Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
Dua is the weapon of the believer. It is an opportunity which no one can ever take away from us. Allah the Exalted is always there to answer us whenever we call on Him, and that’s why one of His names is al Mujeeb (the One who responds).
Importance of Dua During Ramadan
The significance of making supplications during Ramadan can be understood from the verse that follows the verse on Ramadan. Since the sequence of the verses in the Quran are significant in and of itself, the fact that Allah mentions dua right after the verse on Ramadan should tell us something.
شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ….
The month of Ramadhan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur’an…. [2:185]
وَإِذَا سَأَلَكَ عِبَادِي عَنِّي فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ ۖ أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ ۖ فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُوا لِي وَلْيُؤْمِنُوا بِي لَعَلَّهُمْ يَرْشُدُونَ
And when My servants ask you, [O Muhammad (saws)], concerning Me – indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me [by obedience] and believe in Me that they may be [rightly] guided. [2:186]
This is a verse with profound meaning, needing an in-depth study by itself. First of all it says that Allah expects us to ask about Him and ask Him for things. Then He says that He responds to any supplication of any caller, even if they are not even Muslims. This is evident from the fact that He says ‘caller’ and not ‘muslims’ or ‘My slaves’ or ‘mu-mins’.
So no matter how close or distant you’re from Allah, you just need to call Him once and He’ll respond. I saw the proof of this in my own life. When I was still far away from the true understanding of Allah’s religion, I used to supplicate to Allah now and then to make me able to pray the five prayers.
Allah responded in such a way that I have never intentionally missed a single prayer since that time. All praise belongs to Allah the Most Merciful. I am sure you have similar stories in your own life where you just asked for something, perhaps something that seemed impossible even to you, and Allah made a way for you to get it.
All Allah asks from us in return for this gift is that we at least try to respond to Him and believe in Him.
The Prophet (saws) used to supplicate a lot during the month of Ramadan. Aishah (ra) said: ‘With the start of the last ten days of Ramadan, Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) would pray all the night, and would keep his family awake for the prayers. He tied his lower garment (i.e., avoided sleeping with his wives) and devoted himself entirely to prayer and supplication.’ [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].
The Prophet said, When the fasting person breaks his fast, his supplication is not turned back. [ibn Majah]
Also,
There are three whose supplication is not rejected: The fasting person when he breaks his fast, the just leader, and the supplication of the oppressed person; Allah raises it up above the clouds and opens the gates of heaven to it. And the Lord says: ‘By My might, I shall surely aid you, even if it should be after a while.’ [Tirmidhi]
What Prevents us from Supplicating
- ‘I asked Allah to marry me with the person of my choice, but s/he got married to someone else. Allah didn’t answer to me and so I stopped supplicating. What’s the point?’
The point is that dua is not amazon.com, as ustadh Nouman Ali Khan said. You don’t just search ‘spouse’, find your choice, click and order, and the next day your choice is there at your door. Allah answers your dua in the way He knows best and at the time when He knows best, because He knows the future and you don’t, He knows what’s good for you and you don’t. He answers your dua in one of three ways:
- By giving the thing asked for
- By averting a calamity that would otherwise have afflicted him/her
- Gifts waiting in the Hereafter.
‘I believe in the Qadr, and so I won’t ask because Allah has already fixed everything for me.’
Don’t human beings have free will? We are able to choose our way and still the concept of Qadr is valid, because our choices themselves are part of Qadr. Making dua is also a part of Qadr. Moreover, Allah wants us to supplicate to Him. The Prophet supplicated to Allah. What more do we need to convince us to do it?
Understand every word in salah to get from ritual to spiritual – by understanding the meaning of each word in your 5 daily prayers, your salah will never be the same again, in sha Allah. Start Praying with Understanding.
Tabassum Mosleh
