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God Answers Everyone's Prayers
God, the All-Mighty, Merciful and Compassionate, revealed in the Qur'an
that He is close to man and will answer people when they pray to Him.
One of the relevant verses is as follows:
If My servants ask you about Me, I am near. I answer the call of the
caller when he calls on Me. They should therefore respond to Me and believe
in Me so that they will be guided aright. (Surat al-Baqara: 186)
As stated in the verse above, God is close to everybody. He has knowledge
of everyone's wishes, feelings, thoughts, every word uttered, anything
whispered and even what is concealed deep in one's thoughts. Consequently,
God hears and knows everyone who turns to Him and prays to Him. This is
God's blessing on mankind, and a manifestation of His mercy, grace and
infinite power.
God has infinite might and knowledge. He is the Possessor of everything
in the entire universe. Every being, every object, from the seemingly
most powerful people to the greatest riches, from the magnificent celestial
bodies to a tiny animal dwelling on the Earth, all belongs to God and
are all under His complete will and control.
A person who has faith in this truth can pray to God for anything and
can hope that God will answer those prayers. For example, a person who
is seized by an incurable disease will surely resort to all forms of medical
care. Yet, knowing that only God restores health, prayers will be offered
to Him for recovery. Alternatively, a person with some kind of fear or
anxiety can pray to God for relief and to remove all forms of fear. A
person who encounters difficulties in accomplishing a task can turn to
God for the removal of difficulties. One can pray to God for countless
things; for guidance to the true path, for acceptance into paradise with
other true believers, for a better grasp of paradise, hell and the Might
of God, for good health and so on. This is what God's Messenger, peace
be upon him, stressed when he said:
Shall I introduce to you a weapon
which will protect you both from the evils of enemies and increase your
sustenance? They said: Yes, O Messenger of God. He said: Call your Lord
day and night, for 'Prayer' is the weapon of a believer.1
However, there is another secret disclosed in the Qur'an, which deserves
mention at this point. As God states in the verse, "Man prays for evil
just as he prays for good. Man is prone to be impetuous." (Surat al-Isra':
11). For example, a person may ask God for more property and wealth for
his children's future. However, God may not see any goodness in this request.
It may well be that prosperity will turn the children away from God. In
this sense, God hears this person's call and answers it in the best way.
Alternatively, a person may pray not to be late for an appointment. However,
it may well be that it is better for him to reach the destination after
the specified time and instead, meet someone who would contribute something
beneficial for his eternal life. God knows this and He answers the prayer,
not in the form the person thought, but in the best way. That is, God
hears that person, but if He sees no good for him in his prayer, He creates
what is best for him. This itself is a very important secret.
When prayers appear to go unanswered, those unaware of this secret assume
that God did not hear their call. This is indeed a perverted belief of
ignorance because "God is closer to man than his own jugular vein". (Surat
Qaf: 16) He knows every word one speaks, every thought and every instant
pertaining to one's life. Even while one is asleep, God knows what he
experiences in his dreams. It is God Who creates everything. Consequently,
each time one prays to God, he should be aware that God will accept his
prayer as a worship and believe that God will answer his call in the most
appropriate time and create what is best for him.
Prayer, as well as being a form of worship, is also a precious gift from
God to mankind. This is because, through prayer, God enables man to attain
anything He deems good and beneficial for him. God relates the importance
of prayers in the verse stating: "Say: 'What has My Lord to do with you
if you do not call on Him? But you have denied the truth, so punishment
is bound to come.' " (Surat al-Furqan: 77)
GOD ANSWERS THE PRAYERS OF THOSE WHO ARE IN DISTRESS AND NEED
Prayers are the times when one's closeness to God is explicitly felt;
it is a time when one grasps God's closeness and how, as a servant of
God, he is in need of Him. This is because when one prays, he grasps how
weak and humble he is before God, and perceives that no one except God
can ever help him. The sincerity and candidness in one's prayer depends
on how desperately he is in need. For example, everybody prays to God
for peace in the world. Yet, someone -who is desperate in the middle of
a war would pray more earnestly and humbly to God. Similarly, people,
during a storm in a ship or in an airplane in danger of crashing, would
beg humbly to God. They will be sincere and submissive in their prayer.
God relates this fact in a verse as follows:
Say: 'Who rescues you from the darkness of the land and sea? You call
on Him humbly and secretly: "If you rescue us from this, we will truly
be among the thankful." (Surat al-An'am: 63)
In the Qur'an, God commands man to pray with humility:
Call on your Lord humbly and secretly. He does not love those who overstep
the limits. (Surat al-A'raf: 55)
In another verse, God states that He answers the calls of the oppressed
and those who are in need:
He Who responds to the oppressed when they call on Him and removes their
distress, and makes you inheritors of the earth. Is there another deity
besides God? How little you pay heed! (Surat an-Naml: 62)
No doubt, one does not necessarily have to face death to implore God
and to pray to Him in need. These examples are given so as to make people
have a grasp of the mood with which to pray sincerely and ponder over
the moment of death, when one can no longer be heedless and definitely
turn to God with an inner sincerity. Believers who are wholeheartedly
devoted to God, on the other hand, being aware of their weaknesses and
feeling the need, always turn sincerely to God even if they are not in
a situation of death or life. This is an important characteristic which
distinguishes them from disbelievers and those of poor faith.
