Why Do Some Prayers Go Unanswered

WHY DO SOME PRAYERS GO UNANSWERED In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. All praises are due to Allah, our sustainer. May His peace and blessing be upon our Holy prophet, the Last Messenger of Allah to mankind. (Amen). In my last article I talked about the need to re-examine our belief in Destiny called Qadar in Arabic. And the need to see it as one of the six articles of faith upon which our entire existence as Muslims is based. Faith is the engine room of every mankind, irrespective of religion affiliation. Even those who do not have faith (believe in God) must definitely have faith in some other things, which ironical must be a creation of God Almighty. This was why it was logically concluded in a wise saying that “he who does not worship God must definitely worship a creation of God”. And that has been found to be true as far as human existence is concerned. Man must have faith in something. Some say they don’t believe in God but they believe rather in nature. And the Question to ask them is; who created nature? The topic today has a direct link with (Qadar) destiny, but it needed to be explained. Qadar or Destiny, like I mentioned before, is a complex issue and can be highly controversial and sometimes misleading if not handled with caution and by experts. It is a topic found under “Taoheed” i.e. Oneness of God, widely and extensively taught in the faculty of Theology or department of Islamic Theology in some University. Allah says in the Holy Qur’an: “call on me and I shall answer you”. This statement is both command and instructive. Meaning Allah commands all believing souls to call on Him at all times either in times of need or not. This is a form of worship which will be rewarded like any other act of worship. It is equally instructive to the minds that are in confusion, sorrow, trouble, calamity, and all manner of depression to call on Allah for solutions and remedy.

The second aspect of the statement is in form of a promise by Allah to always answer our calls once we make one. But because this does not always happen, many people tend to wonder: why do some prayers go Unanswered! Could it be that Allah is reneging on His promise to always answer prayers whenever we call on Him? This cannot be the case because the Almighty has no one to give account to, so there is no basis for Him to renege on His words, He can do and undo, He has the last say and no one can question His decision. As if to further demonstrate how easy it is for our calls to be answered by Allah. He said in one verse: “verily, I am closer to you than the vain on your neck”: Ordinarily, someone who is that close does not really require much shouting and calling before He hears, and since He has promised to answer calls, it should be easy as A.B.C., really. Someone once remarked that he felt Allah has forgotten about him, and I asked why or what made him to feel so? He said because he has been calling on Allah and begging Him for a certain favour, but things continue to get worse instead of getting better. This scenario only shows that many people did not really understand the meaning of believing in destiny and indeed the essence of prayers or calling on Allah. Of course, I know many more will be having similar experience or might have had it in the past. But the first question I put to this friend of mine is: how much of Allah’s command does he obey, how much of prayer (both obligatory and supererogatory), how many time as he sacrificed his sleep, by waking up in the middle of the night when most people are sleeping, to worship Allah?, how many days of fasting does he do apart from the compulsory ones?.

In order words, what justification does he have to demand

compliance of Allah with his own wish or desire, which may even be selfish given our limited knowledge as human being? What about all those favours of Allah he has taken for granted? What did he give to Allah to merit being alive? The air he breathe freely without any difficulty, how much does he pay for that? May be a trip to any hospital will reveal to him that a lot of people breathe with the aid of supporting machines. He looks and sees, but many others look as he does, but could not see a thing. He feels hungry, he feels pain but many people could not feel any of these. Many are equally hungry but could not eat.

If only we reflect and think deeply, we shall note that Allah owes us no obligation, but rather we owe Him a lot. So, there is no justification for anyone to accuse God of neglecting him/her. But to look inward and find out reasons why some of his/her prayers were perceived as not being answered. May be he might even thank God that they were not answered. But on a general note, no prayer that is done fulfilling all required condition is left unanswered. We only feel so because of our limited human nature, as it regards total knowledge of situation around us. Often times we fail to recognize the fact that there are rules governing some of these things and most often than not, these rules are either being violated or blatantly disregarded. Indeed, sometimes we even pray or call on Allah so that people can notice that we pray. Which means from the on-set, the intention is not genuine and such a person will ordinarily query why his prayers are not answered? Let’s even assume that we do the best we can to abide by all rules as humanly possible in calling on God. And we try the best we can to shun sins and do good, in addition to fulfilling our ritual obligations. Yet we have a feeling that our prayers were not usually or always answered. That is when we now concede to God our ignorance of situations about even our needs and desires. Allah says in another verse of the Holy Qur’an that many a times we love some things and we crave to have them, but they are evil to us, while sometimes we hate some things with passion, but they are best for us. Allah ended that verse by asserting that He Allah knows all things and we human know not. In view of these, it is save for everyone to see calling on Allah and prayer as a form of worship, irrespective of weather what we seek is given to us or not. Invariably, what anyone gets in terms of worldly favours has been destined by Allah, and he shall get it no matter what, prayer or no prayer. That explains why Allah is Ar-rahman, meaning His favours on earth is general and for all creations irrespective of any yardstick. But it will be devoid of spiritual guidance and protection, if it is without prayers. After all, not all riches or wealth are or could be termed to be a good favour. Some peoples (favour) are actually a trial for them because it might lead to their destruction here and hereafter. Destiny and calling on Allah are two sides of a coin and we must identify their potency in order not to make derogatory remarks that will lead to Allah’s wrath.

Many people will complain of not knowing what to say or how to actually pray for Allah to answer them. This lead to reason why they besiege Mallams whom they belief has the right form of prayer or could make a prescription of what to keep chanting in order to gain Allah’s favour. And this are the sincere ones among Mallams, as many have equally use this lack of ignorance or sometimes knowledge to defraud their unsuspecting victims of their meager earnings. Allah has indeed prescribed in several verses of the Holy Qur’an, the best way and of course the right statement to chant for Allah to bestow His mercy and favours. Surah Moumeen verse 118 is one example. The greatest problem confronting human being is lack of patient to wait for individual’s destiny to be fulfilled at God’s appointed time. Even when you remind some people that the Holy Prophet Mohammad (s.a.w), whom Allah Himself described in the Holy Qur’an as someone who does not say a thing of is own except through Allah’s inspiration ( see Qur’an 53 verses 1 - 5) has said that our destiny has been written, sealed and delivered. And the pen with which it was written has since been raised while the ink is already dried, some still out of impatient besiege Mallams and Mara bouts to fast track their destiny or even give them that which is not destined for them. How impossible their expectations but they know not. A proper description of how prayers and supplications are justly rewarded by Allah is further explained in Qur’an 11 verses 114 – 115, “And establish regular prayers at the two ends of the day and at the approaches of the night for those things that are good remove those that are evil: that is the reminder for the mindful. And be steadfast in patience; for verily Allah will not suffer the reward of the righteous.” The only enemy of man is the lack of patient which Allah also warned in another verse as something not going to be quite easy. Patient, He said, will not be an easy thing except for the Pious, shortly after admonishing that we should always seek solace in Patient and Prayer, the Two Great Ps. May Allah continue to be our guide and increase our knowledge? (Amen.)