The Nature of Supplication & Answers

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

Within Sunni Islam, both Ash’ari and Maturidi, the position is identical, in that we have no say in the act.  That is Divine Will.  That is why we are Judged on our intentions.  For example, since Allah (s.w.t.) is Omniscient, it cannot be that He has to await our supplication to Grant us something.  Rather our being moved to ask for it is, in reality, His Desire to Grant it.  If Allah (s.w.t.) chose not to Grant something, we would not even have the ability to ask for it. 

The seeming incongruency is when people say they have supplicated for something, but it was not granted.  That cannot be true because it would contradict the verse of the Qur’an, that Allah (s.w.t.) Answers all supplications.  What people have failed to understand is that Allah (s.w.t.) is Sovereign.  The timing of the Answer, the nature of the Answer, and the means of the Answer is His Prerogative.  When a person lacks taqwa, Divine cognisance, he will not see the Divine Hand in all his rizq, sustenance, and attributes it to himself, whereas he attributes all misfortune to Divine Will. 

There is no supplication that is unanswered.  But we are Granted according to the intent we have in our heart, and not the words that escape our lips for we are just as capable of fooling ourselves, as we are of others.  We convince ourselves we are correct, that we are pious, and that we have the best intentions. 

Every supplication was Granted long before we were aware, long before we were born, long before we were even aware of our need.  That is Divine Generosity.  It is also a mark of Divine Generosity that we are always Given more and better than what we ask for.  But it is our nature to be ungrateful.  For example, a person may supplicate that he wants to be closer to Allah (s.w.t.).  And thus, he is afflicted with a fatal disease, as a means to make him aware that the life of this world is but a moment, and the hereafter is better.  Whether a person has that disease or not, his time in this world is Allotted.  But people are weak.  They cannot recognise this as a Gift, or that the suffering is an expiation of sins, such that he arrives at the Hereafter Cleansed.  Instead of spending his nights in prayer, instead of trying to find closure and seek closeness, the lower self fights this and seeks to be in this world, if only just a moment longer.  And then he blames Allah (s.w.t.) for not granting his supplication. 

This is also for us to understand what we ask for and the consequences of it.  This is akin to the man who sits beneath the shade of a tree, on a hill, and prays to Allah (s.w.t.) for wealth.  He complains bitterly of his poverty, and how Allah (s.w.t.) never granted his supplication.  But he has failed to realise that long before that supplication, that hill, that tree, those circumstances were Created for his benefit, and beneath him is a mountain of gold, if he, but only dug just a few inches.  That is the striving in this world, after the worship. 

All of us are sitting on that mountain of gold, and it is Divine cognisance that opens the eyes of the heart so that we may see the reality of things.  Allah (s.w.t.) does not cheat, does not lie, and does not disappoint.  We have failed ourselves by not reaching that stage of realisation.