favours. No one has favour over You. O Possessor of Majesty and Nobility, You are the One Who constantly bestows His bounties. There is no deity other than You. You are the One who grants safety and refuge to those that seek it and to those in fear.

O God, if You have recorded us[5]  as being wretched, deprived, cast out or if You have recorded that our provision be restricted then erase this out of Your bounty. Instead record us in “the Mother of the Book” as being felicitous, as having plentiful provision and grant us the ability to do good works. Truly You have said, and Your word is true, in Your revealed Book, on the tongue of Your Prophet:

God erases and confirms what He wishes; and with Him is the Mother of the Book.[6][7]

My Lord and God, through the most mighty manifestation that takes place on the Night of mid-Shaꜥbān the ennobled month,  in  which  every  decreed affair  becomes  distinct  and  unchangeable,  we  ask  You  to  remove  all tribulations,  those  that  we  know  and  those  that  we  do  not  know  and those  about  which  You  know  more, for truly You are the Most Mighty, the Most Generous.

O God, bestow peace and blessings upon our Master Muhammad and upon his Family and Companions.

This supplication has also been mentioned by the Master Scholar ash-Sharjī, God Most High have mercy on him, in his text “al-Fawāʾid fiṣ-Ṣalāti wal-ʿAwāʾid“[8].

The Supplication of Imām ad-Dayrābī

The Erudite Scholar, ad-Dayrābī mentioned in his text “al-Mujarrabāt“:

From the specialities of Surat Yā Sīn, as some have mentioned, that it is to be recited on the Night of mid-Shaꜥbān three times; the first with the intention for an increased lifespan, the second with the intention of protection from tribulations, and the third with the intention of being free from needing people. Then you supplicate with the following supplication ten times, and you shall receive what you are seeking, God-willing and it is:

Ilāhī jūduka dallan ʿalayka wa iḥsānika awṣalanī ilayka wa karamika qarrabanī ladayka, ashkū ilayka mā lā yakhfā ʿalayka wa asʾaluka mā lā yaʿṣir ʿalayka idh ʿilmuka biḥālī yakfī ʿan suʾl.

Ya mufrij ʿan karb il-makrūbn afrij ʿannī mā ana fīhi ۞ Wa dhan-nūni idh dhahaba mughāḍiban faẓanna an-lan naqdira ʿalayhi fa nādā fiẓ-ẓulumāti an lā ilāha illā anta subḥānaka innī kuntu min aẓ-ẓālimīn, fastajabnā lahū wa najjaynāhu min al-ghammi wa kadhālika nunjil-muʾminīn ۞

Allāhumma yā dhal-manni wa lā yumannu ʿalayhi yā dhal-jalāli wal-ikrām yā dhaṭ-ṭawli wal-inʿāmi lā ilāha illā anta ẓahr al-lājīna wa jār al-mustajīrīna wa amān al-khāʾifīna wa kanz aẓ-ẓālimīna.

Allāhumma in kunta katabtanī ʿindaka shaqiyyan aw maḥrūman aw maṭrūdan aw muqattaran ʿalayya fir-rizqi fāmḥullāhumma bi faḍlika shaqāwatī wa ḥirmānī wa ṭardī wa iqtāra rizqī wa athbitnī ʿindaka fī umm il-kitābi saʿīdan marzūqan muwaffaqan lil-khayrāt fa innaka qulta wa qawluk al-ḥaqqu fī kitābik al-munzal ʿalā lisāni nabiyyik al-mursal:

۞ yamḥullāhu māyashāʾu wa yuthbitu wa ʿindahū umm ul-kitāb ۞

Asʾaluk Allāhumma bihaqq it-tajjalī al-aʿẓam fī laylat in-niṣfi min shaʿbān al-mukarram il-latī yufraqu fīhā kullu amrin ḥakīmin wa yubram nasʾaluka an takshifa ʿannā min al-balāʾi mā naʿalamu wa mā lā naʿalamu wa mā anta bihi aʿlamu innaka anta al-ʿazz ul-akram.

