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Is a wife entitled to ask her husband to prioritize her and their children in supplications over his sisters?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Praying for one's relatives, those present, and all Muslims is legally مطلوب (desirable/required). Priority in supplication should be given to those present, who hear the prayer and say "Ameen" to it, for the one who says "Ameen" to a prayer is like the one who supplicates. If a husband prays for himself and then prays for his wife and children, this is legally desirable and there is no harm in it, because preferring others over the wife and children does not diminish their status, and because the conjunction "wa" (and) does not imply sequential order. Relatives have a greater right to kindness, and the legal principle dictates prioritizing the closest then the next closest. Children and wives are given precedence in material and moral rights. Al-Nasa'i narrated from Abu Hurairah that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Give in charity." A man said: "O Messenger of Allah, I have a dinar." He said: "Spend it on yourself." He said: "I have another." He said: "Spend it on your wife." He said: "I have another." He said: "Spend it on your child." He said: "I have another." He said: "Spend it on your servant." He said: "I have another." He said: "You know best."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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