We will never be at lost

In my last exam, i couldn't sleep well that night. I was really truly afraid - of not passing the exam. I have just lost my mum, of whom i know has been making lots of du'a for me. All this while, Allah has made it smooth for me- probably because of my mother's du'a. That would be the first time i am taking exam without my mother.

And I passed. Alhamdulillah. Probably my mother's prayer was with me, IS still with me.

I like it when one of the scholar compare asking things from Allah (making du'a) and asking things from human being. We as human, the more people ask from us, the more we feel uneasy and uncomfortable. It is very different with our Lord. He loves when we ask something. He ordered us to pray to him. He will get angry if don't make du'a to him.

Verily, the person who does not ask Allah, Allah gets angry at him. (al-Tirmidhi - sahih)

When we make du'a, we acknowledge the presence of our Lord, we acknowledge that all the matters of the world are not within our power. Probably that's why when we make sincere du'a, we feel at ease, we feel at peace. We have made a direct request to the CEO of a company, so it does not matter what His subordinates want as they don't have the ultimate power.

Allah promises us He will answer our prayers

As Muslims, Allah said He will answer our prayers. Only that, in what way. Prophet told us:

There is no Muslim on the face of the earth that asks Allah for anything except Allah gives it to him, or averts from him similar evil, as long as he does not ask for something evil or breaking the ties of kinship. (al-Tirmidhi-sahih)

So we might want to think again when we start complaining that our dua are not being answered. Who knows when we made du'a to go oversea, but we ended up in Malaysia - probably Allah knew that we'll find peace in Malaysia (?wife) or Allah knew if we went oversea, we might lost our faith...

As Allah said (my old time favourite piece):

Jihad is ordained for you though you dislike it. And it may be that you dislike a thing even though it is for your good, or that you like a thing even though it is for your evil. And Allah knows, whereas you do not know. (Al-Baqarah:216)

Learn the way of making proper du'a

Do we pray to God in our sujud or after finishing our solat?
- the du'a is also likely to be asnwered if we make them in between tashahhud and salam.

Do we enjoy Friday after work as we approach weekend?
- there is one moment between asar and maghrib on Friday that our prayer will be answered.

Tired on a 13-hour journey back to Malaysia, or busy watching movies in the plane?
- du'a of a traveller is more likely to be answered

Swearing when we don't get what we want, because we think our boss is being not fair?
- beware of our words, in case they are considered as dua as there is no veil between those who has been wronged and their dua being answered.

There are many tips authentically related to us on how we should make dua. Of all the tips, the main one is to have sincerity. No wonder why our dua at times of distress were more likely to be answered as we were really desperate and there is no one else we could turn to. We know any dua we make will be good for us, either way - so make plenty of dua. ALlah will never become tired of them.

But beware of haram provision

However, one thing that will prevent our du'a from being answered is when our provision is from haram source, like riba'. We will see in the next hadith, the person was in 3 conditions in which usually his dua will be answered - traveller, disheveled and holding his hand high - and still his dua will not be answered:

Then the Prophet mentioned a traveller on a long journey, who is disheveled and dusty, and who stretches forth his hands to the sky, saying, "O my lord, O my lord!" - while his food is unlawful, his drink is unlawful, his clothing is unlawful and he is nourished unlawfully; how can he be answered? (Muslim)

We will never be at lost

One of the good thing about making du'a is that we will never be at lost. We make du'a thousand times a day; directed at everybody we see. We don't even need to raise our hands and it can be as short as 'O Allah, increase this guy's provision.' or 'Make me happy today'. We will never be at lost as Allah promised that our prayers are either answered (as the are or differently for our benefit) or evil be averted from us. Plus an extra point, if we make du'a to our brothers and sisters in their absence, the angels will say 'to you the same'.

There is no Muslim worshipper who prays for his brother in his absence except that an angel says, "And to you be the same!" (Muslim)

So my friends, start making du'a (with sincerity) not confined to around solat only. May Allah accepts our du'a. Insya-Allah.

@Peace