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Why
our Prayers are not Answered
Ibrahim Ibn Adham -
May Allah Have Mercy On Him - a third century Sufi Scholar, a teacher and a
companion of Sufyaan ath-Thawree, was asked about the saying of Allah - the
Most High:
"AND YOUR LORD SAYS: CALL ON ME I WILL
ANSWER YOUR PRAYER..." [Surah Ghaafir (40): 60]
"We supplicate and we are not
answered." So he said to them:
- "You know Allah, yet you do not obey Him,
- You recite the Quran, yet do not act according to it,
- You know Shaitan (Devil), yet you have agreed with him,
- You proclaim that you love the Messenger of Allah,
Salla Allahu ‘alayhi
wa alihi wa sallam, yet you abandon his Sunnah,
- You proclaim your love for Paradise, yet you do not act to gain
it,
- You proclaim your fear for the Fire, yet you do not prevent
yourselves from sins,
- You say "Indeed death is true", yet you have not prepared for it,
- You engage yourselves with finding faults with others, yet you do
not look at your faults,
- You eat of that which Allah has provided for you, yet you do not
thank Him,
- You bury your dead, yet you do not take a lesson from it.
By:
Ibn Rajab al-Hanbalee
A Wise Young
Boy
Many years ago, during the time of the
Taabi'een (the generation of Muslims after the Sahabah), Baghdad was a great
city of Islam. In fact, it was the capital of the Islamic Empire and because
of the great number of scholars who lived there, it was the centre of Islamic
knowledge. One day, the ruler of Rome at that time sent an envoy to Baghdad
with three challenges for the Muslims. When the messenger reached the city, he
informed the Khalifah that he had three questions which he challenged the
Muslims to answer.
The Khalifah gathered together all the scholars of the city and the Roman
messenger climbed upon a high platform and said, "I have come with three
questions. If you answer them, then I will leave with you a great amount of
wealth which I have brought from the king of Rome.
As for the questions, they were:
'What was there before Allah?'
'In which direction does Allah face?'
'What is Allah engaged in at this moment?'"
The great assembly of people were silent.
(Can you think of answers to these questions?) In the midst of these brilliant
scholars and students of Islam, there was a man looking on with his young son.
"O my dear father! I will answer him and silence him!" said the youth.
So the boy sought the permission of the Khalifah to give the answers and he
was given the permission to do so.
The Roman addressed the young Muslim and
repeated his first question, "What was there before Allah?" The boy asked, "Do
you know how to count?" "Yes," said the man.
"Then count down from ten!" So the Roman counted down, "ten, nine, eight, ..."
until he reached "one" and he stopped counting.
"But what comes before 'one'?" asked the
boy. "There is nothing before one- that is it!" said the man. "Well then, if
there obviously is nothing before the arithmetic 'one', then how do you expect
that there should be anything before the 'One' who is Absolute truth,
All-Eternal, Everlasting the First, the Last, the Manifest, the Hidden?"
Now the man was surprised by this direct
answer which he could not dispute.
So he asked, "Then tell me, in which direction is Allah facing?" "Bring a
candle and light it," said the boy, "and tell me in which direction the flame
is facing."
"But the flame is just light- it spreads in
each of the four directions, North, South, East and West. It does not face any
one direction only," said the man in wonderment.
The boy cried, "Then if this physical light spreads in all four directions
such that you cannot tell me which way it faces, then what do you expect of
the Nur-us-Samawati-wal-'Ard: Allah - the Light of the Heavens and the
Earth!? Light upon Light, Allah faces all directions at all times."
The Roman was stupefied and astounded that here was a young child answering
his challenges in such a way that he could not argue against the proofs.
So, he desperately wanted to try his final
question. But before doing so, the boy said, "Wait! You are the one who is
asking the questions and I am the one who is giving the answers to these
challenges. It is only fair that you should come down to where I am standing
and that I should go up where you are right now, in order that the answers may
be heard as clearly as the questions.
"This seemed reasonable to the Roman, so he came down from where he was
standing and the boy ascended the platform. Then the man repeated his final
challenge, "Tell me, what is Allah doing at this moment?" The boy proudly
answered, "At this moment, when Allah found upon this high platform a liar and
mocker of Islam, He caused him to descend and brought him low. And as for the
one who believed in the Oneness of Allah, He raised him up and established the
Truth. Every day He exercises (universal) power (Surah 55 ar-Rahman, Verse
29)."
The Roman had nothing to say except to leave and return back to his country,
defeated. Meanwhile, this young boy grew up to become one of the most famous
scholars of Islam. Allah, the Exalted, blessed him with special wisdom and
knowledge of the Deen (religion). His name was Abu Hanifah (rahmatullah alayhi-
May Allah have mercy on him) and he is known today as Imam Abu Hanifah (Imam-e-Azam),
the Great Imam and scholar of Islam
By: Imam Muwaffaq Ibn Ahmad al-Makki
A Letter
from Shaitan
I saw you yesterday as you began your daily
chores. You awoke without stopping to pray. As a matter of fact, you didn't
even bless your meals, or pray before going to bed last night. You are so
unthankful, I like that about you. I cannot tell you how glad I am that you
have not changed your way of living, Fool, you are mine.
Remember, you and I have been going steady for
years, and I still don't love you yet. As a matter of fact, I hate you,
because I hate Allah. I am only using you to get even with Allah. He kicked me
out of heaven, and I'm going to use you as long as possible to pay him back.
You see, Fool, ALLAH LOVES YOU and HE has great plans in store for you. But
you have yielded your life to
me and I'm going to make your life a living hell. That way we'll be together
twice. This will really hurt Allah. Thanks to you.
I'm really showing Him who's boss in your
life. With all of the good times we've had .. We have been watching dirty
movies, cursing people, out partying, stealing, lying, being hypocritical,
indulging in fornication, overeating, telling dirty jokes, gossiping, back
stabbing people, disrespecting adults and those in leadership position, NO
respect for the mosque, bad attitudes: SURELY you don't want to give all this
up.
Come on, Fool, let's burn together forever.
I've got some hot plans for us. This is just a letter of appreciation from me
to you. I'd like to say "THANKS" for letting me use you for most of your
foolish life. You are so gullible, I laugh at you. When you are tempted to
sin, you give in HA HA HA, you make me sick. Sin is beginning to take its toll
on your life. You look 20 years older, I need new blood. So go ahead and teach
some children how to sin.
All you have to do is smoke, drink alcoholic
beverages, cheat, gamble, gossip, fornicate, and listen to and dance to the
top 10 jams. Do all of this in the presence of children and they will do it
too. Kids are like that. Well, Fool, I have to let you go for now. I'll be
back in a couple of seconds to tempt you again. If you were smart, you would
run somewhere, confess your sins, ask forgiveness from Him, live for Allah
with what little bit of life that you have left. It's not my nature to warn
anyone, but to be your age and still sinning, it's becoming a bit ridiculous.
Don't get me wrong, I still hate you...... IT'S JUST THAT YOU'D MAKE A BETTER
FOOL FOR ALLAH.
So Remember:
" And Satan will say when the matter is decided ( The Disbelievers entered the
hell ) : "It was Allah Who gave you a promise of Truth: I too promised, but I
failed in my promise to you. I had no authority over you except to call you
but ye listened to me: then reproach not me, but reproach your own souls. I
cannot listen to your cries, nor can ye listen to mine. I reject your former
act in associating me with Allah. For wrong-doers there must be a grievous
penalty." (The Holy Quran, Surah: 14 - Ibrahim v.22)
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