Rain prayer
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Rain prayer | |
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Official name | صلاة الاستسقاء |
Also called | Drought prayer |
Observed by | Muslims |
Type | Islamic |
Significance | A Muslim prayer offered to God seeking rain water. |
Observances | Sunnah prayers |
Begins | Duha |
Ends | Zenith-Noon |
Frequency | Occasionally |
Related to | Salah,Nafl prayer,Five Pillars of Islam |
Part ofa serieson |
Islam |
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TheRain prayer(Arabic:صلاة الاستسقاء;ṣalāt al-istisqa,"rain request prayer" ) is asunnahsalah(Islamic prayer) for requesting and seeking rain water fromGod.[1]
Presentation
[edit]According to Muslimprophetic tradition,during a prolonged drought a man came toMuhammadas he was delivering theKhutba(sermon) of theFriday prayerin theAl-Masjid an-Nabawimosque, to pray and implore for the rain to fall, for the men and the cattle and the orchards suffered from the lack of water, and in response, Muhammadraised his hands in Duaand prayed to God for a downpour.[2]After his supplication was answered with torrential rain for days, Muhammad again prayed to God for the excessive rain to stop.[3]
On another occasion Muhammad is said to have walked out of the mosque in broad daylight into an esplanade with thecongregation of priors,and prayed for rain, then performed a prayer consisting of tworak'ahsas a group while readingAl-Fatihaaloud, as he did inFriday prayer.[4]
Ritual
[edit]![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b3/Eid_al-Fitr_prayers_in_Tehran_-_November_4%2C_2005_%283%29.jpg/220px-Eid_al-Fitr_prayers_in_Tehran_-_November_4%2C_2005_%283%29.jpg)
In Muslim agricultural societies, in times of calamity such as drought, theImamis asked to provide spiritual help to the community in the hope of inducing God to fall rain.[5]
Practice
[edit]On the day fixed to perform this prayer, the imam of the mosque leads Muslims in a collective ritual to ask God to give them enough rain for agricultural and human drinking needs, and personal hygiene.[6]
This prayer ritual takes place in the same open space outside the mosque where the twoEid prayersare held annually.[7]
References
[edit]- ^"صلاة الاستسقاء".
- ^Ali, Maulana Muhammad (14 April 2015).The Religion of Islam.ISBN9781934271186.
- ^Nur Mohammed, Bakheit M. (2017).The Religious Men in Jebel Marra: The Process of Learning and the Performance of Islamic Rituals and Practices.ISBN9783643909169.
- ^Frank, Allen J. (January 2001).Muslim Religious Institutions in Imperial Russia: The Islamic World of Novouzensk District and the Kazakh Inner Horde, 1780-1910.ISBN9004119752.
- ^Saqib, Muhammad Abdul Karim (13 April 2015)."A Guide to Salat (Prayer) in Islam".
- ^Stilt, Kristen (12 January 2012).Islamic Law in Action: Authority, Discretion, and Everyday Experiences in Mamluk Egypt.ISBN9780191629822.
- ^Diem, Werner; Schöller, Marco (2004).The Living and the Dead in Islam: Epitaphs as texts.ISBN9783447050838.