Salaam!

Good news! Eid has officially come early! Bad news...it aint no Xmas lol! Relax, I kid, I kid lol.
ok serious! *clears throat*

August 23rd - Chapter 7: The Recommended Times for Du'a

Of the great mercy of Allah is that He has favoured certain times over others and has distinguised them so that the worshipper can eagerly anticipate their arrival so he can pray earnestly and sincerely. Had all the times been the same, the worshipper would not have had the same enthusiasm that exists during the more blessed times.

1. Du'a in the Last Third of the Night

"Our Lord descends every night, during the last third of it, to the skies of this world, and asks: 'Who is making du'a to Me so that I can respond to him? Who is asking Me, so that I can give him? Who is asking for My forgiveness, so that I can forgive him?'"

How to work out the last third of the night

2. .An Hour of the Night

In additon to the hadith pertaining to du'a at the last third of the night, there are also ahadith informing us that there is a general time at night during which du'as are responded to. The prophet(saw) said: "There is at night an hour, no muslim happens to be asking Allah any matter of this world or the Hereafter, except that he will be given it, and this (occurs) every night. (As this hour isn't specified, I think it just implies that you should make frequent du'a at night so that it may fall within this hour?)

3. Du'a When the Adhan is Called

This is based on the hadith of the prophet(saw): "Two (du'as) are never rejected, or rarely rejected: the du'a during the call for prayer, and the du'a during the calamity when the two armies attack each other."

4. Du'a Between the Adhan and Iqamah

Five times every day, while a worshipper is waiting to offer his prayers to Allah, he is given the opportunity to ask from Him his needs. Anas ibn Malik narrates that the prophet(saw) said: "The du'a said between the adhan and the iqamah is not refused, therefore offer your du'as (at this time)

(iqamah: another call to prayer that is said just before the actual salah.)

5. Du'a during the salat

Some of the postures of the salat during which the performance of du'a has been narrated are as follows:

1) After the initial takbir (Allahu Akbar), when one is starting the salat.

2) Before the ruku and after one has finished reciting the Quran - but this is only for witr/qunut prayers.

3) After one has stood up from ruku

4) During the ruku itself

5) During the sujud, and this was the posture during which the prophet(saw) made most of his du'a

6) While sitting between the 2 sajdahs.

7) After the final tashahud, and before the end of the prayer.

These postures are in addition to the du'as that he used to do while actually reciting the Quran. Hudhayfah narrated in this respect: "I prayed one night behind the prophet(saw),and he started reciting surah al-Baqarah. I thought to myself 'He will surely stop after a hundred verses.' However (after he reached a hundred verses), he went on, so I said to myself 'He will surely finish the surah in this rak'ah.' When he finished al-Baqarah, I thought, 'He will surely go into ruku now' but he started surah al-Nisa, and continued reciting it until he finished. Then he started reciting surah al-Imran and he completed its recitation!...whenever he read a verse in which Allah was glorified, he would glorify Allah,a dn whenever he read a verse which requested something (from Allah), he would request it, and whenever he read a verse that sought refuge in Allah, he would seek refuge in Allah.."

So when a person is reciting the Quran in a voluntary prayer, they are encouraged to make du'a whenever one occurs in the Quran. It is not encouraged for the obligatory prayers however.

6. Du'a whilst prostrating

7. While reciting al-Fatihah

There are many blessings contained within surah al-Fatihah, and of these is the fact that Allah accepts the du'a that is present in the surah

(See comments for the hadith relating to this)

8. After al-Fatihah

When the imam says 'Amin' then recite it behind him (as well) because whoever's 'Amin' coincides with the Amin of the angels will have all his sins forgiven.