Make Du'aa? Really??

[Pirate_L]

!!!PLEASE READ THIS BIT!!!
Bear in mind this ISN'T an attack, rather something that has been bugging me. Oh,and apologies if this isn't the right place to post this question, can the moderators kindly move it to where it is appropriate.

The problem:

Assume that you are taking an exam tommorow, and to make it worse, you're fasting on the day. This exam is really really important, that should you fail, then you miss your chance at going to a good university/job/ some other important factor that you regard. Now, on the days leading up to that exam, you did your sunnah prayers, read the Qur'an and all that good jazz, "hoping" that Allah will make the exam easier for your.

Unfortunatly for you, it would seem that the test you were doing was hard, so hard that you know that you've screwed up and failed.

The question is, what was the point in making Dwa'ah? If the response was "Allah always has a good reason why so and so happened..." then wouldn't it be the case (and theorhetically speaking) that if I were to crash into your house and set it on fire, could it be that it was Allah who made me commit an act because he had this "plan" for me.

Can you see what I'm getting at? If events happen because Allah made you do it, then our freewill is removed. However, if freewill was to exist, regardless whether Allah knows the concequences of the choices we make (bear in mind, Allah doesn't interfere with our choices) then what is the point in making Dwa'ah in the first place? Surely, if you've studied the content, then you'd have the confidence before the exam to pass. And if the response is "To make things easier", well then things will be easy IF you know (according to the analagy) your content for the exam.

I will stop here, and if you understand what I'm getting at, then please, let me hear your views. AGAIN, this is not an attack, nor am I reforming Islamic Principles in anyway (no intended).

Thank You

[selsebil]

Assalaam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh,
Dear Friend, in the Quran Allah SWT says:
" Call upon Me and I will answer you." Qur’an, 40:60.

If you say: We frequently offer supplications, but they are not accepted. But the verse is general, it states that every supplication is answered.
The Answer: To answer is one thing, to accept is something quite different. Every supplication is answered, but its being accepted and exactly what was sought being given is dependent on Almighty Allah’s wisdom. For example, if a sick child calls the doctor, saying: “Doctor! Doctor!”, and he replies: “Here I am, what do you want?”, and the child says: “Give me that medicine!”, the doctor will either give him exactly what he asks for or something better and more beneficial for him. Or knowing that medicine is harmful for his illness, he will give him nothing.
Thus, since Almighty Allah is all-present and all-seeing, He responds to the supplications of His servants. Through His presence and response, He transforms the desolation of loneliness and solitude into familiarity. But He does this, not in accordance with man’s capricious and importunate demands, but in accordance with the requirements of dominical wisdom; He gives either what is sought or what is better than it, or He gives nothing at all.
Also, supplication is a form of worship and recognition of man’s servitude to Allah. The fruits of this pertain to the hereafter. The aims pertaining to this world are the times of a particular sort of supplication and worship. For example, the prayers and supplications for rain are a form of worship.
As for worship and servitude to Allah, it should be purely and sincerely for Allah’s sake. Man should only proclaim his impotence and seek refuge with Him through supplication, he should not interfere in His dominicality. He should leave the taking of measures to Him and rely on His wisdom. He should not accuse His Mercy.

[Woodrow]

:sl:


We are still obligated to put in a full effort to attain what we desire the outcome to be. How can a Du'a be sincere if we are not doing our best to achieve our goal?

It seems that sometimes we try to use du'a as a substitute for working to achieve our goals. Sometimes it just may be that the answer to our Du'a is the ability to earn what we seek. If we do not put forth the effort, we just may be turning down the answer to our du'a.

[Cabdullahi]

and one more thing you cannot start praying sunnah 1 week before the exam so that you can have your dua answered....pray all the time even when theres no exam

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[M.I.A.]

dwa'ah is made with the hope of recieving a better path from allah.. what that path is and what allah has planned for us is not made plane to us.

any crash which you can walk away from is a blessing and a chance to learn.. the freedom of choice is not in the event it is what you do after the event.. if anything it re-inforces a belief that allahs will is greater than ours, after all we tried our best not to crash.

in the event is the aknowledgement and fear of allah,
like knowing that if we were meant to crash we will crash..but still putting your seatbelt on.

