O Allah! Open the locks of our hearts by Your Zikr and complete upon us Your bounties, and make us perfect with Your Fadhl (bounties) and make us of Your righteous and pious servants.

The first thing that is established from this Dua and this Hadith, is that there are locks on our hearts. From here naturally the question arises, “Where does one place locks?” A person locks up the place where valuables are kept. This proves very clearly that there are treasures placed and kept in our hearts. This Hadith shows us where to find the keys to these locks. Open the locks of our heart, O Allah, by your Zikr. In the above Dua the word Aqfaal has been used which means that there are many locks on the heart, but one key is required to open all these locks and that is the Zikr of Allah Ta’ala.

Regarding the second part of the Dua, by Zikrullah, the bounties of Allah Ta’ala, which are untold, will come in completion and perfection upon us. As it is, each and every person Muslim or non-Muslim, even the animals are enjoying millions of Allah’s bounties every split second. These are the material bounties, however, we ask not only for this, but also that we be blessed with spiritual bounties.

Regarding the third part of the Dua, we ask Allah Ta’ala to grant us Fadhl (which means extra). Like the shopkeepers during earlier times used to give “bansela” or “pasella” to their customers (i.e. a little extra to make their customers happy). This is termed as “Roonga” in Urdu. We ask Allah Ta’ala to give us that extra as well.

Finally, we ask Allah Ta’ala to make us from amongst His righteous and pious servants. This Dua should be made before and after Zikr.