Wa ṣallillāhumma ʿalā sayyidinā Muḥammadin wa ʿalā ālihi wa ṣaḥbihi wa sallim.

My Lord, Your Generosity directed me to You, and Your Excellence connected me to You; increase my proximity to You. I complain to You of all things, things that are not hidden to You. I ask you for what is not difficult for You, for Your Knowledge of my state does not require my asking.

O He who rescues those who are in trouble, save me from that which I am in, and [remember] Dhan-Nun [Jonah of the Great Fish] when he went off in wrath, thinking that We had no power over him! But then cried out in the deep darkness [of his distress]: “There is no deity save You! Transcendent are You! Verily, I am from the wrongdoers! And so We responded unto him and delivered him from [his] distress: for thus do We deliver all who have faith.[9]

O God, You are the Bestower of favours. No one has favour over You. O Possessor  of  Majesty  and  Nobility, You are the One Who constantly bestows His bounties. There is no deity other than You. You are the One who grants safety and refuge to those that seek it and to those in fear, and the Treasure of the seekers!

O God, if You have recorded us as being wretched, deprived, cast out or if You have recorded that our provision be restricted then erase this out of Your Bounteousness. Instead record us in “the Mother of the Book” as being felicitous, as having  plentiful  provision  and  grant  us  the  ability  to  do good works. Truly You have said, and Your word is true, in Your revealed Book,  on  the  tongue  of  Your  Prophet:

God erases and confirms what He wishes; and with Him is the Mother of the Book.

I ask You, O Lord, through the most mighty manifestation that takes place on the Night of mid-Shaꜥbān the ennobled month,  in  which  every  decreed affair  becomes  distinct  and  unchangeable,  we  ask  You  to  remove  all tribulations,  those  that  we  know  and  those  that  we  do  not  know  and those  about  which  You  know  more, for truly You are the Most Mighty, the Most Generous.

O God, bestow peace and blessings upon our Master Muhammad and upon his Family and Companions.

The Supplication of Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī

Another supplication has been mentioned in the text “Safinat ul-ʿUlūm” for the Night of Mid-Shaꜥbān attributed to the Lordly Spiritual Pole, my Master ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlān, may God sanctify his secret and be pleased with him (and it may have been mentioned also in “al-Ghunya” from his other authored works) and it is:

Allāhumma idhā ṭalaʿat laylat un-niṣfi min Shaꜥbān ʿalā khalqika faʿid ʿalaynā bimannika wa ʿitqika, wa qaddir lanā min faḍlika wāsiʿ rizqika, wajʿalnā mimman yaqūmu lakaā bibaʿdi haqqik.

Allāhumma man qaḍayta fīha biwāfatihi faqbiḍ maʿ dhālika lahu biraḥmatika, wa man qaddarta ṭūla ḥayātihi fajʿal lahu maʿ dhālika niʿmatika, wa ballighnā ma tablugh ul-āmāla ilayh, yā khayr man waqafat il-aqdām bayn yadayhi yā rabb al-ʿālamīn biraḥmatika yā arham ar-rāḥimīn.

Wa ṣallAllāhu taʿālā ʿalā sayyidinā Muḥammadin khayra khalqihi ajmaʿīn wa ʿalā ālihī wa ṣaḥbihi ajmaʿīn.

O God, if you manifest Yourself to Your creation on the Night of mid-Sha’ban, then bring unto us your relenting and protection. And decree for us, by your bounty, abundant provision. And let us be counted from amongst those who uphold your right in this night.

O God, whosoever you ordained for them death, then ordain with that your mercy for them. And whosoever you ordained for them a long life, then grant them Your favour with that and realise for us what our hopes cannot. O Greatest before whom feet have stood! O Lord of the worlds! Your mercy, O most Merciful of those who show mercy!

And prayers of God, most High, be upon our master Muhammad, the best of His creation, and upon his family and companions.

