Duas and the Salvation

In the name of Allah the most Merciful Beneficent, the Lord of might and grace Who hears and grants the supplications of His servants!

Duas and the Salvation

“And when My servants ask you concerning Me, then surely I am very near; I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls on Me, so they should answer My call and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way.” (The Glorious Quran: 2:186) “The supplication is weapon of the man of faith , the centre pole of religion , and the light of the heavens and the earth : the holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his chaste Ahlebait)” The above statement of the holy Prophet(S.A.W) makes the indispensable role of supplications comes to fore in a Muslim’s life. Supplication is weapon of the man of faith because a Muslim’s strength lies in assistance from His Merciful Creator Lord Allah, this is through supplication that he establishes connections with Him and as a result receives His favours and assistance in times of hardships and sees the path clearly without difficulty. According to traditions belonging to Prophet(SAW) supplications can avert the Devine Decree. Supplicating or calling upon Allah is to address Him with one’s praise, thanksgiving, hopes , and needs. For the true Muslims aware with significance of Tawheed and conscious of His mercy and might, supplication is intimate expression of Tawheed or the ‘profession of Allah’s Unity’ which shape their sensibilities , emotions , thoughts , and concepts. For those who devote themselves for the worship supplication is the flesh and blood of imagination. It keeps our inner selves alive and hopeful and our hearts replete with the pleasure felt in affinity with Him. The Human Nature and His Mercy and Forgiveness: A common human being is prone to doing sins and when we do sins we make Our Merciful Lord turn from us and in this way a distance is formed between us and Our Lord. Sins take us away from Him, from the Lord Who has made mercy incumbent on Himself, to the path of destruction and waywardness. If He did not respond to our pleas for forgiveness and mercy on us, we would further on the path of destruction. Our base desires make us rebellion when we follow them and make us neglect His commands which are for our own benefits. Our Imam Ali ibn Husain,Zainul Abedeen (AS) says in one of his prayer : “ O Allah ! to Thee I complain of a soul commanding to evil, rushing to offences, eager to disobey Thee, and exposing itself to Thy anger. It takes me on the roads of disasters….many its pretexts, drawn out its expectations, when evil touches it, it is anxious, when good touches it, grudging, inclining to sport and diversion, full of heedlessness and inattention, it hurries me to misdeeds and makes me delay repentance..”. Here our Imam describes the treacherous nature of human base desires which commands us to do evil and rebellion. But the Merciful Lord has left His gates always open for His servants to return through Tauba. He does not hurry to punish. The most Merciful Forgiving Lord assures His servants in His Book :“Say: O my servants! Who have acted extravagantly against their own souls, do not despair of the mercy of Allah; surely Allah forgives the faults altogether; surely He is the Forgiving , the Merciful”(39:53) Therefore , we observe that Dua has the power to make us get closer to our Lord again after being disgraced by sins. We supplicate and show repentance and He accepts us back in His fold of mercy. As our Imam Ali Ibn Husain(AS) says in one of his Duas: “ My God, You are the One Who has opened a door to Thy pardon and named it ‘repentance’, for You said : Repent to Allah with unswerving repentance(66:08). What is the excuse of him who remains heedless of entering the door after its opening?” Now if we are so heedless that we even do not pray for His forgiveness then surely we are destined to parish. Dua and Inspiration, Hope ,and Direction : Dua has the magical influence on soul got dead due to burden of sins. It makes it alive again, it fills it with hope and inspires it to excel in the midst of difficulties. It provides clear direction and saves from the waywardness of the darkness of iignorance about our affairs. This is all because He Who responds our Duas has promised to respond: “And when My servants ask you concerning Me, then surely I am very near; I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls on Me, so they should answer My call and believe in Me that they may walk in the right way.”(2:186) In one of his Duas Imam Ali Ibn Husain(AS) says : “ My dreadful crimes have deadened my heart, so bring it to life by a repentance from You!” An Imam is Infallible , he does not do sins, but it’s for us to note that when our sins have made us dead and hopeless then we should take shelter in Duas of repentance and make our dead souls living again. Duas have deep influence on our mental life too. They provide us calm and tranquility as when we discuss our issues in the solitude of night or in whispered prayers to Our Merciful Lord, it makes us full of hope for His help and mercy and gives us strength to fight with the hardships of life. Our Imam Ali Ibn Husain(AS) Says : “ …I ask You by Your generosity to show kindness towards me through Your gifts, with that which will gladden my eye, through hope in You, with that which will give serenity to my soul, and through certainty with that which will make easy for me the afflictions of this world and lift from insight the veils of