Famine Prayers

"Narrated Abu Huraira;:\n\nWhenever the Prophet (p.b.u.h) lifted his head from the bowing in the last rak`a he used to say: \"O Allah! Save `Aiyash bin Abi Rabi`a. O Allah! Save Salama bin Hisham. O Allah! Save Walid bin Walid. O Allah! Save the weak faithful believers. O Allah! Be hard on the tribes of Mudar and send (famine) years on them like the famine years of (Prophet) Joseph .\" The Prophet (ﷺ) further said, \"Allah forgive the tribes of Ghifar and save the tribes of Aslam.\" Abu Az-Zinad (a sub-narrator) said, \"The Qunut used to be recited by the Prophet (ﷺ) in the Fajr prayer.\"\n\nNarrated Masruq:\n\nWe were with `Abdullah and he said, \"When the Prophet (ﷺ) saw the refusal of the people to accept Islam he said, 'O Allah! Send (famine) years on them for (seven years) like the seven years (of famine during the time) of (Prophet) Joseph.' So famine overtook them for one year and destroyed every kind of life to such an extent that the people started eating hides, carcasses and rotten dead animals. Whenever one of them looked towards the sky, he would (imagine himself to) see smoke because of hunger. So Abu Sufyan went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said, 'O Muhammad! You order people to obey Allah and to keep good relations with kith and kin. No doubt the people of your tribe are dying, so please pray to Allah for them.' So Allah revealed: 'Then watch you For the day that The sky will bring forth a kind Of smoke Plainly visible ... Verily! You will return (to disbelief) On the day when We shall seize You with a mighty grasp. (44.10-16) Ibn Mas`ud added, 'Al-Batsha (i.e. grasp) happened in the battle of Badr and no doubt smoke, Al-Batsha, Al-Lizam, and the verse of Surat Ar-Rum have all passed.'\n\nNarrated Masruq:\n\nOne day I went to Ibn Mas`ud who said, \"When Quraish delayed in embracing Islam, the Prophet (ﷺ) I invoked Allah to curse them, so they were afflicted with a (famine) year because of which many of them died and they ate the carcasses and Abu Sufyan came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said, 'O Muhammad! You came to order people to keep good relation with kith and kin and your nation is being destroyed, so invoke Allah I ?' So the Prophet (ﷺ) I recited the Holy verses of Sirat-Ad-Dukhan: 'Then watch you For the day that The sky will Bring forth a kind Of smoke Plainly visible.' (44.10) When the famine was taken off, the people renegade once again as nonbelievers. The statement of Allah, (in Sura 'Ad-Dukhan'-44) refers to that: 'On the day when We shall seize You with a mighty grasp.' (44.16) And that was what happened on the day of the battle of Badr.\" Asbath added on the authority of Mansur, \"Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) prayed for them and it rained heavily for seven days. So the people complained of the excessive rain. The Prophet (ﷺ) said, 'O Allah! (Let it rain) around us and not on us.' So the clouds dispersed over his head and it rained over the surroundings.\"\n\nNarrated Anas bin Malik:\n\nA man complained to the Prophet (ﷺ) about the destruction of livestock and property and the hunger of the offspring. So he invoked Allah for rain. The narrator (Anas) did not mention that the Prophet (ﷺ) had worn his cloak inside out or faced the Qibla.\n\nNarrated Anas:\n\nAllah's Messenger (ﷺ) was delivering the Khutba (sermon) on a Friday when the people stood up, shouted and said, \"O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! There is no rain (drought), the trees have dried and the livestock are destroyed; Please pray to Allah for rain.\" So Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said twice, \"O Allah! Bless us with rain.\" By Allah, there was no trace of cloud in the sky and suddenly the sky became overcast with clouds and it started raining. The Prophet (ﷺ) came down the pulpit and offered the prayer. When he came back from the prayer (to his house) it was raining and it rained continuously till the next Friday. When the Prophet started delivering the Friday Khutba (sermon), the people started shouting and said to him, \"The houses have collapsed and the roads are cut off; so please pray to Allah to withhold the rain.\" So the Prophet (ﷺ) smiled and said, \"O Allah! Round about us and not on us.\" So the sky became clear over Medina but it kept on raining over the outskirts (of Medina) and not a single drop of rain fell over Median. I looked towards the sky which was as bright and clear as a crown."