Who says you can’t make it rain? A group of Bay Area Muslims is taking steps to cook up a little moisture, holding a prayer service this weekend to implore a higher power to scare up some clouds.

Dozens of well-wishers, perhaps even hundreds, are expected to gather at the fairgrounds in Pleasanton on Saturday and recite the traditional Islamic rain prayer. The public — and people of all faiths — are invited to attend the event.

“We have a specific prayer where we’re asking God to help us out,” said Irfan Rydhan with the South Bay Islamic Association, noting that the prophet Muhammad offered a drought invocation more than 1,000 years ago. “Rain is considered a blessed thing because it provides life all over the world. We’re asking for the blessing.”

Rydhan’s group is not the first to request a little help from above. As California faces its third year of unusually dry weather, Muslims, Christians and others have been tapping their faiths.

A study group at a Baptist Church in Merced beseeched God for about a half hour last week to shake off the drought. Muslims in Folsom held a prayer service earlier this month as the community’s reservoir dipped to a record low. And rain dances among Native American groups have taken place from San Diego to Monterey.

Asked if Saturday’s prayer service will really help, Rydhan noted that a storm hit California this week after prayers were said in the Sacramento area: “It should hopefully add more rain.”