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Supplications in Sala’h in Languages Other than Arabic

September 29, 1997 by Admin

Question

What is the status of saying Duas1 e.g., asking God for personal needs etc.), asking God (SWT)’s forgiveness and refuge from Shaytan,2 praising God (other than the prescribed Kalimaat3) during Sala’h – both Fardh and Sunnah and Nawafil. Please answer in the light of Qur’an, Sunnah and Ahadeeth.

Answer

Asking God for our worldly things and well being is an important part of our relationship with the Most Gracious. It is a part of our relationship with God that we ask Him, and only Him, for our worldly requirements, in addition to those of our real life in the hereafter. As is reported by Anas (RA): the Prophet (PBUH) said:

You should ask all your requirements from your Lord and Provider (God), even if it is a thing as trivial as your shoe laces.

As far as using our own words in such supplications is concerned, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. We can ask God for all our requirements whether they concern our temporary life or the permanent one, in any language and using any words we like. Nothing prohibits us from doing so. However, using any other language in our obligatory prayers is something that is not recommended4. The reason is that keeping the obligatory prayers in the Arabic language has given these prayers a standard form in the whole of the Ummah. There has been and is no difference in the obligatory prayers in the essential words pronounced in it. If it were allowed to pronounce the translations of these words, such standardization could not have been maintained.

September 30, 1997

  1. Offering supplications. [↩]
  2. i.e. Satan [↩]
  3. lit: words. [↩]
  4. According to my revised opinion, those parts of Sala’h, which are recited loudly, should necessarily be recited strictly as taught by the Prophet (pbuh). While, as far as the silent supplications during Sala’h are concerned, they may be recited in one’s own language or alternative supplications may be recited in their place. [↩]

Filed Under: Q & A, Worship and Fasting

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