Question: I heard that there’s one name of Allah, that if you use it to invoke Allah, your du’a is accepted. Is this true?

Answerer: Shaykh Yasir Qadhi

The Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) said: “To Allah belongs a Grand Name, that, if you make du’a with it, it will be responded to. And if you plead or request with it, it shall be answered.” [Recorded in Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi, and others; Saheeh]

This hadith mentions this concept of the Grand Name of Allah (سبحانه وتعالى). This Grand Name, the Prophet (صلي الله عليه وسلم) didn’t tell us what it is, because that defeats the purpose (calling Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) by ALL His names, not just one or two)!

The scholars say there are two very strong opinions on what the Grand Name is:

  1. The name is Al-Hayyu and Al-Qayyum (from Ayatul Kursi)
  2. The name is Allah (Allah is mentioned by name over 3000 times in the Qur’an)

And the stronger opinion (according to me), is that the Grand Name is Allah. And these are the two strongest opinions.

So there’s no problem combining all three when you invoke Allah (i.e. saying “Ya Allah, ya Hayyu, ya Qayyum, …”). And remember, when Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) says he WILL respond, it won’t necessarily be what you want–He might give you something better, though you might not see it that way. You can look up this topic in more detail in my book “Du’a: The Weapon of the Believer.”

References

Yasir Qadhi. Lecture. AlMaghrib. Light Upon Light: Fundamentals of Faith 102. Metro Toronto Convention Center, July 2007.