2.3.3. Why do our supplications remain unanswered?

Please note that this text doesn’t contain any scientific notion.

In the Name of Allah – the Exalted! 

Introduction: 

We verily created man and We know what his soul whispereth to him, and We are nearer to him than his jugular vein.
(Surah Qaaf (Chapter 50 – Qaaf) verse 16)

 

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.
(Surah Al-Baqarah (Chapter 2 – The Cow) verse 186)

 

Yet have you ever wondered why many of our supplications are not answered by Allah (SWT)? 

This is a typical question that involves us all whoever we might be. 

Let us take the example on the relation between a man and a wife. When the wife travels away under a certain period her husband will miss her and then think about her often. The man will try to reach her by phone (or any other means of communication). As soon as he starts talking to her he asks her how she is doing and expresses his yearning for her. If they are not a happy couple then she might give him a harsh reply which would lead to a tiff. However, if they are a happy couple then they would more likely have a nice and warm phone conversation. 

The relationship between a man and his wife can be compared to that of a human being and his Lord – Allah (SWT). Even though the Creator of mankind (God) is invisible He has sent prophets after prophets to teach humans how to communicate with the Lord of the Universe. 

Among all the divine teaching (provided though the holy prophets (A.S.)) the most important one is the Salat (prayer), which is the heart (core) of the religion and of course one of the pillars of Islam. 

 

Criterias: 

If we wish to get our supplications realized by our Lord then there are certain criterias that we have to fulfill: 

1.  In order to have the supplications answered, first of all one should strive for the purification of the mind and soul, be repentant over (past) sins (and never repeat them again), embark upon construction and development of the self and seek inspiration from the lives of divine leaders by reaching the Divine Goal in life. These leaders can be Holy Prophet (SAAS) and the infallible Imams (AS) or even other people who carried out positive and revolutionary reforms in their own live as well as to their surrounding, such as Imam Khomeini (RA). 

It has been reported that Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: 

Let it never be that any of you seeks a thing from God except that he first praises and glorifies Him, sends salutations upon the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) and his holy progeny, confesses to his sins and exhibits repentance over them; after having done these, he should then seek his desire from Him.
(Safinah al-Bihaar, vol. 1, pg. 448, 449.)
 

2. Endeavoring to have a pure life, free from usurped riches, oppression and injustice, and to refrain from acquiring one’s livelihood by illegal means, is the second step that must be taken. 

It has been reported that the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) said: 

One, who desires to have his supplications answered, should purify his food and earnings.
(Safinah al-Bihaar, vol. 1, pg. 448, 449.) 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        .
3. Followed by this one should not desist from combating evil and inviting others towards God. 

This is because the supplications of those, who forsake ‘enjoining the good (amr bil ma’roof) and forbidding the evil (nahi anil monkar)’, are not answered. 

The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him and his holy progeny) has said: 

You must enjoin the good and forbid the evil or else God will cause the evil ones to prevail over the righteous ones from amongst you, and however much they may pray, (their prayers) shall not be answered!
(Safinah al-Bihaar, vol. 1, pg. 448, 449.) 

In fact, abandoning this great duty of ‘national supervision’ leads to turmoil within the society as a result of which the society would be left open for the evil ones; (when this happens) supplications for the elimination of the consequences arising out of this state would be futile since this state has resulted out of man’s own deeds.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              . 
4. Acting in accordance with divine covenants. 

Faith, good deeds, trustworthiness, and righteousness, (collectively) form another of the conditions for the acceptance of prayers. This is because one, who is not faithful to his pledge with respect to God, should not expect God’s promise, of answering a supplicant, to be true for him too. 

A person once, complaining to Imam Ali (peace be upon him) about his supplications not being answered, said: 

“Despite the fact that God has said “Call upon Me, I will answer you”, why is it that when we supplicate to him, He does not answer our prayers?” 

The Imam (AS) said: 

Your thoughts [hearts and minds] have been unfaithful with respect to eight things (and this is the reason your supplications go unanswered) 

1- You have acquired the cognizance of God but you do not fulfill what is due to Him; consequently your cognizance of Him has not benefited your state! 

2- You have brought faith upon His Messenger but (later) went on to oppose his customs; where then is the yield of your faith?  

3- You have read His book but have not acted upon it; you stated: “We have heard and we obey”, but then rose up in opposition to it! 

4- You say: “We fear God’s punishment”, but perpetually perform acts that lead you closer to it. 

5- You claim to be covetous of God’s reward however you continue to perform acts that lead you away from it. 

6- You consume God’s bounties but do not extend thanksgivings to Him. 

7- You have been ordered to be Shaitaan’s enemy (whereas you sketch plans to befriend him); you claim to be his enemy but, in practice, you do not oppose him. 

8- You place into great scrutiny the faults of others but conveniently disregard your own; with such a state of affairs, how do you expect your prayers to be answered when you yourself have shut its doors? Be pious, rectify your deeds and enjoin the good and forbid the evil so that your prayers are answered.
(Safinah al-Bihaar, vol. 1, pg. 448.) 