The Supplications of Sayyid Ḥasan al-Ḥaddād

My master, Sayyid Ḥasan al-Ḥaddād, recorded in an epistle two separate supplication for the Night of mid-Shaꜥbān, the first of which is the aforementioned supplication, wherein he included some valuable invocations that are well-known, and the second which consists of a longer version which is exquisite, made of up Prophetic Invocations and intimate discourse with God that is reminiscent of Imām al-Junayd’s style.

Said the author of the aforementioned letter:

The well-known supplication of Shaꜥbān is a supplication of mighty use, and within it are great benefits, and splendid invocations, some of which have been narrated from the Prophet ﷺ. It is recited on the Night of mid-Shaʿbān; right after the Sunset prayer is the best and foremost time. It was compiled by our master, the blessing of existence, the support of the verifiers, the protector of his righteous forefathers’ secrets, the Knower of God, the Pole of his time, the Sayyid ash-Sharīf, the luminous full-moon of the religion, the Shaykh al-Ḥasan, the son of the Pole ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿAlawī al-Ḥaddād, may God benefit all through his knowledge, āmīn!

The Method for Reciting Them

Recite Surat Yā Sīn three times, each with the following intention:

1. An intention for an extended and long lifespan with success in one’s acts of obedience.
2. An intention for protection from diseases, disabilities, and increase in one’s sustenance.
3. An intention for enrichment of the heart and a perfect ending.

Then one recites either of the two following supplications after each recitation of Sūrat Yā Sīn.

The First Shorter Supplication

of Sayyid al-Ḥasan, son of the Pole, Imām ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿAlawī al-Ḥaddād (God sanctify their secrets)

Bismillahi-rahman ir-rahim,

Allāhumma ya dhal-manni wa la yumannu ʿalayhi ya dhal-jalali wal-ikram ya dhat-tawli wal-inʿam, la ilaha illa anta zahral-lajina wa jar al-mustajirina wa aman al-kha’ifina.

Allāhumma in kunta katabtani ʿindaka shaqiyyan aw mahruman aw matrudan aw muqattaran ʿalayya fir-rizqi, famhu-llahumma bifadlika shaqawati wa hirmani wa tardi wa iqtara rizqi wa athbitni ʿindaka fi ummil-kitabi saʿidan marzuqan muwaffaqan lil-khayrat. Fa ʾinnaka qulta wa qawluk al-ḥaqqu fi kitabik al-munzal ʿala lisani nabiyyik al-mursal:

yamhu-llahu ma yasha’u wa yuthbitu wa ʿindahu ummul-kitab

Ilahi bit-tajjali al-ʿazam fi laylatin-nisfi min Shaꜥbānal-mukarram il-lati yufraqu fiha kullu amrin hakimin wa yubram nas’aluka an takshifa ʿanna min al-bala’i ma aʿlamu wa ma la aʿlamu waghfirli wa ma anta bihi aʿlamu.

Allāhumm aj-ʿalni min aʿzami ʿibadika hazzan wa nasiban fi kulli shay’in qassamtahu fi hadhihil-laylati min nurin tahdi bihi aw rahmatin tanshuruha aw rizqin tabsutuhu aw fadlin taqsumuhu ʿala ʿibadik al-mu’minin, ya Allah, ya Allah la ilaha illa ant.

Allahumma hab li qalban taqiyyan naqiyyan min ash-shirki bariyyan, la kafiran wa la shaqiyyan, wa qalban saliman khashiʿan dariʿan.

Allahumma amli’ qalbi binurika wa anwar mushahadatak, wa jamalika wa kamalika wa mahabbatika wa ʿismatika wa qudratika wa ʿilmika ya arham ar-rahimin.

Wa sall-Allahu taʿala ʿala sayyidina Muhammadin wa ʿala alihi wa ṣaḥbihi wa sallim.

In the Name of God, the Benevolent, the Most Merciful.

