A Prayer for Palestine

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Is there a special du’a (prayer) for the oppressed of Palestine?

There is no special du‘a, or prayer, for one to make for the oppressed. Yet the believer is commanded by Allah and the Prophet, on him be peace, to help his or her brother or sister who is oppressed — and du’a is certainly a most vital part of that support.

The Prophet, on him be peace, said:

Fear the prayer of the oppressed, for there is no veil between it and Allah.” (Bukhari)

Why do we pray for the persecuted and fear their supplication?

Allah revealed the Quran and perfected the religion of Islam as a culmination of “the Religion of God,” in part to bring about justice and peace on earth between all human beings and between humanity and all other worldly creation, and in part to endow people with the right to access proper divine guidance for their everlasting salvation in the Hereafter.

Therefore, Allah made sacred the rights He Himself conferred on all people – including freedom from the impositions on other human beings of things not sanctioned by God and His Messenger, on him be peace.

The five rights Allah has made inalienable for all people include the preservation and protection of the right to religion (dîn), the right to life (nafs), the right to know and safeguard one’s biological lineage (nasl), the right to secure one’s mental health (‘aql), and the right to own and defend one’s property (mal).

The people of Palestine — Muslims, Christians, and Jews who uphold Judaism against religious nationalism — now endure a hostile and violent deprivation of each one of these five essential aims of Islam’s inalienable, God-given rights. (And this holds true from Muslims in many other lands, including the Rohingya, in Sri Lanka, the Uighurs in China, the people of Kashmir, the Muslims of India, the people of Yemen, Somalia, Mali, Libya, and throughout the Middle East.)

Will prayer help these people and will it help?

The Prophet, on him be peace, specifically said prayer is “the armament of the believer” (Bukhârî, Tirmidhî). This means it is essential that believers deploy du’a as such, for victory and deliverance come only from Allah.

Is it legitimate to make a special prayer for the oppressed?

Yes. Many Muslims have recorded special supplications for the relief and victory of the oppressed. The 17th-century Moroccan scholar Muḥammad ibn Nâṣir famously wrote such a prayer that his contemporaries and successors in the city of Fez came to call the “Sword of Ibn Nâṣir,” for its reputed benefits in seeking Allah’s help against oppressors. It is still chanted in supplication today.

Can you suggest a prayer for Palestinians in their hour of need?

No one faced mistreatment and terror for the sake of Allah as our own Prophet, on him be peace.

It is no coincidence that in the midst of his great persecution, Allah transported the Prophet, on him be peace, miraculously in the Night Journey (Al-Isrâ’) to Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa (The Furthest Mosque) in Jersualem. Notably, upon this sacred mount — in the time of such harrowing persecution — Allah returned the souls of all the prophets in their persons for the Prophet, on him be peace, to lead them collectively in ritual prayer (ṣalât). Thereby, Allah demonstrated to him and to us all the universal prophetic stance of spiritual and material support for the oppressed in the moment of need.

We should never underestimate the incomparable power and potency of prayer. Yet it is our material support that “realizes” the sincerity of our prayer. They need food, clean water, clothing, shelter and every kind of life and living assistance urgently. You can support the persecuted and besieged of Palestine here.

A Prayer for Palestine

Here, then, is a prayer for the persecuted of Palestine based, in part, on how the Prophet, on him be peace, himself, petitioned Allah after the violent aggression against him committed by the tyrants of Ṭâ’if, a city near Mecca. (We can make this prayer, following the prophetic example, for the oppressed everywhere.)

A Prayer for Palestine

O Allah! You Who are the One Alone and the All-Living,
You Who are the All-Merciful and the Mercy-Giving,
You Who are the All-Forgiving and the Mercy-Giving,
You Who are the All-Relenting and the Mercy-Giving,
You Who has reserved the seat of truth for the God-fearing,
There, in the Gardens of Paradise, near Yourself, an Invincible King!

You Alone are the Overpowering One, the All-Wise,
and You are all-powerful over all things.
We pray to You Alone, O Allah, for our beloved ones.
The elders and the children,
the men and the women,
and the fearless young
— male and female —
whom in Your Wisdom, You specially selected and placed
to be ever at the ready
near your Holy House, Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa,
and in all the blessed lands of Palestine and beyond what surrounds it.

You Alone, our Lord, we entreat on their behalf and for them,
even as Your Beloved of all creation, Muhammad,
all blessings and peace be upon him,
himself, beseeched You after his violent rejection,
his persecution,
his repelling,
his stoning
by the ungodly, the ungrateful, the merciless, the mocking of Ṭâif:

To You, Our Lord, Alone
Do we lament our feeble powerlessness and theirs;
the poverty of our help to them
and the paucity of support they have from Muslims;
and our humiliation and theirs before all people.

O Most Merciful of the merciful!
You are the Lord of the oppressed,
And You are our Lord.
To Whom will You leave Your people of Palestine and Islam?
To the alien and distant who assail them?
Or to an enemy whom You have vested with worldly power over their lives and liberties?

Even so, if You have not become angry with them,
Your people of the blessed land have shown —
whatever the hardship they may face for You in Your decree —
they will not mind.
Yet as to Your happiness — the bestowal of this upon them
is far greater to them than all else.

We but seek refuge in the Light of Your Face,
by which all darkness is illuminated,
and by which all the affairs of this world and the Hereafter
are set aright —
against Your wrath descending upon Your people of the blessed lands and upon us,
or that Your divine displeasure become rightful upon them and us.
It is Yours to reprove your people
until You are well-pleased.
And there is no capacity,
and there is no power,
but in You.

Pour Your peace and blessings upon our master prophet Muhammad,
and upon his family,
his Companions,
his wives,
his descendants,
and all who follow him until the Day of Judgment.
And the last of our prayers is
All praise is for Allah, Lord of the Worlds.

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