Sat 21st Jul 2018-07-21
Lesson 18: The Answering of Dua
- Dua Has a high status with Allah
- From the virtues of Dua is that Allah has promised the one who calls upon him that his request will be fulfilled
- “And your Lord said: “Invoke Me, [i.e. believe in My Oneness (Islamic Monotheism)] (and ask Me for anything) I will respond to your (invocation). Verily! Those who scorn My worship [i.e. do not invoke Me, and do not believe in My Oneness, (Islamic Monotheism)] they will surely enter Hell in humiliation!” [Surah Al-Ghafir (The Forgiving) verse 60]
- It is from the great mercy and generosity of Allah that he has encouraged his slaves to call upon him, he has made it upon himself to answer their dua and he loves to be called upon often
- The one whom Allah loves the most is the one who asks him the most, returns to him and remembers him
- The one who does not ask Allah has deprived himself
- There are very many ahaadeeth regarding this matter
- Salman Al-Farsi (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet (ﷺ) said:“Indeed, Allah, is Hayy (The Ever-Living), Generous, when a man raises his hands to Him, He feels too shy to return them to him empty and rejected.” [Jami` at-Tirmidhi]
- Narrated Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him): Allah’s Apostle (ﷺ) said, “Our Lord, the Blessed, the Superior, comes every night down on the nearest Heaven to us when the last third of the night remains, saying: “Is there anyone to invoke Me, so that I may respond to invocation? Is there anyone to ask Me, so that I may grant him his request? Is there anyone seeking My forgiveness, so that I may forgive him?” [Sahih al-Bukhari]
- On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: Allah (mighty and sublime be He) said: Whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him. My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him. When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it. I do not hesitate about anything as much as I hesitate about [seizing] the soul of My faithful servant: he hates death and I hate hurting him.” [Related by al-Bukhari]
- Allah is The Ever-Living and the most generous, he will not let the ones who ask of him to go to waste
- These narrations highlight that Allah does not reject the dua of the one who calls upon him
- However sometimes people make dua but what they want does not happen and they say “my dua wasn’t answered” and they complain.
- How can we explain this?
- Response 1: The reality is that your dua can be answered in different ways:
- Sometimes your dua can be answered in the exact way you asked for
- Sometimes your dua may be answered but what you asked for is delayed, it comes to you later on and this is by the wisdom of Allah. It may be that were you to receive it earlier you would be harmed
- Sometimes your dua may be answered in a way that you did not expect. For example you asked for one thing, but Allah provides you with something else which is more beneficial
- Sometimes what you asked for may not happen, but instead Allah removes from you a harm
- Al-Haafidh Ibn Hajar says every person who asks Allah is answered but the manner in which they are answered differs
- There are many hadith that talk about the above:
- Jubair bin Nufair (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that `Ubadah bin As-Samit narrated (may Allah be pleased with him) to them that, the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: “There is not a Muslim upon the earth who calls upon Allah with any supplication, except that Allah grants it to him, or he turns away from him the like of it in evil; as long as he does not supplicate for something sinful, or the severing of the ties of kinship.” So a man from the people said: “What if we should increase (in it)” He (saws) said: “(With) Allah is more.” [Jami` at-Tirmidhi]
- A’Ubadah bin As-Samit (May Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “Whenever a Muslim supplicates Allah, He accepts his supplication or averts any similar kind of trouble from him until he prays for something sinful or something that may break the ties of kinship.” Upon this someone of the Companions said: “Then we shall supplicate plenty.” The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “Allah is more plentiful (in responding).”[At- Tirmidhi].
- NOTE!: The above hadith highlights that also your dua is only going to be answered as long as you do not ask for something sinful or something that breaks the ties of kinship
- Therefore your dua being answered does not automatically mean you will get exactly what you asked for instantly and this is something wrong people think.