blindness!..” Therefore we observe that for a believer having hope in His help is the very part and parcel of his faith. The lack of hope in Him leads to Kufr or disbelief. The Merciful Lord says : “ And (as to) those who disbelieve in the communications of Allah and His meeting, they have despaired of My mercy, and these it is that shall have a painful punishment”(29:23) In fact disbelief and hopelessness are very much interrelated. Duas reinforce our hope in Him and give sustenance to our faith. Duas connect us with the most Mighty and make us have reliance on His might which never succumbs. Duas open the closed gates of treasures buried in our hearts, and make us feel GHANI. Duas provide us that essential light of faith which makes the path of life illumined and things clear to see. Duas bestow upon man the ability to endure hardships and have patience and reliance on His might. Prayers and Practicality : But just prayers are not sufficient as the many traditions from holy Prophet(SAW) and chaste Ahlebait (AS) show with Duas the efforts are also required. Hazart Ali (AS) says about the practicality and the duas : “he who prays but does not make effort is like the one who shoots without bow-string.” So making efforts as per our capabilities is very much needed while making duas. When despite our best efforts we fall short of achieving something which is good for us , Our Lord responds with His mercy and grants our wish. But just making prayers without efforts is doing insults to Allah’s bestowed gifts of mental and physical faculties. We should utilize all the faculties and capabilities given by Him and at the same time have full reliance in His power and ask Him to bestow success in the efforts being made as effects of our efforts are dependent on His will. When we are sick we must visit doctor and take medicine but on every step we should first pray for His guidance and good results as the medicine or advice of doctor is subject to His will before showing any good results. So a balanced condition is when we have full reliance on Him and also make efforts knowing that just our efforts are not sufficient but His will and mercy is needed for any good results. Why Sometimes Our Duas Are Not Responded : Prayers are not answered when they are either made with insincere and neglectful heart or the person’s prayer is not addressed exclusively to Allah. The prayers of the persons strained with exploitation of others , transgression and such bad deeds may also not be answered. And call on Him fearing and hoping; surely, the mercy of Allah is near to those who do good (7:56). ...surely they used to . . . call unto Us with love and reverence, and were humble before Us (21:90). Call upon your Lord humbly and secretly; surely He loves not those who exceed the limit (7:55). And He answers those who believe and do good deeds, and increases unto them of His grace (42:26). When called he (Zakariyya) unto his Lord in low voice. He said: My Lord! Surely my bones are weakened and my head fares with hoariness, and, my Lord! Never have I been unsuccessful in my prayer to Thee (19:3-4). Quoting above verses Allama Tabatabai says in his world famous Tafseer Mizan: : ” And the most important of all is to keep the prayer exclusively for Allah; it will come true when the feeling of the heart conforms with the words spoken by the tongue; when one abandons reliance on all apparent reasons other than Allah and depends exclusively upon Allah. Also among them are: fear of Allah; hope in His answering; His love and reverence; humility and humbleness; as well as perseverance in prayer; remembrance of Allah; good deeds; true faith; presence of heart at that time; and similar things.” Therefore, the sincerity of heart is a fundamental condition for the acceptance of Dua. The words being uttered by our mouth must be in harmony with the feelings emanating from our hearts: as-Sadiq (a.s.) said: "Verily, Allah does not answer the memorized prayer by a forgetful heart." ['Uddatu 'd-dai] 'Ali (a.s.) said: "Allah does not accept the prayer of an inattentive heart." [ibid] Another,important point is that of addressing the prayer exclusively to Allah. If a prayer is not addressed to the Lord of worlds Who has dominion over land and sea and Whose Will is the deciding factor in every affair of life, then such a prayer is doomed to decay. Our Merciful Lord says: “Or, Who listens to the (soul) distressed when it calls on Him, and Who relieves its suffering, and makes you (mankind) inheritors of the earth? (Can there be another) god besides Allah? Little it is that ye heed!(27:62)” Certainly this is Allah the Al-mighty Merciful Lord Who answers the prayers. Allama Tabatabai describes the issue in Mizan in such words : “There is indeed a prayer, but it is not addressed exclusively to Allah. For example, a man beseeches Allah for his needs, but his heart is looking towards its apparent causes or to some imaginary beings whom he thinks have power to fulfill his needs. In this case, his prayer is not addressed exclusively to Allah. In other words, he did not beseech Allah at all; because Allah, Who answers the prayers, is the One who has no partner in His affairs. He is not the one who works in partnership with apparent causes and imaginary beings.” Muhammad ibn 'Ajlin narrates from Muhammad ibn 'Ubaydullah ibn 'Ali ibn al-Husayn from his cousin, as Saqid (a.s.) from his forefathers from the Prophet that he said: "Allah informed one of his prophets in a revelation: 'By My Power and Dignity! Verily