Special times for dua:

1. When one is oppressed
2. Between the time of Athan and Iqama
3. At the time of the call forprayer
4. At the time of fighting when warriors are engaged with each other
5. When it is raining
6. When one is sick
7. The last third of the night
8. Ramadan (especially Lailatul Qadr)
9. After the Fard part of prayer\
10. When traveling
11. When breaking fast
12. In Sujood
13. Fridays, some say on Friday after Asr prayer
14. While drinking the water from the well of Zamzam
15. At the start of prayer (Dua of Istiftah)
16. When one begins the prayer, i.e. with "all praise be to Allah, the
Pure and the Blessed one"
17. While one recites al-Fatiha (which is a Dua)
18. When Ameen is said in the prayer (also relating to Fatiha)
19. At the time of raising the head after the Rukoo
20. In the last part of the prayer after conveying blessings unto the
Prophet (SAW)
21. Before finishing the prayer (before Tasleem (saying the Salaam to
the angels))
22. At the end of Wudu
23. On the day of Arafah
24. On waking up from sleep
25. At times of adversity
26. Prayer after the death of a person
27. Dua when someone's heart is filled with sincerity and when it is
focused on Allah
28. Dua of the parent against or for his children
29. When the sun moves from its meridian but before the Dhuhr prayer
30. The Dua of a Muslim forhis brother without thelatter's knowledge
31. At the time the army advances to fight in theway of Allah.
Dua can be beautified and perfected by certain actions:
1. Have Wudu, face Qibla, be neat and clean
2. Raise both hands up to the shoulder with palms open facing up
3. Use words of Allah and Muhammad (SAW)- i.e. Duas found in Quran andHadith
4. Ask by Asma alHusna- Allah's Beautiful Names
5. Ask Allah by your good deeds
6. Be insistent-repeat (i.e. 3x's)
7. Glorify Allah and recite Durud for the Prophet (SAW) at both the
beginning and end
8. Show humility, entreaty, desire and fear while making Dua
9. Repent and try to make amends where one has wronged
10. Confess mistakes, shortcomings, and sins
11. Keep voice between a whisper and speaking aloud
12. Show the need for Allah's help and implore Him for releasefrom
weakness, hardship and tribulation.
13. Seize the opportunity of time, situation and circumstance in which
prayers are answered
14. Avoid rhymed prose to keep concentration
15. Crying when making Dua
16. "The Dua of Dhun-Nun(Yunus) by which he invoked Allah from within
the belly of thewhale was: ' LAa ilahailla Anta, Subhanaka innee kuntu
min aDH-DHaalimeen.' ('There is no God but You, glory to You, I have
been among thewrongdoers.') No Muslim ever makes Dua with it but Allah
answers it." [at tirmidhi in his sunan, ahmad and hakim reported it
and hakim declared it authentic and adh dhahabee agreed]
17. End with"Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen." (Praise be to Allah, Lord
of the worlds).
We should ask for Dunya things, but not just for the sake of Dunya
itself and for Akhirah things. We should not ask for punishment to be
broughtforward in this world or for early death. We shouldnot curse
any particular human being or animal, abuse a Muslim for no reason,
abuse dead peoplewithout cause and religious excuse, or abuse fever or
the wind. We should not make Dua by saying we have been given rain by
this or that star or what Allah willed, and so and so willed. We
should not make Dua against family and property or for sinful acts and
severing the bonds.
In the end there can be reasons why the Dua might not be answered such
as not fulfilling conditions like some of the ones listed above or:
Divine Wisdom, trying to hurry the response of one's Dua, Dua for what
is sinful or the breaking off of relations, eating, drinking, or
dressing from what is Haram, not being resolute in making Dua,
abandoning the duty of enjoining what is good and shunning the evil,
the dominance of unmindfulness, lust and vain desires, not being
submissive during Salah, or committing particular sins (not divorcing
a vilewoman, giving a loan without a witness, and a man who gave his
wealth to the foolish).
More information on Dua can be found in a book in English, a
translation of Kitaab ud-Du`aa' by Shaykh al-`Awaa'ishah (published by
Jam`iat Ihyaa Minhaaj al-Sunnah), the Book of Supplications in
Al-Bukhari and Riyadh us Saleheen and Ajawab Alkafi by Imam Shams
Adeen Mohamad bin AbiBakr Bin Qayem Ajawyzeyah. Jazakamullahu khairan
to those who corrected and added to the above compilation. May Allah
make us of those that oft turn to Him in Dua. Ameen.

* I converted but my husband didn’t; Is my marriage halal?

