Is Supplicating in English in the Post-Tashahhud Supplications in the Obligatory Prayer Permissible?

Answered by Shaykh Yusuf Weltch

Question

Is it permissible to make du’a in English after saying “al-tahiyyatu” and giving salams in the last rakat of fard salah? Will making du’a in English invalidate my salah? I heard that making dua in English invalidates the salah, but also that the du’a at the end of salah is not considered as actually being in salah. Could you explain in detail, please?

Is supplicating in English in the post-tashahhud supplications in the obligatory (fard) prayer permissible? Will making such a supplication invalidate the prayer? Is the supplication at the end of the prayer considered part of the prayer itself?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

It is not permissible to supplicate in English in the prayer at all. Doing so is prohibitively disliked but does not invalidate the prayer. [Tahtawi/Shurunbulali, Hashiya Maraqi al-Falah]

Note that a prayer in which a prohibitively disliked action is committed is necessary to make up if the prayer time remains. If the prayer time has expired, the stronger and more relied upon position is that it is still necessary to repeat the prayer; however, the secondary opinion, which is also sound, is that repeating the prayer is merely recommended. [Ibid.]

Supplicating at the End of the Prayer

The supplication directly coming after the tashahhud supplication is an emphasized sunna action and is considered part of the prayer as it comes before the closing salam.

Note that there is some narration where the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace) encouraged making a certain supplication at the ‘end of the prayer’ – but in these narrations, often the meaning is after the closing salaam.

Mu’adh bin Jabal (Allah be pleased with him) narrated, saying, “Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and give him peace) said grabbed my hand and said, ‘Indeed, I love you, O Mu’adh.’ So I said, ‘I love you, O Messenger of Allah!’ He said, ‘Do not leave out saying at the end of each prayer: O Lord, assist me in remembering You, showing You gratitude, and worshipping You beautifully.’” [Ahmad]

“End of each prayer” here means after the closing salaam.

Hope this helps
Allah knows best

[Shaykh] Yusuf Weltch
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Yusuf Weltch is a teacher of Arabic, Islamic law, and spirituality. After accepting Islam in 2008, he then completed four years at the Darul Uloom seminary in New York where he studied Arabic and the traditional sciences. He then traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he stayed for three years studying in Dar Al-Mustafa under some of the greatest scholars of our time, including Habib Umar Bin Hafiz, Habib Kadhim al-Saqqaf, and Shaykh Umar al-Khatib. In Tarim, Shaykh Yusuf completed the memorization of the Qur’an and studied beliefs, legal methodology, hadith methodology, Qur’anic exegesis, Islamic history, and a number of texts on spirituality. He joined the SeekersGuidance faculty in the summer of 2019.