Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaahi wa barakaatuhu Shaykh. Is it a condition that in order for one's supplication to be answered during rain, one must be outside, in the rain? Or can one sit inside a room and supplicate while it is raining outside? Is it the same? May Allaah reward you, Shaykh.

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 is His slave and Messenger. {C}

There are some ahaadeeth which indicate that when it rains, it is a time when the supplication is answered, as in the hadeeth which reads, "Seek your supplication to be answered at the time when the armies meet, when the Iqaamah (second, small call to prayer made when the prayer is about to start) is called, and when it rains." [Ash-Shaafi’i - Al-Albaani classified it as Saheeh (sound)]

This includes whether one supplicates in his home or in any other place or under the rain.

As far as we know, there is no hadeeth which indicates that the supplication is only answered when it is said under the rain in a way that the rain falls on the person who supplicates, except in a narration by Al-Haakim and Al-Bayhaqi in his book Ash-Shu’ab, with the wording: "There are two supplications that are definitely answered (or rarely unanswered) ... and under the rain."

With regard to this addition "under the rain":

Firstly: It is not explicit that what is intended from it is that the rain touches the body of the person who supplicates; it is for this reason that some interpreters of Hadeeth interpreted it to refer to the time of rainfall; as said by the author of Al-Mafaateeh fee Sharh Al-Masaabeeh, “His saying ‘under the rain’ means when it rains...”

Secondly: This addition, "under the rain", even though some scholars classified it as Hasan (good), Shu’ayb Al-Arna’oot said in Tahqeeq Jaami’ Al-Usool, “The only one who narrated it is Zurayq ibn Sa’eed, who is unknown." He also said, “The chain of narrators of this addition includes Zurayq ibn Sa’eed Al-Madani, who is unknown.”

Also, Muhammad Subhi ibn Hasan Hallaaq also classified this addition 'under the rain' as Dha'eef (weak) when he reviewed the book "At-Tahbeer Li-Eedhaah Ma'aani At-Tayseer".

Moreover, the narration by Zurayq reported by Abu Daawood was with the wording "and at the time of rain", and not with the wording "under the rain," and there is a difference between the two.

So you see that there is doubt in this addition in terms of significance and authenticity; therefore, this expression is not strong enough to restrict the general meaning of answering the supplication at the time of rainfall in general. In our view, the supplication being answered is not peculiar to the person who supplicates under the rain directly; rather, he can supplicate when it is raining even if he is in a place that protects him from the rain.

Allah knows best.