Is It Permissible To Perform a Voluntary Fast With the Intention Of Getting a Supplication Answered?
Question: Is it permissible to do a voluntary fast with the intention of getting a supplication answered?
Answer:
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate,
It is permissible to do a voluntary fast with the intention to get a supplication answered. [‘Ayni, ‘Umda al-Qari Sharh Sahih al-Bukhari]
This issue returns to the ruling of using good deeds as a means to draw near to Allah Most High. The scholars have agreed that it is permissible to use a good deed as a means for making one’s supplication more readily accepted.
Supportive Texts
The text that is commonly used in support of this issue is the following texts Prophetic narration:
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “While three persons were walking, rain began to fall and they had to enter a cave in a mountain. A big rock rolled over and blocked the mouth of the cave. They said to each other, ‘Invoke Allah with the best deed you have performed (so Allah might remove the rock).’
One of them said, ‘O Allah! My parents were old and I used to go out for grazing (my animals). On my return, I would milk (the animals) and take the milk in a vessel to my parents to drink. After they had drunk from it, I would give it to my children, family, and wife. One day I was delayed, and on my return, I found my parents sleeping, and I disliked to wake them up. The children were crying at my feet (because of hunger). That state of affairs continued till it was dawn. O, Allah! If You regard that I did it for Your sake, then please remove this rock so that we may see the sky.’ So, the rock was moved a bit.
The second said, ‘O Allah! You know that I was in love with a cousin of mine, like the deepest love a man may have for a woman, and she told me that I would not get my desire fulfilled unless I paid her one-hundred Dinars (gold pieces). So, I struggled for it till I gathered the desired amount, and when I sat in between her legs, she told me to be afraid of Allah and asked me not to deflower her except rightfully (by marriage). So, I got up and left her. O, Allah! If You regard that I did it for Your sake, kindly remove this rock.’ So, two-thirds of the rock was removed.
Then the third man said, ‘O Allah! No doubt You know that once I employed a worker for one Faraq (three Sa’s) of millet, and when I wanted to pay him, he refused to take it, so I sowed it and from its yield, I bought cows and a shepherd. After a time that man came and demanded his money. I said to him: Go to those cows and the shepherd and take them for they are for you. He asked me whether I was joking with him. I told him that I was not joking with him, and all that belonged to him. O, Allah! If You regard that I did it sincerely for Your sake, then please remove the rock.’ So, the rock was removed completely from the mouth of the cave.” [Bukhari]
Allah knows best.
[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a graduate from Tarim; a student of Habib Umar and other luminaries; and authorized teachers of the Qur’an and the Islamic sciences
