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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, and praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. Peace and blessings be upon the honor of the prophets and messengers, Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, peace and blessings be upon him, and upon his companions, peace and blessings be upon them all.
My brothers and sisters, yesterday our brother Zafar Ansari asked a question: “Why should we make dua if Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala has decreed whatever He has decreed?” As Rasulullah s.a.w. said, the pens have been lifted and the ink is dry; pages are dry. Then why should we ask? Why should we make dua? The answer I gave was that maybe what Allah has written for you and me is that He will give him what he asks. So there is scope for dua.
So I thought today let me remind myself and you about the whole point of dua. This is the final point I want to say to close up. As I mentioned earlier, Rasulullah s.a.w. used to make duas continuously for every single thing. You name it, from the smallest to the biggest. He would get on his vehicle—meaning his horse or his camel or whatever he was riding—and he would make dua. And so on. When he got off, he would do it again. So there is continuity.
One of the sahaba, may Allah ta’ala grant them ihsan (the favor), noted that the favor of the sahaba on the ummah is literally impossible for us to repay other than by making dua to Allah ﷻ to grant the sahaba of Rasulullah s.a.w. the highest positions in Jannah. One of the sahaba went to Rasulullah s.a.w. and said, “Ya Rasulullah s.a.w., you make so many duas, you know, from morning till night. We would like to emulate that. But my memory is not so good; I can’t remember all of these duas, so I forget.” He asked, “Can you teach me one dua which encompasses everything? One dua which gives me the reward for all the duas?”
Rasulullah s.a.w. taught him this dua, which we also know, alhamdulillah, we should learn. Where he said, ask Allah s.a.w. and say:
“O Allah, grant me whatever your Nabi s.a.w. used to ask, and save me from whatever your Nabi s.a.w. musta’aza minhu [where he asked your protection from].” Right? The glory and majesty are to You, and there is no one who can do anything other than You. *La hawla wa la quwwata illa billahi la juwzeen*. So this is a dua we should remember, memorize, and must ask Allah s.w.t. for. That we get the benefit of all the duas of Rasulullah s.a.w.
The other beautiful thing about dua, which I remind myself anew, is that dua is possible to do, and this is the beauty of dua, because dua is a direct connection between the one who is asking and the one who gives, which is Allah s.w.t. There is nothing else there. So with dua, there are no shurut (conditions). There are no conditions for dua. For example, for salah, there are conditions. There are conditions of tahara, conditions of direction, conditions of place, and then specific things you recite, movements, and so on. Take any ibadah, right? There are conditions. Zakat has conditions; somebody must be sahib-ul-nisaab, capable of giving and receiving. Same thing for hajj, umrah, fasting—everything has conditions. Dua has no conditions. A person can make dua in any situation they are in. Whether you have tahara or not, whether you are standing, sitting, or lying down, whether you are facing the qibla or not, in any situation, any language—you can make dua in Arabic, your own language, whatever the language is. Allah has removed all conditions as far as dua is concerned.
So dua is possible to be done in any situation, in any condition, and this makes eminent sense because you call upon Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala in an emergency. I need it now. I can’t wait to go somewhere and make ghusl or find the qibla. I need this now. So wherever I am, whatever I am, I need to ask, and Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala opened the door. Allah said, “You ask, I will give.” Ask Me, I will give you. Right? This is a very important point to remember: dua is completely unconditional.
Now, having said that, there are times and places of asking duas and ways of asking dua. Even though Allah has given complete freedom, if you make wudu, sit on your musalla, face the qibla, raise your hands—all of these are beautiful things to do. These are all from the sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. We should definitely do them as far as possible. But these are not conditions. It’s not as if if you don’t raise your hand, Allah is not going to accept it. No. You should raise your hands because this is the sunnah of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. But Allah has not put any conditions.
However, doing these duas, also, dua as I said, can be done anytime, anyplace. But having said that, there are some times and places where dua is essential, especially accepted. For example, the time between adhaan and ikhama (iqamah). This is a time for acceptance of dua. That’s why Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said there are two rakat of salah between adhaan and iqamah. So when the adhaan is called, I’ll come to that also. That’s another place for acceptance of dua.
So after the adhaan is called, then pray two rakat of salah and make dua or just make dua. This is a time for acceptance of dua: Dua after adhaan. For example, the hadith of Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam says when the adhaan is called, repeat after the muazzin whatever he’s saying. When he said “Hayya ‘alal-salah” and “Hayya ‘alal-falah,” except when he said those phrases. And after that, after you repeat after the muazzin, then send salat and salam on Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. This is the sequence. It’s very important. Send salat and salam, *duru sharif*, on Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Then make the dua of adhaan: *Allahumma rabba hadhaid-dawati tabarakta*. Not immediately after the adhaan; after the adhaan, say *duru sharif*. After *duru sharif*, then you make the dua of adhaan (*Allahumma rabba hadhaid-dawati taba*). To the end. And then you say, “Radhitu billahi rabba wa bi islami deena wa bi Muhammadin sallallahu alaihi wa sallam nabiyya wa rasoola.” Say this thing three times. And then say, “Ashadu an la ilaha illallah wa ashadu anna Muhammadun rasulullah.” And after that, any dua you make, Allah will accept insha’Allah. So this is another time for acceptance of dua.
