Acceptance of Prayer: Rain after a Drought

There are a few incidents of Hazrat Umar’s (ra) acceptance of prayer.

Hazrat Khawat (ra) bin Jubair narrates that once, during the caliphate of Hazrat Umar (ra), the people suffered from a severe drought. Hazrat Umar (ra) went out with the people and led them in the prayer of Istisqa [seeking rain], consisting of two rak‘aat [units of prayer]. Then, he placed his cloak on his shoulders, taking the left end and placing it on his right shoulder and taking the right end and placing it on his left shoulder. That is to say, he wrapped the cloak around him. He then raised his hands in prayer and supplicated:

اللَّهُمَّ‭ ‬إنَّا‭ ‬نَسْتَغْفِرُكَ‭ ‬وَنَسْتَسْقِيْكَ

“O Allah, the Powerful and Mighty, we ask of Your forgiveness and supplicate to You for rain”.

Hazrat Umar (ra) had not yet moved from his place following the prayer when it began to rain. The narrator says that some villagers came to Hazrat Umar (ra) and submitted, “O Leader of the Faithful, on such and such day, we were in our desert dwellings when the clouds loomed above us and we heard a voice from the cloud saying ‘O Abu Hafs! Help has been sent to you through this rain. O Abu Hafs! Help has been sent to you through this rain.’”

(Kanz al-Ummal, Vol. 14, p. 8, Hadith 23533, Kitab al-Salah, Bab al-Sabi, Bab Salat al-Istisqa, Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2004)