This meaningful tradition (by Imam Ali(AS)) explicitly states: God’s promise to answer the supplications of a supplicant is not absolute, but conditional – the condition being that you should fulfill your own pledges and covenants; however the reality is that you have broken your pledge by eight ways. If you were to put an end to these, your prayers shall be answered, inshaAllah. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           .
5. Another condition for the acceptance of one’s prayers is to conjoin it with efforts, hard work and activity. 

In one of the short sayings of Imam Ali (peace be upon him) we read: 

A supplicant (who prays) without effort and endeavor is like an archer without a bowstring! 
(Nahjul Balaghah, short sayings 337) 

In view of the fact that the bowstring is a means to propel the arrow towards the target, the influence of ‘effort’ in the effectiveness of dua’ becomes plainly manifest.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          . 

The diverse situations concerning dua: 

Yet, knowing and accepting everything given above, a brother once asked me the following question: 

“I have seen many people’s supplications go unanswered even though they applied all these eight criterias with piousness and even the other steps raised. So what is the reason now for not getting their supplications answered?” 

Since we haven’t yet covered the details answering the question above we will move on and answer the question accordingly, inshaAllah. 

In order to understand the result of our supplication we will have to separate it into three situations (maslahat): 

1. Allah will give whether we ask for it or not 

This situation indicates one of God’s Attributes – Allah’s Rahma (Compassion). Here we are talking about things that we usually never thank for, such as our good health (which He as given us), a normal working aql (intellect), good parents, good upbringing, etc. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          .
2. He will not give whether we ask or not. 

What does this mean? Since Allah is All-Knowing, He knows that what the pleading person is asking for is not meant for him and because it isn’t good for him Allah will not answer this supplication. This is a part of the question that was raised by the brother. 

An example on this could be an individual who supplicates to Allah to become a leader to help people and restore justice and eradicate corruption in a society. This is a typical example on how Allah usually doesn’t realize one’s dua. 

Now this person might conclude that God isn’t Compassionate. Wrong, He is always Compassionate. The fact is that He Compassionate, All-Knowing and owns knowledge about the Unseen (ilm al-Ghayb). Thus, if He doesn’t grant that pleading servant (what he is asking for) then it is due to the fact that this person might become a worse person than what he already is; making him a dictator for instance after having attained power and money. This is why a person has to have qina’a (contentment) and be thankful for what he is and has at all time. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          .
3. He will give only if we ask. 

What’s meant with this third category is that there are things that Allah only gives after a certain time. Attributes such as qina’a (contentment) and sabr (patience) are very important for the pleading person at all time. 

Contentment lead to the fact that people becomes contented with what they already possess in this life, concentrate on their aims in life and at the same time occasionally ask for things that are meant to be taken with to the next life, such as becoming a more spiritual person, finding and helping those who are truly poor, etc. 

To be patient is extremely important, since impatient and begging repeatedly for something might be given by Allah but later seen as a loss by the servant. A typical example, which is included in this category, can occur within the business field. For example, someone is looking for a house to buy but he ends up not being able to buy one because of many financial problems  hinder him from doing so. He prays to God that he’ll be able to buy this house but as long as such obstacles remain he won’t be able to buy it. After a couple of weeks, while the obstacles still remain, news reaches him that the prices of all the houses in that area have diminished thus now he can buy the house much cheaper. This typical example occurs in our society and is also the answer to the question (above) that was brought forth to me by the brother.  Hence, Allah knows best when is the best time for our supplications to be realized, since He and only He possesses ilm al-ghayb (science of the Unseen, including the future).    

This is emphasized in the Holy Quran: 

Fighting is enjoined on you, and it is an object of dislike to you; and it may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you, and it may be that you love a thing while it is evil for you, and Allah knows, while you do not know.
(Surah Al-Baqarah (Chapter 2 – The Cow) verse 216) 

As a conclusion it is worth mentioning that some people prefer not to ask God for anything simply because they feel that they are satisfied with their life. This is wrong! Everyone has to ask (Allah) for something. Allah has given us this right even though we are his servants. It doesn’t have to be something from this world. For example, one could ask Allah to be given a healthy life or to die old and painless. An important fact concerning dua is that every time one makes dua one actually gets rewarded for it and that good deed gets registered into one’s book of deeds (which will be opened on the Judgment Day). 

Thus, during every supplication, do not forget to praise and glorify Allah (SWT), send blessings to the last Prophet Mohammad (SAAS) and his holy Household (AS), confess your sins and show sincere grief over them. Besides that, before asking anything for oneself one should pray for others, such as one’s family members, neighbor, relatives, friends, etc. In such a manner one’s supplication often gets answered faster. 

God is closer to us than our jugular vein (50:16). He hears everything, sees everything and read off the brain’s and heart’s secrets. Not a single secret can be hidden from our Creator. Thinking about a certain thing is enough for Allah to become aware of it, yet He loves the servant that asks for His help by uttering himself to Him.
Hence, don’t forget the conditions that our beloved Imam Ali (AS) has given us to maximize the purification of our heart and soul and consequently make our supplications become realized by being kept guided in His Straight and True Path, inshaAllah.