O people! Hold Allah in reverence and piety and realise fully the grace of Allah upon you by His sending down rain from the sky, then directing it through springs on the earth and preserving it there for you to draw as required. Had it not been for the mercy of Allah, it would have remained on the surface of the earth and would have become contaminated and therefore resulted in pollution, as He says that which means: “And We sent the fertilising winds and sent down water from the sky and given you drink from it. And you are not its retainers.” (Al-Hijr: 22).
Thank Allah, O Muslims, for His grace, and realise your dire need of water, which is the essence of your life and that of your animals, trees and plants. You cannot do without it even for the twinkling of the eye as Allah says that which means: “Say: ‘Have you considered: if your water was to become sunken [into the earth], then who could bring you flowing water?” (Al-Mulk: 30).
O Muslims! You know fully well the harms resulting from the shortage of water and how this adversely affects the crops, fruits and animals. Some people have to resort to keeping underground reservoirs of water due to the shortage of rain. You Muslims are in dire need of rain and none but Allah can send it down to you. Allah alone listens to the distressed soul when it calls on Him, and it is He who relieves its suffering. He, the Exalted, helps the needy, supports the poor and endows His mercy on the weak. Allah alone has power over all things, and He alone has full knowledge of each and everything. When He bestows a bounty, He does so for a wise aim, and when He withholds it, He does so for another wise aim, and He alone is the One Who understands the finest mysteries and is well acquainted with them.
O Muslims! You must be aware of your neediness for the mercy of your Lord and His support. He alone can relieve you from such distress and none but the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful can save you from your suffering.
O Muslims! You should know that supplication is the essence of worship and that Allah is the Most Generous and the Most Bountiful. If a worshipper raises his hands in supplication, He will surely answer it. Whoever supplicates to Allah sincerely and with firm belief, will never be abandoned; either he will get what he desires, or that better rewards than what he asked for will be reserved for him, or that an evil that was heading his way will be averted from him.
O Muslims! Upon knowing this, raise your hands in supplication and direct your hearts to your Lord, seeking His Help and Support and hoping for His Grace and Generosity. Start your supplication by repenting sincerely and asking Allah to forgive your sins.
O Allah! We ask You on account of the fact that we testify that there is nothing worthy of worship but You; You are Allah, the Eternal, the Absolute; He who does not beget, nor is He begotten; and there is none like You. O Allah! You are full of Majesty, Bounty and Honour, and you are the Living, the Self-Subsisting, and the Eternal. We ask You to renovate our hearts and make them alive with Your remembrance. We ask You to reform our inner being by endowing sincerity and Your love, for You are the Living, the Self-Subsisting, and the Eternal. We ask You to reform our external appearance by guiding us to follow Your Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, and to act according to Your legal decrees to the extent that we find in our souls no resistance against Your decisions, but accept them with the fullest conviction.
O Allah! We ask forgiveness from you; for You are Oft-Forgiving. O Allah! Send us rain in abundance, and provide us with water and never make us among the disappointed.
O Allah! Relieve us. O Allah! Relieve us. O Allah! Relieve us.
O Allah! Make our plants and crops grow, provide our animals with milk, shower us with the blessings of the heavens and provide us with the blessings of the earth. O Allah! Provide us with water and never make us among the disappointed. O Allah! Make it rain of mercy, and not rain of torture, destruction and drowning.
Muslim brothers! Follow the method of your Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, in this prayer, for he used to wear his gown inside-out in optimism, hoping that Allah will reverse his condition into that of affluence. It is also a symbol that one has changed his inner condition and embraced and adhered to piety instead of sins. After doing so, the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alaihi wa sallam, would face the Qiblah, or direction of prayer, and supplicate to Allah. Then, he would call people to repent pointing out that what had afflicted them was nothing but the outcome of their sins and that they should repent to Allah and beg for His forgiveness at all times.
