“And your Lord says,call upon me; I will respond your Dua (supplication). “(Alquran,40:60).This verse of the holy Quran showcases the importance & value of Dua(supplication),not only demonstrated in this verse of the holy Quran only rather it shines throughout the Quran & Ahadith,Weather it be in the stories of Prophets or every moment that Allah(swt) calls upon us to reach out to him.In Islamic terminology,Dua(supplication) is an Arabic word which literally means prayer of invocation,supplication or request,frequently used to call for something needed.It is basically a subordination to the Allah(swt), forming a vital part of a true muslim’s faith & belief.Everything that a muslim wants in his life or hereafter no matter how small or big thing that is,he asks it from Allah the almighty only. This ummah has been given three things which were not given to any nation before, only to prophets. One among those three things is,it is said to this ummah, “call upon me i will answer you”(Tafsir hafiz ibn kasir).Therefore it doesn’t take much to understand & realize the caliber of dua(supplication) & how blessed we are that Allah(swt) has favoured us by allowing us to have direct & open relationship with him, with absolutely no middle-man in between. Hence, Dua is a means of keeping in touch with Allah (swt) & due to this we get closer to our Lord.
There is no fixed time & location for making Dua. However there are special times like Fridays, in prostration, at the end of salah(prayer),during the last third of the night etc where Dua has a very high chances of getting accepted. As a muslim we must never abandon this blessing as those who abandon Dua,the warning of jahnam(hellfire) is given to them. May Allah bless us to employ this blessing in every situation.
The Prophet (pbuh) when asked by a visitor from a village:”Tell me if our lord is near us?” Thereupon the following verse was revealed.”And when my servants ask about me, of course, I am near. I respond to the call of one when he prays to me”(2:186).It clearly intimates, our Lord is so close to us whenever we wish we can communicate with our Lord to put our requests & prayers to him(swt) through the medium of Dua. According to Nauman bin bashir(rz),the prophet(pbuh) said: The prayer(Dua) is the very essence of worship. (Tirmidhi). In another narration, according to Anas(rz),the prophet said: Prayer(Dua) is the marrow of worship.(Tirmidhi).Likewise Abu Huraira (RZ) says that the Prophet(pbuh) said that:Allah becomes angry with him who doesn’t ask him for anything.(Tirmidhi).All in all these ahadith throw light to the fact that making Dua is an important act of worship. It is the most powerful tool for a believer that can do wonders by changing his situation during the times of grief & sorrows including even his fate. As Salman(rz) reported, the messenger of Allah(pbuh) said: Nothing repels the divine decree except supplication,& nothing increases life span except righteousness.(Tirmidhi:2139). In another hadith, narrated by Salman al-farsi(rz),the prophet(pbuh) said: Your Lord is munificent & generous & is ashamed to turn away empty the hands of his servant when he raises them to him.(Abu dawood:1488).It becomes evincible from this hadith that the Dua that a servant makes is always accepted. But a question arises here about occasions, when one also sees that a Dua was made & was not accepted. The answer to this appears in a hadith of Abu sa’id Al-Khudri(rz) where the holy prophet(pbuh) has been reported to have said, whatever a muslim prays for before Allah(swt),He would let him have it-subject to the condition that the Dua made was not for something sinful or the severance of relationships that Allah(swt) has enjoined to be kept intact. As for the acceptance of Dua,it takes one of the three forms given here:(1) The one gets exactly what one asked for.(2) That in lieu of what one wanted to have, one was given a certain reward or return of the hereafter.(3) That one did not, though, get what wanted, but some calamity that was due to fall on one stood removed.(Musnad Ahmad-Mazhari).In the context of this hadith, Ibn al-Qayyim(ra) said, “Dua is one of the most beneficial remedies. It is the enemy of calamity, it repels it, cures it, prevents its occurrence, alleviates it or reduces it if it befalls (one).It is the weapon of a believer.” In conclusion, the aforesaid Quranic verses & ahdith reveal the caliber & status of Dua in Islam. We should make it a point to avail this favour from Allah (swt).There is no fixed time & location for making Dua. However there are special times like Fridays, in prostration, at the end of salah(prayer),during the last third of the night etc where Dua has a very high chances of getting accepted. As a muslim we must never abandon this blessing as those who abandon Dua, the warning of jahnam(hellfire) is given to them. May Allah bless us to employ this blessing in every situation.
(The author is a Student of economics at Kashmir University. The views, opinions, facts, assumptions, presumptions and conclusions expressed in this article are those of the author and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
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