Waswas or God's hints?

[wayfarer91]

How to tell when making dua, whether it is satanic waswasas or is it Allah trying to tell you to give up on a dua?

['Abdullah]

Supplication is an act of worship ( essence of worship to be more precise) & any thoughts to give up on supplications only come from Satan.

[wayfarer91]

What does essence of worship mean

['Abdullah]

What does essence of worship mean

I was referring to some hadiths which I will quote below and explain In Sha'a Allah:

Al-Nu’man ibn Bashir reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Supplication is the essence of worship.” Then, the Prophet recited the verse, “Your Lord says: Call upon Me and I will respond to you. Verily, those who disdain My worship will enter Hell in humiliation.” (40:60)
حَدَّثَنَا هَنَّادٌ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو مُعَاوِيَةَ، عَنِ الأَعْمَشِ، عَنْ ذَرٍّ، عَنْ يُسَيْعٍ الْكِنْدِيِّ، عَنِ النُّعْمَانِ بْنِ بَشِيرٍ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فِي قَوْلِهِ ‏:‏ ‏(‏وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ ‏)‏ قَالَ ‏"‏ الدُّعَاءُ هُوَ الْعِبَادَةُ‏"‏ ‏.‏ وَقَرَأَ ‏:‏‏(‏ وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ ‏)‏ إِلَى قَوْلِهِ ‏(‏ دَاخِرِينَ ‏)‏ ‏.‏ قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ حَسَنٌ صَحِيحٌ ‏.
Source: Sunan al-Tirmidhī 3247
Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to Al-Albani
https://sunnah.com/urn/739580

In the above hadith, Prophet (peace be upon him) said that " الدُّعَاءُ هُوَ الْعِبَادَةُ " which means dua is the actual worship. Think about this - why is Dua called the actual act of worship? What is included in the act of making dua?
Dua literally means to call out, and when one calls out/ cry out to Allah for anything it shows that we have acknowledged that Allah is the Higher power & He has control over every thing. He is the only one who can help and He is listening & He also knows what is the best for me. This also put us in our place. Makes us humble and make us realize that if it is not the Will of Allah, we can't even breath. We can't even blink our eyes, or take one step without the Will of Allah. So dua puts our belief system into practice, we recognize that Allah is the Supreme power and we are nothing. That's why Dua is an essence ( an extract or concentrate or core or center) of our all acts of worship.

In another hadith, which has some issues with its chain and is classified as Daif but it conveys the similar message:

Anas bin Malik narrated that :
the Prophet said: “The supplication is the essence of worship.”

حَدَّثَنَا عَلِيُّ بْنُ حُجْرٍ، أَخْبَرَنَا الْوَلِيدُ بْنُ مُسْلِمٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ لَهِيعَةَ، عَنْ عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ أَبِي جَعْفَرٍ، عَنْ أَبَانَ بْنِ صَالِحٍ، عَنْ أَنَسِ بْنِ مَالِكٍ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ ‏ "‏ الدُّعَاءُمُخُّ الْعِبَادَةِ ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قَالَ أَبُو عِيسَى هَذَا حَدِيثٌ غَرِيبٌ مِنْ هَذَا الْوَجْهِ لاَ نَعْرِفُهُ إِلاَّ مِنْ حَدِيثِ ابْنِ لَهِيعَةَ ‏.‏
Grade: Da’if (Darussalam)
Reference: Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3371
In-book reference: Book 48, Hadith 2
English translation: Vol. 6, Book 45, Hadith 3371
https://sunnah.com/tirmidhi/48/2

In the above hadith, the word used is مُخُّ which literally means brain. So in other words, Dua is said to be the brain of our worship which is same as essence or an extract or concentrate of something.

And Allah knows the best!
Ma'aSalaam

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[wayfarer91]

Even if the dua seems impossible to us. Ww should keep asking?

['Abdullah]

Even if the dua seems impossible to us. Ww should keep asking?

It is possible sometimes that you can clearly see that your dua has not been accepted. I am not sure what type of dua you are making but I can come up with some examples just for the sake of explanation.

