11-21-2003, 03:27 AM
Asalam~O~Alykum
THE POWER OF DU`AA, SUBLICATION TO ALLAH!
OH Allah u r the FORGIVER, U LOVE FORGIVENESS, FORGIVE US THEN!
Dear sisters and Brother,
Salamu Allah be upon all of u wa raHmatuhu wa Barakaatuhu in these blessed days of Ramdaan! i just want to encourage u further toward the thawaabs of laylat al-qadir, we have about 5-6 days left (time is running so please act now!! Please fire ur energy and spent it wisely! It is the time of sincere prayers, ask Allah wat ever u want! We have planned to do tahajud everyday inshaAllah starting 2am starting the 1st day of the `ashir al-awaakhir (the last ten day of Ramadaan)! What about the women with their periods? I want to thank the sisters who brought this to my attention by emailing me, All u have to do is T.R.Y TO remember God and pray to him (du3a, sublications) and may God know from you heart that you wished you could have woken up praying. And know all our deeds are based and ONLY based on our sincere intentions! So todays topic is more for sisters with period, hopefully when u read Ramadanic topic of today, u will have a smile on ur face and not have the sadness that u will miss praying laylat al-qadir! For other sisters and brothers, our daily Tahajud appointments are 2am! so please consider this for me! So lets start with today's topic!
There have been so many replies on the website especially for the program about calling people to God and people wanting to know how they can do this and so motivated to help succeed Islam. The programmes which we’ll be doing following Ramadan will be called "the prophetic path of life?"the path of the Prophet's life is his Sunnah!(sonnaa’ el 7aya), and will focus on how we can create our lives and make them successful.
Sayida aisha asked the prophet what’s the thing she should do most on Laylat el qadr, and he told her du’aa, and taught her the prayer of Allahoma innaka a’fow tohibo al afw fa’afo ‘anna (plz over sublicate this prayer, Oh Allah u r the FORGIVER, u love FORGIVENESS, FORGIVE US THEN OH ALLAH). We have talked about du’aa and praying to God a lot but I want us to encourage each other to do this and enliven this feeling that our prayers will be answered and to pray God with a full heart, confident that God will answer.
From the hadeeth, a man came to the prophet pbuh and asked him whether God is far away that we have to shout to Him or is close that we can whisper to Him? The prophet didn’t reply but God sent down the verse [When My servants ask Thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them) I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calleth on Me] (bakarah) What more do you want?!
The first thing to note is, was the question too difficult that the prophet didn’t answer? The answer to this question had to come from God. With every question asked to the prophet which God replies to in the quran, His reply has always started with [say to them]. For example [They ask thee concerning wine and gambling. Say: In them is great sin] (bakara) and [They ask Thee what is lawful (as food) Say: lawful unto you are (all) things good and pure] (al maida). Apart from this one [When My servants ask Thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them) I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calleth on Me]. That’s it, we’ve come to the conclusion of this programme! Look at the beauty of the word [close (to them)], and the feeling when you raise your hands and pray to Him.
Also, look at how He said not the believer, so that no one can say that they have performed so many sins that He will not listen to their du’aa, He will! Then He says [when he calleth on Me] as if it is up to you, it’s there but you have to ask for it. If anyone has something you want, then pray to God.
What I’m doing now is trying to move your heart so that you can feel this du’aa inside it for perhaps this place we are in now will be a place for prayers to be answered. When sayidna zakariya walked in on sayida maryam and saw how she always had blessings from God and asked her where it had come from and she had answered that it was from God. So he prayed to God right then and His prayer was answered. Inside his heart he truly felt it.
Look also how He didn’t specify a time, not at the fajr, or when he repents only [when he calleth on Me]. This verse came down after the verses after the verses about fasting, as if the meaning that the thing that would mean that yor prayers will be answered for sure is that you would have been fasting, so what about if you are in the last 10 days.
Listen to the verse again: [When My servants ask Thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them) I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calleth on Me] Listen to this one [And your Lord says: “Call on Me; I will answer your prayer] (ghafer). If you go to a person to tell your problems to, then they may turn you away, but God is asking you to come to Him.
Then what about the people who don’t pray to God? [but those who are too arrogant to serve Me will surely find themselves in Hell – in humiliation!] (ghafer) God sees this as being too arrogant for there is no one of us who doesn’t have problems, or is wishing for something, or have a certain intention, a certain wish?
I want to ask a question, how do people not go to God when they all have problems. How do we go running to people to help us when we have the strongest weapon within our hands. God listens to the prayers of a sinner even, so what about the believers, and imagine if it’s near laylat el qadr?
You who are wishing to wear the hijab for so long, have you prayed to God? Or you who is complaining about your brother who is sinning, maybe he is taking drugs, have you prayed to God to help him? Ask Him!
There is a hadeeth that God said that if everyone, including jinns, all got up and asked Him for whatever they wanted, it would not touch His store of blessings as a needle dipped into the sea doesn’t make it any less - Can you imagine if all mankind got together and prayed for the maximum things they wanted, God’s store will never deplete.
The prophet said there is nothing God loves most about His servants is raising his hands to Him and asking Him for what he wants. Whoever doesn’t ask God for anything and pray to Him makes Him angry. From another hadeeth, du’a is worshipping. So what about praying, fasting? The whole point of worshipping is to feel your weakness, and need and humility in front of God. You can pray and fast and not feel something within yourself because there’s something missing, but there’s no way you can put up your hands up to God and not feel this within yourself. That’s why the prophet said that du’aa is worship. Feel that you are a servant to God, don’t be arrpogant in your prayers!
