Answer
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.
Responding to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
How to bring conviction in your duaa
Your intention while calling upon Allah is to leave it to Allah and call upon Him to give you what is best for you.
Islam means surrender to the will of Allah. Thus, while praying we can ask Allah for certain things; but it does not mean that Allah would give us everything we ask for; for He alone knows what is good for us and what is not good for us.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “There is no Muslim who would call upon Allah without Allah answering their prayer in one of three ways:
- By giving them what they have asked for (if, according to His wisdom, it is good for them);
- (If it is not good, then by virtue of their duaas, Allah would turn away a certain calamities that are decreed;
- Or by keeping it as a treasure with Him to reward them with it on the Day of Judgment.
Based on this, you can rest assured that duaa is always good and one can never be a loser by calling upon Allah.
Etiquette of making duaa
Having said this, I would also like to mention some of the etiquettes to observe while calling upon Allah:
- Cherish deep faith in Allah and His Sovereignty and Lordship;
- Start the duaa by praising Allah (saying Hamd) and sending salutations (Salah) on the Prophet (peace be upon him);
- Observe the commandments of Allah and shun the forbidden things;
- Make sure that your livelihood is earned through lawful means.
- Be ready to accept Allah’s choice for you, even though we may not quite fathom its wisdom because of our limited perception and knowledge
Almighty Allah knows best.