does not befit the generosity of our Lord to accept the beginning and the end of the du'a and reject the middle part of it.”^[1]

Suspended du'a between earth and sky

Amir al-Mu’mineen, the second Caliph of Islam, Sayyiduna ‘Umar bin Khattab رَضِىَ اللهُ عَـنْهُ has said:

اِنَّ الدُّعَآءَ مَوۡقُوۡفٌ بَيۡنَ السَّمَآءِ وَالۡاَرۡضِ لَا يَصۡعَدُ مِنۡهُ شَئٌ حَتّٰي تُصَلِّيَ عَلٰي نَبِيِّكَ    صَلَّي اللّٰهُ تَعَالٰي عَلَيۡهِ وَاٰلِه وَسَلَّمَ

“Du’a is kept suspended between the earth and sky; it is not raised until you recite salat upon your Prophet  صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم.”^[2]

Sayyiduna ‘Ali کَـرَّمَ الـلّٰـهُ وَجۡـھَـهُ الۡـکَـرِیۡم has narrated: ‘اَلدُّعَاءُ مَحْجُوْبٌ عَنِ اللّٰہِ حَتّٰی یُصَلّٰی عَلٰی مُحَمَّدٍ وَّاَہْلِ بَیْتِہٖ’, meaning, ‘Du'a remains veiled from Allah as long as salat is not sent upon Muhammad  صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَاٰلِهٖ وَسَلَّم and his blessed family.’^[3]

Imam Ahmad Raza Khan رَحْمَةُ اللهِ عَلَيْه has said: “O beloved! Du'a is a bird, and salat upon the Prophet is its shehpar (the biggest feather in a bird’s wing). Can a bird fly without its wings?”

In the wings of birds, its most important feather is known as its shehpar in the Urdu language. Without this, a bird cannot fly.  Similarly, du'a is like a bird, and salat upon the Prophet is like the critically important feather within it. When a bird cannot fly without this, then how will a du'a without salat be accepted?^[4]

We should recite salat upon the Prophet abundantly, whether standing, sitting, walking, and in particular, we must recite salat in the