Du'a template

[AbuNuru]

Assalamualikum sh.,

1) What are some of the things to make dua for - relating to the the dunya and akhira?

e.g. Dunya - to be granted tawfeeq/hidaya/qalbun saleem/good health/sound mind etc.
     Akhira - to drink from AlKauthar, to be under Allah's shade, to be safe from the punishment of the grave.

Can you kindly elaborate on what other things we should ask for?

With Laylatul-Qadr approaching us soon, I want to optimize my du'a.

2) Is there a template you follow?

E.g. start by praising Allah through His names, ask for your akhira and then dunya and other muslims.. or?

Assistance in this regard would be appreciated. JazakAllah khair.

[Aslam AbuIsmaeel]

Wa alaikumussalaam wa rahmatullah

Dua of course is one of the most powerful means Allah gave us to achieve success in this life and the next!

1.  Some of the things we can do dua for include the ones you menioned and also the kind of things that Allah showed us in the Quran, or the Prophet (s) showed us to ask for.

Dua that Allah showed us

So, things such as - hasanah in dunya is very comprehensive, i.e. good of this life as Allah directs in Quran "Rannana aatina fidunya hasanah wa fil aakhiratilhasanh wa qina adhabannar"   This verse shows to ask for comprehensive good of this life (and next) and this includes everything!

Allah also showed us to ask to increase in knowledge of Islam.

He also asked us to do dua for our parent's forgiveness, mercy on them and for Allah to be kind and merciful to them as they were to us when we were small and dependent on them.

Besides, that Allah also shows us in Quran to ask dua for wives or husbands and our children to be nice to us - a comfort to our eyes - and to make us all not only pious but moreover to grant us success in our endeavours to be the models and leaders in piety!!

These duas themselves are very good because they include the best for almost everyone who we care about the most in this life - our parents, our children, our spouses and ourselves!  This is for their good in this life and in the next life.


The Prophet added more specific duas too.  They include asking dua for
- forgiveness
- mercy
- guidance in matters of this life which is so so so important because Allah's guidance in our worldly affairs ensures we will not lose with Allah's permission
- taqwa in all matters
- good health
- bless us with a long life that is FILLED with good deeds
- way to increase our life time is to be good to our blood relatives
- to not get engulfed by monetary debts to people
- to cover/hide our sins and our faults from people and for Allah to forive them too
- ask Allah, the turner of the hearts, to keep our hearts firm on Allah's religion and to keep it always on His obedience


Besides these, other dua for our dunya and aakhirah include:
- for sound mind in young and old age
- for knowledge of Islam for us
- for success in our university studies, at work place, in business ventures ...
- for Allah to guide us in all the above affairs and give us success (tawfiq) in them
- for guidance of our Muslim youth
- for guidance of our Muslim women and men
- for other needs we see

One of the most dua is
- for Allah to protect us from shaitaan, his plots to misguide us and from us listening to them or responding to them


In hereafter
- as you said to drink from Al-kauthar the pond therein whose water and its banks are superb as the Prophet described them in hadith and whose water will quench the thirst of the Believers on the Day of judgement at the hour need!
- yes we can ask to be one of the seven who will be under the shade provided by Allah to them on the Day of Judgement when others will be drowning in their sweat from sever heat!
- to be saved from punishment of grave, of hell, of the trials of Dajjal when he comes
- to give us a 'husnul-khaatimah' i.e. a good death in a state of being a good believer obedient to Allah: this is very important because the way we end is the way we will be in the hereafter - good or bad!
- to grant us the station of Firdaus in  Paradise which is the best and highest one there
- to grant us the company in Paradise of the ones we loved: the Prophet, the Companions, the four khalifas, the great scholars and protectors of Islam, our own families and pious ones ...
- to save us punishment of grave and hell even for the shortest moments!!
- to accept our good deeds we do now and to reward us according to our best deeds
- to give us success to spend our lives doing good deeds, seek knowledge of Islam, to teach it to others
- and much more ...

