From the Secrets of the Prophetic Supplication: The Battle for Bread and What the Prophet ﷺ Sought Refuge in When Going Out for His Livelihood

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered at AIA Masjid on 11 May 2025 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

After praising Allah and sending blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ, Dr. Ahmed began with the morning supplication: «اللهم إنا نسألك خير هذا اليوم وخير ما فيه وخير ما بعده، ونعوذ بك من شر هذا اليوم وشر ما فيه وشر ما بعده. اللهم أصلح لنا ديننا الذي هو عصمة أمرنا، وأصلح لنا دنيانا التي فيها معاشنا، وأصلح لنا آخرتنا التي إليها معادنا، واجعل الحياة زيادةً لنا في كل خير، واجعل الموت راحةً لنا من كل شر» ("O Allah, we ask You for the good of this day, the good of what is in it and the good of what comes after it, and we seek refuge in You from the evil of this day, the evil of what is in it and the evil of what comes after it. O Allah, set right for us our religion, which is the safeguard of our affairs; set right for us our worldly life, in which is our livelihood; set right for us our Hereafter, to which is our return; make life an increase for us in every good, and make death a rest for us from every evil"). Then he said that today he is speaking about a new heading from the book The Art of Dhikr and Supplication.

The Battle for Bread

The heading is truly striking: "The Battle for Bread." The author of the book speaks about people every morning, going out to attend to their work; one of us goes to his office, another to his factory, another to his shop, and so on. When they go out, nothing is in anyone's head except the concern of seeking provision.

And life, when we go out to it, consumes a great deal of a person's mental and emotional space. For the attempt to earn a livelihood itself rests on two things: your ability to carry out what you want to do, and people's taking in of the work you have in hand. Take an example: I have a workshop or a mechanic's shop. My skill is what I work with; with it I create my work and perfect my craft, and the customer receives this craft, and I have done the work perfectly. Then someone comes and says to me: "You did it wrong." So I say to him: "Do you understand more than I do? This is my work!" He says: "No, convince me." And he may want to cheat you, or to cut down the payment, or to drain your energy. And so inside every person, while he seeks his provision, there takes place a psychological struggle that no one sees.

The Supplication for Leaving the House

And the Prophet ﷺ, whenever he left his house, used to repeat: «بسم الله، توكلت على الله، ولا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله» ("In the name of Allah, I have put my trust in Allah, and there is no power and no strength except with Allah"). Then he would say: «اللهم إني أعوذ بك أن أَضِلَّ أو أُضَلَّ، أو أَزِلَّ أو أُزَلَّ، أو أَظْلِمَ أو أُظْلَمَ، أو أَجْهَلَ أو يُجْهَلَ عَلَيَّ» ("O Allah, I seek refuge in You from going astray or being led astray, from slipping or being made to slip, from wronging or being wronged, from acting foolishly or having foolishness shown to me")^[1].

So what is the Prophet ﷺ seeking refuge from? He is teaching us that our mixing with people exposes us to many problems: discussions that go back and forth, and sometimes it reaches the point of a quarrel. Look at a man who left his house "beaten down" as usual, who cannot bear anyone speaking to him; the first thing I said to him was "Peace be upon you," and he said to me: "What's with you, man? Are you picking a fight with me?" So I said: "By Allah, I only said peace be upon you; nobody stepped on your toe." And he says: "No, you people..." and nothing is left for you but to say: Allahu akbar!

And his saying «بسم الله توكلت على الله» is putting one's trust in Allah, Lord of the worlds.

That I Slip or Am Made to Slip: The Error of Execution

"Zalal" (slipping) is error, and error may be deliberate or unintentional. For the deliberate one, the servant is held to account in this world and the Hereafter; for the unintentional one, he is held to account in this world but not in the Hereafter. For the Prophet ﷺ taught us that deeds are by intentions and that every person will have what he intended, and he taught us in another ḥadīth that whoever intends an evil deed but does not do it, no evil deed is written against him, and whoever intends a good deed but does not do it, a good deed is written for him^[2]. By gathering these texts we understand that whoever makes an unintentional mistake is not held to account for it before Allah, blessed and exalted; he is held to account for it only in this world.

