Answer
Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
There is nothing wrong with making duaa (supplication) after Prayer). There are a number of hadiths that confirm that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made supplication after Prayer.
In his response to the question, the late Sheikh Muhammad Mitwalli Ash-Sha`rawi, a well-known Imam and renowned Muslim scholar, states:
In his supplication after Prayer, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say, ten times, especially after Fajr and Maghrib, “There is no god but Allah, the One and Only! There is no partner with Him, to Him belongs the sovereignty and to Him is the praise. He has the power to cause death and give life. He has power over all things!” (At-Tirmidhi)
Sad Ibn Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him) used to recommend these five (statements) and say that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said so (and they are), “O Allah! I seek refuge in You from miserliness, and I seek refuge in You from cowardice, and I seek refuge in You from being brought back to geriatric old age, and I seek refuge in You from the afflictions of the world, and I seek refuge with You from the punishment of the grave.” (Al-Bukhari)
He (peace and blessings be upon him) also used to say, “I seek Allah’s forgiveness; He is the All-Living, the Eternal (three times).” and then say, ‘O Allah, You are the Peace, and You are the source of peace. You are filled with good, O Sublime and Honorable One!” (Muslim)
Part of what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) also used to say is: “O Allah, none can withhold what You have conferred, nor can one confer what You have withheld. A fortune does not benefit its owner against You”; and after that he would read the Verse of the Throne, Ayat al-Kursi (Al-Baqarah 2:255) and then utter certain statements which, if one were to utter or observe them at the end of every obligatory Prayer, one would not be dismayed. They are: glorifying Allah thirty-three times, praising Allah thirty-three times and extolling His greatness thirty-four times.
In his response to the question, Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), states:
Making supplication after each Prayer is mustahhab (recommended) according to all schools of Fiqh. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to make dhikr and duaa after each Prayer.
The discussion is about making a collective duaa, whether it is permissible to make a congregational duaa after the Prayer. Some scholars of Hadith consider it to be mustahhab while others say it should not be done. However, a big deal should not be made out of it. If a person doesn’t want to do it, he should leave after the prayer. This is a minor issue.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.