Page 35 - Prayer in the Qur'an

BEING CONCERNED THAT A PRAYER WILL NOT BE ANSWERED 33

events take place not casually but in compliance with a destiny pre-
ordained by Allah. For this reason, she never feels concerned that
her prayer will remain unanswered. Allah answers heartfelt
prayers. As Allah states:

If My servants ask you about Me, I am near. I answer the call of
the caller when he calls on Me. They should therefore respond
to Me and believe in Me so that hopefully they will be rightly
guided. (Surat al-Baqara: 186)
Other verses read, "... He Who responds to the oppressed when
they call on Him..." (Surat an-Naml: 61). This verse reinforces the
fact that Allah answers all sincere prayers.
Consequently, one must supplicate with a firm assurance of
Allah's help. The contrary, that is, having doubts about whether
Allah will answer one's call, is from the outset an attitude converse

to the Qur'anic rationale. Our Prophet's (saas) hadith "one should beg
one's Lord with a will and full devotion, for there is nothing in the eye of
Allah which He cannot grant." (Muslim) also points to that fact.
For this reason, the two basic attributes of a supplicant are sincer-
ity and trust in Allah. Allah wants His servants to be near to Him;
He answers those calls His servants make with a sincere heart. For
Allah, Who created humankind from a single drop of water, and the
universe from nothing, it is very easy to answer prayer. One needs
only to turn to Allah with an unswerving faith and patience.
The greatest mistake people make about prayers is to cease pray-
ing because of the concern that the prayer won't be answered. This

is, in many ways, a flawed, and even ignorant, attitude. We must
first make it clear that the answer of a prayer is not necessarily the
"exact answer" one expects. As stated above, one may ask for some-
thing that is detrimental. This verse makes this point clear: "Man