Question
Is it makrooh to make dua in another language besides Arabic outside of Salah?
Answer:
ِﺑ ْﺴ ِﻢ ا ِﷲ اﻟ ﱠﺮ ْﺣﻤ ِﻦ اﻟ ﱠﺮ ِﺣْﯿﻢ
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
According to the Hanafi Mazhab, it is permissible to make dua in a non-Arabic language outside of prayer, however the preferred method of making dua is to do so in Arabic. In addition, it is best to make dua using the words mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah. Ibn Abideen mentions in Raddul Muhtar, “And it is not far fetched that making dua in Farsi (or any other non-Arabic language) is *makrooh tahrimi *within the Salah and *makrooh tanzeehi *outside of the Salah.” (Raddul Muhtar: v. 2, p. 234 [Daru Alam Al-Kutub])
An action that is *makrooh tanzeehi *is permissible in its essence, however it is contrary to the preferred way, therefore a person would not be sinful for doing such an action. Ibn Abideen defines *makrooh tanzeehi *as follows, “And the term makrooh is also used for *makrooh tanzeehi*. *Makrooh tanzeehi *is such an action which omitting it is more preferable than doing it. *Makrooh tanzeehi *is synonymous to the word *khilaful awla *(contrary to the preferred way) just as we have mentioned earlier.” (Raddul Muhtar: v. 1, p. 257-258 [Maktaba Imdadia])
Only Allah knows best
Written by Maulana Mohammad Ahsan Osmani Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham