Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

What is the dua before prayers? 

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Dua before prayers

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

To the best of our limited knowledge there is no ‘masnoon’ dua or supplication made by the Messenger of Allah (saws) before he (saws) declared the ‘takbeer’ to signal the start of his prayers.

But there are several narrations in the authentic and established Sunnah whereby it is related that it was the practice of the Messenger of Allah (saws) to recite a supplication immediately after the ‘takbeer’ and before the recitation of the Surah Al-Fatehah in his prayers.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan