Are We Allowed to Create New Types and Styles of Adhkaar (remembrances of Allah e.g. SubhanAllah) and Duaa (Supplications)

 

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: 

“No doubt adhkaar and dua’s are among the best forms of worship, and worship is one of the matters in which there is no room for personal opinions – we have to follow what the Prophet (ﷺ) did and taught, not our own whims and desires or innovations. The dua’s and adhkaar of the Prophet (ﷺ) are the best that anyone could find. The one who follows this way will be safe and sound, and the benefits and positive results that he will gain are beyond description. Any other dua’s and adhkaar may be haraam or they may be makrooh; they may involve shirk even though most people do not realize that – the details of this would take too long to explain here.

 

No one has the right to teach the people any kinds of dua’s or adhkaar apart from those that are mentioned in the Sunnah, or to make it a kind of regular worship which he expects the people to do regularly as they do the five daily prayers – this is the innovation in religion which Allaah does not allow… As for adopting a wird or regularly reciting a dhikr that is not prescribed in sharia, this is one of the things that is not allowed. The dua’s and adhkaar prescribed by sharia are the best that anyone could ever hope to find, and no one ignores them in favor of newly-invented, innovated adhkaar except one who is ignorant, negligent or a wrongdoer.”

 

(Majmoo’ al-Fataawa, 22/510-511)

When he raised his hands in du`aa’……………………until he had wiped his face with them.”—-Da`eef (Weak) Hadeeth

 

“The Prophet (sallallaahu `alaihi wa sallam), when he raised his hands in du`aa’, he would not put them down until he had wiped his face with them.”

 

Transmitted by Tirmidhi (2/244) & Ibn `Asaakir (7/12/2) via: Hammaad ibn `Isa al-Juhani from Hanzalah ibn Abi Sufyaan al-Jamhi from Saalim ibn `Abdullaah from his father from `Umar ibn al-Khattaab, who said: …

Tirmidhi said after it, “This is a saheeh ghareeb hadeeth. We only know it as a hadeeth of Hammaad ibn `Esa, for he is alone in reporting it; he has few ahaadeeth, but the people have reported from him.”

 

 

However, this reporter is weak, as in Taqreeb of Ibn Hajr, who says about him in Tahdheeb:

Ibn Ma`een said, “A good shaikh” Abu Haatim said, “Weak in Hadeeth”; Abu Daawood said, “Weak, he reports munkar ahaadeeth”; Haakim and Naqqaash said, “He reports fabricated ahaadeeth from Ibn Juraij and Ja`far as-Saadiq.” He is declared to be weak by Daaraqutni. Ibn Hibbaan said, “He reports things which are the wrong way round on the authority of Ibn Juraij and `Abdul `Azeez ibn `Umar ibn `Abdul `Azeez, such that it seems to those whose field this is that it is deliberate; it is not permissible to use him as proof.” Ibn Maakoolaa said, “They declare his ahaadeeth to be weak.”

 

 

Hence, the like of this reporter is very weak, so his ahaadeeth cannot be raised to the level of hasan, let alone saheeh!

 

A similar hadeeth is: “When the Prophet did du`aa’ and raised his hands, he would wipe his face with his hands.”

Da`eef (Weak). Abu Daawood (1492) from Ibn Lahee`ah from Hafs ibn Hishaam ibn `Utbah ibn Abi Waqqaas from Saa’ib ibn Yazeed from his father.

 

This is a weak sanad due to Hafs ibn Hishaam being unknown and the weakness of Ibn Lahee`ah (cf. Taqreeb at-Tahdheeb).

 

 

This hadeeth cannot be strengthened by the two routes of narration together due to the severity in weakness of the first one, which you have seen.

 

The Weakness of the Ahaadeeth Mentioning Wiping the Face with the Hands After Du`aa’ (Supplication)  From Irwaa’ al-Ghaleel (2/178-182) by Shaykh al-Albaani.

 

Related Link: Supplicate with the palms of your hands……….when you finish, wipe your face with them——–Da`eef (Weak) Hadeeth