NOT SETTING ANY LIMITS ON PRAYING
A person can ask God for anything within the limits of
the permissible (halal). This is because, as mentioned earlier, God is
the only ruler and owner of the entire universe; and if He wills, He grants
man anything He desires. Every person who turns to God and prays to Him
should credit God's power to do anything and "be firm in supplication"
as our beloved Prophet, peace be upon him, said.2 He
needs to know that it is easy for Him to fulfil any wish, and He will
grant a person's request if there is anything good for that person in
his prayer. Prayers of prophets and true believers mentioned in the Qur'an
set an example to believers about the subjects they can ask from God.
For example, the Prophet Zachariah (Zakariyya), peace be upon him, prayed
to God for a pleasing heir and, God answered his prayer, despite his wife's
barrenness:
When he called on his Lord in secret and said, 'My Lord, my bones have
lost their strength and my head is crowned with white, but in calling
on You, My Lord, I have never been disappointed. I fear my relatives when
I am gone and my wife is barren, so give me an heir from You to be my
inheritor and the inheritor of the family of Jacob (Ya'qub), and make
him, my Lord, pleasing to You.' (Surah Maryam: 3-6)
God answered the Prophet Zachariah's prayer and gave him the good news
of the Prophet John (Yahya), peace be upon him. Having received the tidings
of a son, the Prophet Zachariah was surprised since his wife was barren.
The answer of God to the Prophet Zachariah reveals a secret which believers
should always keep in mind:
He said, 'My Lord! How can I have a boy when my wife is barren and I
have reached advanced old age?' He said, 'It will be so! Your Lord says,
"That is easy for me to do. I created you before, when you were not anything."'
(Surah Maryam: 8-9)
There are many other prophets mentioned in the Qur'an whose prayers were
answered. For example, the Prophet Noah (Nuh), peace be upon him, asked
God to inflict a torment on his people, who went astray despite his best
efforts to guide them to the right path. As an answer to his prayer, God
inflicted a great torment on them which went down in history.
The Prophet Job (Aiyub), peace be upon him, called out to God because
of his distress, saying "... Great harm has afflicted me and You are the
Most Merciful of the merciful" (Surat al-Anbiya': 83). The response to
the Prophet Job's prayer is related as follows:
We responded to him and removed from him the harm, which was afflicting
him and restored his family to him, and the same again with them, as a
mercy direct from Us and a Reminder to all worshippers. (Surat al-Anbiya':
84)
God answered the Prophet Solomon (Sulayman), peace be upon him, who prayed,
"My Lord, forgive me and give me a kingdom the like of which will never
be granted to anyone after me. Truly You are the Ever-Giving." (Surah
Sād: 35). And God bestowed a great power and wealth on him.
Accordingly, those who pray should keep in mind the verse "His command
when He desires a thing is just to say to it, 'Be!' (Surah Ya-Sin:82).
As stated in the verse, everything is easy for God and He hears and knows
every prayer.
God gives blessings of this world to those who desire them, but in the
hereafter they will suffer heavy loss
The desires of those who do not harbour a deep-rooted fear in their heart
for God and lack a profound faith in the hereafter are worldly-oriented.
They ask for wealth, property and status only for the life of this world.
God informs us that those who desire only the world will have no reward
in the hereafter. Believers, on the other hand, pray both for this world
and the hereafter since they believe that the life in the hereafter is
as certain and near as this life. Of this, God states the following:
... There are some people who say, 'Our Lord, give us good in the world.'
They will have no share in the hereafter. And there are others who say,
'Our Lord, give us good in the world, and good in the hereafter, and safeguard
us from the punishment of the Fire.' They will have a good share from
what they have earned. God is swift at reckoning. (Surat al-Baqara: 200-202)
Believers, too, pray for good health, wealth, knowledge and bliss. Yet,
all their prayers carry the intention to please God and have something
to do for the good of the religion (deen). They ask for wealth, for instance,
to use it in God's way. With regard to this, God gives the example of
The Prophet Solomon in the Qur'an. Far from being a worldly ambition,
the Prophet Solomon's call for unprecedented possessions was for the noble
purpose of using them in the way of God, calling people to God's religion
and to keep himself occupied with the remembrance of God. The words of
the Prophet Solomon related in the Qur'an indicate this sincere intention:
"... Truly do I love the love of good, with a view to the glory of my
Lord." (Surah Sād: 32)
God answered this very prayer of Solomon, granted him a great property
in the world and rewarded him with the blessings of the hereafter. On
the other hand, God also grants the wishes of those who desire only the
life of this world, yet a painful punishment awaits them in the hereafter.
No blessing they possess here in this world will be accessible to them
in the hereafter.
This important fact is related in the Qur'an as follows:
If anyone desires to cultivate the hereafter, We
will increase him in his cultivation. If anyone desires to cultivate the
world, We will give him some of it but he will have no share in the hereafter.
(Surat ash-Shura: 20)
As for anyone who desires this fleeting existence,
We hasten in it whatever We will to whomever We want. Then We will consign
him to Hell where he will roast, reviled and driven out. (Surat al-Isra':
18)
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