Some people make a great deal of du’aa’ but receive no answer
Question:
What is the reason for the delay in response to du’aa’? Some people make du’aa’ but they do not get any response; they ask for a long time but do not see it having any effect, so you find the Shaytaan starting to whisper to such people and making them think badly of their Lord.
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
The one to whom that happens should believe that there is a reason and great wisdom behind the delay in the response. Allaah, may He be glorified, is the Sovereign of all and none can put back His bounty or overturn His ruling or object to His giving or His withholding, if He gives by His bounty or withholds by His justice. We are His slaves and He does with us whatever He will.
“And your Lord creates whatsoever He wills and chooses, no choice have they (in any matter)”
[al-Qasas 28:68]
How can a slave fall short in honouring his master’s rights and then demand his rights in full?
It is His right to be obeyed and not disobeyed, to be remembered and not forgotten, to be thanked and not to be shown ingratitude. If you look at yourself and how you are carrying out your duties, you would think very little of yourself and you would feel humility and would realize there can be no salvation except by His forgiveness and mercy. So look at yourself as being a slave, for Allaah is the Creator and Controller.
Secondly:
Allaah has great wisdom and He does not give or withhold except for a reason. You may look at something and think that it is good but by His wisdom He does not decree it. A doctor may do things which appear to be painful but they are in the patient’s best interests. And for Allaah is the highest description. (cf. al-Nahl 16:60).
Thirdly:
Attainting the thing asked for may cause hardship to the one who is asking. It was narrated from one of the salaf that he used to ask Allaah to let him go out on a military campaign, but a voice called out to him: “If you go on a military campaign you will be taken prisoner, and if you are taken prisoner, you will become a Christian.” Sayd al-Khaatir, 1/109
Ibn al-Qayyim said: Whatever Allaah has decreed for His believing slave is a blessing even if that is in the form of withholding; it is a favour even if that is in the form of a trial, and the calamity decreed by him is fair even if it us painful. Madaarij al-Saalikeen, 4/215.