[greenvalley]

Salaam,

We should not forget that we're abd (servant).We should always keep praying and waiting the result from the mercy of Allah.

[Pirate_L]

Firstly, let me thank you all, especially for a moderator for moving this thread. What for? that doesn't matter. I will now try and reply to all of as best as I can.

Selsebil: Quite a big argument, and it was hard to make out, since your use of words is far more coherent than mines. However, I will try and answer it, please do correct me if I have misunderstood something; granted, in the analagy of a doctor, he will inevitably give the child medicine that is better that it's predecssors were. I will accept the fact that Allah is all seeing, however, what I have a problem is whether the result of Allah's decision is appropriate. Before you read on, I am not saying Allah's judgement "could" be wrong, but it could've been otherwise, how certain are you that the judgement Allah has made is for the better? What if, and hypothetically speaking, it was just an answer out of a hat? To this, you may reply "Allah is all good", fair enough, but what, if we imagine, a cancer patient (terminal) were to do Dwa'ah, and this patient is, shall we say, 16 years old. He has a whole life to live, but because of his condition, he is more likely to die. If he does Dwa'ah but his Dwa'ah is not answered, is it for the better of his fate to die while he still has a life which he could potentially provide to the masses?

Woodrow; If we are obligated to put full effort in, which would as a result, mean that our confidence has increased because we can somewhat answer/ solve question, then wouldn't be pointless to make Dwa'ah? I understand that Dua'ah is a part of prayer, or at least, it's what I'm seeing here. Should that be the case, then is it safe to say that the fact that you pass an exam isn't because of Allah, rather one's own determination to work; is it right for me to say that we don't need to rely on Allah as much?

Abdullahi; People still do it unfortunatly, and that is the mind set of most people who have a belief in God becase of the quote above; " Call upon Me and I will answer you.", and as a result, should their prayer fall upon deaf ears, then they would blame Allah/God. I, for one, shall not judge the choice they have made.

M.I.A; Interesting that you have said that, but events are a result of a cause which are result of another cause (so and so) that it would lead down to a choice. So what started an event was a choice to begin with, which had effect upon the masses (are you talking about freewill here?) The interesting part is the bit that we should "hope" for a better path. I'm sorry to sound rude, but I cannot understand why people still "hope", to me, it's just an excuse for not "going out and making a change". Why must you have faith on a being (is this right of me to say?) to help you to do something, while you are capably able to make the change yourself? What's more interesting is when you said "fear Allah"... But that's for another time.

greenvalley; What is to stop me from saying "I don't want to be the servant"? - Oh, and this is not an attack by the way >.< I really want to answer to you, but the topic would change instantly, thus I will ask about it in another thread. But, how long can you wait until you are satisfied with what you got? Bear in mind, as time goes on, your need and wants change, and what was previously wanted, may have changed to a point where you actually don't need anymore, rather need/ want something else.

I again must thank you all, and I do apologise if this sounds like an attack (I must repeat this because most people I talk to say that I should be curious of such matter :P ).

[Woodrow]

Woodrow; If we are obligated to put full effort in, which would as a result, mean that our confidence has increased because we can somewhat answer/ solve question, then wouldn't be pointless to make Dwa'ah? I understand that Dua'ah is a part of prayer, or at least, it's what I'm seeing here. Should that be the case, then is it safe to say that the fact that you pass an exam isn't because of Allah, rather one's own determination to work; is it right for me to say that we don't need to rely on Allah as much?

A benevolent uncle buys you a nice car and provides you with gas money to drive it. Yet you are late for school everyday because you insist on walking to school. Yet daily you ask your relative to give you something so you can get to school on time.

Use what was given to you and always thank Allaah(swt) for giving you the means to accomplish your Du'as. I find that often my Du'as are answered by my being given the ability to accomplish a task, not by the removal of the task.

