The Answered Supplication

1. Sincerity and faithfulness to Allah.
2. To start one’s supplication with praising and thanking Allah, then to supplicate blessings and peace upon the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) and end one’s supplication the same way.
3. To ask Almighty Allah Alone.
4. To supplicate secretly with a present (sincere) heart. The Noble Qur’an says (what means:“Invoke your Lord with humility and in secret, He likes not theaggressors” (Al-A‘râf, 7: 55).
5. To supplicate Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, with humility and express your need of Him. Almighty Allah says in His Noble Book (what means),“Verily, they used to hasten on to do good deeds, and they used to call on Us with hope and fear, and used to humble themselves before Us”(Al-Anbiyâ', 21: 90).
6. To be patient, and not to expect an immediate response from Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, although this could happen. But if it does not, then you should be patient and continue supplicating Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, until you see the results. Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (may bless him and grant him peace) said,“The invocation of anyone of you is responded to by Allah (all praise and glory be to Him) if he does not show impatience by saying: I invoked Allah (all praise and glory be to Him) but my request has not been granted.”[Reported by Bukhary and Muslim].
7. To invoke Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, by His Beautiful Names and Supreme Attributes. Almighty Allah says in His Noble Book (what means),“And (all) the Most Beautiful Names belong to Allah, so call on Him by them”(Al-A‘râf, 7: 180).
8. To confess one’s sins and seek forgiveness, and to acknowledge blessings and express thanks for them. Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, says in His Noble Book (whatmeans),“Dhan-Nun (Jonah), when he went off in anger, and imagined that We shall not punish him. But he cried through the darkness (saying): Lâ ilâha illa Anta (there is no god but You) Glorified be You, Truly, I have been of the wrongdoers” (Al-Anbiyâ', 21: 87).
9. To supplicate Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, by mentioning the righteous deeds you have done. ‘Abdullâh bin ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that he heard the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) saying:“While three men were walking, it started raining and they took shelter (refuge) in a cave in a mountain. A big rock rolled down from the mountain and closed the mouth of the cave. They said to each other, ‘Think of good deeds which you did for Allah's sake only, and invoke Allah by mentioning those deeds so that He may remove this rock from you.’”
10. When making supplication for others, start with yourself first then include others. Allah, all praise and glory be to Him, said about Nûh (Noah, peace be upon him):“My Lord, forgive me and my parents and him who enters my home as a believer, and all the believing men and women.” (Nûh, 71:28).
11. To ask Allah with firm will and seriousness, one should not say, for example, ‘O Allah, forgive me if you wish.’ The supplicant must be certain that his prayer shall be answered.
12. To perform ablution before supplication, if possible.
13. To face the Qiblah [Ka‘bah direction faced in prayers] during supplication.
14. To raise both hands during supplication.
15. To abstain from raising one’s eyes towards the sky while supplicating.
16. The voice of the supplicant should be neither so loud nor so low.

17-To observe humbleness and humility during supplication.

18. To repeat the supplication thrice.
19. Not to use rhymed prose in supplication.
20. To cry while supplicating, which expresses humility, sincerity and true need of your request.
21. To supplicate at times of ease as well as hardships.
22. Not to invoke against oneself, one’s family, children and wealth.
23. Supplication should not be for something evil, sinful or for severing ties of kinship.
24. To avoid all sins.
25. One’s food, drink and clothing should be gained through lawful means.
26. The oppressor should right the wrong he has done to others and repent.
27. To remember all Muslims and believers in one’s prayer, for part of the completion of true faith is to love for others what man loves for himself.
28. To turn to Allah with humility, hope and fear of Him.
29. To enjoin what is good and forbid what is evil.