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.
In this fatwa:
It has been authentically reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) raised his hands in supplication during prayer. It was also reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) sometimes made supplications after Prayer and raised his hands after making duaa and in other times he did not make supplications after the Prayer.
In his response to your question, Dr. Marawan Shahin, Professor of Hadith and its Sciences, Faculty of Usul Ad-Din (Theology), Al-Azhar University states:
It was reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) made supplications after Prayer but he was not accustomed to do so after each Prayer. Thus, a Muslim is not required to do so after each Prayer. Consequently, one can sometimes do so and not to do so some other times following the guidance of the Prophet (peace be upon him) in this regard.
As for your second question, we’d like to state that qadar, or Divine predestination is of two kinds:
1. Unconditional predestination.
2. Conditional predestination.
Duaa has nothing to do with the first kind, while it may change the second one. This ruling is based on the Hadith that reads: “Nothing could change the qadar except duaa.“
Almighty Allah knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.