That I Go Astray or Am Led Astray: The Error of Thinking

Going astray is an act of the mind. So there is an error of execution, which came in the first expression, and an error of thinking, which came in the second expression, and combining the wordings of the ḥadīth and its parts completes the meaning for you. I may err while I am carrying something out, even though I am understanding, very alert, skilled and professional in my craft, but my hand slipped over a digit: instead of writing seventy, I wrote seven hundred. This error can be corrected, because my mind is awake, so even if the error came from me I will correct it; I hurry, put my affairs in order and redo it, or I call the customer: "Such-and-such happened, I need to see you." My mind is awake. But when the mind errs, what follows may be more severe.

That I Wrong or Am Wronged: The Error of Assessment

When does wrongdoing come? It is a question answered by your assessment of the circumstances. I did a simple job, I finished it, I did it correctly, and its value in people's assessment is ten, but I sensed that I had put into it effort worth twenty. If I ask for ten, that is normal, but some people think they deserve more than that and take the excess, so they have wronged the one in front of them, especially if the one in front of me knows nothing about my craft. That is in "that I wrong."

Take it the other way, "or am wronged": your job is worth ten and you have done it in the most complete way, and you said to the customer: "Ten." He says: "No, you're very expensive, my good man, we have no agreement, we didn't make a contract, I won't give you less than five," and then "Uncle, don't wrong me, do me a favor." Like that.

So the point is that the Prophet ﷺ wanted to spare each one of us the error of his hand, then the error of his mind, then the error of his assessment in judging matters and in people's judging of his work. Did you see the equation?

That I Act Foolishly or Foolishness Is Shown to Me

Then he ﷺ says: «أو أجهل أو يُجهل عليّ» ("or that I act foolishly or that foolishness be shown to me"). For when we discuss, when we began to talk about the matter: ten, no, twenty, five, fifteen, our voices began to rise, and I said to him: "You don't understand!" and he said to me: "No, you!" And we began to say wrong things to each other and escalate like this until we find ourselves with the policeman, because we acted foolishly toward each other. And ignorance here is that I act foolishly toward him or he acts foolishly toward me.

Dr. Ahmed mentioned that the talk on this point is very long, and that he will complete it, God willing, in a renewed gathering.

The Conclusion

Then he concluded with the saying of the Prophet ﷺ: «اللهم لا سهل إلا ما جعلتَه سهلًا، وأنت إذا شئتَ جعلتَ الحَزْنَ سهلًا» ("O Allah, nothing is easy except what You make easy, and You, if You will, make the hard ground easy"), and "ḥazn" is the difficult^[3].

And he asked Allah to employ us and you in obedience to Him, and to mend our hearts. He asked Him for safety and security for our people in Palestine, and for the protection of His Muslim servants in Pakistan and India, and that He spare the blood of people and protect the honor of Muslim men and women. And he said: "Keep us safe from every slip, protect us from every misguidance, grant us security from every fear, let down Your covering over us, and preserve for us Your well-being." And may Allah send blessings and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: This supplication is reported in the Sunan of Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī and others from the ḥadīth of Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her). I have set down the order of the wordings as the speaker explained them in the course of the khatira. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: The speaker mentioned the meaning of the ḥadīth on intending a good or an evil deed only in summary, and the wording set down here accords with its meaning in the two Ṣaḥīḥs from the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both). ^[3]: Editor's documentation: What is transmitted of the prophetic supplication is: «وأنت تجعل الحَزْنَ إذا شئتَ سهلًا» ("and You make the hard ground easy when You will"), which Ibn Ḥibbān narrated in his Ṣaḥīḥ from the ḥadīth of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him).