Best times to make du’aa
13 July 2006 at 3:28 am diella 5 comments
This is an excerpt from an article I found entitled “Dua'” by Huma Ahmad (http://www.jannah.org/articles/duah.html) This is a nice and straight forward list of the times where du’aas are most likely to be accepted. Also included is a list of things we can do to beautify and perfect our du’aas.
———————-
We can and should make Dua in every condition, i.e. in
hardship and in prosperity. There are also some special
times to make Dua where it is more likely to be accepted:
1. When one is oppressed
2. Between the time of Athan and Iqama
3. At the time of the call for prayer
4. At the time of fighting when warriors are engaged with each other
5. When it is raining
6. When one is sick
7. The last third of the night
8. Ramadan (especially Lailatul Qadr)
9. After the Fard part of prayer
10. When traveling
11. When breaking fast
12. In Sujood
13. Fridays, some say on Friday after Asr prayer
14. While drinking the water from the well of Zamzam
15. At the start of prayer (Dua of Istiftah)
16. When one begins the prayer, i.e. with “all praise be to Allah, the Pure and the Blessed one”
17. While one recites al-Fatiha (which is a Dua)
18. When Ameen is said in the prayer (also relating to Fatiha)
19. At the time of raising the head after the Rukoo
20. In the last part of the prayer after conveying blessings unto the Prophet (SAW)
21. Before finishing the prayer (before Tasleem (saying the Salaam to the angels))
22. At the end of Wudu
23. On the day of Arafah
24. On waking up from sleep
25. At times of adversity
26. Prayer after the death of a person
27. Dua when someone’s heart is filled with sincerity and when it is focused on Allah
28. Dua of the parent against or for his children
29. When the sun moves from its meridian but before the Dhuhr prayer
30. The Dua of a Muslim for his brother without the latter’s knowledge
31. At the time the army advances to fight in the way of Allah.
Dua can be beautified and perfected by certain actions:
1. Have Wudu, face Qibla, be neat and clean
2. Raise both hands up to the shoulder with palms open facing up
3. Use words of Allah and Muhammad (SAW)- i.e. Duas found in Quran and Hadith
4. Ask by Asma alHusna- Allah’s Beautiful Names
5. Ask Allah by your good deeds
6. Be insistent-repeat (i.e. 3x’s)
7. Glorify Allah and recite Durud for the Prophet (SAW) at both the beginning and end
8. Show humility, entreaty, desire and fear while making Dua
9. Repent and try to make amends where one has wronged
10. Confess mistakes, shortcomings, and sins
11. Keep voice between a whisper and speaking aloud
12. Show the need for Allah’s help and implore Him for release from weakness, hardship and tribulation.
13. Seize the opportunity of time, situation and circumstance in which prayers are answered
14. Avoid rhymed prose to keep concentration
15. Crying when making Dua
16. The Dua of Dhun-Nun (Yunus) by which he invoked Allah from within the belly of the whale was: “LAa ilaha illa Anta, Subhanaka innee kuntu min aDH-DHaalimeen.” No Muslim ever makes Dua with it but Allah answers it.” [at tirmidhi in his sunan, ahmad and hakim reported it and hakim declared it authentic and adh dhahabee agreed]
17. End with “Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen”
Entry filed under: Du'aas, Favourites, Islam, Islamic.
5 Comments Add your own
Leave a comment
Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem 
1.
seeker94 | 15 July 2006 at 6:29 am
I was just wondering how is it possible that there are certain specific times when prayers are more likely to be answered? I’m not entirely sure of the logic in that. I’ve got another beautiful book on dua and the author also presented a similar list as above but he did not give any reasons or supporting evidence.
Btw you’ve got a great blog here! Keep it up.
Salaam!
2.
M | 15 July 2006 at 11:05 pm
Assalamu Alaikum, Thank you for your compliment regarding our blog – Alhamudillah. Im very glad you like it and Insha’Allah you get some benefit from it and Insha’Allah we get some benefit from your blog – which i also found to be an interesting read – masha’Allah.
As to your question – i am sorry to say that I cannot give you a definitive answer as I have never had the benefit of formal Islamic education.
However, I hope you will allow me to give you my guess – such as to provide us both with food for thought insha’Allah.
Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem
The way i see it, is that for each of the recommendations regarding the best times to make Du’a etc. there is a certain Hadith from whence the recommendation originated.
For example, take the recommendation to make Du’a in the latter third of the night. I think this comes from the Hadith Qudsi Number 35:
‘Our Lord (glorified and exalted be He) descends each night to the earth’s sky when there remains the final third of the night, and He says: Who is saying a prayer to Me that I may answer it? Who is asking something of Me that I may give it him? Who is asking forgiveness of Me that I may forgive him?’
This may go some of the way to answering your question. Perhaps with a little research we might be able to find the hadiths that accomany each of the reccomendations giving us some idea as to its context. I think this would be a great project as the knowlege strengthens the recommendationa and motivates us to impliment them.
