The Merits of Supplication

It is taken from a TV program during Ramadan 2004

7th November 2004

by Amr Khaled

Translated by www.daralislamlive.com

Supplication

Once a man went to Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) and asked him "O messenger of Allah, is Allah so far away that we should call for him or is He near that we can talk with Him?" The Prophet didn't answer him but a verse descended saying "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." [Qur'an 2:186] This verse is so beautiful. Was the question that Prophet Mohamed was asked easy or difficult? It was a very easy one. When had the Prophet waited until the inspiration came to him to answer a question? It was when the question asked was difficult to answer. The Prophet could have easily answered and said that Allah is so near.

But, no, this issue needed the descending of a Qur'an from Heaven so all people would know how much He is near to them to answer their prayers. In all the verses that descended to answer questions, it was said to Prophet Mohamed say so and so except in this verse; He didn't say "And when My servants ask you concerning say أ¢â‚¬آ¦." He wanted to show His servants how much He is so close to them. Allah said that He answers the prayer of the suppliant and He didn't say the prayer of the pious which means that He answers the prayers of anyone and not only the pious, the scholars, and the memorizers of Qur'an. So, don't say I am a sinner and He will never answer my prayer, or I am not wearing a veil so He will never listen to me. It could happen that Allah does not answer the prayer of a scholar and answers the prayer of an average 18 years old young man. It all depends on how far you go to Allah. Allah (SWT) answers the prayer when the suppliant calls on Him which means whenever the suppliant calls on Allah, he will find Him available and He will receive him. If he asked for him at night or day, He will be available for him. Allah said "I answer the prayer of the suppliant WHEN he calls on Me" and not "I answer the prayer of the suppliant when I want to"

This verse came after the verses about fasting. It is as if Allah is telling us if we fasted well, the prayers of the last nights of Ramadan are answered. Similarly, the workers who work hard all month long and at the end of each month, the employer calls them to give them their wages because of the work they have done. So our wage is the nights of 25th, 27th and 29th. The answer of prayers is guaranteed. This is what this verse says.

"And your Lord says: Call upon Me, I will answer you; verily those who are too proud for My service shall soon enter hell abased." [Qur'an 40:60] It didn't say "Call Him and He will answer you" because Allah is very close to us. The verse says that for those who call upon Allah, they will be answered and for those who are too arrogant to call upon Allah, they will be burned in the Hell-Fire.

You know when I want to know the religious degree of a person in front of me; I look at him/her while praying to Allah as praying shows it. Sometimes you would find some people praying to Allah arrogantly.

A divine Hadith says "O my servants, you are all misguided except those whom I guided, so ask me to guide you and I will guide you. O my servants, you are all hungry except those whom I fed, so ask me to feed you and I will feed you. O my servants, you are naked except those whom I covered, so ask me to cover you and I will cover you. O my servants, you make a lot of mistakes day and night and I forgive all the mistakes, so ask me to forgive and I will forgive you."

Because of the power of this Hadith, whenever Anas Bin Malik said it, he sat down on his knees.

Please pray to Allah. Please pray for our nation, Palestine and Iraq. Pray for them before praying for your children.

Prophet Mohamed's (PBUH) Sayings

1) The invocation is worship - How come? What about praying and fasting? What does worship mean? It means cringe to Allah. What does servant mean? It means being submissive to Allah. In Arabic we say the way is worshipped which means the way is paved. You can pray but you aren't submissive to Allah. You can fast and yet not to be able to cringe to Allah. But it can never be that you pray to Allah and raise your hands up to the sky and tell Him that you need Him and then you wouldn't be submissive to Allah. This means invocation is the thing that realizes most the meaning of worship. Because of this, we don't invocate Allah just for asking Him for something that we need, but also we worship Him by invocating. This also means that when you don't have something to ask Allah for, you should still pray to Him because like that you are worshipping Him. A pious person once said that I love to invocate more than to pray on the Night of Power.

2) The person who doesn't invocate to Allah, Allah sends his wrath on him.

3) Don't give up on invocating; with invocation no one would ever be harmed.

4) Nothing is more honored for Allah than invocation.

