497. Can a non –Muslim be prayed for?

Verses (2:124, 2:126) of the Quran provide answers to the question, whether a non –Muslim can be prayed for his well-being.

Verse 2:124 of the Quran speaks of Prophet Ibrahim being appointed as the guidance for mankind where he in turn prayed not only for himself but also for his descendants to be granted the right path to which Allah responded by saying that He would accept his prayers by granting His favors in the case of the good among his descendants.

Here Allah points out the mistake in Prophet Ibrahim seeking a leadership role for all of his descendants consisting of the believers and non-believers. 

This verse seems to point out that prayer should be made only for Muslims, and this is what was supposed to be understood by Prophet Ibrahim through verse 2:126.

In verse 2:126 we find Prophet Ibrahim seeking fruits as food for all his descendants from Makkah. He did not make this plea for all his descendants. 

When it was pointed out in verse 2:124 by Allah that a general plea cannot be made asking to grant leadership roles from all his descendants, the next prayer made by Prophet Ibrahim was specifically only for the good amongst them. To this Allah responds by saying he would grant riches not only to the good but also to others and points out the prayers made only for the good to be granted with food and riches is wrong. Allah points out praying only for the good to be granted food and riches is wrong.

These two verses are not to be taken as contradicting each other because each prayer is different from the other. 

The first prayer made by Prophet Ibrahim is about entitling a person to goodness in the hereafter which is not granted by Allah because of his ancestry but given to those who believe in the Oneness of Allah and do good deeds for His sake, and this is the reason Allah makes Prophet Ibrahim realize his mistake in him making the first prayer. The second prayer by Prophet Ibrahim to Allah is about providing food, fortunes and riches to men. These are not granted based on vices and virtues performed by men. Allah provides food for Muslims as well as non –Muslims. He makes Prophet Ibrahim realize He is the provider of sustenance for all, and it was wrong on the part of Prophet Ibrahim to pray to provide sustenance only for Muslims.

When we have non-Muslims as our friends and relatives, we can pray for their well-being and for their deliverance from poverty, and for their right guidance, but we cannot pray for their place in paradise in the hereafter, because the Almighty has already declared those who have not accepted Islam as their ideology for life cannot enter paradise. These two messages convey the same.