Look at the hadeeth of the prophet saying not to despair from God, for God will not cause tragedies in your life with this problem if you pray to Him about it. From another hadeeth, God is so generous and feels embarrassed of not giving His servant with nothing in return – so du’aa will be answered, so why are you not praying to God? We’re in laylat el qadr, then pray for everything you want!
We’re not just praying our problems to be solved, but we are also praying as part of worshipping, and also to learn humility towards God. Pray a lot tonight, for it laylat el qadr may be tonight so pray a lot.
Look at the examples of God answering your prayers. Each of the first three suras in the Quran end with du’aa. [show us the straight way, The way of those on whom Thou hast bestowed Thy Grace, those whose (portion) is not wrath, and who go not astray] Ameen (Al Fatha) [Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden like that which Thou didst lay on those before us] (al bakara) [Our Lord! We have heard the call of one calling (Us) to Faith, ‘Believe ye in the Lord’, and we have believed. Our Lord! Forgive us our sins, blot out from us our iniquities, and take Thyself our souls in the company of the righteous.] As if the first 3 suras are saying that you must perform du’aa.
How could anyone have a sure weapon and not use it, why not?! Who has made your life difficult, pray to God against him!
Look at the prayer of sayidna ibrahim which took thousands of years to be answered [“My Lord, make this a City of Peace, and feed its people with fruits”] (bakarah). Mecca is now the haven for muslims until the day of judgement. Could anyone have believed this of the desert which Ibrahim was in?
Oh you people who are hoping to be closer to God, oh you youth who have become more religious in ramadan and wish to stay like this, pray to God – ya rab thabitny! OH! Allah strength me to stay this way after Ramadaan!
I saw wonderful things coming from du’aa. In 1991, I had a sister in islam, I was praying 9 years for her, and then after all those years, she turned into something totally different. Pray, and work hard at this prayer.
Abu hurayra went to the prophet and complained to him about his mother who always swore about the prophet. He asked the prophet to pray for her so the prophet raised his hands and prayed for Abu Hurayra’s mother. Then when Abu Hurayra went home, as soon as he saw his mother, she said Ashhado an La ilaha illa Allah wa anna Mohamad rasool Allah. He was so happy and went back to the prophet to tell him and asked him to pray for him and his mother to be loved by muslims and to love muslims – look at how great this prayer is!
How many times have you prayed to God since we were born? How many were answered? You know what happened. The devil comes back after you have prayed for something from God and makes you forget that the prayer you asked for and which was answered was because of your prayer. Thousands of prayers have been answered but the devil has made us forget.
The last third of the night is a time when the prayers will be answered. From the hadeeth, there is an hour when anyone who asks for whatever they want, their prayer will be answered. When asked which hour, the prophet said it’s in the end of the night, the last third (the hours i suggested for the Tahajud at the top is strongly recommended! these are at the last third of the night)
From another hadeeth, the prophet said that when we are prostrating our prayers will be answered. Because we are putting our heads down for God.
Another time is when we complete the quran - think about it, were coming to completing it now so gather your friends and pray a lot.
Another time when prayers are answered is between the athan and the start of the prayer, and when breaking your fast. The companions used to say something beautiful. They said that they had a set of prayers which they always repeated, and they said that by God they were all answered before the following Ramadan. Why don’t you try and see? Also, on Fridays. On a Friday, there is an hour when God will not return a du’aa. Some of the most knowledgeable say it’s the hour before the maghrib prayer. Either then or at the time of the Friday prayer.
Another thing is when someone is repenting. Sheikh sha’rawy once met a 17 year old girl who had just started wearing the hijab and he asked her to pray for him because she had repented and her prayers will be answered!
The rules for our performing du’aa in order for them to be answered are:
1) Confidence that it will be answered – don’t just pray like you are not sure about it, but strongly, and confident about what you are asking for.
2) Humility – the more you go to Him in weakness against His greatness, the more likely for your prayer to be answered.
3) Patience – people who despair of praying when it would have come to him had he kept praying for it.
4) Clean source of money – your money has to be halal
Whoever applies this, his du’a must be answered.
Are there certain performances we must do at the time of praying? Yes:
1) Raise your hands to the sky
2) Being clean
3) Thanking God
4) Pray on the prophet (pbuh)
5) Starting with calling him with his descriptors, his names, like in the fatha (remember yesterday's lectures, calling Allah with his 99 names, EXTRA HELPFUL!)
6) Repetition
7) Spending sadaka so that you can cleanse your money
Prepare your map of du’aa for the last days in Ramadan; your family, your children, your money, don’t forget the people in palestine.
Whoever prays for someone who’s not there, then your prayer for them will be answered and the same for you. Whenever u pray for an individual, a Malika will pray for u, So imagine if u prayer for the WHOLE Omma, same number of Malika will pray for u!! subHanaAllah
So, lets pray, Allahuma inaka afun, tuHibu Al-afuuwa, fi3fu Anaaa! Balighnaaa laylat al-qadir!!
Oh, Allah You Are the Forgiver, u love Forgiveness, forgive us then!
~~Ramadan is a month whose beginning is Mercy, whose middle is forgivensss and whose end is freedom from fire~~
The Prophet, fullest peace be upon him