As to a broader question – why do such times/ circumstances exist? Why are some times more special than others?
I think perhaps the answer may arise from the principals of Tawakul Allah – Reliance on Allah (swt) (see the articles section above). Part of those prinicpals require us to do whatever we can to achieve the objective for which we are making du’a to Allah (swt).
Consider this example… (I heard this from the Humzah Yusuf CD – Purification of the Heart (i think))….. When Moses (saw) came to the point where he had the Red Sea in front of him and the Pharoes army behind him. He had done his best up to this point but there was nothing more he could do. So he made Du’a to Allah (swt) – He was then told to strike the red sea with his staff. When he did this the sea parted and Moses and the Children of Israel were able to escape. But why did Moses have to strike the sea with his staff? Was the staff magic? Did Allah (swt) need him to strike the Sea with his staff in order that it should be parted? The answer on both counts is no. Hamzah Yusuf said it was because Allah (swt) wanted Moses to do his part – even if all he could do was strike the sea with a stick.
In the same way perhaps getting up at 3am in the morning, or taking a moment during a rain shower is one way we can do our part even if its all we can do.
As such the info and the hadith they come from are a blessing for us because it gives us a chance to do our bit even if its all we can do.
I hope i’ve made sense. Again remeber Im not a scholar – im only giving you what i think – i would strongly advice you to research this and make Du’a about it. Insha’Allah we both find the answer to your question.
Salaaams
M 😀
3.
seeker94 | 17 July 2006 at 3:22 pm
Thank-you. You have definitely given me food for thought.
You’ve also made me rather curious about Hamzah Yusuf. I have seen his CDs on sale here but I’ve never given them a second thought. I must get one soon.
Salaam!
4.
M | 22 July 2006 at 12:23 am
Hey slaams – im glad you plan to check out Hamza Yusuf’s stuff. If i may i would also recommend Anwar Al-Awlaki especially his “Quest for Truth – Salmaan Al Farsi” CD.
There is a free link i found on the web to this CD. However, i would suggest that you only use it if you can’t get hold of his CD or if you plan to buy his CD later or if you can’t afford to buy his CD at the moment but will when you can (insha’Allah).
Ok so what im trying ot get at is that i personally don’t think its good to listen to these scholars products on the net unless you’ve got no other means to do so. Afterall this is basically an illegal copy of their stuff and they put a great deal of effort into acquiring their knowleged and making these wonderful cds for us. Well you get the drift – im just worried that listening to this kinda stuff is tantamount to stealing under some circumstances.
Anyway here is the link
http://nadeem.lightuponlight.com/indexaudios1.html#Anwar_Al-Awlaki
5.
Wael | 24 September 2006 at 2:09 am
As-salamu alaykum. This is an excellent article and I plan to reprint it on my new site, http://www.duaashare.com. Regarding seeker94’s question, I am not a scholar either but I can answer this question based on logic and my years of Islamic study. The question is, “how is it possible that there are certain specific times when prayers are more likely to be answered?”
Let me make it clear that the answer has nothing to do with the ability of Allah to answer your prayers. Allah is All-Powerful. Allah has the ability to answer all prayers, at any time, in any situation, as He chooses. As the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, that if every human and every jinn, from the first of you to the last of you, were gathered in one vast plain, and every one asked Allah whatever he wanted, and Allah granted everyone what he asked, that would not decrease what Allah has, any more than a needle dipped into the ocean.
So if it has nothing to do with Allah’s ability, this means it must have to do with us, and what these specific situations and times mean to us.
Just to take some examples at random from the list above:
– When one is oppressed – Clearly this is a time of great need. Allah loves justice, and oppression is injustice, so the one who is oppressed has a clear right to appeal to Allah for help, and Allah responds to that. It is also less likely that a duaa at this time will be frivolous.
– At the time of the call for prayer – Saying duaa at this time indicates that you are most likely in the masjid, hearing the call to prayer. Attending the masjid for prayer is a virtuous act, one that Allah loves. So you are pleasing and worshipping Allah. Naturally Allah is more likely to respond to your prayers. Even if you are hearing the adhaan from your home, saying a duaa at this time indicates that you are paying attention to the adhaan, that it registers in your mind and your heart.
– The last third of the night – Most people are sleeping at this time. So if you are saying duaa at this time it means you are making a sacrifice, you are giving up your precious sleep in order to plead to Allah and worship. Also, this is a time of quiet and peace, so it is easier to feel close to Allah at this time.
– On waking up from sleep – Anyone who says duaa immediately upon waking up from sleep is someone who thinks about Allah a lot, and who is close to Allah. The fact that the first thing that comes into your mind is Allah, shows that you are dedicated and that the religion has really penetrated your heart.
As a last note, it is likely that the Prophet Muhammad mentioned these times as being good for duaa, because he wanted to encourage us to be mindful of Allah at these times in particular. When our lives are in danger, when we are reciting Qur’an, when we are in prayer… these are times when it is critical to think of Allah and worship him. So the Prophet encouraged us to perform duaa at these times.