O God, You are the Bestower of favours. No one has favour over You. O Possessor of Majesty and Nobility, You are the One Who constantly bestows His bounties. There is no deity other than You. You are the One who grants safety and refuge to those that seek it and to those in fear.

O God, if You have recorded us as being wretched, deprived, cast out or if You have recorded that our provision be restricted then erase this out of Your bounty. Instead record us in “the Mother of the Book” as being felicitous, as having plentiful provision and grant us the ability to do good works. Truly You have said, and Your word is true, in Your revealed Book, on the tongue of Your Prophet:

God erases and confirms what He wishes; and with Him is the Mother of the Book

My Lord and God, through the most mighty manifestation that takes place on the Night of Mid-Shaꜥbān, the ennobled month,  in  which  every  decreed affair  becomes  distinct  and  unchangeable,  we  ask  You  to  remove  all tribulations,  those  that  we  know  and  those  that  we  do  not  know  and those  about  which  You  know  more, and forgive me that which You are Most Knowledgeable of. O God make me from your greatest servants in fortune and allotted sustenance on this night from the lights that you guide by, or mercy that you disseminate, or sustenance that you spread out, or grace that you split up amongst your believing servants.

O God, O God, there is no deity but You!

O God, grant me a pure pious heart, free from polytheism, nor disbelieving nor wretched. A sound heart that is fearful and humble.

O God, fill my heart with your Lights and the lights of witnessing You, and Your Beauty and Perfection and Love! With the Lights of Your Infallibility, Your Power, Your Knowledge, O Most Merciful of the merciful ones.

O God, bestow peace and blessings upon our Master Muhammad and upon his Family and Companions.

The Second, More Complete Supplication

of Sayyid al-Ḥasan, son of the Pole, Imām ʿAbd Allāh bin ʿAlawī al-Ḥaddād (God sanctify their secrets)

Ilāhī, taʿarraḍa ilayka fī hādhihi al-laylati al-mutaʿarriḍūn, wa qaṣadaka wa ammala maʿrūfaka wa faḍlaka aṭ-ṭālibūn, wa raghiba ilā jūdika wa karamika ar-rāghibūn.

Wa laka fī hādhihi al-laylati nafaḥāt, wa ʿaṭāyā wa jawāʾizu wa mawāhibu wa hibāt, tamunnu bihā ʿalā man tashāʾu min ʿibādik, wa takhuṣṣu bihā man aḥbabtahu min khalqik, wa tamnaʿu wa taḥrimu man lam tasbiq lahu al-ʿināyatu mink.

Fa-asʾaluka yā Allāh bi-aḥabbi al-asmāʾi ilayk, wa akrami al-anbiyāʾi ʿalayk, an tajʿalanī mimman sabaqat lahu minka al-ʿināyah, wa-jʿalnī min awfari ʿibādik, wa ajzali khalqik ḥaẓẓan wa naṣīban wa qasman wa hibatan wa ʿaṭiyyah fī kulli khayrin taqsimuhu fī hādhihi al-laylah aw fīmā baʿdahā:

min nūrin tahdī bih, aw raḥmatin tanshuruhā, aw rizqin tabsuṭuh, aw ḍurrin takshifuh, aw dhanbin taghfiruh, aw shiddatin tadfaʿuhā, aw fitnatin taṣrifuhā, aw balāʾin tarfaʿuh, aw muʿāfātin tamunnu bihā, aw ʿaduwwin takfīh.

Fa-kfinī kulla sharr, wa waffiqnī Allāhumma li-makārimi al-akhlāq, wa-rzuqnī al-ʿāfiyata wa al-barakah wa as-saʿata fī al-arzāq, wa sallimnī min ar-rijzi wa ash-shirki wa an-nifāq.

