I hope I am wrong, but it feels these days that many people are going through a variety of struggles and tests in their lives. Many people I’ve come across have a story which I can imagine is very stressful and saddening… May Allah make it easy for us all.

I asked an old Shaykh from Saudi who was visiting BMHC last month about advice for people going through hardships. He gave me two du’as – one which I was aware of and the other I was not, but I found very interesting. 

The first du’a is one which is well known and in ‘fortress of the muslim’ in the sahīh of al-Bukhāri. The Prophet (saws) used to say; 

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَعُوذُ بِكَ مِنْ الْهَمِّ وَالْحُزْنِ وَالْعَجْزِ وَالْكَسَلِ وَالْبُخْلِ وَالْجُبْنِ وَضَلَعِ الدَّيْنِ وَغَلَبَةِ الرِّجَالِ

“O Allah, I take refuge in You from anxiety and sorrow, weakness and laziness, miserliness and cowardice, the burden of debts and from being overpowered by men.” (Bukhāri).

But it is the 2nd du’a he mentioned which taught me something new. He said the du’a: 

رَبِّ إِنِّي لِمَا أَنزَلْتَ إِلَيَّ مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَقِيرٌ

“My Lord, indeed I am, for whatever good You would send down to me, in need.” (28:24)

I remember thinking, I‘ve seen this in the Qur’an but didn’t realise it was necessarily a du’a to remove hardship. So when I returned home, I looked through some of the tafāseer and found that it was said by Musa (as) when he was sat under a tree in Madyan.

Imām al-Qurtubi and others relate that after Musa (as) accidentally killed the Copt, he fled Egypt in a hurry fearing his life. He headed towards Madyan but was barefooted, extremely hungry, and thirsty to the point it was said his stomach was attached to his back due to severe hunger. This trip was approximately 7 days and as he arrived he saw a well where people were gathering water, with two women looking onwards sidelined. As the narration goes, the men had taken their water and some said they put a boulder on the top to stop others retrieving some. 

Noticing the two women, Musa (as) single-handedly took the boulder off the well and watered their flocks for them. He walked to the tree exhausted, took shade and sat saying the du’a ‘”My Lord, indeed I am, for whatever good You would send down to me, in need.” 

Thereafter as we know, one of the ladies came to Musa with shyness and told him their father invites him. This was Shu’ayb (as) and Musa (as) was given lodging, food, water and employment. In addition, he was granted a pious wife in the form of his daughter, fulfilling Allah’s blessings and help for his beloved Musa (as).

Musa (as) was tested to the point of extreme fatigue, both physically and mentally. But his good deed combined with a supplication of dependence, reliance and adab to his Lord, granted him immediate relief. It is then I understood why this Shaykh gave this du’a, and how we are all in such complete dependence of Allah’s help and mercy.