Preface

Praying to Allah Ta^cala is a unique act which operates in two simultaneous dimensions. On. the one hand, it fulfills the needs of a servant of Al­lah while on the other it is, in itself, a great act of worship which brings return and reward. A hu­man being who does not face a lot of needs every day would certainly be hard to find. But, en­grossed in materials and means, human beings when faced with these needs rely on material means only. In doing so, they keep the entire fund of their thought and effort focused on noth­ing but these material means. As such, if a per­son himself, or some relative of his, gets sick, more concern is shown these days about the treatment. But, it occurs to very few people that no treatment can work without the permission and will of Allah Ta’ala. So, alongwith the treat­ment, health and recovery should be asked of Al­lah Ta‘ala alone.
Similarly, if someone is out of job or in debt,all conceivable worldly means are employed with due urgency to find a job or pay off a debt. But, not many people would find it urgent and impor­tant enough to raise their hands of prayer for this purpose, of course, alongwith the means being employed.
However, people who have been blessed with insight by Allah Ta‘ala know that no particle in this universe can move without the permission and will of our Creator and Master. Therefore, they do employ means as necessary, but place their trust in Allah and, alongwith resources and means, take time to turn to Allah and make prayers before Him alone.
Allah Ta‘ala is so Merciful and so Benevolent that He, not only listens to the prayers made by His servants, but the more He is prayed to the more He blesses His supplicating servant with His pleasure. Allah Ta‘ala bestows on each prayer the reward of an act of worship and He is displeased with His servant who will not make a prayer to Him.
Allah Ta’ala has not fixed any particular words for making a prayer. In fact, He has made it easy on human beings that they can ask for any of their permissible needs from their Creator in their language and in their way. Fixed for this, there are no particular words, nor any particular time. Instead of that, Allah Ta‘ala has made the act of calling on Him so easy that servants of His can, at will and directly, present their needs be­fore Allah Ta‘ala in their words.
But, everyone does not know the very eti­quette of asking, nor is one mindful enough most of the time as to what are the things that have to be asked of Allah Ta‘ala.
Therefore, for every purpose relating to a per­son’s material and spiritual life, the best of prayers have been already taught in the Qur‘an and Hadith so that one could use them as and when needed to seek for personal correction and betterment in life. Certainly great are things which have been asked through these prayers, but the words in which they have been asked have, in themselves, great effectiveness and a lot of light. And experience proves that an abundant engagement in continuing to recite these prayers with the attitude of honestly heart-felt entreaty will help one move through the stages of spiritual realization so quickly as would not come from major strivings and exercises.
Therefore, many respected scholars and eld­ers have compiled these prayers into brief trea­tises so that Muslims could memorize these prayers within a short time, or could make use of such treatises and benefit by these prayers from time to time.
It is at the request of some friends that this humble writer is also compiling this collection of brief prayers which could be memorized easily and which everyone could include in the schedule of daily doings. My objective is to acquire good from it like others. May Allah Ta‘ala. accept this effort of mine and make it a handy treasure of Akhirah for this humble writer, the publisher and for all readers.

English Version of Pur Nur Du’ain

Radiant Prayers is the English version of my book پرنور دعائیں published in 1997. In view of the paucity of authentic books of prayer in English and their acute need felt by Muslims in English- speaking areas of the world, the present version was prepared by my learned brother Professor Muhammad Shameem and includes suggestions for improvement made by me.
I prayer to Allah for the best of returns to him, and his family, and to all Muslim men, women and children who benefit by this presen­tation. Amin.

Muhammad Taqi Usmani

28 Rabf-al-thani 1419 A.H.