Salat al-Istisqa
- Author died
- 1440 AH
- Editions
- Safir Press
Salat al-Istisqa (Arabic: صلاة الاستسقاء, lit. 'The Prayer for Seeking Rain') is a legal treatise written by the Saudi scholar Saeed bin Wahf al-Qahtani (d. 1440 AH / 2018 CE) examining the legal rulings, causes, manners, and Prophetic supplications related to seeking rain .
Composition and Context
The treatise was completed on the forenoon of Saturday, 20 Rabiʿ al-Awwal 1423 AH (1 June 2002 CE) by Saeed bin Ali bin Wahf al-Qahtani as part of his published book series (no. 39), under the full title Ṣalāt al-Istisqāʾ: Mafhūm, wa-Asbāb, wa-Anwāʿ, wa-Ādāb, wa-Āyāt, wa-Ḥikam, wa-Aḥkām fī Ḍawʾ al-Kitāb wa-l-Sunnah (Prayer for Seeking Rain: Concept, Causes, Types, Etiquettes, Signs, Wisdoms, and Rulings in Light of the Book and the Sunnah) . In preparing the work, al-Qahtani drew extensively upon the jurisprudential determinations and preferences of his teacher, Abd al-Aziz ibn Abd Allah Ibn Baz .
Contents and Structure
The book addresses the legal framework and practical observance of istisqāʾ (supplication for rain) across several core topics outlined in its introduction :
- Concept, Ruling, and Causes: The definition of istisqāʾ in language and Islamic jurisprudence, its legal status, and the underlying spiritual and moral causes of drought and withheld precipitation, such as disobedience and sins .
- Categories and Etiquettes of Rain-Seeking: The various legitimate forms of seeking rain—ranging from standalone supplication to communal prayer—and the requisite decorum and spiritual attitudes incumbent upon Muslims .
- Performance and Sermon: The precise manner (kayfiyyah) of conducting the rain-seeking prayer, the placement and timing of the sermon (khuṭbah), the prescribed Sunnah of raising the hands high during invocation, authentic Prophetic supplications, and the practice of inverting the outer cloak (taḥwīl al-ridāʾ) while facing the Qiblah near the conclusion of the sermon .
- Prohibitions and Related Phenomena: A refutation of attributing rainfall to planetary configurations and astral phases (al-anwāʾ), classifying this as a pagan practice of the pre-Islamic era (Jahiliyyah) .
- Etiquettes of Rain and Natural Signs: Prescribed manners when rain falls, concluding with scholarly discussions regarding natural signs of divine power, including thunder, lightning, thunderbolts, and earthquakes .
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