Friday Prayer Remedy: Sufi Fada’il and Wird

A Friday prayer remedy in the Sufi sources is not a rival to the congregational prayer but a body of worship layered around it — additional rak’ah, chapters of the Quran, names of Allah, and salawat that the tradition attaches to the day of gathering as to no other. Al-Jawahir al-Khamsa of Muhammad bin Khayr al-Din al-Attar (d. 970 AH/1562 CE) preserves three such strands: a report about a Bedouin and a prayer for those who cannot attend, a names-dhikr recited after the morning prayer on Friday, and the salawat practice attributed to Imam al-Bukhari. This post reads all three as the book gives them: the fada’il are reported as the book reports them; du’a, wird and salawat complement medicine and lawful effort, never replace them; nothing is a guaranteed cure; the limits of the Shariah apply; and practice is best taken from a knowledgeable guide.

The Friday Prayer Remedy the Book Preserves

Among the chapters on prayer, the book carries one of the reports it preserves about the day of gathering — a report whose chain the printed edition itself flags with caution, and which is therefore presented here as the book’s report, not as an independently verified hadith. In the story as the text tells it, a Bedouin came to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and said: we dwell in the desert, and the town is far from us, and we cannot attend the gathering — so point me to a deed I can take back to my people. The Prophet ﷺ taught him a practice whose counts the book states plainly. After the sun has risen, pray two rak’ah: in the first, after the opening chapter, Qul a’udhu bi-rabbi’l-falaq; in the second, Qul a’udhu bi-rabbi’n-nas. After the salam, recite Ayat al-Kursi seven times. Then rise and pray four rak’ah; in each, after the opening chapter, recite a short chapter whose opening words announce the coming of Allah’s help — the text reads it as idha ja’a nasrullah — once, followed by Qul huwa Allah ahad twenty-five times. On completing them, recite la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah seventy times.

The report’s audience is itself part of its meaning: it was taught to a man who could not get to the mosque, on behalf of people who lived far from it, making it a remedy of distance and absence. Structurally, the two rak’ah ask for protection in the Quran’s own words of refuge; Ayat al-Kursi sits between the two prayers; the four rak’ah are built on victory and pure monotheism; and the seventyfold closing dhikr is the seal. Two cautions: the chapter after the opening in the four rak’ah is described as the text specifies it, and its recitation should be confirmed with a knowledgeable person rather than from a blog post; and the practice is addition, not substitution — prayed beside the obligatory prayer, never instead of it.

The Rewards the Book Reports

After the prescription, the book reports immense rewards — and here the honesty framing matters most. The printed edition footnotes this report as one the editor could not trace in his sources; the fada’il are therefore presented as material the book preserves. The text says that whoever prays this prayer on Friday has a reward like one who has prayed on every Friday of the year; that a caller from beneath the Throne addresses him with forgiveness of his past sins; that his reward includes that of one who recites the Torah, the Injil, the Zabur and the Psalms, and of fasting every day and circumambulating the Ka’bah; that it is as if he had built the mosque of the Prophet and Bayt al-Maqdis with his own hand; that his good deeds are written beyond the number of stones, the leaves of trees and the grains of sand; and that it is as if he had reached Prophet Musa and aided him. The report closes with the Bedouin departing joyful, knowing that no one knows the true reward of this prayer except Allah.

This catalogue is not a price list. Its function is to break the reader’s calculation: the practice is small, and the report insists its worth belongs to a ledger the servant cannot audit. The fada’il are a reason to pray, not a currency to claim — and they are conditioned on acceptance, lawful means, and the decree of Allah.