Q: I have converted to Islam for few months now whileI am married to
my non-muslim husband.
I read during my research prior to my conversion that my marriage will
become invalid. This madeit harder for me to convert, but
AlhamdulillahI passed that stage and said my shahada because Ibelieve
Islam is the true religion.
Now, I still pretty much married. By the way, he made it clear that
he will not convert but respects my belief.
Am I living a halal life withmy husband? Please explain why and what
should I do.
- muslimconvert. Sameeha/
~
A: (Editors Reply)
See similar questions that we have answered in the past:
Converted to Islam but still married to my Christian husband
Muslim woman convert married to Christian manwants to marry Muslim man
The opinion of almost all Muslim scholars is that if the wife converts
to Islam and the husband does not,they automatically enter 'iddah
(waiting period) for divorce. This 'iddah is 3 months or 3 menstrual
cycles. During that period, the couple are not allowedto have sexual
relations. At the end of the 'iddah, the couple are divorced.
There are other minority opinions, however.
The European Council for Fatwa & Research, including Sheikh Yusuf
al-Qaradawi, Sheikh 'Abdullah bin Bayyah, Sheikh 'Abdullah al-Judai
and others (from Sheikh 'Abdullah bin Bayyah, Sina'at al-Fatwa, pp.
356-7), says:
"If only the wife converts to Islam, the view of the Council is that:
a) if she converts before the marriage is consummated,she must leave
him immediately; b) if she converts after consummation and her husband
converts within 3months or within 3 of her monthly cycles, their
marriage continues in its validity; c) If he eventuallyconverts, their
marriage continues in its validity, without needing a new marriage
ceremony. d) If she wishes to leave her husband after the 3-month time
period, she should seek dissolution of her marriage from the relevant
authorities."
"If the wife is Muslim and the husband is not, the four Madhhabs do
not allow her to remain with him after the expiry of the3-month
period, or to have sexual relations with him. However, some scholars
allow her to remain with him, fully-married, as long as he does not
harm her regarding her religious practice and as long as shehas hope
that he will also convert to Islam eventually."
"It is authentically narrated from 'Umar bin al-Khattab that a woman
became a Muslim while her husband remained non-Muslim: he ruled, "If
she wishes, she may leave him or if she wishes, she may remain with
him." Also, there is an authentic narration from 'Ali bin Abi Talib:
"If the wife of a Jewish or Christian man becomes Muslim, he is
entitled to remain her husband, since he has a covenant with the
Muslims." Similar views are authentically-narrated from Ibrahim
al-Nakh'i, Imam Sha'bi and Hammadbin Abi Sulayman."
***
It is best to stick to the majority opinion and thereby protect your
deen.Try hard during the 'iddah to convince your husband to convert to
Islam along with you. Be very kind to him and extra loving, without
engaging in sexual contact. If he refuses, however, then you must
consider the marriage ended. I realize this is difficult. But our goal
in Islam is to worshipAllah and that must be paramount./

I’m sunni girl, and I want to marry a bhora boy.

Q: I'm a Sunni girl and I'm in love with a bhori boy.
As we are planning to get married, and to get converted in bhori, I
want to know what I have to doto convert?
And does my family have to get involved in my conversion?
- furmila
~
A: (Editor's note: The Bohras,or Dawoodi Bohras, are a branch of the
Ismailis, which themselves are a breakaway sect of the Shi'ah. They
have some beliefs which differ from mainstream Muslims. For example
they have 7 pillars of Islam, and they combine Dhuhr and Asr prayers
as well as Maghreb and 'Ishaa so that they only pray 3 times per day.
Like other Ismailis, Bohras consider those who do not follow the
current Imam to be non-Muslims. It has also been said that Dawoodi
Bohras believe that the souls of the righteous live on in the bodies
of others after death. Allah knows best. Sunni Muslim scholars have
generally considered the Bohras to be outside the fold of Islam/

* Very stressed and suicidal over what is the right thing to do?

A 22 year old boy. I recently got into a relationship with this girl
that i really liked. Around 6 months ago. I wanted tomarry her and
even informed my sister about her and everything. My family knows the
girl sincethe two families are quite close. In the beginning it was
just normal conversation regarding how we would get married. But then
later wegot really close and attached emotionally. One day, she told
me that she got a marriage proposal and I said that it would bebest if
she forget about me then if her parents have found someone else. But
somehow, we could not let go of each other.
It was very heart breakingfor me to realise that she was going away.
One day when we met, I don't know how this happened but we got
physical and sexual. We are both still virgins though. We did notlose
our virginity. Alhamdulillah. But after that incident no matter what I
try to do, I can not make the guilt go away, no matter how much I
regret my actions. I still like the girl you know. In order to set
things straight, I even talked to my momabout her so that I can fix
what went wrong but by then it was too late since the two families got
into aterrible feud and are not on speaking terms. It was just all too
much for me totake and I had to be placed on anti depressantsand am
diagnosed with OCD and a few other disorders. I suspect I have
developed Scrupulosity.
Brothers and sisters, I'm soupset with myself. I honestly, truly,
wanted to marry her right from the first day we started talking about
it. That was my intention. I'm very upset with the way things turned
out and no matter how much I tried to fix it . Nothing worked. I spoke
to family also but still nothing. It's like I am not able to set right
my wrongs. I became depressed and suicidal andthere was a point when I
resorted to self harm.
Alhamdulillah, after that incident, we have never met each other in
solitude and neither have we got into any kind of sexual activity (
except holding hands once for a short while ) . And now she says, it
is not at all possible since her family will never agree to it. What
should I do brothers and sisters? I can't go back in time and undo
those few wretched days when we involved ourselves in sins and
shameless behaviour. I regret it all so much now. What do I do
brothers andsisters? In my attempts to fix all the wrongs , I have
ended up upsetting her also since she thinks that I'm doing it without
any consideration for her feelings. I do like her still. But she does
not want to marry me anymore. I evenconvinced my brother , sister and
mother. :( .
What do I do now brothers and sisters?? . How do I remove this
guilt???. How do I fix all that I broke. ??? What do Ido.??? I do not
want to leave her side still and if she wants to marry me even now I
will do whatever it takes to make it happen INSHAALLAH. Butshe says
she doesnt want it , since there is no hope.
After she said that, I thought the only other way to fix it would be
to stop thinking of her in that way and think of her as a muslimah
sister. Is that wrong brothers and sisters???Please help me . I'm all
alone in a new town and I feel suicidal now and then again. ( can
help anyone)/