Dua: The Practice of Supplication

Dua is personal supplication — asking God directly for guidance, forgiveness, provision, or help with anything in a person's life. Where salah follows a fixed structure and timing, dua can be made in any language, in any words, at any time, and about anything, from major life decisions to small daily concerns. The Quran describes God as being 'near,' responding to the call of one who supplicates to Him, and encourages believers to ask directly and persistently rather than hesitating out of a sense that a request is too small or too large to bring to God. Hadith describe particular times as more likely for supplication to be accepted — such as the last portion of the night, between the call to prayer and the start of prayer, and moments during fasting — though dua is not restricted to only these times. Islamic teaching also outlines certain manners of dua: beginning with praise of God and sending blessings on the Prophet ﷺ, asking with sincerity and confidence rather than hesitation, and not being discouraged if an answer does not come immediately, since scholars describe an unanswered dua as still counted as a form of ongoing reward or as being answered in a different way or at a different time than expected.