Duas not being answered

[QaiserMirza]

Ibn al Jawzi on the Matter of Duas not being answered​

One of the common complaints of many of us Muslims is that when we make Dua, we dont see its immediate effects. As a result, we get disheartened and lose hope in the effectiveness and powers of our Dua. The post below highlights a passage written by Ibn Al-Jawzi (may Allah have mercy on him) where he discusses this topic.

For those of us who dont know, Abul-Faraj ibn al-Jawzi (508 AH 597 AH) is known to be one of the most prolific authors in Islamic history. According to a research conducted on the extent of his research works, the number of Ibn al-Jawzis books is more than 376 texts. Some even say that he is the author of more than 700 works.

About the matter of Duas not being answered. Ibn al-Jawzi in one of his books commented the following:

I think part of the test is when a believer supplicates and receives no response, and he repeats the dua for a long time and sees no sign of a response. He should realize that this is a test and needs patience.

What a person experiences of waswaas (whispers from shaytan) when the response is delayed is a sickness which needs medicine I have experienced this myself. A calamity befell me and I supplicated and did not see any response, and Iblees started to lay his traps. Sometimes he said: The generosity (of Allah) is abundant and He is not miserly, so why is there a delay?
I said to him: Be gone, O cursed one, for I have no need of anyone to argue my case and I do not want you as a supporter!

Then I told myself: Beware of going along with his whispers, for if there was no
other reason for the delay except that Allah is testing you to see whether you will fight the enemy, that is sufficient wisdom.

My soul (nafs) said: How could you explain the delay in the response of Allah to your prayers for relief from this calamity?

I said: It is proven with evidence that Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, is the Sovereign, and the Sovereign may withhold or give, so there is no point in objecting to Him.

The wisdom behind that is proven in definitive evidence. I may think that something is good, but wisdom does not dictate it, but the reason for that may be hidden, just as a doctor may do things that appear outwardly to be harmful, intending some good purpose thereby. Perhaps this is something of that nature. There may be an interest to be served by delay, and haste may be harmful.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: A person will be fine so long as he does not become impatient and says, I prayed but I did not receive any answer.

The response may be withheld because of some fault in you. Perhaps there was something dubious in what you ate or your heart was heedless at the time when you said the dua, or your punishment is being increased by means of your need being withheld, because of some sin from which you have not repented sincerely. So look for some of these reasons, so that you might achieve your aim.

You should examine the intention behind this request, because attaining it may lead to more sin, or prevent you from doing some good, so withholding it is better.

Perhaps losing what you have missed out on will cause you to turn to Allah and getting it will distract you from Him. This is obvious, based on the fact that were it not for this calamity you would not have turned to Him, because the real calamity is what distracts you from Him, but what makes you stand before Him is good for you and is in your best interests.

If you ponder these things you will focus on what is more beneficial for you, such as correcting a mistake or seeking forgiveness or standing before Allah and beseeching Him, and forget about what you have missed out on.

End quote. Source: Sayd al-Khaatir (59-60). (This publication is in three volumes containing aphorisms and wise counsels)

About the issue of Duas being accepted, the following two sayings by Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) are also very noteworthy:

It was narrated that Faddalah ibn Ubayd said:

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) heard a man making dua after his prayer, but he did not send blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: This man is in a hurry. Then he called him and said to him or to someone else: When any one of you has finished praying (and makes dua), let him start by praising Allah, then let him send blessings upon the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), then after that let him ask for whatever he wants. Al-Albani said: it is a saheeh hadeeth. (Saheeh Sunan al-Tirmidhi, 2765.

The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:

The slave will receive a response so long as his dua does not involve sin or severing of family ties, and so long as he is not hasty. It was said, What does being hasty mean? He said: When he says, I made dua and I made dua, and I have not seen any response, and he gets frustrated and stops making dua. Narrated by al-Bukahari, 6340; Muslim, 2735.

Finally, for those of us who have abandoned the practice of Dua, we may be missing something quite important. Wishing is not the same thing as making a Dua. We may keep wishing our wishes but we have a better chance of seeing them materialized when we actually make the effort to enter the state of Dua and asking Him what we want

 

[Unicorn]

Jo roz piay dawah, tou Kahay karay Dua?

 

[Mughal1]

The problem is not dua or acceptance but understanding of the concept and its purpose.

Allah is ever ready to help his servant but they have to be his servant not just in the name only.

The quran was revealed because people sort guidance and that is why it starts with surah that is dua. Now the quran is there but is anyone trying to see what it says?

The first step man needs to take is to understand the message of Allah properly.

The 2nd step is to act upon it to achieve the goal it sets for man.

Unfortunately if we read the quran we find a lot of wrong twisted translations and interpretations. These are the sources of our understanding of the quran. This being the case it is obvious we are doing something seriously wrong because what we make of the quran and act upon does not result in what we think should happen.

Let me try and give an example from the quran 2/51 as to misdirection.

Here all translators and interpreters of the quran translate word AL-IJLA=golden calf or calf.

We are told that when Allah summoned Moses for 40 nights to give him constitution for the israelites to write it down for them, they took a calf for worship in his absence.

Word ijla come from root ain, jeem and laam and is defined by article al. The meaning attached to this root are power, reign, calf, haste, desire etc.

The question is what mae these translators to choose word calf instead of several other words for meaning?

Let us look at history of israelite people under pharaoh and aks a very basic question, did these people ever worship idols? No. No matter what Israelites never worship any other God than only god. This is why when Moses told them about Allah they all accepted his message without any reservation.

A people who lived amongst idol worshipers never worshipped any god other than the one of their fore fathers. How then one could miss this point and come up with such an idea that as soon as they became a free people they ran to worship a calf?

The actual lesson in the story is that as soon as they became a free people Allah decided to tell moses to write down the messages for them as state constitution. When moses went away to do that some of his people took over the reign of power and decding to rule the people by law of other than Allah.

It is like story of creation of pakistan. The people who brought about the country when it came to ruling other took over and led the country away from where it was supposed to be led.

This is what the quran is telling us that as soon as moses stepped out others saw the opportunity to seize the power and so they made an attempt but soon moses came back and managed to reverse the situation.

Why these verses have been turned upside down is because imperialist forces are trying any way they can to hide the message of the quran. The quran is book of revelations for revolutions. Not for idle reading without any ense of what it says.

When ummah wakes up to the message of the quran and establishes it no doubt Allah will help as he used to. But till them people need to rediscover in the quran what has been covered up by mullahs to render the message ineffective and useless.

May Allah help us see his lessons the way Allah wanted us to see them.

This is why before reading the quran we seek refuge in Allah from forces that try to derail us from making the right sense of the message.

The quoted verse tells people to be careful when they have freedom to implement divine constitution that people from among them do not take over the seat of power to mislead others back into same troubles that they came out of.

It is very clear from the quran that people need to strive hard to make divine constitution work. It is not at all for the weak minded or lazy person nor for a crazy person who wants use and abuse others for his own ends.

 

[QaiserMirza]

Very well said Brother Mughal, may Allah shower His mercy on you.