Ask And You Will Be Answered

Introduction

All praise is to ALLAH, we praise HIM, seek HIS help and HIS forgiveness. We seek refuge with ALLAH from the evils of our deeds. One whom ALLAH guides none can lead him astray, and one whom HE misguides, none can help him. We bear witness that Muhammad is HIS Servant and Messenger.

"O you who believe! Fear ALLAH as HE should be feared and die not except in a state of Islam"(Aali Imran:102).

"O mankind! Be dutiful to your LORD, who created you from a single person(Aadam), and from him, created his wife (Hawwa), and from them both HE created many men and women and fear ALLAH through WHOM you demand your mutual (rights), and (do not cut off the relations of) the wombs (kinship). Surely, ALLAH is Ever an ALL-WATCHER over you". (An-Nisaa':1).

"O you who believe! Keep your duty to ALLAH and fear HIM, and speak (always) the truth. HE will direct you to do righteous good deeds and forgive you your sins. And whosoever obeys ALLAH and HIS Messenger he has indeed achieved a great achievement (I.e he will be saved from hell fire and made to enter Paradise)" (Al-Ahzaab 70-71)

Certainly, the most truthful of speech is the Word of ALLAH and the best guidance is the guidance of Muhammad and the worst of affairs are the newly invented matters in the Deen. Every newly-invented matter is an innovation and every innovation is going astray and every going astray is in the fire.

Dua is very important. It can change the Divine Decree and relieve distress. It is beneficial with regards to what has decreed and what has not been decreed. The Prophet said:

"Nothing can change the
Divine Decree except dua."

Also He said:

"Whoever has the gate of dua opened to him, has the gate of mercy opened to him. ALLAH is never asked for anything that HE gives which is more beloved to HIM than being asked for good health and wellbeing. Dua is beneficial with regards to what has been decreed and what has not been decreed. So, O slaves of ALLAH, you must make dua".

"No precaution can protect against the decree of ALLAH. Dua is beneficial with regard to what has been decreed and what has not been decreed. The dua meets the calamity that has been decreed and wrestles with it, until the Day of Resurrection".

Some of those who neglect dua use as evidence the hadeeth, "I have no need to ask because HE knows my condition". Al-Baghawi mentioned it in his tafseer of Soorat al-Anbiyaa', pointing out how daeef (weak) it is. He said "it was narrated from Ubayy ibn Ka'b that Ibraheem said, when they tied him up to throw him into the fire, "there is no god but YOU, glory be to YOU, LORD of the worlds. To YOU be praise and to YOU be the sovereignty. You have no partner or associate." Then they threw him with a catapult into the fire, and Jibreel met him and said, "O ibraheem, do you need something?" He said, "From you, no." Jibreel said, then ask your LORD." Ibraheem said, "I have no need to ask because HE knows my condition.""

This hadith is false and has no basis. The scholars have spokened out against it and explained why it is false. Shaykh al -Islam ibn Taymiyyah said concerning this:

"The hadeeth "I have no need to ask because he knows my condition" is false. It contradicts what ALLAH said about Ibraheem al-Khaleel and other Prophets, that they made dua to ALLAH and asked of HIM. And it goes against what ALLAH has commanded HIS slaves to do, asking HIM for the best in this world and the next"

Are you one of those who refrain from making dua because you deem yourself an irredeemable sinner? Make dua and be earnest in it. Is seeking repentance for your sins from ALLAH anything but dua. And it is proven that the Prophet said:

"The prayer of the one who is oppressed is answered even if he's an evildoer, and his evildoing is upon himself"

Similarly, the fact that a dua is not answered does not always mean that the one who is praying is curropt. There are some prayers which ALLAH did not grant our Prophet Muhammad. He said:

"I asked my LORD for three things of which HE granted me two...."

ALLAH did not answer some of the prayers of the Prophet for an important reason, which was to teach mankind that he has no control over anything, rather everything was under the control of ALLAH.

Some people make dua but do not get any response; they ask for a long time but do not see it having any effect, so you find the shaytaan starting to whisper to such people and making them think badly of their LORD. The one to whom that happens should believe that there's a reason and great wisdom behind the delay in the response. ALLAH, may HE be glorified, is the SOVEREIGN, of all and none can put back HIS bounty or overturn HIS ruling or object to HIS giving or HIS withholding, if HE gives by HIS bounty or witholds by HIS justice. We are HIS slaves and HE does with us whatever HE will.

ALLAH says:

"And your LORD creates whatsoever HE wills and chooses, no choice have they (in any matter)......"
(Al-Qasas:68)

The response may be delayed because the person himself has done something which is an impediment to receiving a response or a cause of delay. Perhaps there's something haraam in his food, or perhaps there was some negligence in his heart at the time when he made the dua, or perhaps he had committed as a sin, as a consequence of which his dua was not answered. So when the response of the dua is delayed, this may prompt the person to check on himself and examine how he stands before his LORD, so he will take stock of himself and repent; if the answer to his prayer came sooner , perhaps he would become heedless and think that he was doing fine, then he would develop a sense of self-admiration that would lead to his doom.

Whatever the case, the fruits of dua are guaranteed even if you do not see the response with your own eyes. So think well of your LORD and say: Perhaps HE has answered me in a way that I do not know. It narrated in a saheeh report that the Prophet said:

"There's no Muslim who does not offer any dua in which there's no sin or severing of family ties but ALLAH will give him one of three things in return:
Either HE will answer his dua sooner, or HE will store it up for him in the Hereafter or HE will divert an equivalent evil away from him because of it"

They said: "we will say a lot of dua". He said:

"ALLAH is more generous."

Whatever the case, whatever the situation, always make dua. Never stop making dua, for dua will always be of benefit.

And ALLAH knows best.