Then, dua is accepted at the time of suhoor, at the time of iftar—when you are fasting. Not only Ramadan, any time you are fasting, at the time of suhoor and at the time of iftar, these are times of acceptance of dua. And then most of all, dua is accepted in tahajjud. Tahajjud is the salah for dua. Therefore, dua is also accepted in the place where acceptance of dua is: in sujood (sajda). In sajda, you can make dua. You can make dua in sujood in your own language, not necessarily in Arabic, in any salah other than the first salah. In the first salah, you are not allowed to use any language other than Arabic. If you do that, then your salah gets invalid. So don’t make dua in the first salah in any language other than Arabic. Arabic duas you can make, no problem.
In sujood, for example, in the first salah, you can say, “Rabbana aatina fi duniya hasanah wa fil akhirati hasanah, tawmakhirna li’d-dhikra.” No problem. But in any other salah—which is basically sunnah—and especially in tahajjud, make dua in sujood and we ask Allah to accept that. This dua is especially accepted because the slave is closest to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala when he is in sujood. Nabi salallahu alaihi wasalam said when he is making sajda, he is making sajda before the arsh of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. So make dua with this ihsas, with this awareness, istihzar of this knowledge: I am making dua to Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. I am in the presence of Allah jalla jalaluhu in a manner that suits His Majesty and Grace, and I am making sajda before the arsh of Ar-Rahman as Nabi salallahu alaihi wasalam said, and I am asking Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. So ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. Dua in any language, alhamdulillah, you ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
One of the duas that Allah never rejects are two kinds of duas: dua of the mazlum (oppressed) against the zalim (oppressor). Allah does not reject the dua of the oppressed against the oppressor, and Allah does not reject the dua of the parent for his or her children. So this is another very powerful thing: make dua for your children. That’s something special; only the parent can give them that. Nobody else can give them that. So make dua for your own children. This also extends to the dua of the teacher for their students because the students are the spiritual children of the teacher. These are special people, and their dua is very special.
That’s why one of the Salafis went to his mother and asked advice. She said, “Never do anything where somebody will have grounds to make dua against you.” Meaning, never oppress anybody because Allah does not reject the dua of the oppressed person. So this is very important for us to understand. I sometimes tell, in marriage counseling, that if you are oppressing your spouse—this works both ways—it’s not only the husband oppressing the wife; sometimes wives are hugely oppressed by husbands. Especially I’ve seen this happening in old age. When the husband is now old and weak, the whole life she obeyed him, and now when he is weak, then she is right on his head and becomes very oppressive. Fear that, because if they raise their hands against you, you are in trouble. The one who has no help in this dunya, Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala is His helper: *Ni’mal mawla wa ni’mal nasir*. There’s no help. No one helps other than Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala Himself said, “*Allahu a’lamu bi’adaikum wa kaffa billahi waliyyan wa kaffa billahi nasiran*.” Allah said, “Allah is aware of your enemies, and Allah is enough for you as a Helper and as a Wali.”
So it is very important for us also to make sure that we never oppress anybody because the dua of the oppressed person is accepted. The dua of the traveler is also accepted. It is something we should remember when you are traveling. This is a very wonderful time to make dua. So don’t waste your time chit-chatting. Make dua. Read Quran. This is another very important time where dua is accepted. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to accept our duas with khair and barakah insha’Allah. I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala; I make dua that Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala accepts our duas with khair and afiyah.
This is another thing which we should always say. Al-Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib radhiallahu anhu, the uncle of Rasulullah s.a.w., asked Rasulullah s.a.w.: “Ya Rasulullah, teach me a small dua which is good for me, you know, which would benefit me.” And he said, “Make this dua and say: *Allahumma inni as’aluka al-afiyah*.” O Allah, verily I ask You for afiyah. Now, afiyah is this concept in Islam which means goodness and blessing in everything. So whatever we ask for, we should ask with afiyah. Don’t just say, “O Allah, give me wealth.” No. Say, “O Allah, give me wealth with afiyah.” Because you can get wealth and you will cry tears of blood for that wealth. It’s possible to get wealth in ways in which you will regret it. You say, “O Allah, give me health,” and you end up with problems with that. “O Allah, give me children,” and then you curse those children. Right? No. Say, “Alhamdulillah, Ya Allah, give me with afiyah.” Give me wealth, give me health, give me children, give me a spouse, give me property, land—whatever—with afiyah.
Right? *Allahumma inni as’aluka al-afiyah*. So very small dua. Just three or four words, very small dua but so powerful, so important. So we ask Allahﷻ to grant us our duas with afiyah. And we ask Allahﷻ to grant us our duas to be pleased with us, and to grant us *khatima bil khair* and *Jannatul Firdaws ma’a Nabiyyin wa Siddiqeen wa Shahida wa Salihin*, ma’a Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, wa sallallahu ala nabiyyil kareem, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajmain bi rahmatik ya Rahmatullah.