5) Allah is "shy". Allah is coy and generous. He feels so shy that His servant would raise his hand to say O Allah and He doesn't answer his prayer. The generous is the one who gives you without asking, let alone if you asked!

Allah says in a divine Hadith "I meet my servant's good opinion of me" what is your opinion of Him tonight? That He will forgive you? You feel that you are too bad and He will not forgive you? Then you will not be saved from the Hell-Fire. Allah acts upon what you think of Him. If you think that He will forgive you, then you will be saved tonight.

This is the easiest lecture I gave because supplication is beautiful, easy, guaranteed to be answered and it's said to be a strong weapon in your hands. Omar Bin El-Khattab said "I am not worried about the answering of my prayers but I am worried about supplicating." He also said "My fear not to supplicate is more than that not to be answered"

Examples of Answering Prayers

Noah, when he was harmed badly by the disbelievers, he prayed to Allah and said "I am overcome, come Thou then to help." [Qur'an 54:10] So Allah answered his prayer "So We opened the gates of heaven, with water pouring forth, And We caused the earth to gush forth with springs. So the waters met (and rose) to the extent decreed" The whole universe changed for the sake of Noah.

Zakariya, when he cried to his Lord: "O my Lord leave me not alone; and Thou art the best of inheritors. So We listened to him: and We granted him Yahya: We cured his wife's (barrenness) for him. [Qur'an 21:89-90].

Soliman, when he was in the old ages i.e. before the emerging of technology and said to Allah: "O my Lord! forgive me, and grant me a Kingdom which, (it may be), suits not another after me: for Thou are the Grantor of Bounties (without measure)." [Qur'an 38:35] Although we are in the era of technology, still no one is able to have a kingdom like Soliman's.

Ibrahim, when he was in the desert and asked Allah "My Lord! make this city secure, and save me and my sons from worshipping idols." [Qur'an 14:35]. Look how Mecca is full of blessings until now because of a prayer thousands of years ago.

Ayub, when he was sick for 20 years, he prayed to Allah and said "Truly distress has seized me, But Thou art the Most Merciful of those that are Merciful. So We listened to him: We removed the distress that was on him," [Qur'an 21:83-84].

Abu Horreyra went to the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) and said "O Messenger of Allah, I called my mother to Allah for years, but she refuses. She curses me. She calls you bad names that hurt me. O, Messenger of Allah, pray to Allah to guide Abu Horreyra's mother" The Prophet sat down and raised his hands and prayed "O Allah, please guide Abu Horreyra's mother" So he regarded the Prophet's prayer as auspicious that his mother might become a Muslim by the following year. Afterwards, he went home. So when his mother saw him standing in the doorway, she told him to stop there. He thought she will insult him again. She said "O Abu Horreyra, be informed that I testify that the Allah is one and there is no god except Allah and that Mohamed is the messenger of Allah." So He cried and went to the Prophet Mohamed and said "O Messenger of Allah, the prayer has been answered." Prophet Mohamed smiled and said thank God. Since Prophet Mohamed's prayers were answered that fast, Abu Horreyra thought to ask him to have another prayer for him. What do you think he will ask for? He will ask for money? He said "O Messenger of Allah, pray to Allah to make the believers love my mother and me and to make us love the believers" See how much he loved the Muslims. Because of this, I am telling you to pray for the nation and to pray for an individual. Prophet Mohamed raised his hands and prayed "O Allah, make this servant of yours and his mother love the believers and make the believers love them." After this, Abu Horreyra said that no believer or companion ever heard of him or his mother except loved him and her.


See all the above supplications? They were very difficult ones but still Allah answered them. So pray. The Prophet said "For every prophet there is an answered prayer but I saved my prayer to intercede for my nation on the Day of Judgment." So Pray. Please don't say that these were the supplications of prophets but yours will not be answered. All prayers are answered. Can you believe that although you are in a lesser than rank than the companions, a companion might still need your prayer for him? The Prophet said to the Companions "A man will pass by you. He is from the followers. His name is Uwayss Al-Karny from Yemen. When he comes, if you are able to make him pray for you then do that." This tells you the lesser can pray for the higher. Omar was astonished by what the Prophet said so the Prophet told him "And you, Omar, if you saw Uwayss, ask him to pray for you." Omar said that later on after the Prophet had died, he just used to wait for the season of pilgrimage and go search for Uwayss among caravans coming from Yemen until he found him and told him "Please pray for me as the messenger of Allah told me to make Uwayss pray for me" So Uwayss prayed for him. This means that an 18 years old youth can pray for a scholar and Allah answer his prayer more than that of the scholar himself.

