بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends,
I pray that you are well.
When you lose something that your life or your happiness depended on--wealth, job, status, friends, relatives, husband/wife, children--what will happen to you? You lost your job, no job interviews, and now all your savings are gone, the creditors have not stopped calling asking you for payment. Your friends who you hang out with a lot don't even answer your emails or return your calls. Now your spouse left you and took all your children. What will you do? Some people, they will jump off the cliff, some people they will go into a deep depression, some people they will become angry, and some people regress. InshaAllah, all of us will remember the All-Merciful Lord and turn to Him in supplication.
This time when you turn to your Lord, the experience is not going to be like the supplication that you normally did. This du'a is when you feel a sense of intense need. Why? Because all of the other doors have been closed in your face. You have no other recourse besides Allah, Most Compassionate, All Generous. You will feel an utter need, a sense of worthlessness. You will turn to Allah and feel in your heart that only Allah has the answer to your problems. This du'a is the essence of worship.
Worship is the expression of one's slavehood. For most of us, this kind of supplication only appears from the heart in times of extreme need. But for some, this type of supplication is always like that. They don't need to be fired from their jobs, to be run out of money, to be abandoned by their friends, to lose their loved ones, in order to feel this way. If everything is in their hands, this is how they make du'a when they turn to Allah.
What is it that keep most of us from making this kind of du'a? It is our attachment to the object of the supplication. For most of us, the only reason we make du'a is in order to be given what we want. We ask Allah to give us a job, to give us wealth, to make us pass the exam, to give us a big house, to give us a beautiful wife or a rich husband, to give us many children or a son and all those endless things we ask Allah to give us. While this asking is not wrong because we turn to Allah for everything, we should work on making the du'a with our hearts attached to Him instead of our hearts attached to these things. You go to Him because you need Him, not because you need things from Him.
When we make du'a and received a response, the response is pure generosity of Allah. So, inwardly you should have gratitude and you should feel no sense of importance. Before you came into existence and before you did anything, there was nothing but Allah's pure largess and mighty bestowals. Any blessing that you have is purely from Allah.
So when you make du'a and you ask Him to fulfill your needs, you are not reminding of anything that He was heedless of. Don't imagine that because of your du'a He is giving you what you asked for. Allah knows everything and He did not learn about what you want from you. If you imagine that, your du'a will be a veil from Allah.
إِنَّ رَبَّكَ وَٰسِعُ ٱلْمَغْفِرَةِ ۚ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِكُمْ إِذْ أَنشَأَكُم مِّنَ ٱلْأَرْضِ وَإِذْ أَنتُمْ أَجِنَّةٌۭ فِى بُطُونِ أُمَّهَٰتِكُمْ ۖ فَلَا تُزَكُّوٓا۟ أَنفُسَكُمْ ۖ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ ٱتَّقَىٰٓ
"Very well He knows you, when He produced you from the earth, and when you were yet unborn in your mothers' wombs; therefore hold not yourselves purified; God knows very well him who is Godfearing." Qur'an An-Najm/Stars 53:31
Allah chooses for His mercy to give to whomever He wills. It is pure generosity from Him.
يَخْتَصُّ بِرَحْمَتِهِۦ مَن يَشَآءُ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ ذُو ٱلْفَضْلِ ٱلْعَظِيمِ
"He singles out for His mercy whom He will; God is of bounty abounding." Qur'an AleImran 3:74
So, if you have the traces in your life of obedience or closeness to Allah, you have nothing to be proud of but everything to be grateful. Your job is to turn to Him with gratitude.
We still need to supplicate, pray and obey Allah. The effort need to be there because Allah's mercy is near those who excel in goodness. In the end there is a need for gratitude.
إِنَّ رَحْمَتَ ٱللَّهِ قَرِيبٌۭ مِّنَ ٱلْمُحْسِنِينَ
"Verily, the mercy of Allah is near to those who excel in goodness" Qur'an Al-'Araf 7:56
The du'a becomes a means to take you to Allah rather than distracts you from Him. Check your heart next time you ask Allah to give you wealth, don't start thinking about what nice company you will have or the vacation you always want to take with your loved ones (for example).
May Allah make us among His thankful slaves and bring us closer to Him. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
Wassalaam
