. J (cont.)

In order to remove this confusion, one must realize what it means to say that Allah "responds" to a person's supplication. This question has been adequately dealt with by ibn Abu al-Izz in his commentary to al-Aqeedah al-Tahaawiya. He wrote, The question has been raised that sometimes people pray to Allah but He does not grant their prayer, or grants what they do not pray for. Many answers have been given. I will state three of them which are the best. First, the verse ( Ghaafir 602 1 Many Muslims today are content with living off of others, whether it be off of the Muslim community or even non-Muslim governments. This is not the proper way for a Muslim to live if he has the physical ability and means to support himself Instead of degrading himself and his honor in front of his Muslim brethren or non-Muslim government officials, he should work to support himself and humble himself in front of Allah alone. 2 The verse reads: "And your Lord said, 'Invoke Me, I will respond to your invocation ... " ' Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi or al-Baqara 186) quoted above does not mean that the petition is necessarily granted. It only means that Allah responds to the supplicant; and response has a wider connotation than granting the supplicant. The Prophet said, "Our Lord comes down to the lowest heaven every night and says: Is there any one to call on (yad'u) Me that I may respond to him? Is there any one to ask of (yas 'alu) Me that I may give him? Is there any one to seek My forgiveness (yastaghfiru) that I may forgive him?"' He has thus differentiated between a caller (al-da'i) and a supplicant (al-sa'il), and between response and granting. Call (dua) includes supplication (su'al), but it means more than that; similarly, supplication (su'al) includes seeking forgiveness (istiqhfar), but it also means more than that. The Prophet (peace be on him) began with the widest term, du' a, then came to a narrower term, su'al, and then to the narrowest term, istighfar. Once Allah has told His servants that He is close to them and responds to their call, they know that He is with them and they can ask Him. They know His knowledge, mercy and power, and can call (dua) on Himcall by way of worship (du 'a al-ibadah) and call by way of supplication (du' a al-masa 'lah ). Du ' a is du' a of worship or du' a of supplication and sometimes it is both. Both these calls are meant in the verse, "Your Lord says: Call on Me (udu'ni), I will answer you." The words that follow support the first sense for they say, "But those who are too arrogant to serve Me will surely find themselves in hell, in humiliation" ( Ghaafir 60). The second answer is that responding to the prayer of a supplicant is more general than granting the object he prays for. It may mean to grant something else. Muslim has recorded a hadith in which the Prophet (peace be on him) said, "Whenever anyone prays to Allah for something which is not unlawful, or which is not harmful to his kin, He does any one of these following three: Either He immediately grants him the thing he prays for, or reserves for him something equally good, or removes from him an equal evil." Upon hearing this, someone from the audience said, "Then we should pray more." The Prophet (peace be on him) said, "Allah will give you even more."2 He thus made it clear that a prayer that does not seek any evil or injustice does not go unanswered. Either it is 1 Recorded by al-Bukhari and Muslim. 2 The hadith is not recorded by Muslim; it is recorded by Ahmad, al-Tahaawi in Mushkil al­ Athar, Abu Ya'la, and al-Haakim. Al-Dhahabi has endorsed al-Haakim's evaluation that the hadith is sahih. Shuaib al-Amaoot is also in agreement that it is sahih. See al-Amaoot's footnotes to ibn Abu al-Izz, vol. 2, p. 682. Hadith #19: "Young man, I shall teach you some words .. . " granted immediately, or something else is kept in store instead, or the supplicant is saved from an impending evil. The third answer runs like this: Prayer is one of the means to secure an object. But there also may be some conditions to be fulfilled and some obstacles to be removed before the object is achieved. When the conditions are fulfilled and the obstacles are removed, either the object itself is secured or something else in its place. This is true of all the prayers and words of dhikr that have been said to bring one good or another, or remove one evil or another. Words of dhikr are like a tool which is useful in varying degrees according to the hands using it and whether or not the obstacles involved are weak or strong.