Mufti Taqi Usmani Saheb Dream About Corona

From Mufti Muntasir Zaman on FB
Masha Allah

[see endnote*]

In 764 AH, the Tlemcenian Ṣūfī Ibn Abī Ḥajala (d. 776 AH/1375 CE) noted that in Cairo reports were circulating that when one ascetic’s town was ravaged by a plague, he saw the Prophet (ṣ) in a dream and complained to him about their plight. The Prophet (ṣ) advised him to recite the following words—which he miraculously found written on his palm when he awoke:

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. May Allah send blessings and salutations upon our master Muḥammad and his family.

O Allah, we seek refuge in You from affliction and plague and from severe trials related to the self, family, wealth, and children. Allah is greater, Allah is greater, Allah is greater than what we fear and avoid. Allah is great, Allah is great, Allah is great—the number of our sins, until they are pardoned. Allah is great, Allah is great, Allah is great. May Allah send blessings and salutations upon our master Muḥammad and his family. Allah is great, Allah is great, Allah is great. O Allah, just as you have allowed our Prophet to intercede, so grant us respite, populate our dwellings with us, and do not destroy us on account of our sins, O the Most Merciful. May Allah send blessings and salutations upon our master Muḥammad and his family. [1]

Ibn Ḥajar al-ʿAsqalānī (d. 852 AH) was skeptical about the first part of the supplication [i.e. we seek refuge in You from affliction and plague] because it conflicts with the Prophet’s other supplications. [2]

Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Fayyūmī (d. 870 AH), the author of Fatḥ al-Qarīb al-Mujīb, mentions that “it is related from Sirāj al-Dīn al-Bulqīnī (d. 724 AH)” that he regarded the daily reading of a supplication similar to this as a desirable means of removing a plague. [3] The words related from al-Bulqīnī differ in some places, most notably the following addition:

… the number of our sins, until they are pardoned. May Allah send blessings and salutations upon our master Muḥammad, the one who possesses the Kawthar. O Allah, the Mighty! O Allah, the Sovereign! Grant us peace in our lands. [He is] the Living the Sublime, whose shelter protects. [He is] the Living the Sublime, whose shelter lasts. In Your Name, O Allah, send salutations. [4]

Badr al-Dīn al-Zarkashī (d. 794 AH) mentions that one of the predecessors would recite after every prayer, “O Allah, we seek refuge in You from severe trials related to the self, family, wealth, and children…” similar to the first version without the first part. [5]
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[1] Ibn Abī Ḥajala, Dafʿ al-Niqma, ms. Library of El Escorial, no. 510, fol. 56r. Ibn Abī Ḥajala then brings support for this supplication from other ḥadīths.

[2] Ibn Ḥajar, Badhl al-Māʿūn, p. 332/cf. pp. 317, 323; al-Sakhāwī, al-Qawl al-Badīʿ, p. 417. Ibn Ḥajar relates several dreams regarding plagues, but he has a tendency of pointing out flaws in them. See, for instance, op. cit., pp. 331 and 332.

[3] Al-Fayyūmī, Fatḥ al-Qarīb al-Mujīb, vol. 6, p. 724.

[4] In a work written for a poet and military bureaucrat, Ismāʿīl Ḥaqqī (d. 1127 AH) quotes this supplication from Fatḥ al-Qarīb al-Mujīb. Credit goes to Dr. Kameliya Atansova for sharing a picture of Ḥaqqī’s quote on Twitter. There are several differences between Ḥaqqī’s quote via al-Fayyūmī and the current printed edition of Fatḥ al-Qarīb. Some of these differences are a result of poor editorial work on the printed edition (e.g. in ḥāyy lahu ṣamad kanaf vs. ḥayy ṣamad lahu kanaf wāq) and others may have been a result of manuscript variations (e.g. the absence of basmala in the beginning).

[5] Ibn Ḥajar, Badhl al-Māʿūn, p. 332; cf. Ibn al-Azraq, Badāʾiʿ al-Silk, vol. 2, p. 538. Al-Zarkashī is said to have authored a treatise about plagues; see Ḥājjī Khalīfa, Kashf al-Ẓunūn, vol. 1, p. 876.

* To be honest, this post did not require much detail and is not meant to be taken too seriously, but I noticed the supplication floating on social media, so I thought to use my self-quarantining time to do some research. It goes without saying that this supplication is only an experiential practice (mujarrab); there are plenty authentic prophetic supplications that ought to be recited. Moreover, the legal weight of dreams is not the focus of this post. MZ

Mufti Taqi Usmani Saheb Dream About Corona

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