Al-Raqib ar-Ra’uf: The Friday Names-Dhikr after Fajr

A second Friday strand is a names-dhikr placed after the Fajr prayer on Friday — the morning of the day of gathering. The text attributes it to Sultan al-Muhaqqiqin, the Hajj Qudurat Allah Khwaja, and states its promise in the book’s own voice: whoever recites it every Friday after the obligatory morning prayer, once, for him Allah opens the keys of the treasures of the unseen, and there reaches him provision in the two abodes. As with the Bedouin report, the promise is reported; it is not a guarantee, and the dhikr is asked as a means, not claimed as an entitlement.

The form follows the school’s familiar pattern. It opens with invocations of the Divine Names — the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate, the Forbearing, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all that exists, the Lord of Majesty and Honour — each three times. It then moves through titles of rescue: the Opener of doors, the Knower of secrets, the Guide of the bewildered, the Aid of the distressed — and at this last title the text commands help me, three times. What follows is a formula of tawakkul, the servant placing his affair in Allah’s hands, and then a request to Allah as the Provider, the Opener, the Expander to open the doors of bounty, mercy, provision and good. The whole is compact, and it rewards presence of heart more than volume; readers who keep a morning wird will find it sits beside the daily wird as a complete remedy system.

Salat al-Bukhari: The Imam’s Friday Salawat

The third strand the book preserves for Friday is a salawat practice attributed to Imam al-Bukhari — described in the text as the practice the Imam reported in his own awrad, the litanies he kept. The form is a series of salawat upon the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, each naming him by a title: the Arab, the Qurayshi, the Makki, the Prophet of Allah, the Beloved of Allah, the Master of al-Hasan and al-Husayn, the father of Fatimah al-Zahra, the owner of the pulpit and the night ascension — each closed with the prayer and peace upon him. The book reports that whoever sends salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ in this way does so as if he had performed the Hajj and the Umrah; it frames the practice as the Imam’s own reported devotion, not as a legal ruling.

Salawat on the Prophet ﷺ is among the most securely grounded acts in the tradition, and its place on Friday is emphasised across the schools of his lovers. That is the level at which this strand is best held: not as a transaction priced against Hajj, but as the reported practice of a great Imam whose love the book invites its readers to share. The wider series opens with spiritual remedies in Qadri and Shattari Sufism, and the Shattari litanies are described at the Shattari wird and daily litanies. Taken together, the three strands give Friday the shape the book assumes its readers recognise: the obligatory surrounded by the voluntary. None replaces the congregational prayer or medical treatment where treatment is due; all are additions the book reports, taken with sincerity, presence of heart, and the guidance of a knowledgeable person.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Friday prayer remedy in Al-Jawahir al-Khamsa?

It is a body of worship the book attaches to Friday: two rak’ah after sunrise with the two chapters of refuge, Ayat al-Kursi seven times after the salam, four further rak’ah with the chapter of victory once and the chapter of sincerity twenty-five times in each, closed with la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah seventy times; plus a names-dhikr after Fajr and the salawat attributed to Imam al-Bukhari.

Is the Bedouin report a hadith from Bukhari and Muslim?

The book preserves it as one of its reports, and the printed edition footnotes it with a caution about its chain. This post therefore presents it as the book’s report — with the rewards framed as the book reports them — rather than as an independently verified hadith. Readers may seek a scholar’s verification of the report’s status.

How is the al-Raqib ar-Ra’uf dhikr recited?

As the text gives it: after the obligatory prayer on Friday morning, once. It opens with invocations of Divine Names, three times each, moves through titles of rescue — including the Aid of the distressed, with help me three times — continues with a formula of tawakkul, and closes with a request to Allah as Provider and Opener to open the doors of bounty and mercy. The book reports that it opens the treasures of the unseen; it is asked as a means, not claimed as a right.

Does this Friday practice replace the congregational prayer or medical treatment?

No. These strands are additions around the obligatory prayer, never substitutes for it; and as the series states in every post, du’a, wird and salawat complement medicine and lawful effort, never replace them. Nothing here is a guaranteed cure or a guaranteed reward; the Shariah’s limits apply, and practice is best confirmed with a knowledgeable guide.