My Parents Want to Pray Behind Someone Who Can See the Unknown. Is It a Good Thing?

Answered by Ustadh Tabraze Azam

Question: Assalam alaykum

My parents want to pray together in regards to our family matters. They suggested that we should pray together and the prayer should be led by someone who has ‘closeness’ with Allah. According to them it is someone who can see the unknown. To my knowledge, this person is not a scholar.

What is the ruling in Islam about this?

Answer: Wa alaikum assalam wa rahmatullah,

Generally, it is proper for the prayer to be led by the person who is most knowledgeable with respect to the rulings of it.

Otherwise, the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Each of you will be answered as long as he does not become over-impatient, saying, ‘I called on my Lord and He did not answer me.'” [Bukhari and Muslim] Further, he (Allah bless him and give him peace) also informed us, “He will answer his supplication soon, or he will store it up for him in the Hereafter, or He will divert an equivalent evil away from him because of it.” [Ahmad, al-Musnad]

Strive to remove the impermissible from your lives, ensure that you are eating lawful food acquired through lawful earnings, and fulfil the conditions of proper supplication, as found in the attached article. Consider also praying the Prayer of Need (salat al-hajah).

[Shurunbulali, Maraqi al-Falah with Tahtawi’s Gloss (1.405)]

Please also see: Struggling to Have Children: Ten Key Etiquettes of Du’a and: A Reader on Tawba (Repentance)

And Allah Most High alone knows best.

[Ustadh] Tabraze Azam

Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Ustadh Tabraze Azam holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Leicester, where he also served as the President of the Islamic Society. He memorised the entire Qur’an in his hometown of Ipswich at the tender age of sixteen, and has since studied the Islamic Sciences in traditional settings in the UK, Jordan and Turkey. He is currently pursuing advanced studies in Jordan, where he is presently based with his family.