['Aalim Network QR] Reciting Du`as After Salaat

["Akil M. Karim" <amk@io.org>]

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|       In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the All-Merciful       |\
|  Greeting of Allah be upon Muhammad and the pure members of his House |\
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Salamun `Alaykum

The following question was kindly answered by Shaykh Hamid.


Fee Amaanillah,

Akil Karim
Acting Moderator for ABDG-A

---------- Forwarded message ----------

                               Bismihi Ta'ala

QUESTION:

Usually after Salat in Jam'aat, we recite "specific" duas - for example a
specific dua after Fajr, Zuhr, Asr, etc..

Is this "practice" of reciting these specific duas after Salat a practice
from the time of the Prophet (SAWS) and/or the A'immah (AS), or was this
practice later developed?

Is the recitiation of such duas (after the specific Salat) a bid'a, or
are they indeed mustahab to recite (I have been told that this is an
innovation, and now, it is no longer done in my present community).

I was also told that at the time of our Prophet, duas were not recited
after the Salat, as the Salat in itself is one dua, and there is no need
for other duas to be read (especially while in the Jam'aat as this takes
up too much time for those who are in a hurry, or who have to be back to
work, etc...)

I myself can not see them as being a bid'a as most, if not all our dua
consist of praise to Allah, and ayat of the Holy Qur'an, so how can
reading them be a bid'a, when we are simply thanking Allah, and reading
of His book??

I would appreciate the reply to encompass the questions I asked above, and if
there are any Ayats of the Qur'an pertaining to this, or any rulings from any
of the present (or past) Mara'ja.


ANSWER:

The du'as that have been recommended to recite after the obligatory
prayers have been handed to us both from the Prophet (S) and the Imams
(a.s.), although the majority of them are from the latter. Thus, it is by
no means a bid'a (innovation).  The customary du'as that we recite are
not the only ones that have been recommended.  There are also other du'as
that are prescribed for us, however, out of convenience and for
consistency we normally read the same du'as. 

The etymology of du'a is from D ' W which means to call upon or summon.
This is very much a Qur'anic concept as there are verses that call upon
the believers to summon God.  My favorite one is "And when My servants
ask you concerning Me, then surely I am very near; I answer the prayer of
the supplicant when he calls on Me, so they should answer My call and
believe in Me that they may walk in the right way. (Qur'an, 2:186) See
also Qur'an, Surat-ul-Mu'min:60 Surat-ul-A'raf:55, etc. 

wa bi-l-laahi-t-tawfiq,

Hamid Mavani