Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Assalamu Alaikkum. May Allah reward you generously for your service.

One night when I left chest pain with symptoms like heart-attack, two of my Christian friends accompanied me to the hospital. On the way, one of them sought my permission to pray for me. I said that it was ok for him to pray. He held my hands and offered a prayer to Jesus. During this time, within my heart, I was beseeching Allah`s help and even probably (I don`t remember clearly now) told myself that I was not party to my friend`s prayer to Jesus.
Please help me understand if my allowing my friend to pray for me was `shirk` of any sort. If it unfortunately was, can I do anything to be forgiven by the Most Merciful. Jazakallah. 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Asking Christian to pray

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Beloved brother in Islam, when you gave your consent to your non-muslim friend to pray for you, you obviously had no knowledge how he would pray or whom he would invoke in his prayers. It is indeed an evidence of your faith and trust in the Absolute Oneness of Allah Subhanah that as soon as you realized that your friend had invoked a being other than Allah Subhanah in the unseen, you immediately distanced yourself from his invocations of ‘shirk’. Under the circumstances, it would be safe to assume that you would be absolutely blameless for the act of ‘shirk’ committed by your friend.

If your heart is still not content and if perchance you hold yourself responsible for granting your non-muslim friend permission to pray for you in that circumstance of emergency….it is only becoming of a believer that one constantly turn unto their Lord Most Gracious in ‘taubah’ and sincerely seek repentance for their shortcomings…it is expected that you will find your Lord Forgiving and Merciful.

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 3 Surah Ale Imraan verse 135-136:

Allah likes such good people very much, who, if ever they commit a base deed or wrong their own soul by the commission of a sin, remember Allah instantly, and ask for forgiveness from Him for their shortcomings. For who, but Allah, can forgive sins? (And Allah loves those) who do not knowingly persist in the wrongs they did. These will be rewarded with forgiveness from Allah, and with Gardens beneath which canals flow, and they will reside therein forever! How excellent is the reward of those who do good deeds!

Allah says in the Holy Quran Chapter 6 Surah Anaam verse 54:

When those come to you who believe in Our Signs, say: "Peace be on you! Your Lord had inscribed for Himself (the rule of) Mercy. Verily if any of you did evil in ignorance, and thereafter repented and amended (his conduct), Lo! He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful."

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 2357 Narrated by Abdullah ibn Mas'ud

Allah's Messenger (saws) said, "He who repents of a sin is like him who has committed no sin."

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan