(Based on an article originally in Arabic that can be found here.)

Read Part I of the translation here!
 

Part II

13. Take advantage of especially virtuous times to perform du`a’, such as in prostration, immediately after the prayer, when fasting, when it is raining etc.  [These special times are mentioned in many prophetic traditions.]

14.  Seize moments where one is experiencing difficulty and trial to supplicate, such as when one is traveling, ill, or when one is oppressed.

15.  Raise your hands, palms outstretched, when you supplicate, for a prophetic narration teaches that one of the companions saw the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) supplicate, and when doing so his hands were raised so high that he could see the whiteness his armpits.[i]

Another companion narrates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Verily Allah is the Ever-Living, the Generous.  If one raises their hands to Him in supplication, He is shy for him to return dejected and disappointed.”[ii]

16. Put forward, before your supplication, a good deed (`amal salih) such as prayer, fasting, or giving in charity, for your supplication is more likely to be answered after an act of goodness.  Try to make du`a’ after shedding tears in the remembrance of God, fulfilling the need of one of your brothers or sisters in faith, giving charity in the darkness of night, or restraining one’s anger when provoked.

17.   Lower your voice when supplicating, for this is an intimate conversation between you and God, and He surely knows the secret and the hidden.

 

18. Call upon Allah using His beautiful Names, for they are beautiful to the eyes and to the heart, and they remind us of His oneness, presence, grace and mercy.  “To Allah belongs the Most Beautiful Names, so call on Him by them...” (Quran, 7:180)



[Click here to see a video of Asma’ Ullah al-Husna (The Beautiful Names of Allah) with translation.]

 

(Continued in the next post, inshaAllah!)