Short answer
Not in the Hanafi school. Inside salah your dua should be in Arabic, and ideally in words from the Quran and Sunnah; making dua in English in sujood is makruh tahrimi. Asking for a worldly thing in everyday wording can even break the prayer. Make your personal dua in English after the salam.
Inside salah, dua must be in Arabic and should resemble the wording of the Quran and Sunnah; dua in another language is makruh tahrimi. A dua for something you could ask of people, worded the way people speak, such as asking to marry a named person, invalidates the salah. In nafl prayers, Arabic duas in sujood are encouraged; in fard prayers the imam keeps to the tasbih.
Other madhhabs
- Shafi'i
- In salah you may ask for any lawful need of this world or the next in your own Arabic words; making up a dua in another language is not allowed for someone able to speak Arabic, while a person unable to speak Arabic may use his own language.
Explanation
The Prophet ﷺ said the servant is closest to his Lord in sujood, so make much dua there, and he taught that after the tashahhud one may choose the dua one likes best. The Hanafi scholars read these hadith within the rules of salah: the prayer is made of Quran, dhikr and dua in Arabic, so the dua should be in Arabic and close to the wording of the sources. Learn a few for between the sajdahs and after the tashahhud.
In practice:
- In sujood of nafl prayers and tahajjud: make as much Arabic dua from the Quran and Sunnah as you like.
- In fard prayers: keep to the tasbih of sujood, especially as imam, and add a short Arabic dua before the salam.
- Your needs in English: hold them in your heart while saying an Arabic dua such as "Rabbi inni lima anzalta ilayya min khayrin faqir" (28:24), then ask in detail after the salam.
Thinking of your need in your heart does not affect the prayer, because it is not speech. What breaks the prayer in the Hanafi school is spoken wording that sounds like ordinary talk with people.
Outside salah you may make dua in any language: see making dua in English.
The evidence
Quran, Surah Al-A'raaf 7:55
ٱدْعُوا۟ رَبَّكُمْ تَضَرُّعًۭا وَخُفْيَةً ۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُعْتَدِينَ ﴿٥٥﴾
Call upon your Lord in humility and privately; indeed, He does not like transgressors.
Sets the manner of dua; within salah the Hanafi scholars add the wording rules of the prayer.
Sahih Muslim 482
Sahih... أقرب ما يكون العبد من ربه وهو ساجد فأكثروا الدعاء ...
"The servant is closest to his Lord while he is in prostration, so make much dua."
Encourages dua in sujood, which the Hanafis apply with Arabic wording.
Sahih al-Bukhari 835
Sahih... ثم يتخير من الدعاء أعجبه إليه فيدعو ...
"Then let him choose the dua he likes best and supplicate with it."
Allows a chosen dua after the tashahhud, within the rules of the prayer.
Where the ruling is recorded
- al-Durr al-Mukhtar with Radd al-Muhtar, Kitab al-Salah, chapter on what invalidates the prayer, and the discussion of dua before the salam. Dua resembling people's speech invalidates the prayer; dua in a non-Arabic language is makruh tahrimi.
- Minhaj al-Talibin (Nawawi), Kitab al-Salah, chapter on the description of prayer, discussion of the tashahhud. Translating dua and dhikr is allowed for one unable to speak Arabic, not for one who can.
This answer is pending review by the scholars on our team. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.