Do you remember how many prayers you prayed to Allah and He answered them? He answers the prayers but you forget. You prayed to Him in the hard times and He answered you and His answer was the reason that the situation was resolved. You are wondering how come you forgot? As soon as the situation is resolved, Satan exerts his effort to make you forget because he knows that if you remember that the situation was resolved because of your supplication, you will keep on praying i.e. worshipping. You will love Allah more. There will be no limits for your trust in Allah. Don't think that you can pray and not work. The companions and the prophets killed themselves over working, fighting and bringing victory to Islam and then they prayed.

Keep invocating. The companions confided Ramadan to prayers that they keep asking for over and over during Ramadan's nights. The companions swore that all their prayers were answered before the following Ramadan.

The Conditions of Prayers

1) Be sure that the prayer will be answered - if you have any doubts then your prayer will not be answered. Don't think there is anything impossible for Allah to do.

2) Be submissive and cringe during supplication - Abd Allah Bin Omar said "I acknowledge when the prayer is answered. When the heart is submissive, the feelings are shaken and the eye dropped tears, I would say the prayer will be answered." The scholars say that who gathers his heart at the time of supplication, his prayer is answered. As much as you cringe to Allah, He answers you. Go to Him cringing, He will honor you. Go to Him poor, He will make you rich. Go to Him weak, He will provide you with His strength. Imam Ahmed Bin Hambel asked "Do you know when the prayer is answered?" He gave an example of a man that if you became like him, your prayer would be answered. He said "A man in a raging sea fell down from the ship and hung on a block of wood. He would pray to Allah with all his feelings to be saved. So if you prayed like him, your prayer will be answered." In the Badr battle, Prophet Mohamed raised his hands and prayed with all his emotions that Allah would save them so Allah said "When you sought aid from your Lord, so He answered you." [Qur'an 8:9] Can you go tonight to Allah and tell Him that you seek aid from Him and you don't have anyone except Him?

3) Don't rush in your prayers - You can find someone who pray to Allah once and twice and then give up and say it will not be answered. O brothers and sisters, there are some prayers that can take up to ten years to be answered. Sometimes Allah delays the answer because it's better for you to be answered later on. And in other times He delays the answer because He loves to hear you praying to Him.

4) Lawful food - if you have any doubts about your money, give money as charity to purge your money. A prayer will not be answer if the money is not lawful.

Supplication Etiquette

1) Raise your hands up to the sky.

2) Start with thanking Allah for all His blessings.

3) Praying upon the Prophet (PBUH).

4) Cringing to Allah, asking for His forgiveness, repent and call Him with His different names.

5) Bend your head down and persist in your prayer.

6) Pray submissively and give money as charity.

I swear if you did this, your prayers will be answered. Don't ever say that you don't memorize stilted supplications. Pray with your feelings, say what you feel.

A companion went to Prophet Mohamed and said to him "I am not good at your drone or that of Moaaz Bin Gabal." He meant that he was not good at praying to Allah using powerful words like the Prophet and Moaaz. The Prophet asked him what he said when he prayed. He said "I say, O Allah, please make me enter paradise and save me from the Hell-Fire." The Prophet said "Around it, Moaaz and I drone." He meant that they say more or less the same thing.

The Conclusion

The secret of tonight's prayer or the prayer of the Night of Power if it is today is "O Allah, you are forgiver and generous, you like to forgive so forgive us" My request is that if you are going to pray tonight, make 70% of your prayers for the Muslims and 30% for you and for your children. Pray for our nation. Who knows, perhaps next year the nation would be honored because of a prayer of a crying loyal woman who remembered the Muslims in Palestine and Iraq; so she sincerely prayed for the Muslims, so Allah honors people next year just for her sake.