Some of the MOST IMPORTANT dua is for Muslims in general include:-forgiveness for all male and female Believers
- victory for all believers against the non-Muslims who seek harm for their dunya or aakhirah
- strength and might for Islam and for the Muslims
- loss and failure to the attempts of mushriks and kaafirs and for Allah to guide them to the Truth of Islam
- military loss and defeat for the enemies of Muslims who are trying to deny them their rights granted by Allah
- specific dua by names for Allah to defeat some of the above type who are currently engaged in harming Muslims
- Ask Allah to reform the Muslim rulers of Muslim countries: to guide them to be pious, to be obeying to Allah's commands, to implement Allah's guidance in their ruling of the lands, to care for Muslims and be merciful to them and their religious and worldy needs ...  the dua for the Muslim rulers is of absolute importance as it is with their guidance that a whole nation of Muslims can be guided.  Doing dua for their bad is not very useful as if they become bad they only harm us all but instead the scholars of early times showed to do dua for their correction and guidance.  As for the good ones among rulers then for Allah to support and help them in good.
- Ask Allah for protection of the good Islamic scholars of Islam and shariah: to protect them, to give them success in their knowledge and fatwa, to make them implement all the knoweldge they've learnt of Islam, to make the people love them and learn from them and respect them and imitate them: dua for Muslim scholars of shariah is absolutely important too as they are the ones who teach us Allah's religion!


 

[Aslam AbuIsmaeel]

Assalamu alaikum

As you pointed out the best template for us to dua with is as follows ...

- start by praising Allah
- thanking Him for all He has done for us and to all Muslims
- Shahadah: i.e. testify to Allah's oneness and no shirk and testify to the Prophet Muhammad's messngership and him being Allah's slave


- next
- do dua for the Prophet Muhammad by sending salaat and salaam on him in any words : you can do it the way in prayer or simply that 'sallallahu alaa muhammad wa sallam' - even as simple as this is sufficient

next
- do dua for Muslims and Believers in general for their needs of this life and Hereafter: for their forgiveness, their mercy, their success in this life against their enemies, guidance for all Muslims etc
- do dua for Allah's protection of this ummah from its enemies

next
- do dua for those close to you like your family and friends

next or same time
- do dua for yourself
- for your benfit in Hereafter
- for your benefit in this life as in the previous post

next and last
- finish dua by sending salaat and salaam on the Prophet Muhammad and his followers as shown above
- finally finish by praising Allah, e.g. saying, "wa aakhiru da'wana anil-hamdulllillahi rabbil-aalameen'

[Aslam AbuIsmaeel]

Assalamu alaikum

Some of the ways to optimise dua being accepted are:

- to ask Allah by His relavant beautiful names: so if you are asking Allah for guidance you can ask "O Haadee (i.e. The Guide) grant me guidance in my affairs ..."   or you can say, "O Razzaq (The Sustainer, grant me sustainance for me and my family)" : this is one of the best means of seeking tawassul (a means for dua o be answered)

- to ask Allah by mentioning something good we did with sincerity purely for Allah, e.g. to ask Allah like the three caught in the cave, "O Allah I did this ... (e.g. be good to parents extremely) so if I did this for you sincerely then get us an excape from this predicament of ours."

- to do dua at times when it is most likely to be accepted: e.g. last hour of friday, most important for now the last third of laylatul qadr, the last third of any night in prayer, the day of arafah at arafah, between adhan and iqamah time, etc

- to do dua at places when it is most likely to be accepted: e.g. the day of arafah at arafah in haj, at the multazam at kabah, etc

[AbuNuru]

jazakAllah khair for your comprehensive answer. It's going to be very useful in these final days of Ramadan inshaAllah.

wassalam.

[Aslam AbuIsmaeel]

Assalamu alaikum

Thanks for your question and the suggestions in the question and bringing this to every one's notice, jazakallahu khair!!

Wassalamu alaikum