Is that Allah trying to protect you?

If you ask for something and you don't get what you specifically asked for, it doesn't necessarily mean Allaah didn't accept your du'a. It's possible that Allaah replaces iswith something far better than what you made du'a for Allaah does for us or gives us whatever is good for us...what we think we need may not be good for us while what we don't like is good for us...and it's also possible Allaah will grant you what you asked for..later and not now. So yes I guess you could say that..Allaah knows us better than ourselves, so Allaah knows better what we need...hope that makes sense :/

Peace.

Allah's No is not a rejection but a redirection. If He is not answering, that means He has prepared something better for you. So have patience and put your full trust in Allah.

............It is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But God knoweth, and ye know not.
Quran 2:216

Thank you everyone! It is all cleared up. Allah definitely knows best.

Greetings and peace be with you CuriousIncident;

I think God answers prayers in a way that help us towards eternal salvation, rather than solve problems in this life. Could the following prayer be a clue as to how God answers prayers?

I asked for Strength.........
And God gave me Difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for Wisdom.........
And God gave me Problems to solve.
I asked for Prosperity.........
And God gave me Brain and Brawn to work.
I asked for Courage.........
And God gave me Danger to overcome.
I asked for Love.........
And God gave me Troubled people to help.
I asked for Favours.........
And God gave me Opportunities.

I received nothing I wanted
I received everything I needed
My Prayer has been answered.

Blessings

Eric

If Allaah answers our prayer, He is growing our gratitude.
If Allaah makes us wait, He is growing our patience.
If Allaah doesn't answer our prayer, He has something better to give us.

Allah answers our prayers in three ways.
He grants us exactly what we want.
He grants us something better than that but after some time has passed.
He grants us reward for that in hereafter.

There are also hadith that narrated how Allah SWT withhold the answers/grants for some of our du'a (supplication), and He (swt) will use those unanswered du'as as our salvation during the judgement day.
I can't remember if it was a hadith shahih (authentic hadith) or even a hadith, but there will be some people during the judgement day who, realizing that some of our unanswered du'as will be used to balance out or deeds so we can be admitted to jannah (paradise), will say "Oh I wished Allah had not grant me a single one of my supplications when I was alive".

I've found the hadith:

Abu Saied al-Khudri reported that the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: "If a Muslim makes Du'a that does not contain any sin or severing kin relations surely, Allah will grant him one of three things: either He gives him in this life what he had asked for, or he will reserve its reward for the next life, or He protects him from calamities due to his Du'a. On hearing this the companions said: 'then we will supplicate too much. The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi wa Sallam) said: Allah gives more and more" [ Ahmad ].

Thank you everyone. Allah knows what is best for us!

there are several possibilities :
1. it's been granted, but not coming yet.
2. granted, but late. God knows the right timing!
3. God replaced it with other answer.....He knows the better and best!

Is it true that Allah answers the prayers of the unbelievers? I'm a Catholic and my prayers have been answered many times. How do I know that my prayers have been answered by Allah and not God?

Bro CuriousIncident,

Allah is the first name of God. Even jesus (pbuh) prayed to Allah.
If you check the aramaic-english tools in the catholic website http://www.pe$hitta.org/
(just change the dollar sign "$" with the letter "s"):

Lexicon
Word:	hl0
Lexeme:	0hl0
Root:	hl0
Word Number:	904
Meaning:	God
Pronunciation:	(Eastern) AaLaH (Western) AaLoH
Part of Speech:	Noun
Gender:	Masculine
Person:
Number:	Singular
State:	Absolute
Tense:
Form:
Suffix Gender:
Suffix Person:
Suffix Number:	Singular

And one of Allah attributes/names is Ar Rahmaan, meaning The Most Compassionate/Most Beneficent, and this means that Allah provide to every creature what they wish for/need, even to those who disbelieve in Him (swt).
so you maye get what you ask from Allah in this life, but if you keep associating Allah with any partner, then you will have to justify your own conscious choice to Allahin the hereafter.
If you think about it, isn't it arrogant of human being, after being showered with all kinds of compassions and mercy from God, and yet they turn and say that they believe in and worship a human god?