For example, you may be making dua that O Allah, make it easy for me to do Hajj this year. As the Hajj season approaches, you can see that your dua was not accepted because you did not take any action to go for Hajj. So we know that we need both - an action as well as dua & trust in Allah. It is also possible that one may have taken an action and also has made several duas for performing Hajj let's say in 2020. But we now know that Hajj for this year is banned. In that case, one should be assure that Allah will have rewarded him/her for the intention they have already made. Should one abandon dua in this case? No really, we should just change it slightly & may be ask Allah to make us among those who can perform a Hajj at least one time before our death.

Or let's take another example of duas for worldly things. One may be making dua to become a doctor but after a while it becomes clear that he/she has no chance to be a doctor. So yes in that case, it is clear that your dua is not accepted because perhaps that was not good for you.

A GENERAL ADVICE:
Try to make general duas especially those which are mentioned in the Quran & Hadiths. Why? Because they are most profound duas & include asking for goodness not only in this world but also in Hereafter. These duas also leave it for Allah to decide what is good for us. We tend to dictate Allah and believe that what we think is good has to be good but that's not the case for most time and hence leave us disappointed and frustrated. On the other hand if we fully trust on Allah and let Him give us what's good for us then it strengthens our faith and trust in Allah.

For example:

‏اللهم آتنا في الدنيا حسنة، وفي الآخرة حسنة، وقنا عذاب النار

Translation: Allah, provide us with good things in this world. O Allah, provide us with good things in the Next Life. O Allah, save us from the torments of fire.

The above dua is mentioned both is Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bukhari. This was the dua which Prophet (peace be upon him) made most frequently. And you can see that it asks for goodness both in this world and Hereafter. Is not this what we all want? What's the difference in our duas and the dua of Prophets? We think something is good for us and we ask Allah to give us that particular thing. Prophets asked Allah to provide them with good & they trusted that whatever will happen will be good. This has been a general case with Prophets dua.

Let's look at another dua:

رَبِّ إِنِّى لِمَآ أَنزَلْتَ إِلَىَّ مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَقِيرٌ
Transliteration: rabbi innee lima anzalta ilayya min khayrin faqeerun
Translation: My Lord, indeed I am, for whatever good You would send down to me, in need.

Source:[Quran 28:24]

This was the Dua made by Prophet Musa (Peace be upon him) & we know after that he got married and got the Prophethood. Did he ask for these things directly? No, he left it for Allah to decide & once he put his trust in Allah, he was not disappointed.

An other exampleis the dua of Ibrahim (peace be upon him). When he about to be thrown in fire, he (peace be upon him) did not say O Allah save me from this fire or destroy these non believers. He simple said that Allah is enough for me and He is best disposer of affairs. Once we leave matters in the hands of Allah and be happy with whatever happens to us, we reach to a higher level of spirituality.

حَسْبُنَا اللهُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَكِيْلُ
Transliteration: Hasbuna Allahu wa ni’ma al-wakeel
Translation: Sufficient for us is Allah , and [He is] the best Disposer of affairs
Source: [Quran 3: 173]

Same is the case with the dua of Prophet Yunus (peace be upon him):

لَّا إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا أَنتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إِنِّي كُنتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِينَ
Translation: There is no god but You (O my Lord!). Glory be to You! Verily I was of the unjust ones!
Source: [Quran 21:87]

There have been some exception to the above narrative, Prophet's some times did make duas asking for a particular thing and some of those dua were accepted and some were not. For example, Prophet (peace be upon him) did make dua for the guidance of his Uncle Abu Talib, but this was not accepted. Prophet (peace be upon him) also made dua to strengthen Islam with either acceptance of Islam through Umar or Abu Jahil & this dua was accepted. This is the case with our duas as well, some of those are accepted and others are not.

MAKE DUA FOR OTHERS
Often when someone harms us we start making dua against them and they are making similar duas for us (most likely). A good practice is to make dua for others instead of making dua against anyone. I don't mean to make dua for those who oppress you, you can simply not make any dua against them if they are Muslims.
Making dua for others means to make dua for your parents, siblings, Muslims in general etc. The reward for doing so in great. Let's look at the following hadiths:

Abu Al-Darda' said:
I heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say: When a Muslim supplicates for his absent brother the angels say: Amin, and may you receive the like.


