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Fatwa CenterSupplication may be said once or thrice or otherwise
Question
Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu, Shaykhs. It is from the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, to repeat the supplication thrice. Hence, if I am making a supplication that has multiple things in it, but I repeat one part of the supplication thrice, will it be Sunnah or not? Or will it be an innovation? For example, the supplication that is said in the Witr, if I repeat one part of it thrice, will I be following the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam? Or should the complete supplication be said thrice in order for it to be as per the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam? Also, please let me know whether any supplication can be said thrice and it will thus be from the Sunnah or if some should be said only once? Take, for example, the supplication after the azan; or the supplication that is said when disaster strikes and which the Mother of the Believers, may Allah be pleased with her, said; or the supplication that is said when one sees something good that he likes in someone else, etc. May Allah reward you, Shaykhs.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
Saying part of the supplication thrice and part of it once is not an innovation, and there is no harm in doing that. As far as we know, there are no specific supplications that are recommended to be said thrice apart from others. Repeating a supplication thrice is an act of the Sunnah that the Prophet, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, often did, but not in all cases.
Ibn Hajar 
wrote, "It is deduced from the hadeeth: ...and that he, sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said the supplications once and may say it more than thrice. This hadeeth also specifies the general indication of the hadeeth narrated on the authority of Anas, that he (the Prophet) used to repeat the supplication thrice. The hadeeth of Anas is interpreted to mean that this is what he mostly did (not all the time)." [Fat-h Al-Baari, 8/73]
Hence, there is no religious impediment to repeating all the supplications thrice, or part of it, or to say it only once.
Allah knows best.
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