The
Inner Meanings of
Worship in Islam
A Personal Selection of Guidance For the
Wayfarer
(Excerpts Only)
By:
Shaykh
Fadhlalla Haeri
Chapter Three
Preface to Worship -- Prayer and Ritual Purity
The success of any
action very much depends upon the original intention and
preparation.
...
SUPPLICATION AND PRAYER (du'a`
and salat)
Allah says:
And if My
servants inquire of you, I am indeed near, I will answer the
supplication of one who calls if he calls Me, so let them seek an
answer from Me and let them believe in Me so that perhaps they might
be rightly guided. (2:186)
The Prophet said:
Supplication is
the weapon of the person of faith.
He also said:
A supplication is
better than reciting the Qur`an.
...
Think about what you ask
for and why you are asking. A supplication is a means to truly seek
an answer from Allah. It is a genuine call of the heart as a result
of its actual focusing upon the Lord. It is the abandonment of all
preferences and complete submission, outwardly and inwardly, to
Allah. The essence of a supplication is connected to what is in the
heart and is uttered by the tongue, not what the tongue babbles
foolishly and thoughtlessly.
...
... humility, longing,
fear, perseverance, goodness of action, faith based on knowledge,
and calling upon Allah exclusively with total reliance on Him are
the various courtesies one should have when petitioning at the door
of the Lord, for they are conditions for the acceptance of a
supplication. ...
...
Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq
said:
I made a
supplication to Allah once and He answered me and I forgot what I
needed because His answer to His servant when he calls Him is
greater and more glorious than whatever it was that His servant
wanted, even if it was the Garden and its eternal bliss. But only
the people of exalted action and knowledge, the victorious, the
chosen few of Allah and His Elect, will perceive and understand
this.
As for the secrets
behind the lack of an immediate answer to a supplication, they
include numerous things, the first among them being the
unacceptability of the supplication. This happens when fulfillment
of the conditions and the courtesies mentioned above (among them
being sincerity of the heart, humility and courtesy) is absent. Or
one may be doubtful and hesitant concerning the acceptance of a
supplication, which means doubting Allah's Power and Generosity. It
is related that the Prophet said:
Make a
supplication to Allah while you are certain of an answer.
In a similar vein Allah
said in a hadith qudsi:
I see what My
servant thinks of Me, so let him not think anything but good of Me.
Secondly,
