Make Big Duas, Get Big Rewards

The only limits Allah ﷻ has are the ones we’ve placed on Him.

Dua is an act of worship and Al-Mujeeb responds to every dua. He loves when we ask and Al-Wahhab never grows tired of giving in abundance. The only limits are the ones we imagine, the ones we project onto Him.

When we remove these limits, everything opens up.

This essay is a step-by-step guide and a call for us to make our biggest duas in these last three months of 2025. We’re going to get clear on where we are and where we want to go.

Then next week, insha Allah, we’ll determine who we need to be to get there. Choosing just 1 or 2 goals that’ll give us momentum so that when 2026 gets here we are already fully in motion.

I want 2026 to be the biggest year of my life so far. If you do too, let’s do this together.

Here at The Niyyah Journal, we take our duas seriously. So I recommend a notebook for this, that way it’s all in one place and you can add to it easily. I suggest making this handwritten because this is very personal and we don’t want it to get lost amongst the digital clutter that already drains our attention.

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Step 1: Know Your Point A

Where you’re starting from is just as important as knowing where you’re going. You can’t get directions without first knowing your current location.

This requires a very humbling honesty in the presence of Ash-Shaheed (The Witness).

“They seek to deceive Allah and those who believe, but they deceive none but themselves—yet they do not realize it.” (2:9)

Sit with your notebook and write the following categories.

Rate each one from 1–10 (10 meaning excellent and needs no improvement):

• Mental

• Emotional

• Spiritual

• Relational

  • Family

  • Marital

  • Friends

  • Community

• Physical

  • Health & Nutrition

  • Movement & Exercise

  • Skin & Body

• Financial

  • Career

  • Income

  • Expenses

  • Savings

  • Charity

  • Debts

Which areas need your immediate attention?

Which weaknesses are affecting your deen?

Now, list any negative emotions, habits, and behaviors you’ve noticed within yourself.

Which fall under:

• Overeating

• Oversleeping

• Overspeaking

• Overconsumption

The Prophet ﷺ said: “Every religion has its characteristic, and the characteristic of Islam is modesty (ḥayā’).”

Modesty isn’t just about how we dress. It’s moderation in all things. Even the halal can harm us if we take more than is truly necessary. To live with modesty is to live with balance, to avoid excess.

Next, look at this list of blameworthy traits from Imām al-Ghazālī’s Book of Knowledge and list the ones that are true for you right now—even if rarely.

This is for awareness not to condemn or judge yourself.

Blameworthy Traits:

• Fear of poverty

• Discontent with Allah’s decree

• Envy (ḥasad)

• Anger

• Arrogance

• Conceit

• Vanity

• Love of praise

• Desire for long life to enjoy dunya

• Ostentation/showing off (riyāʾ)

• Dishonesty

• Spitefulness

• Holding grudges

• Greed (ḥirṣ)

• Miserliness

• Attachment to status

• Craving control

• Rudeness and harshness

• Heedlessness (ghaflah)

• Obsession with worldly success

• Lack of shame

• Lack of regret or humility

• Mocking others

• Secret enmity

• Rejoicing over dunya and grieving its loss

• Meddling in what doesn’t concern you

• Feeling safe from Allah’s plan

• Being in awe of the wealthy

• Looking down on the poor

• Rivalry and boasting in wealth or knowledge

• Relying on your deeds instead of His mercy

• False hope in this life

• Fixation on others’ flaws

• Weakness in upholding the truth

• Violent self-defense when humiliated

• Pretending love while hiding hate

• Deceit, plotting, and treachery

• Closeness with creation, distance from the Creator

Now, connect your habits and negative emotions to these traits.

This will show you where purification is most needed.

Finally, list your roles: servant of Allah, mother, wife, daughter, self.

For each role, write down the rights that Allah ﷻ or others have over you.

These are your bare minimums. Your consistent responsibilities. If all you do each day is fulfill the rights of Allah, others, and your body and soul, then your day is a win.

Ask yourself:

• What roles do I have?

• What responsibilities are falling through the cracks?

• What distractions take me away from my obligations?

• What do I need to start showing up fully—without exhaustion?

• What needs delegation or deletion?

• What drains me, and what fills me up?

• How well do I keep my promises—to Allah, to others, and to myself?

This is the groundwork of dua: being vulnerably honest with where you stand before you ask to move forward.

Step 2: Determine Your Point B (Your Coordinates)

Now it’s time to pinpoint your Point B—where you want to go.

I call them “coordinates” because duas are layered. Even multi-dimensional. Your longitude is your dunya duas. Your latitude is your akhirah duas.

If all your dua is for the dunya while your akhirah is an afterthought, then even the “biggest” duas are too small.

Every blessing is also a test. Can you handle what you’re praying for without collapsing into your ego? Will you remain patient, grateful, and obedient or will the blessing become a fitnah for you?

“…This is by the grace of my Lord, to test me whether I will give thanks or act ungratefully…”(27:40)

For example, if you pray for clear skin, thick hair, and long eyelashes, will you still guard your modesty? Or would you flaunt those very blessings in ways displeasing to Allah?

A blessing without spiritual preparation can become a curse.

So if you make a dua for something worldly, balance it with a dua for protection. Linking it to the akhriah.

“And man supplicates for evil as he supplicates for good, for man is ever hasty.” (17:11)

The fastest way to get what you’re praying for is to change what’s within yourself.

“Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” (13:11)

On another page, write down everything you want from Allah ﷻ for both this life and the next.

Be very detailed.

• Internal characteristics (sabr, shukr, yaqeen, tawakkul)

• Worldly means (health, provision, relationships)

• Akhirah goals (your closeness to Allah, your legacy, where in Jannah you want to be)

Then cross-reference each dua:

• Does this compromise your akhirah?

• Does it displease Allah?

• Does it contradict the Qur’an or Sunnah?

When everything checks out, match each dua to Allah’s Names as these are the names you’ll call on.

Step 3: The Big Ask (The Dua Sandwich)

At the end of salah, in the tashahhud before salam, you can make what’s called a dua sandwich:

1. Glorify Allah (At-tahiyyatu lillahi…)

2. Send salawat (Allahumma salli ‘ala Muhammad…)

3. Seek forgiveness (e.g., Dua of Yunus, Dua of Sulaiman)

4. Make your big dua (read from your notebook, be specific, limitless, and ask using Allah’s Names)

5. Add general duas (knowledge, forgiveness, mercy, protection) and any other duas you’d like

6. Send salawat again

7. Glorify Allah again

8. Give salams

There are numerous duas in the Quran, the book Fortress of the Muslim, and even in the dua section of the Muslim Pro app.

Think of this as sealing a letter. The praise and salawat are the envelope that carries your duas through the heavens.

Do this especially in tahajjud and/or duha prayers.

“And on the earth are signs for those of sure faith. And in yourselves as well. Will you not then see?” (51:20–21)

These last months of 2025 are a gift. A chance to prepare the soil for the harvest of 2026.

So define your big, limitless duas. Anchor them in love, yaqeen, and akhirah. Then next week, insha Allah we’ll get into how we’re going to step into these duas with radical tawakkul and begin living each day in preparation for their arrival.

If you have ANY questions at all about any of these steps, just reply to this email and I’ll get back to ya!

Assalamu alaikum.

With love and dua,

—Khalisa

Your dream self isn’t a fairytale. She’s your fitrah.

Learn more about my private coaching program here.