Website: www.ummahreflections.co.za
Quarterly: Issue No 95
Rajab 1441 – February 2020
TAQWA (PIETY)
DU’AA
– SUPPLICATION TO ALLAH
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most
Merciful. All thanks and praise are due
to Allah and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger Muhammad, his family and
all his companions.
DU’AA is a three-letter Arabic word
written in English letters. These letters make up one word but a subject that
is very comprehensive. This word DU’AA is roughly translated to
mean “SUPPLICATION” or “INVOCATION”. But neither of these
words adequately define DU’AA.
In Islamic terminology, DU’AA
is an act of supplication. It is calling out to Allah. It is a
conversation with Allah, our Creator, our Lord, the All KNOWING, and the ALL
POWERFUL. In fact the word is derived from the Arabic
root meaning to call out or to summon.
DU’AA is uplifting, empowering,
liberating and transforming. It is one of the most powerful and effective act of worship a human being can engage in. DU’AA
has been called the weapon of the believer. It affirms a person’s belief in One
God and it shuns all forms of idolatry or polytheism. DU’AA
is essentially submission to the will (mash’iyyat) of
Allah and a manifestation of a person’s exclusive need for Allah. Whenever we make DU’AA, whether we
call upon Allah in our times of calamities, or express our gratefulness, or for
any other reason that includes simply to feel the comfort of being close to
Allah, we must remember to examine our sincerity and check our intention. DU’AA
must be addressed to Allah Alone, who has no partners, sons, daughters or
mediators. Our intention when making the DU’AA must be to ask Allah
alone and place our trust in Him completely.
Allah
(Subhaanahu Wa Ta’aala) says:
And when My slaves ask you (O Muhammad SAW) concerning Me, then
(answer them) I am indeed near (to them by My Knowledge). I respond to the
invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me (without any mediator or
intercessor). So let them obey Me and believe in Me,
so that they may be led aright. (Surah
Al-Baqarah: Chapter 2: Verse 186)
Say (O Muhammad SAW): "Invoke Allah or invoke the Most
Beneficent (Ar-Rahman), by whatever name you invoke
Him (it is the same), because to Him belong the Beautiful Names. And offer your
Salaah (Prayer) neither aloud nor in a low voice but follow a way between.
(Surah
Al-Israa: Chapter 17: Verse 110)
O Ibaadi (My slaves) who have
transgressed against themselves (by committing evil deeds and sins)! Despair
not of the Mercy of Allah, verily Allah forgives all sins. Truly, He is
Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (Surah Az-Zumar:
Chapter 39: Verse 53)
And your Lord said: "Invoke Me, [i.e. believe in My Oneness
(Islamic Monotheism)] (and ask Me for anything) I will respond to your
(invocation). Verily! Those who scorn My worship [i.e. do not invoke Me, and do
not believe in My Oneness, (Islamic Monotheism)] they will surely enter Hell in
humiliation". (Surah Ghaafir:
Chapter 40: Verse 60)
Our Beloved Prophet Muhammad Mustapha (Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam) said:
“The Du’aa of any one of you will be answered so
long as he does not seek to hasten it, and does not say, ‘I made dua’ but I had no answer.’” (Bukhari: Muslim).
“Know that Allah does not answer a DU’AA from a distracted heart.” (Tirmidhi).
“Nothing extends one’s life span but righteousness, nothing averts the
Divine Decree but supplication (Du’aa), and nothing
deprives a man of provision (rizq) but the sin that
he commits.” (Ibn Maajah)
Trials, tribulations
and challenges are part of our lives. However, to counter that, Allah has provided us a very
powerful tool – and that is the tool of Du’aa or
asking Allah for help and His Mercy when we need it. And we definitely need it all the time.
However,
to understand trials and tribulations that we face in our daily lives, we also
need to understand “SINS” and how our sins may be related to our trials and
tribulations. The better and quicker we
understand this ghastly nature of our SINS,
and the rate at which we accumulate them - along
with their undesirable impact in our daily lives and the hereafter - the more it can propel us away from committing sins in
general. It will drive us to seek
forgiveness for our sins – through making Du’aa for ourselves and for others as well.
Here below
are some indications of how our sins impact our lives:
·
A sinful
person experiences a sense of isolation (indifference) with his Lord, and
between him and other people.
·
A person who
commits sins sees that things become difficult for him in any matter that he
turns to. He finds the way blocked or he finds it difficult. By the same
way, for the one who fears Allah, things are made easy for him.
Allah (Subhaanahu
Wa Ta’aala) says in the
Quran:
Whatever of good reaches you, it is from Allah, but whatever of
evil befalls you, it is from your own self. And We have sent you (O Muhammad
SAW) as a Messenger to mankind, and Allah is Sufficient as a Witness. (Surah al-Nisaa’: Chapter 4: Verse 79)
Whether we encounter challenges in earning a living, in our family
affairs, or other matters of life, the burden of sins greatly inhibits us from
seeking the ultimate blessings of Allah and to have the potential of leading a
good life in this world for the hereafter. Fundamental to this is the loss of
dependence and trust upon Allah. We do not turn to Allah in our times of need
but instead put our trust, dependence and hopes on worldly things that we think
will solve all our problems. Let’s refine and amend our ways of living away
from sins – and Allah will surely listen to us and answer our prayers. For how long are we going to live a life of
oblivion and forgetfulness - away from the Mercy of Allah and Blessings of His
beloved messenger? O Allah! We all need Your Guidance and Help in
this regard. O Most Merciful of those who show mercy!
WHEN WE MUSLIMS COME
UNDER TRIALS AND HARDSHIPS, LET US SEEK HELP FROM ALLAH ALONE, THE GREATEST OF
ALL. LET US MAKE WUDHOO, OFFER TWO RAKAATS OF SALAAT UL HAAJAT, SEND
DUROOD AND SALAAM ON OUR BELOVED PROPHET - AND THEN MAKE DU’AA WITH A SINCERE
HEART WITH ALL ATTENTION TO ALLAH FOR HELP.
ALLAH’S HELP WILL SURELY COME.
Dua
is the key to all human needs – be it in this world or the hereafter. However,
being human as we are, we are always in a haste whenever we make Du’aa to Allah (Subhaanahu Wa Ta’aala) and expect an immediate answer. The
most important thing to note is that once Du’aa is
done conscientiously with good intentions, be guaranteed that Allah (SWT) will
answer it. We may not see immediate result or get what we asked for but surely,
we will be answered. As humans, we may not know whether what we are asking from
Allah (SWT) is the best for us at the time of our need or not. Allah (SWT)
therefore knows what is best for us at ALL TIMES and may decide to provide us
with something better instead of what we had asked for. May Allah (SWT) answer and make our Du’aas beneficial to us, our family, our Deen and the
Muslim Ummah at large - both in this world and hereafter.
Our beloved Prophet (SAW) used to
pray: “O
Allah! grant to my soul (Nafs) the sense of
righteousness and purify it, for You alone are the Best Purifier of my soul.
You are the Protecting Friend (Waliy) of it and the
Guardian (Mawlaa) of it as well. O Allah! I seek refuge in You from the knowledge which
does not benefit, from the heart that does not fear (You), from the soul that
does not feel satisfied and from a DU’AA that is not answered.” (Muslim)
O
Allah! Your Forgiveness is far greater than my sins and I have more hope in
Your Mercy than in my own deeds.
Requesting your
duas!
Abdul Haq Abdul Kadir
Johannesburg, Gauteng
South Africa