حَدَّثَنَا رَجَاءُ بْنُ الْمُرَجَّى، حَدَّثَنَا النَّضْرُ بْنُ شُمَيْلٍ، أَخْبَرَنَا مُوسَى بْنُ ثَرْوَانَ، حَدَّثَنِي طَلْحَةُ بْنُ عُبَيْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ كَرِيزٍ، حَدَّثَتْنِي أُمُّ الدَّرْدَاءِ، قَالَتْ حَدَّثَنِي سَيِّدِي أَبُو الدَّرْدَاءِ، أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم يَقُولُ ‏ "‏ إِذَا دَعَا الرَّجُلُ لأَخِيهِ بِظَهْرِ الْغَيْبِ قَالَتِ الْمَلاَئِكَةُ آمِينَ وَلَكَ بِمِثْلٍ ‏"‏ ‏.‏
Grade: Sahih(Al-Albani)

Reference: Sunan Abi Dawud 1534
In-book reference: Book 8, Hadith 119
English translation: Book 8, Hadith 1529
https://sunnah.com/abudawud/8/119

Is there any reward when we make dua for all Muslims ( dead or alive)? Let's look at the hadith below:

‘Ubadah ibn al-Samit reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Whoever seeks forgiveness for the believing men and women, Allah will record a good deed for him by each man and woman.”

Source: Musnad al-Shāmīyīn 2118
Grade: Jayyid (very good)according to Al-Haythami

There are several duas we can make to get the reward mentioned in above hadith. For example:
رَبَّنَا ٱغْفِرْ لِى وَلِوَٰلِدَىَّ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَوْمَ يَقُومُ ٱلْحِسَابُ

Transliteration: Rabbana ighfir lee waliwalidayya walilmumineena yawma yaqoomu alhisabu
Translation:Our Lord, forgive me and my parents and the believers the Day the account is established.

Source: [Quran 14:41]
اللهم اغفر للمسلمين والمسلمات, والمؤمنين والمؤمنات, الأحياء منهم والأموات

Transliteration: Allahumma ighfir lil muslimeena wal-muslimaat, wal-mu'mineena wal-mu'minaat, al-ahyaa'i minhom wal-amwat
Translation:O Allah, forgive the Muslim men and Muslim women, the believing men and the believing women, the alive from them and the dead

All these duas are which you never have to abandon and have hude reward. I hope you find these helpful, sorry for a long post.
Also checkout a thread dedicated for duas, link is below:
Duas
Ma'aSalaam

[wayfarer91]

You have explained quite well
But here is my take on my own question
I feel like we should ask considering nothing is impossible for Allah. Our minds are limited and we tend to consider our atleast try to comprehend Allah's capability according to our own understanding. Use human analogies like the most common one that He loves us 70 times more than a mother loves her child.
Your examples are strong, but we need to ask allah aswell. For instance 2 yrs ago my mothr went for a pilgrimage, and no one would eve have thought she would go with her friends.. She made dua. And her school friends called hee out of no where (my mother is 70 and she had not much contact with her old friends) and told her of their plans and asked if she wantef to go. Not only this, ny mother is suffering from multiple ailments but still God gave her the strength to go and perform pilgrimage.
She didnt make any effort, she made dua. And God created the way for her. After that obviously she hd to apply for the visa and purchase the tickets etc.
We need to let go of the idea that some duas are not answered for such and such reasons
The conviction is missing in our prayers.
And i feel like God doesn't give u a wish without the ability of makig it come true. Perhaps the person who wanted to be a doc didnt put in enough efforts..
And obviously we should mwke quranic duas, but we should be specific because Alllah can change decree or taqdeer, and that belief can get us to far off places.
The conviction that God will give us freedom is what drives the kashmiris in India to fight against the illegal occupation, whereas everything points in the opp direction.