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:

Assalam alay kum brother burhan

May Allah (SWT) guide you and all of us with the correct knowledge and guidance Ameen.

My question is :

I was praying 2 rakat namaz for shukriya (thanks). daily

but in one of the religious lecture , i heard that there is no such prayer for thanks giving, only sukratul sajdah.

can you make it clear in the light of Quran and Sunnah.

Jazak Allah khair.

(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:

Prayer of gratefulness

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.

One is at absolutely liberty to do any good deed as a sign of gratefulness or to earn the Pleasure or Good Will of their Lord, regardless of whether it be the offering of ‘nafl’ prayers, a sacrifice, performing a fast, giving something to charity, performing the ‘sajdah’, etc……thus if one wishes to offer a two-rakah ‘nafl’ prayer as a sign of gratefulness unto their Lord for the favors He has bestowed upon them, there is absolutely no harm.

What one should not do is give that prayer a name or a form or a time from themselves when the Messenger of Allah (saws) has not endorsed it himself….thus there is absolutely no harm if one offers a ‘two-rakah’ nafl prayer daily or as often as one wills as a sign of their gratitude unto their Lord, but they should abstain from giving it a name like ‘shukrana-namaaz’ or ‘salat-ul-shukr’ etc., when such a name is not endorsed by the Messenger of Allah (saws).

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