The du‘a at the end of the first khutba

Question

A certain person at the end of the first khutba pronounces the words of du‘a thus: [ar]أستغفر الله لي ولكم ولسائر المؤمنين[/ar] “I seek Allah’s forgiveness for myself, for you and for all the believers” — etc. Zayd says that here, instead of “for all the believers” (wa li-sa’ir al-mu’minin), “for all the Muslims” (wa li-sa’ir al-muslimin) would be better: the word “Muslim” is general and “mu’min” is specific, and the abundant use of general words in the du‘as of the sunna is a just witness to this. What is correct?

Answer

If the imam, accepting what Zayd says, recites in the khutba “I seek Allah’s forgiveness for myself, for you and for all the Muslims” (wa li-sa’ir al-muslimin) in place of “and for all the believers” (wa li-sa’ir al-mu’minin), then Zayd’s heart will be pleased as well, and the du‘a will also become general.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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