Allāhumma inna laka nasamāti luṭfin idhā habbat ʿalā marīḍi ghaflatin shafat-hu, wa inna laka nafaḥāti ʿaṭfin idhā tawajjahat ilā asīri hawāʾin aṭlaqat-hu, wa inna laka ʿināyātin idhā lāḥaẓat gharīqan fī baḥri ḍalālatin anqadhat-hu, wa inna laka saʿādātin idhā akhadhat biyadi shaqiyyin asʿadat-hu, wa inna laka laṭāʾifa karamin idhā ḍāqat al-ḥīlatu li-mudhnibin wasiʿat-hu, wa inna laka faḍāʾila wa niʿaman idhā taḥawwalat ilā fāsidin aṣlaḥat-hu, wa inna laka naẓarāti raḥmatin idhā naẓarta bihā ilā ghāfilin ayqaẓat-hu.

Fa-hab lī Allāhumma min luṭfika al-khafiyy nasmatan tashfī maraḍa ghaflatī, wa-nfaḥnī min ʿaṭfika al-wafiyy nafḥatan ṭayyibatan tuṭliqu bihā asrī min withāqi shahwatī.

Wa-lḥiẓnī wa-ḥfaẓnī bi-ʿayni ʿināyatika mulāḥaẓatan tunqidhunī bihā wa tunajjīnī bihā min baḥri aḍ-ḍalālah.

Wa ātinī min ladunka raḥmatan fī ad-dunyā wa al-ākhirah tubaddilunī bihā saʿādatan min shaqāwah.

Wa-smaʿ duʿāʾī, wa ʿajjil ijābatī, wa-qḍi ḥājatī wa ʿāfinī, wa hab lī min karamika wa jūdika al-wāsiʿ mā tarzuqunī bihi al-inābata ilayk maʿa ṣidqi al-lujāʾ wa qabūli ad-duʿāʾ.

Wa ahhilnī li-qarʿi bābika li-d-duʿāʾ yā Jawwād, ḥattā yattaṣila qalbī bimā ʿindak, wa tuballighanī bihā ilā qaṣdik yā khayra maqṣūd wa akrama maʿbūd.

 Ibtihālī wa taḍarruʿī fī ṭalabi maʿūnatika, wa attakhidhuka yā Ilāhī mafzaʿan wa maljaʾan, arfaʿu ilayka ḥājatī wa maṭālibī wa shakwāy, wa ubdī ilayka ḍurrī, wa ufawwiḍu ilayka amrī wa munājātī, wa aʿtamidu ʿalayka fī jamīʿi umūrī wa ḥālātī.

Allāhumma innī wa hādhihi al-laylata khalqun min khalqik, fa-lā tublinī fīhā wa lā baʿdahā bisūʾin wa lā makrūh, wa lā tuqaddir ʿalayya fīhā maʿṣiyatan wa lā zallah, wa lā tuthbit ʿalayya fīhā dhanban, wa lā tublinī fīhā illā bi-allatī hiya aḥsan.

Wa lā tuzayyin lī jarāʾatan ʿalā maḥārimik, wa lā rukūnan ilā maʿṣiyatik, wa lā maylan ilā mukhālafatik, wa lā tarkan li-ṭāʿatik, wa lā istikhfāfan bi-ḥaqqik, wa lā shakkan fī rizqik.

Fa-asʾaluka Allāhumma naẓratan min naẓarātik, wa raḥmatan min raḥamātik, wa ʿaṭiyyatan min ʿaṭiyyātika al-laṭīfah, wa-rzuqnī min faḍlik, wa-kfinī sharra khalqik, wa-ḥfaẓ ʿalayya dīna al-Islām.

Wa-nẓur ilaynā bi-ʿaynika allatī lā tanām, wa ātinā fī ad-dunyā ḥasanah wa fī al-ākhirati ḥasanah wa qinā ʿadhāba an-nār. (three times)

Ilāhī bi-t-tajallī al-aʿẓam fī laylati an-niṣfi min Shaʿbān ash-shahr al-akram, allatī yufraqu fīhā kullu amrin ḥakīmin wa yubram, ikshif ʿannā mina al-balāʾ mā naʿlamu wa mā lā naʿlam, wa-ghfir lanā mā anta bihi aʿlam. (three times)

Allāhumma innī asʾaluka min khayri mā taʿlam, wa aʿūdhu bika min sharri mā taʿlam, wa astaghfiruka min kulli mā taʿlam, innaka anta ʿallāmu al-ghuyūb.

