Du'a
Traditions

Our Sala is a prayer of complete surrender,

with it's clearly prescribed words and movements,

to be repeated at specific times of day.

For a few brief moments we just do as we are told.

We don't do whatever else we might have been doing at that time,

and we all do the same thing,

we do what we were told to do by the Messenger.

But obviously as far as our daily lives are concerned

we are all different,

we are all individuals,

and all of us have our own paths to travel,

our own lives to live,

and our own ways of seeing the world.

We need a way of relating to our Creator

that is much less constrained.

We need something that is consistent with our everyday life.

We need Du'a.

Of course, living in the Deen is its own kind of

wordless communication of our surrender to God,

but our heads are filled with words all the time,

tumbling over each other.

Du'a keeps that hubbub under control

as we focus on the words we use to understand and express what we say,

and use those words to speak with our Liege.

Some like to say their words out loud,

while others think it is enough for the Du'a to be

silently spoken on the tongue and the lips,

but clearly Du'a needs neither tongue nor sound,

as the Qur'an tells us

God hears the thoughts within the breast.

God is with us and hears our words.

We don't have to make a sound to call out to the Hearer.

So we talk to God in our own language,

as we work out what we think about life

and what we are trying to achieve.

And we may speak to the Friend,

the best we will ever have,

or we may thank the Provider for all that we receive,

or we can ask for forgiveness from the Ever-Merciful

for those times when we did what we thought was wrong,

and we can ask for help from the All-Knowing the All-Powerful,

or simply sing God's praises.

The answers to questions are not always going to be easy to see,

but always knowing that we are constantly in the hands of our Maker and Shaper

is itself beneficial,

as Du'a acts as a constant Dzikr, a reminder.

But the words of a Dzikr are usually brief and frequently repeated,

whereas the words of a Du'a

have more personal meaning.

Du'a are often made to accompany certain acts,

like dressing,

or entering or leaving rooms,

or going on a journey,

and for those who prefer to follow

the words of someone perhaps more eloquent,

there are many books of formal Du'a for all occasions.

And of course many of these Du'a can be traced back to the words of some wise or holy man in history,

with some Du'a having lineages that trace back all the way to the Messenger

And of course, going back to the Messenger,

there are those Du'a that are drawn from the Qur'an

such as the much loved prayer of Abraham.

Meanwhile, at the beginning, the Fatiha leads the way

by giving us words to praise, to understand, to offer service and to ask for help,

to think about what we want, mercy not anger,

and not to be lost and confused.

The ultimate Du'a is Fatiha,

linking God with the individual lives of humankind.