We have been speaking over the last few weeks about prayer in different situations and we emphasized that prayer indicates acknowledgment of God’s power and our submission to His will. In fact, prayer is an essential part of our worship. The Prophet is quoted by Numan ibn Basheer, an Ansari companion, as saying: “Supplication is worship.” He followed that by reading the verse saying: “Your Lord says: Pray Me and I will answer your prayers.” (Related by Al-Bukhari in Al-Adab Al-Mufrad, an-Nassaie, Abu Dawood, al-Tirmithi and Ibn Majah).
This means that supplication, or prayer for our needs whether they relate to this life or the next world, indicates worship at its clearest. Hence, it is always answered.
Another Hadith reported by Aishah, the Prophet’s wife, mentions that the Prophet was asked about the best type of worship, and he answered, ‘a prayer for oneself.’ (Related by Al-Bukhari in Al-Adab Al-Mufrad). This Hadith clearly fits perfectly with human nature. It is only to be expected that a person would pray God for some need which has become apparent in his life.
He would then pray God to facilitate what he needs, or to spare him a difficult or harmful situation. He may then follow that with prayer for other things, or for other people. Muslim relates that when the Prophet wanted to pray for someone else, he started by praying for himself.
This is an example of how Islam accepts human nature as it is and works on it to refine it and make it more in line with Islam.
There is nothing wrong with praying for oneself before praying for others. It is in human nature to think of oneself first. If one is appealing to God for some benefit, then one may wish to start with asking something for oneself, before praying for relatives or friends.
But people often wonder what happens after they have prayed God earnestly to fulfill certain needs or grant them certain wishes.
The first thing to be said here is that when we offer any type of worship, with sincerity, free of any element of show-off or hypocrisy, God will certainly accept it. As we have already mentioned, the Prophet describes supplication as worship itself.
Hence, it is only natural that it is accepted by God, and such acceptance means granting our wishes and fulfilling our needs. This is what the Prophet was indicating when he read the Qur’anic verse after stating that supplication is worship itself. In another version, he is quoted to have said that ‘supplication is the essence of worship.’
Yet people wonder why they are not granted what they ask for. Since God has promised to answer prayers, and we pray Him often, why is it that we do not see the fulfillment of our prayers soon enough. For this question the Prophet gives us the complete answer.
Abu Saeed Al-Khudri quotes the Prophet as saying: “Any Muslim who addresses a prayer to God that is free of injustice or severing ties with relatives will receive one of three alternatives: either God will answer his prayer straightaway, or save it for him till the Day of Judgment, or spare him evil in a measure equal to it.” Someone said to him: “Then we may pray much.” He answered: “God’s response is much more.”
This Hadith outlines what happens to our prayers when we address them to God. The first condition for answering a prayer is that it should not seek God’s help to inflict injustice or aggravate relations between Muslims. If it does, then God turns it down unanswered. How could anyone appeal to God to inflict injustice on another, when God is just and fair to all His servants? Moreover, God does not like severing ties with relatives. Hence, He does not aid in any matter that leads to it.
When prayers are free of these two ills, they are certainly answered. But the answer may come in one of three ways. The first is that it is answered in this life. However, God will choose the time for answering it, and that is the time when it gives us its best advantage. That does not necessarily fit with what we hope for, because our judgment is restricted to what we can perceive with our own faculties. But God determines our interest according to His own knowledge, which is perfect, absolute, taking every factor into consideration.
The second possibility is that God will keep that prayer for the Day of Judgment, which means that He will not answer it in this life, because
He knows that such a measure is infinitely better for us. The Prophet tells us that when, on the Day of Judgment, we see what God will reward us with for such prayers He chooses to keep, we will wish that He has kept all our prayers unanswered in this life, so that we would have their reward then.
The third alternative is that God will spare us some harm or evil which is certain to afflict us, but He removes it in response to our prayer.
What this means is that although our prayer is not meant to avoid that particular harm or evil, God decides to spare us that because He knows that it is better for us than answering our prayer in the way we want. After all, we judge by our own knowledge which is limited.
When the Prophet’s companions realized that each one of the three alternatives works to our own benefit, they suggested that they pray more often. The Prophet encourages that by saying that God’s response and generosity are much more than what we may ever ask for in our prayers.
A highly similar Hadith points out an important factor in answering prayers. Abu Hurayrah quotes the Prophet as saying: “Whenever a believer turns his face to God, putting a request to Him,
He would answer his prayer, either by fulfilling it in this life or keeping it for reward in the hereafter, as long as he does not hasten fulfillment.” The Prophet was asked how does one hasten it? He said: “By saying, I have prayed often and I do not see that my prayer have got me anywhere.”
This is a warning against being impatient for the fulfillment of prayer. One must always realize that when his prayer is sincere, acknowledging one’s need for God’s help, it will be answered, but God will choose for him in answering it what He knows to be better for him.
This puts him on a definitely winning course. He either receives this response at the best time in this life, or receives something infinitely better in the hereafter, or has some evil that was going to befall him diverted. Any of these is a net gain. Hence, there should be no despair or thought of inattention.
