In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah, his family, his companions, and those who follow his guidance. As for what follows:
Allah, the Exalted, has prescribed supplication (du’a) for His servants and commanded them to do so, promising them a response. He, the Exalted, said: “Call upon Me; I will respond to you” [Surah Ghafir: 60]. And He, the Exalted, said: “And when My servants ask you concerning Me, indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me [by obedience] and believe in Me that they may be [rightly] guided” [Surah Al-Baqarah: 186].
Supplication has conditions, the most important of which is the presence of the heart. A person should supplicate with a present heart, humble before Allah, knowing that He, the Exalted, responds to supplications and that He is capable of all things. This is one of the most important conditions for the response. One should not supplicate with a heedless and distracted heart; rather, one should turn to Allah with their heart, hoping for His response, knowing that He, the Exalted, is capable of all things, that He is the Self-Sufficient, the Praiseworthy, and the Wise, the All-Knowing.
Additionally, one should be cautious of consuming unlawful (haram) things. A person should ensure that their food, drink, and clothing are lawful (halal) and avoid what Allah has prohibited, such as usury (riba) and other forbidden earnings. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Indeed, Allah is Good and accepts only that which is good. And indeed Allah has commanded the believers with what He commanded the Messengers, and He said: ‘O Messengers, eat from the good foods and work righteousness’ [Surah Al-Mu’minun: 51] and He said: ‘O you who have believed, eat from the good things which We have provided for you and be grateful to Allah’ [Surah Al-Baqarah: 172].” Then he mentioned a man who travels extensively, disheveled and dusty, who raises his hands to the sky saying, ‘O Lord, O Lord,’ while his food is unlawful, his drink is unlawful, his clothing is unlawful, and he is nourished with what is unlawful; so how can he be answered?" [Reported by Muslim]. This is a severe warning indicating that consuming unlawful food, drink, and clothing is one of the greatest reasons for the deprivation of a response. And also: One should seek the times when supplications are more likely to be answered. Among the reasons for the acceptance of supplications is to seek the times of response, such as the middle of the night, the last part of the night, the last third of the night, between the call to prayer (adhan) and the commencement of the prayer (iqamah), and at the end of the prayer before saying the tasleem, after reciting the Tashahhud, sending blessings upon the Prophet (peace be upon him), and seeking refuge in Allah from four things, then supplicating before saying the tasleem.
Similarly, from the time the Imam sits for the Friday sermon until the prayer is concluded, if one supplicates in this state during prostration or at the end of the prayer before saying the tasleem on Friday, and also the last hour of Friday after Asr prayer, all these are times when supplications are more likely to be answered. Therefore, it is prescribed for the believer when supplicating to turn to Allah with a present heart, to strive for sincerity to Allah, to have good expectations of Him, to persist in supplication, to repeat it, and to ask Allah by His names and attributes, and to seek His help with that, while being mindful of avoiding unlawful things in food, drink, clothing, or otherwise.
We ask Allah to grant all Muslims success in what pleases Him and to grant everyone steadfastness on the truth.
