The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "Nothing prolongs one's life except righteousness, nothing repels divine decree except supplication, and a man may indeed be deprived of provision because of a sin he commits."
قال رسول الله ﷺ: لا يزيد في العمر إلا البر، ولا يرد القدر إلا الدعاء، وإن الرجل ليحرم الرزق بخطيئة يعملها.
Ibn Majah (90) narrated it from Ali bin Muhammad, who said, Waki told us, from Sufyan, from Abdullah bin Isa, from Abdullah bin Abu Jaad, from Thawban, and he related it. Ibn Hibban (872) and Hakim (1/493) graded it sahih, both narrating it through the route of Abdullah bin Isa, with the same wording. Hakim said, "sahih in chain." Ahmad (22386) and Bayhaqi in al-Qada wal-Qadar (249) also narrated it.Abdullah bin Abu Jaad had two people narrate from him, Abdullah bin Isa and his nephew's son Rafi bin Salama bin Ziyad bin Abu Jaad. No criticism of him is known, and for this reason Iraqi graded the hadith hasan, as Busiri quoted in al-Zawaid, saying, "I asked our shaykh Abu Fadl Iraqi, may Allah have mercy on him, about this hadith, and he said, 'This is a hasan hadith.' End of quote. Ahmad bin Mani narrated it in his Musnad, saying, Abu Ahmad Zubayri told us, Sufyan told us, and he related it in full." End of Busiri's statement.Similar in meaning is what was narrated from Ibn Umar as a saying of the Prophet, "Whoever among you has the door of supplication opened for him has had the doors of mercy opened for him, and Allah is asked for nothing" meaning nothing more beloved to Him than being asked for well-being. He also said, "Indeed supplication benefits against what has already befallen and what has not yet befallen, so hold fast, servants of Allah, to supplication." Tirmidhi (3548) narrated this from Hasan bin Arafah, who said, Yazid bin Harun told us, from Abdul-Rahman bin Abu Bakr Qurashi, from Musa bin Uqba, from Nafi, from Ibn Umar, and he related it.Hakim (1/493) also related it through the route of Yazid bin Harun, without commenting on it. Dhahabi said, "Abdul-Rahman is weak." Tirmidhi said, "This is a gharib hadith" in one copy, "hasan gharib" "we do not know it except through the hadith of Abdul-Rahman bin Abu Bakr Qurashi, who is the Makki, the Mulayki, and he is daif in hadith. Some scholars of hadith have criticized him regarding his memory. Israil has narrated this hadith from Abdul-Rahman bin Abu Bakr, from Musa bin Uqba, from Nafi, from Ibn Umar, from the Prophet ﷺ, who said, 'Allah is asked for nothing more beloved to Him than well-being.'" He said, Qasim bin Dinar Kufi told us this, Ishaq bin Mansur Kufi told us, from Israil, "this." End of Tirmidhi's statement.I say, it is as he said, for Abdul-Rahman bin Abu Bakr bin Abdullah Qurashi, the majority of scholars agree in judging him daif. Imam Ahmad said, "His hadith is munkar." Nasai said, "His hadith is discarded."Similar in meaning also is what was narrated from Ubada bin Samit, who said, the Messenger of Allah was approached while sitting in the shade of the Hatim in Makkah, and it was said, "O Messenger of Allah, the wealth of the father of so-and-so was overtaken by the sword of the sea and lost." The Messenger of Allah said, "No wealth is lost, on land or sea, except through withholding zakat. So safeguard your wealth with zakat, treat your sick with charity, and repel the calamities that befall you with supplication, for supplication benefits against what has already befallen and what has not yet befallen, what has befallen it removes, and what has not yet befallen it withholds."Tabarani narrated this in al-Dua (34) from Muhammad bin Abu Zura Dimashqi, who said, Hisham bin Ammar told us, Irak bin Khalid bin Yazid told us, my father told me, he said, I heard Ibrahim bin Abu Abla narrating from Ubada bin Samit, and he related it.Ibn Abu Hatim said in al-Ilal (640), "I asked my father about a hadith narrated by Hisham bin Ammar" then he mentioned the hadith with its chain "and he said, my father said, 'This is a munkar hadith. Ibrahim did not meet Ubada, and Irak's hadith is munkar, while his father Khalid bin Yazid is more reliable than him, and he is truthful.'" End of quote.There are other hadiths with the same meaning, but they contain defects. The meaning of the hadith is that supplication is among the means of repelling decreed calamity, just as medicine is among the means of repelling decreed illness, and for this reason we have been commanded to make supplication and to seek treatment.His Eminence Shaykh bin Baz, may Allah have mercy on him, said, "What is meant is that the portion of decree that is linked to supplication is repelled by supplication." See his Fatawa (6/204).Shaykh Ibn Uthaymin, may Allah have mercy on him, said, "Supplication repels the decree. Allah may decree something, and then make a cause for it that prevents it, and supplication is one of these causes."