Answered by Ustadh Salman Younas
Question: What is the ruling of making supplication [dua] after prayer in prostration [sajdah]? So the prayer has ended and a person goes into prostration and makes dua. What do the Hanafi scholars say regarding this?
Answer: assalamu alaykum
Performing a prostration for no reason is neither deemed disliked nor an act of drawing closer to God.
However, when coupled with a du’a, this can be seen as prostration for a purpose, namely to humble oneself in front of God and supplicate to Him for one’s needs. As such, it would be permitted and rewarding in so far as it constitutes a form of submission to God.
The only time it would be disliked is if performing such a prostration will lead to people believing that it is an action that is a specific prophetic sunna or necessary. In most cases, this confusion is not expected. Nonetheless, it is an important consideration to keep in mind.
Sources: Ibn Abidin, Hashiya.
[Ustadh] Salman Younas
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadh Salman Younas was born and raised in New York and graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. After studying the Islamic sciences online and with local scholars in New York, Ustadh Salman moved to Amman. There he studies Islamic law, legal methodology, belief, hadith methodology, logic, Arabic, and tafsir. Ustadh Salman’s personal interests include research into the fields of law/legal methodology, hadith, theology, as well as political theory, government, media, and ethics. He is also an avid traveler and book collector. He currently resides in Amman with his wife.