7. Intermediation through the supplicant

Abū Sa‘īd Khudrī has narrated:

The Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم) said: A person who comes out of his house with the intention of prayer and prays, “O Allah, I beseech You through the mediation of those who always crave Your (mercy) and I beg You through the mediation of my these steps (moving towards prayer). Surely I am heading neither towards any evil, nor out of pride or arrogance, nor out of a sense of self-display, nor for the sake of any world reputation. I have come out of my house to escape Your displeasure and to earn Your pleasure. So I beg You to save me from the fire of Hell and forgive my sins. Surely, You are the Only One Who forgives sins.” Then Allah turns towards him and seventy thousand angels ask for his forgiveness.[25]

The chain of the tradition is consistent with the requirements of hasan hadith (fair tradition), and five different huffāz[26] of hadith graded it hasan. They are:

1. Hāfiz Dimyātī in al-Mutajarr-ur-rābih fī thawāb al-‘amal-is-sālih.
2. Hāfiz Mundhirī in at-Targhīb wat-tarhīb.
3. Hāfiz Ibn Hajar ‘Asqalānī in ‘Amāl-ul-adhkār.
4. Hāfiz ‘Irāqī in the Takhrīj ahādīth al-Ihyā’.
5. Hāfiz Būsīrī in Misbāh-uz-zujājah.

Ibn Khuzaymah graded it sahīh (sound) in his as-Sahīh through Fudayl bin Marzūq.[27]


[25]. Ibn Mājah related it in his Sunan, b. of masājid wal-jamā‘āt (mosques and congregations) ch.14 (1:256#778); Ahmad bin Hambal in Musnad (3:21); Ibn Abū Shaybah in al-Musannaf (10:211-2#9251); Mundhirī in at-Targhīb wat-tarhīb (2:458); Dimyātī in al-Mutajarr-ur-rabih fī thawāb al-‘amal-is-sālih (pp.641-2#1321); Ibn-us-Sunnī in ‘Amal-ul-yawm wal-laylah (p.30 #83); and Dhahabī in Mīzān-ul-i‘tidāl (2:447#4384).
[26]. Plural of hāfiz.
[27]. Mahmūd Sa‘īd Mamdūh, Raf‘-ul-minārah (pp.171-2).