I shall change into despair the hope of everyone who hoped from other than Me, and I shall dress him with the clothing of disgrace before people, and I shall remove him from My relief and bounty. Does my servant put his hope in other than Me in hardships, while hardships are in My hand; And does he expect anything from other than Me, while I am the Self-sufficient, the Munificent? In My hand are the keys of the doors' while they are closed; and My door is open for the one who calls on Me”. ['Uddatu d-dai] The Prophet said: "Allah said; 'No creature seeks refuge in another creature, leaving Me, but that I cut off all the means in the heavens and the earth for him. Then if he asks from Me, I do not give him; and if he calls on Me, I do not answer him. And no creature seeks refuge in Me, leaving My creatures, but that I make the heaven and the earth responsible for his sustenance; then if he calls on Me, I answer him and, if he seeks pardon from Me, I forgive!' " [ibid.] 'Ali (a.s.) wrote in his will for his son, al-Husayn (a.s.): "Then He placed the keys of His treasures in your hands in the sense that He allowed you to ask Him. Therefore, whenever you wish, you may get the doors of His bounties opened with prayer, and get the heavy rains of His Mercy to fall upon you. Delay in acceptance of the prayers should not disappoint you, because the granting (of prayer) is according to the measure of (your) intention. And sometimes, the answering of your prayer is delayed so that it brings a greater reward to, the asker and a better granting to the expectant. Sometimes you ask for a thing and it is not given to you, but a better thing is given to you, immediately or later; or a thing is diverted from you for some greater good for you, because often you ask for a thing which would have destroyed your religion had it been given to you. Therefore, your prayer should be for things whose beauty should last for you and whose evil should remain away from you. As for wealth, it will not last for you, nor will you last for it." [Nahju l-balaghah] The Others’ Concept of Supplication : Jews assert that if the destiny has already been set then calling upon Allah has no meaning as they argue that what is to be happened is to be happened and our calling upon Him cannot avert it , and what is not to be happened will not happen so our calling for it will not lead to its grant. This, myopic view of Jews about Duas is based on their age-old stubbornness and transgression. Our Lord says in the glorious Quran: “And your Lord said: Call upon Me, I will answer you. Verily, those who are arrogant to My worship shall soon enter Hell, disgraced (40:60).” In the above verse prayer has been made obligatory like worship and denial of prayer has been attributed to arrogance and the result of such people will be disgrace and hell. According to Traditoins from Prophet(SAW) prayers can avert the Divine Decree. In Mizan Allama Tababai replies to such baseless views of jews : “The reply: Even when an event is already decreed, it does not mean that it is independent of its causes, and one of the means of its coming into existence is du'a. If one beseeches Allah for his need, one of the conditions of its existence is fulfilled; and the effect follows the cause. This is the meaning of the tradition, "Verily, du’a (prayer) is a part of destiny." And there are other traditions with the same meaning. There is a hadith from the Prophet: "Nothing turns away the decree (fate) except prayer (du’a)." [Biharu l-anwar]. And there is another one from as-Sadiq (a.s.): "Prayer (du'a) turns away the decree even after it is confirmed." [ibid.] Another one from Abu l-Hasan Musa al-Kazim (a.s.): "On you is du’a, because du'a and asking from Allah turns the calamity away even when it is measured and decreed and nothing remains except its enforcement; then if Allah is called upon and asked, He removes that calamity entirely." [Ibid] As-Sadiq (a.s.) said: "Verily, the prayer (du’a) turns away the confirmed decree even after its confirmation. Therefore, pray often (and repeatedly), because it is the key to every mercy and the fulfillment of every need. And what is with Allah is not obtained except through prayer; because verily, no door is knocked repeatedly but it is hoped that it will be opened to the knocker. " [ibid]” Therefore , as a conclusion to above discourse we can say that dua is the path to salvation as this is foundation of worship, only violated by arrogant Kafirs , this has been promised to be responded by Almighty Allah, this is weapon of a believer, this has the force to avert divine decree and this makes it possible to communicate and place our problems and wishes before Him – Who is Almighty most Merciful Forgiving Al knowing Wise Lord. At end let’s ask Our Merciful Lord for His mercy, let’s recite the following verses from one of Imam Ali Ibn Husain’s (AS) prayers : O He Who is asylum of every fleer, The hope of every seeker! O Best Object of hope! O most Generous Object of supplication! O He Who does not reject His asker or disappoint the expectant! O He Whose door is open supplicators and Whose veil is lifted for those who hope in Him! I ask You by Your generosity to show kindness toward me, through Your gifts, with that will gladden my eye, through hope in You with that which will give serenity to my soul, and Through certainty with that which will make easy for me the afflictions of this world and lift from my insight the veils of blindness! By Your mercy, O Most Merciful of the Merciful!