From the Secrets of the Prophetic Supplication: The Battle for Bread and the Prayer for Stepping Out into the World

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 12 May 2025 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the servant of Allah and His Messenger, our master and our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and upon his family and companions, with abundant peace. 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. O Allah, mend our hearts, ease our affairs, fulfill our needs, order our livelihoods, inspire us with our right guidance, and accept our striving. O Allah, make our hope only in what is in Your hands, our expectation only in what is with You, our reliance only upon You, and our fear only of You. Grant us mercy from Yourself; You are the Bestower.

And now: may Allah welcome the noble gathering and pour out upon us and upon you of His favors and His great giving, and we ask Him, glory be to Him, not to deprive us of the blessing of guidance, not to cut us off from His houses, and to make us among the people of His prayers.

The Battle for Bread

The heading we have had for two days is "The Battle for Bread." It is a stirring heading, but reflect on its shades: the Prophet ﷺ, when he went out of his house in the morning of his day like the rest of the people, seeking the bounty of Allah and His good, we can picture his state. If his concern was the concern of the call to Allah, not everyone in society carries that concern; many people carry the concern of provisions, numbers and burdens. So there is a kind of inner contention: a person goes out of his house wanting to overpower life, as if he wanted to devour things.

And the Prophet ﷺ teaches us here: calm down a little. Before you move a hand or a foot, name Allah, and say: «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 teaches us to say: «اللهم إني أعوذ بك أن أَزِلَّ أو أُزَلّ، أو أَضِلَّ أو أُضَلّ، أو أَظلِمَ أو أُظلَم، أو أَجهَلَ أو يُجهَلَ عليّ» ("O Allah, I seek refuge in You from slipping or being made to slip, from going astray or being led astray, from wronging or being wronged, from acting foolishly or having foolishness shown to me").^[1]

Four Errors the Believer Seeks Refuge From

We have spoken before about this supplication, which is that the Prophet ﷺ teaches us to seek refuge in Allah from error in conduct, from error in conception, from error in assessment, and from error in reaction. So I seek refuge in Allah first from erring in my conduct, so that no evil ever issues from me. Then come the mind's conceptions about what I do and what I accomplish, then comes my own assessment of things or others' assessment of them, then the reaction that issues from it.

And what the Prophet intended behind this is that the Prophet ﷺ wants nothing from the world that day except to be safe; he wants nothing more than to come out safe himself. He enters the crowd of life and the battle of the world, and competes with people for provisions, but returns unharmed. And not only he is safe, but others are safe along with him too; he is not harmed by anyone, and he harms no one among the people.

The Angel Who Stamps Your Passport

Then he ﷺ shows us that the reaction that follows this feeling will not come from people only, but you may picture that there is a reaction from the angel. And what does the angel have to do with the matter? The angel assigned to you says to you: «هُديتَ وكُفيتَ ووُقيتَ» ("You are guided, sufficed and protected"). These three words issue from an angel; imagine that the one making this supplication for you is an angel whom Allah, blessed and exalted, has subjected.

The angel gives you a stamp like the stamp you get on a passport, and you pass through, and no one can stop you; no forged paper and no counterfeit stamp. It is as if you took the stamp from the angel, so you cross the journey of life by the permission of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Most High. And during the journey of life souls change: one says a word to you, a second harms you by some action, a third wants to eat up some of your money, and so on.

And we are before a supplication the Prophet ﷺ taught us when he says: «اللهم لا سهل إلا ما جعلته سهلًا، وأنت تجعل الحَزْنَ — أي الصعب — سهلًا إذا شئت» ("O Allah, nothing is easy except what You make easy, and You make the hard ground — that is, the difficult — easy if You will").^[2] And why does the Prophet ﷺ say this word? So that each of us may sense within himself the blessing of Allah in His keeping and safeguarding him, the blessing of Allah, blessed and exalted, in His safeguarding and keeping from within; for there is nothing that can destroy you as long as you seek help from the Lord of the worlds.

