Du’aa’ during wudoo’ by the status of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)

 

I have a habit which I do not know if it is good or bad:  


I ask Allah while washing my feet during wudu’ by the Prophet’s virtue to keep my feet firm on the Siraat. 


Also during the prayer I ask Allah by his Prophet’s virtue to forgive my sins and to have mercy on me. Is this du’a permissible or not?  


I used to make du’a in this way believing that Allah will answer the prayer of who asks him by His beloved Prophet’s virtue, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.

Praise be to Allaah.

Asking Allaah to make His slave’s feet steadfast on the
Straight Path is a good du’aa’ and there is nothing wrong with it. We ask
Allaah to make the feet of all of us steadfast. 

But there are two mistakes in this du’aa’: 

1 – Always reciting it when washing your feet during wudoo’: 

You know that wudoo’ is an act of worship and that the Muslim
does not have the right to change the way an act of worship is done or add
to it or take away from it; rather following the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) properly means doing what he did, without
adding or taking anything away. 

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in
Majmoo’ al-Fataawa (22/510): 

No one has the right to introduce to the people any kind of
dhikr or du’aa’ apart from those that are narrated in the Sunnah, and make
them a regular act of worship that the people do all the time, as they do
the five daily prayers; rather this is innovation in the religion for which
Allaah has not given permission. End quote. 

It was not the practice of the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) to say du’aa’ when washing the parts of the
body that are washed in wudoo’. There is a hadeeth concerning that, but it
is not a saheeh narration from the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him). 

Al-Haafiz ibn al-Salaah said: 

There is no saheeh hadeeth concerning that. End quote. It was
mentioned thus by al-Haafiz Ibn Hajar in al-Talkhees al-Habeer
(1/297). 

Ibn al-Qayyim said in al-Manaar al-Muneef (45): 

As for the mawdoo’ (fabricated) hadeeth about dhikr when
washing each part of the body (in wudoo’), it is baatil (invalid). End
quote. 

Al-Nawawi (may Allaah have mercy on him) said of the du’aa’s
recited when washing each part of the body (in wudoo’): The du’aa’ for
washing each part of the body (in wudoo’) has no basis. 

Al-Futoohaat al-Rabbaaniyyah
(2/27-29).

 In Fataawa al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibraaheem (2/49): 

Some people think that there is a dhikr for every part of the
body (when doing wudoo’), and some ahaadeeth have been narrated concerning
that, but they are not saheeh at all, rather they are false. End quote. 

In Duroos li’l-Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (no. 13,
tape 2) it says: 

There is no basis for any of this, and nothing has been
narrated in a sound report from the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him), so these du’aa’s are not recommended when washing these
parts of the body. Rather what is recommended (mustahabb) is two things:
Firstly, when starting to do wudoo’, one should mention the name of Allaah;
secondly, after finishing wudoo’ one should recite the Shahaadah. This is
what is prescribed with regard to wudoo’. End quote. 

It cannot be said that weak ahaadeeth should be acted upon
with regard to good deeds, because there is no consensus on this principle
and there are some who disagree with it. Moreover, with regard to acting
upon weak ahaadeeth, it is stipulated that they should not be severely weak,
and this condition is not met in this case, as was understood by Ibn ‘Allaan
in al-Futoohaat al-Rabbaaniyyah (2/29). 

Al-Suyooti (may Allaah have mercy on him) wrote an essay on
this matter entitled al-Ighda’ ‘an Du’aa’ al-A’daa’, in which he
explained how very weak the reports concerning that are, and that they are
not fit to be acted upon, even with regard to good deeds. 

See also the answer to question no.
45730. 

2 – As for the second mistake, it is your saying in your
du’aa’, “by the status of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him)”. 

Undoubtedly the status of the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) is great, but Allaah has not made seeking
to draw near to Him (tawassul) by means of that one of the causes of du’aa’
being answered. 

And the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) – who is the one who did not omit to guide us to anything that is good
– did not teach us to seek to draw near to Allaah by means of that. 

Hence it is known that this du’aa’ is not prescribed. 

This has already been explained in the answer to question no.
23265.

 So strive to follow the Sunnah of the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and do not add anything to it or take
anything away; keep away from things that have been introduced into the
religion, as the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
advised us when he said: “I urge you to adhere to
my Sunnah and the sunnah of the rightly guided Khulafa’ (al-Khulafa’
al-Raashideen), and to seize it firmly. Beware of newly-innovated things,
for every innovation is a going-astray.” Narrated by Abu Dawood
(4607); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood. 

And Allaah knows best.