Ruling on Loud Collective Duʿā After Witr or Khatm al-Qur’ān
Source: Fatāwā Muḥammadiyyah, Vol. 1, Page 276
❖ Question
In some mosques, after the Witr prayer, the imām switches off all the lights, then cries loudly with wailing and shouting, making duʿā for forgiveness. Food for suḥūr is also arranged for attendees, and the gathering ends near Ṣubḥ al-Ṣādiq. What is the ruling of Islam on this?
❖ Answer
Al-ḥamdu lillāh, waṣ-ṣalātu wa-s-salāmu ʿalā Rasūlillāh, ammā baʿd!
Making loud, collective duʿā with shouting after Witr or at the time of Khatm al-Qur’ān, while turning off lights, is not proven from the Prophet ﷺ, the Companions, the Tābiʿīn, or the Atbāʿ al-Tābiʿīn. Rather, the early Imāms forbade such practices and declared them bidʿah.
Opinions of the Salaf and Scholars
Imām Mālik (رحمه الله)
Ibn al-Qāsim narrates:
When asked about making duʿā at Khatm al-Qur’ān, Imām Mālik replied:
“I have not heard of duʿā at the completion of Qur’ān, and this was not the practice of the people of knowledge.”
[Kitāb al-Muḥdathāt wa al-Bidaʿ, p. 49; al-Madkhal, 2/308]
Abū Salamah bin ʿAbd al-Raḥmān (رحمه الله)
He once saw a man raising his hands and voice in duʿā and said:
“Do not imitate the Jews in making duʿā with loud voices and excessive raising of hands.”
Imām Mālik explained: “Taqliṣ” means raising the voice and hands excessively in duʿā.
[al-Madkhal, 2/308]
Imām Ṭurṭūshī (رحمه الله)
He stated:
“One must avoid the innovation of duʿā after Khatm al-Qur’ān with loud voices and screaming. Allah has commanded:
﴿اُدْعُوا رَبَّكُمْ تَضَرُّعًا وَخُفْيَةً﴾ (al-Aʿrāf: 55)
‘Call upon your Lord with humility and in secret.’
But these people oppose this clear command.”
[al-Madkhal, 2/304]
Imām al-Shāṭibī (رحمه الله)
Narrated from Abū Mūsā (RA):
“We were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on a journey, and the people raised their voices in takbīr. The Prophet ﷺ said: Be gentle with yourselves, you are not calling upon one who is deaf or absent, but One who is All-Hearing, Near, and with you.”
[al-Iʿtiṣām, 1/217]
Imām al-Shāṭibī further said: The Salaf forbade imitating innovators in specific forms of collective duʿā.
Imām Amīr al-Ḥājj (رحمه الله)
He even wrote that if one cannot stop such innovations, it is better for him to pray at home rather than attend the mosque where these practices take place.
❖ Conclusion
Turning off lights, crying loudly with shouting, and making collective duʿā after Witr or Khatm al-Qur’ān is an innovation (bidʿah), and it is obligatory to refrain from it entirely.
Hādhā mā ʿindī, wallāhu aʿlam biṣ-ṣawāb.