Protection From Outside and Protection From Within

But we have another matter: this feeling of the blessing of Allah in keeping and safeguarding, is it from outside or from within? That is: does Allah protect me from outside, or does He protect me from within? You say to me: and why not both? Fine, listen. It is related from the Prophet ﷺ that he said: «ما يمنع أحدكم، إذا عُصر عليه أمر معيشته وأمر دنياه واشتدّ به، ما يمنع أحدكم إذا ضاق عليه أمر معيشته أن يقول إذا خرج من بيته: بسم الله على نفسي ومالي وديني، اللهم رضّني بقضائك، وبارك لي فيما قُدِّر لي، حتى لا أحب تعجيل ما أخّرتَ ولا تأخير ما عجّلتَ» ("What prevents any of you, when the matter of his livelihood and his worldly affairs is squeezed upon him and becomes severe for him, what prevents any of you, when the matter of his livelihood is tight for him, from saying when he leaves his house: In the name of Allah, upon myself, my wealth and my religion. O Allah, make me content with Your decree, and bless me in what has been destined for me, so that I do not love the hastening of what You have delayed nor the delaying of what You have hastened").^[3]

Then we see the result of that. Glory be to Allah, the Most High, the Almighty! You are speaking of a person whom Allah, blessed and exalted, wants to reassure from the depths. So the one who looks at what he has, if it is little he says: Praise be to Allah, if it is much he says: Praise be to Allah, and if he has nothing he says: Praise be to Allah.

And perhaps on some day provision comes to you while you were expecting a certain amount, and on the very same day an allowance comes to you exceeding it from where you did not expect, so you say: My Lord, to You is the praise. Then you return to your house and feel the worldly calculations, as if you were in debt: you were provided with such-and-such, and a bigger allowance came to you than that from where you did not expect. But the tranquil soul of the believer, which has settled with the decree and measure of Allah in all its conditions, is a tranquil soul to the point that the believer says as the Prophet ﷺ says: «اللهم رضّني بقضائك، وبارك لي فيما قُدِّر لي» ("O Allah, make me content with Your decree, and bless me in what has been destined for me"), whatever the figure with you, little or much, «حتى لا أحب تعجيل ما أخّرتَ ولا تأخير ما عجّلتَ» ("so that I do not love the hastening of what You have delayed nor the delaying of what You have hastened").

The Hardest Thing a Person Meets: Dealing With People

Do you know the hardest thing a person meets in his life, in his day, as he goes out to his work? It is the hardship he meets from dealing with people; the hardship or difficulty we meet as we deal with others. People's temperaments are not all alike. (We have gone on a little long with you today; today's lesson and yesterday's lesson must be made up, so send blessings upon the guide, the Prophet ﷺ.)

So the hardest thing a person meets is that when he goes out he meets bad temperaments, he deals with bad natures; people whose spite shows on their faces, we seek refuge in Allah, and whose tongues cannot speak except with what is bad, so that he hurts you and wounds you from within. You are a man upon whom Allah has bestowed favor: you made wudūʾ in your morning, you went out for the prayer, you heard two verses and felt at peace, we sat and talked a little and our minds opened, and we went out into the world with sound hearts, and we ask Allah to protect us from the evil of people, and after that someone comes and sours things for you. Glory be to the All-Creating, the All-Knowing!

Glory Be to the King, the Most Holy

Then the Prophet ﷺ tells us, or as it was related from him, that he says: «أكثِر من أن تقول: سبحان الملك القدوس، رب الملائكة والروح، جلّلتَ السماوات والأرض بالعزة والجبروت» ("Say often: Glory be to the King, the Most Holy, Lord of the angels and the Spirit; You have enveloped the heavens and the earth with might and dominion"). And pay attention to his saying "Say often"; say these words much. The Prophet ﷺ said it in the ḥadīth narrated by al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib, who says: A man came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ complaining to him of loneliness (waḥsha). Waḥsha is a kind of estrangement and hurt that occurs in a person's soul, as if he is saying: O Messenger of Allah, I am suffocating, I am distressed, I feel I cannot deal with people.^[4]

So the Prophet ﷺ teaches him these words. And what do these words do? They calm what is in the soul, and restore to the human soul its luster again until it returns to its origin. So our man says: Glory be to the King, the Most Holy, Lord of the angels and the Spirit, You have enveloped the heavens and the earth with might and dominion.

And if we tried to explain the vocabulary of the ḥadīth and the Prophet's ﷺ choice of words, we would find that this servant is calling upon the King who has dominion over everything, the Most Holy, whom nothing overwhelms. So the keys to people's hearts are in whose hand? And the locks of people's hearts are in whose hand? And the keys to people's minds too are in the hand of Allah, glory be to Him, the Most High. So Allah, Mighty and Majestic, opens a person's heart so that you find rest in him, and, blessed and exalted, expands his mind so that he deals with you well. So you are asking the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, that those who deal with you deal with you well.

And If You Do Not Find What You Expected

Then you say to me: Well, by Allah, I made this supplication a thousand times, and still someone very bad came to me and wore me out. No, pay attention: this imagined baseness that struck you was not the worst he had; he could have given you a much harder time than this; so the Lord of the worlds lightens that because of the supplication. And the other matter is that if you worship Allah with something and do not find what you expected, that is a test from Allah, blessed and exalted, of yourself and of your continuing at the same level of obedience.

Do Not Squander Your Right Before You Sit Down to Settle Accounts

Imagine two of the Companions, or two of the people around the Prophet ﷺ, entering to him so that he would judge between them in a matter, as came from ʿAwf ibn Mālik: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ judged between two men, and the one judged against said as he turned away: «حسبي الله ونعم الوكيل» ("Allah is sufficient for me, and He is the best Disposer of affairs").^[5]

So let us picture the situation: two entered upon the Prophet ﷺ with a problem between them, and he ruled for one of them with the truth and ruled against the other, meaning that one of them is in the wrong. So the one judged against, the one against whom the truth appeared, said as he turned away: Allah is sufficient for me and He is the best Disposer of affairs. The Prophet ﷺ said, as if telling him: come here, calm down: «إن الله تعالى يلوم على العجز، ولكن عليك بالكَيْس» ("Allah, exalted, blames helplessness, but you should have shrewdness"), that is, intellect, resolve, firmness and perseverance. «فإذا غلبك أمر فقل: حسبي الله ونعم الوكيل» ("So when a matter overcomes you, say: Allah is sufficient for me, and He is the best Disposer of affairs"). That is to say: did you take the means in the most complete ways or not?

And to bring the matter closer: once a problem arose with us between two people, both of them our companions and friends and people of merit, and the truth appeared in our talk with one of them. So we said: Where are your papers, my son? And his papers were exact to the letter, from first to last, by the book: written exactly that such-and-such happened on such-and-such day, and we did such-and-such on such-and-such day, and the story is thus and so, all of it written and paper does not lie. Then we went to the other party and found a point from here and a word from there, and he had nothing gathered or recorded. And even if you have a million rights, you cannot prove them. Is that not so? So the right ended up in the hands of the one with shrewdness, the one with intellect, resolve and firmness, who wrote down his papers.

Imagine you have this case between two people, and one of them keeps his papers in order, so that even if he is lying you cannot bind him to anything. Why? Because his papers are all sound from A to Z. And then bring us auditors and look into the accounts, for it is a very long road. But if matters were equal, meaning there was a balance between the two pans in the level of assessing matters and recording figures, then you would speak at another level of discussion.

So it is as if the Prophet ﷺ is warning each of us not to squander his right before he even discusses it with the other party. We say again: he tells you, take care, do not squander your right before you sit down to settle accounts, because you came unprepared: one came with his evidences and proofs, and the second came empty-handed, so from the start whose right will the talk be about? The man who wrote down the figures with such precision is more deserving of being ruled for, because he gave you no chance to record against him a small or great mistake.

Helplessness Is a Deadly Feeling

And the Prophet ﷺ says to our man: Allah, exalted, blames helplessness. And the feeling of helplessness is a deadly feeling, to the point that the soul may be let down by it: when the son of Adam walks among people, this one bumps into him, that one wrongs him, another transgresses against him, so he feels helpless, and this helplessness may keep him from doing more work, or from continuing in his pattern of life.

I will not burden you further than this, but we resume, by the permission of the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, the Most High, and we ask Allah, the Most High, the Almighty, to grant us success and inspire us with right guidance. O Allah, amen. May Allah keep your day safe, and may Allah, exalted, bless your steps.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The mention of leaving the house and his saying «هُديتَ وكُفيتَ ووُقيتَ» ("You are guided, sufficed and protected") is reported in the Sunan of Abū Dāwūd and al-Tirmidhī, and the supplication «اللهم إني أعوذ بك أن أضِلّ أو أُضَلّ…» ("O Allah, I seek refuge in You from going astray or being led astray…") is reported from the ḥadīth of Umm Salama (may Allah be pleased with her) in both; the speaker did not specify a narrator. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Narrated by Ibn Ḥibbān in his Ṣaḥīḥ from the ḥadīth of Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) with the wording: «اللهم لا سهل إلا ما جعلته سهلًا، وأنت تجعل الحَزْنَ إذا شئتَ سهلًا» ("O Allah, nothing is easy except what You make easy, and You make the hard ground easy when You will"). ^[3]: Editor's documentation: The speaker related it with these wordings and did not attribute it; the editor has not verified its source or its authenticity. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: The speaker attributed it to al-Barāʾ ibn ʿĀzib (may Allah be pleased with him); the editor has not verified its wording or its authenticity. The transcription was garbled in some of the wording of the explanation of the ḥadīth, so only what was clear was retained. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: The speaker attributed it to ʿAwf ibn Mālik (may Allah be pleased with him), and it is narrated in the Sunan of Abū Dāwūd; a number of verifiers have graded it weak.