[Muslim Woman]

Salaam


we will try , make dua and then leave the matter on Allah. Anything that comes after efforts & dua , we must try to accept that as fate. Our duas are " Always' answered but sometimes we dont understand that.

Because of dua , sins are forgiven , some dangers are removed , we get better than what we asked for and finally we will be rewarded on the hereafter ...what else should we ask for ?

[M.I.A.]

M.I.A; Interesting that you have said that, but events are a result of a cause which are result of another cause (so and so) that it would lead down to a choice. So what started an event was a choice to begin with, which had effect upon the masses (are you talking about freewill here?)

yes, the important part to understand is that your choice is not greater than anybody elses.. its organised chaos on the level of the number of interactions and choices made. six billion choices per nano second per minute per hour per day etc.. allah is the creator of all things and his plan is for all creation.
also which event is important? that is not within my understanding.. i lost my job, i treated someone badly, i overlooked a smile, i argued with somebody, i backbited etc etc

freedom of choice and an all powerful god.

The interesting part is the bit that we should "hope" for a better path. I'm sorry to sound rude, but I cannot understand why people still "hope", to me, it's just an excuse for not "going out and making a change". Why must you have faith on a being (is this right of me to say?) to help you to do something, while you are capably able to make the change yourself? What's more interesting is when you said "fear Allah"... But that's for another time.




the quran says that in this world we can only wrong our own soul and this is a HUGE part of my understanding.. this is why there is hope and fear, this is why there is da'wah

so that your interactions within the masses and your events are not bad for those you interact with.

[Sigma]

Firstly, let me thank you all, especially for a moderator for moving this thread. What for? that doesn't matter. I will now try and reply to all of as best as I can.

Selsebil: Quite a big argument, and it was hard to make out, since your use of words is far more coherent than mines. However, I will try and answer it, please do correct me if I have misunderstood something; granted, in the analagy of a doctor, he will inevitably give the child medicine that is better that it's predecssors were. I will accept the fact that Allah is all seeing, however, what I have a problem is whether the result of Allah's decision is appropriate. Before you read on, I am not saying Allah's judgement "could" be wrong, but it could've been otherwise, how certain are you that the judgement Allah has made is for the better? What if, and hypothetically speaking, it was just an answer out of a hat? To this, you may reply "Allah is all good", fair enough, but what, if we imagine, a cancer patient (terminal) were to do Dwa'ah, and this patient is, shall we say, 16 years old. He has a whole life to live, but because of his condition, he is more likely to die. If he does Dwa'ah but his Dwa'ah is not answered, is it for the better of his fate to die while he still has a life which he could potentially provide to the masses?

Technically, he didn't have a whole life to live. The time of our deaths is written before we die. His death may have not benefitted anyone but that is not the purpose of his death. His time ran out and he would be judged on his actions. The Du'a is irrelevant if he asked for a longer life. It's like me asking to be a millionaire, it's a selfish wish which I wouldn't expect to be granted. A better Du'a would be one asking for forgiveness. If a Du'a is not answered we really should think "Allah knows best" and leave it at that... unless you doubt Allah and his attributes. However, if you accept Allah, then you accept his attributes of Justice etc... The problem of freewill and predestination also comes into play. If Allah knows everything before we do it, how can we have freewill? You can find an Islamic answer somewhere on this forum (sorry to be vague but its here some where and i cba to find it). Anyway, intentions are one of the most important things in Islam and they are what really matters. Du'a may or may not be accepted but whatever the result we should not be myopic. The ultimate goal is to pass the test and get into heaven so we shouldn't the frivoulous distractions of this world get in the way.

[M.I.A.]

if the time of death is written, then we should ask that it is not a death which causes suffering to those left behind.
i imagine that women and children that die in war zones fuel the fire in ones heart and this is a difficult concept to grasp with respect to the quran which states that of the believers.. they will have no fear and nor shall they grieve.

the only way i can justify there deaths as gods will is if i believe in a heaven and hell other than those imposed in this world.

[R Khan]

Assalaam Alaykum

When one remembers Allah at the time of ease - Allah will remember him at the time of his hardships.

youtube.com/watch?v=1ogGrDl1JrQ