Transliteration
Allahumma hawalayna wa la 'alayna, Allahumma 'alal-akami wa z-zirabi, wa butuni l-awdiyati wa manabiti sh-shajar.
Meaning
O Allah, [let it fall] around us and not upon us. O Allah, upon the hills, the hillocks, the bellies of the valleys, and the places where trees grow.
Virtue
This du'a is a request to REDIRECT a mercy, not to cancel it: the rain itself remains a gift, so the words steer its excess away from homes and streets toward hills, valley-floors, and groves, where it does good instead of harm. During a severe drought, a Bedouin interrupted the Prophet's ﷺ Friday sermon to ask him to pray for rain. He raised his hands, and before the congregation had dispersed the sky had opened; rain fell without a single dry day for an entire week, so heavily that dwellings began to collapse and the streets became impassable. The following Friday the same man stood again, this time to complain of the opposite problem: 'The buildings have collapsed and property has been swept away, so pray to Allah to hold it back from us.' The Prophet ﷺ smiled, raised his hands, and simply pointed to the sky in a circle, saying this du'a. Anas (ra), who witnessed it, said the clouds parted 'like a hole opening in a garment' forming a visible ring around Madinah while the sun shone directly overhead for as long as the Prophet ﷺ spoke, with rain continuing to fall on the surrounding hills and valleys. Ibn Hajar (Fath al-Bari) names this among the clearest sensory miracles witnessed communally rather than by a single narrator. Its lasting lesson: a believer may ask Allah to moderate even a mercy when it threatens harm, directing it toward where it benefits rather than where it destroys.