Supplication and forgiveness before dawn

Use the final part of the night to seek forgiveness with humility. Acknowledge particular shortcomings, ask for a purified heart and resolve to change. Repentance joins words with stopping the wrong and restoring another person’s rights where necessary.

Make abundant duʿa, especially in prostration as permitted by your school. Ask for matters great and small, and include your family, friends and the Ummah. Combine fear of disobedience with hope in Allah’s mercy and love of drawing near to Him.

You do not need to display tears or force an emotion. The aim is sincere need, praise, repentance and trust. Persist in asking without treating a preferred worldly outcome as the only evidence that a supplication has been answered.