Allāhumma innī asʾaluka min khayri mā taʿlamu wa mā lā aʿlam, wa astaghfiruka limā aʿlamu wa mā lā aʿlam.

Allāhumma inna al-ʿilma ʿindaka wa huwa ʿannā maḥjūb, wa lā naʿlamu amran nakhtāruhu li-anfusinā, wa qad fawwaḍnā ilayka umūranā, wa rafaʿnā ilayka ḥājātinā, wa rajawnāka li-fāqātinā wa faqrinā.

Fa-rshudnā yā Allāh, wa thabbitnā, wa waffiqnā ilā aḥabbi al-umūri ilayk wa aḥmadihā ladayk.

Fa-innaka taḥkumu bimā tashāʾ wa tafʿalu mā turīd, wa anta ʿalā kulli shayʾin qadīr.

Wa lā ḥawla wa lā quwwata illā bi-Allāhi al-ʿaliyyi al-ʿaẓīm. Subḥāna rabbika rabbi al-ʿizzati ʿammā yaṣifūn, wa salāmun ʿalā al-mursalīn, wa al-ḥamdu li-Allāhi rabbi al-ʿālamīn.

Wa ṣallā Allāhu taʿālā ʿalā sayyidinā Muḥammadin wa ʿalā ālihi wa ṣaḥbihi wa sallam.

My Lord, those who incline are inclining to You on this night, as do the seekers who have made You their purpose and who hope in Your Goodness – they long for Your Generosity and Grace those who ache longingly for You. To You belong Cool Divine Breezes and gifts and rewards and grants and endowments, You bestow Your favours upon whomsoever You wish from Your slaves and You give choose with it those whom You love from Your creation, and You deny and forbid it to those whom Your Divine Support has not reached. I ask You, O God, by Your most Beloved Name, and Your Most Precious Prophet, to make me from those whom have reached Your Divine Support, and to make me from Your slaves with the most abundant allotments and profuse fortunes and designations and gifts and grants in every goodness that You allot on this night or what may come after it from lights that You guide by, or mercy that You diffuse, or sustenance that You disseminate, or harms that You remove, or sins that You forgive, or difficulties that You repel, or tribulations that You dispel, or troubles that You eliminate, well-being that You grace us with, or enemies that You protect us from – so suffice me all evils, and make me successful – O God – in achieving the most excellent of dispositions, and grant me health and well-being and blessings and an increase in my sustenance and keep me safe from filth and polytheism and hypocrisy.

O God, (I ask You by Your Most Perfect Names), to You belong Subtle Divine Breezes, that if they were to endue onto one ill with ignorance, they would be healed, and to You belong Cool Divine Breezes of kindness that if they were to engulf one who is troubled with their desires, it would emancipate them, and to You belong Divine Assistances that if they were to catch up with one who is drowning in the seas of misguidance they would save them, and to You belongs Divine Subtleties of Grace that would widen up the path for those who are in the dire straits of sinning,  and to You belong Divine Favours and Bounties that if they were transferred to a corrupted person they would be rectified, and to You belong Divine Gazes that if they were to gaze upon a heedless one, it would awaken them. So, grant me, O God, from your Divine Hidden Subtleties a slight breeze that will heal the illness of my heedlessness, and grant me a gust from Your True Kindness, a pure breeze that will launch my family away from the fetters of my desires.

Keep watch over me and protect me with the Eye of Your Support, a watchfulness that will save me and deliver me from the sea of misguidance. Grant me from Your Kingdom mercy in this world and in the next, replacing my forsakenness with happiness.

Hear my supplications and hasten to answering them, fulfill my needs and heal me, and grant me from Your Abundant Generosity and Grace, that which You would grant me from turning to You with sincere refuge and accepted prayers. Make me of those who are the people of Knocking on Your Door, O Generous One, until my heart is connected with that which is with You, and You allow me to attain that which You have set as a purpose, O Greatest of all that is Sought, the Most Graceful of all that is Worshipped.

A Stern Warning

For those who pray the Prayer of ar-Ragha’ib

Understand well that the Prayer of ar-Ragha’ib mentioned here – a prayer of 12 cycles that is prayed between the Sunset[10] and Night prayer[11] on the first Friday night of Rajab – is a blameworthy innovation so do not perform it. Rather, instead of it, pray the Prayer of al-Awwabin[12], or the Prayer of at-Tasabih, or any supererogatory prayers separately without a specified number of cycles; and this is what has mentioned before in an earlier part of the book[13].

Section from Page 89:

Traditions[14] [hadith] on the Prayer of ar-Ragha’ib are Fabricated

The Erudite Scholar, Shaykh Zayn ad-Din (student of ibn Hajr al-Makki) in his book “Irshad al-ʿIbad”, and other scholars like himself from the same School of Thought[15]:

“From the reprehensible innovations that negatively affects the one who performs it, and is incumbent on those who are in charge to prohibit its performance, is the Prayer of ar-Ragha’ib, which is twelve cycles of prayers, between the two Night prayers[16] on the first Friday night of Rajab, and the one hundred cycles of prayer on the Night of mid-Shaʿban, and the 27 cycle prayer on the last Friday of Ramadan with the supposed intention of making up missed obligatory prayers, and the prayer on the Day of ʿAshura’ of two, four or more cycles, and the Prayer of Weeks. As for the Traditions relating to them, they are fabricated and false, and do not be duped by anyone who mentions them.”

[1] mutawatir – successive narrations from a large number of narrators.

[2] ṭawāf.

[3] Kaꜥba in Mecca.

[4] It was recorded by the Memoriser of Hadith [ḥāfiẓ] as-Suyūṭī, God have mercy on him, in his text, “ad-Durr al-Manthūr” (Volume 1, pages 143-144), and he related it from al-Azraqiy in “Tārīkh Makka”, and aṭ-Ṭabarānī in “al-Awsaṭ”, and al-Bayhaqī in “ad-Daꜥawāt” and to Ibn ꜥAsākir.

[5] The Erudite Scholar and Hadith Memoriser, the Sayyid, Muḥammad ibn ꜥAlawī al-Mālikī (God Most High have mercy on him) in his text “What is in Shaꜥbān?” (page 101):

“The supplication, “O God, if You have recorded us as being wretched, deprived…” is the reason why it is imperative to substantiate, verify and revise (your work). In many famous books that have circulated widely is the additional phrase, “In the Mother of the Book” (after the sentenced mentioned above) and this is incorrect. It may just be an accident on behalf of the transcribers. It is wrong because it is not acceptable that what is in the Mother of the Book will be confirmed or erased; as is mentioned by Him, Most Transcendent is He!, {God erases and confirms what He wishes; and with Him is the Mother of the Book}.

[6]  [Qurʾān, ar-Raꜥd, 13:39]

[7] Extra duꜥāʾ from Suyūṭī – to be included soon, God-willing [t].

[8] See page 59 of “al-Fawa’id fis-Salati wal-ʿAwa’id”.

[9] Qur’an, al-Anbiya’, 21:88]

[10] maghrib

[11] ʿisha’

[12] A supererogatory prayer that is prayed after the sunna prayers of the maghrib prayer, and has a minimum number of 2 cycles, a recommended number of 6 cycles and a maximum number of 20 cycles.

[13] Page 89 of the Arabic text, translated and provided above.

[14] hadith

[15] madhhab – from the four (surviving) Islamic Schools of Jurisprudence.

[16] Between the Sunset [maghrib] and Night Prayer [ʿisha’].