- We should therefore call upon Allah all the time, at both easy and difficult times
- There are two more responses to when people say their dua is not answered
- Response 2: The scholars say that there is a difference between one who is making dua and one who is asking for something specific, e.g. look at the hadith above when Allah says “Is there anyone to invoke (make Dua to) Me, so that I may respond to invocation? Is there anyone to ask Me, so that I may grant him his request”, the two are technically different, usually a dua can be generally for anything, this is different to a specific request.
- Response 3: The answering of your dua depends on whether or not your dua is accepted. Dua is a form of worship and any worshuip can either be Accepted or Rejected by Allah. So for example if one is very sinful then he may prevent his own dua from being accepted or answered.
- for your dua to be answered there are conditions: what are these?
- Dua in of itself is something very beneficial and it is the key to every goodness in this world and the hereafter
- Ibnul Qayyim says that making dua is from the strongest of methods of removing evils and harm from yourself and attaining the good that you desire however sometimes making dua may not be answerd due to one ask for something which Allah does not love (e.g. asking for evil, or for the severing of ties of kinship), or due to to his weakness of Eemaan and lack of focus and submission in his humility before his Lord. Therefore his dua will be like one who has a bow with a loose string (therefore the arrow will not fly). The one making dua may also be doing haraam actions which prevent his dua from being answered (e.g. sins, taking ihterest, negligence, desrires, oprerssion etc)
- Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said:“Call upon Allah while being certain of being answered, and know that Allah does not respond to a supplication from the heart of one heedless and occupied by play.” [Jami` at-Tirmidhi]
- Therefore you should be completely confident in Allah
- Anas ibn Malik (radiAllahu anhu) narrates that the prophet (ﷺ) said: ‘When one of you makes a du’a, then let him be firm and determined in his du’a, and let him not say, ‘O Allah! If You will, then please forgive me’, for there is noone who can force Allah to do anything’.[Sahih al-Bukhari and Muslim and others]
- The Scholars have said do not say “Oh Allah give me …insha’Allah (if you will)” when making your dua, you should be completely resolute
- Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “O people! Allah is Pure and, therefore, accepts only that which is pure. Allah has commanded the believers as He has commanded His Messengers by saying: ‘O Messengers! Eat of the good things, and do good deeds.’ (23:51) And He said: ‘O you who believe (in the Oneness of Allah – Islamic Monotheism)! Eat of the lawful things that We have provided you…”‘ (2:172). Then he (ﷺ) made a mention of the person who travels for a long period of time, his hair are dishevelled and covered with dust. He lifts his hand towards the sky and thus makes the supplication: ‘My Rubb! My Rubb!’ But his food is unlawful, his drink is unlawful, his clothes are unlawful and his nourishment is unlawful, how can, then his supplication be accepted?”[Muslim].
- What weakens your dua:
- If a person does not make dua with a full heart and certainty
- Committing sins and haraam
- If one is negligent when making dua and not focussed
- If one is hasty
- Importance of not being Hasty:
- The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “A person’s supplication will be answered provided he does not ask for what is sinful or the severing of family ties, and he must not be hasty/impatient.” He was asked, “What is impatience, O Allah’s Messenger?” He replied, “That the person says, ‘I supplicated, but my supplication was not answered’. So he becomes disappointed and abandons supplicating.” [Muslim]
- Ibnul Qayyim says the example of the one who makes Dua whilst being hasty is like the one who plants a seed into the ground and so he waters it and checks on it, however the plant takes time and after a while he gives up and abandons it and leaves it.
- He misses out on the greatness of the full tree if he had waited
- Four means by which the dua is accepted:
- Being a traveller
- To have humbleness, humility and recognise your poverty before your Lord
- Raising your hands
- To be persistent and consistent in making dua, mentioning the lordship of Allah (e.g. “Oh Allah your are the one who provides sustenance…” etc) and not hasty
Next Lesson insha Allah: The Dua is the right of Allah solely, the Sunnah way of Making dua, the Bidah people make in this regard.