She Raised Her Hand by Abu Abdissalam

وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ عَنْ عِبَادَتِي سَيَدْخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِينَ

And your Lord said: "Invoke Me, [i.e. believe in My Oneness (Islamic Monotheism)] (and ask Me for anything) I will respond to your (invocation). Verily! Those who scorn My worship [i.e. do not invoke Me, and do not believe in My Oneness, (Islamic Monotheism)] they will surely enter Hell in humiliation!"(40:60)

 

A sister relates this story where her husband took a loan from another man and many years went by and he couldn’t pay back that debt. Things became very difficult when the debt was due and they could hardly make ends meet. They find it more difficult as it already was. They were trying so hard and they took extra work to pay this debt but they were unable to do so. And so during this time they realize that the matter of debt is not something minor, it’s a serious matter. Indeed, the Messenger of Allah SAW did not pray Jenazah over the one who died in the state of debt. (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 37, Number 488).
So this matter grieves them and they were very upset about this matter as it affected them in their life. They wanted to pay back this debt. And in one night in Ramadan, the sister, she woke up and she began to pray to Allah. She cried in a way that she hadn’t cried before, she was begging to Allah SWT and making Dua to Allah, “O Allah, get me out of this situation, make my husband be able to pay back this debt, let us be relieved of this great burden.” And then the next day just before Iftar time, she heard her husband on the phone and he sounded a little bit distressed, he was speaking in a loud voice, he couldn’t even speak properly. So she went down to find out what was happening. She heard her husband hang up on the phone and her husband was crying, so she looked at her husband's face and she asked him, what happened? And her husband just could not speak but kept crying and crying and eventually when he got hold of himself, he told her that that was the creditor on the phone and he had forgiven them of their debt. She was frozen as she couldn’t believe what had happened. It was only the night before that she was begging Allah SWT to get them out of this mess. And we’ve all seen such story like this woman, we've called upon Allah SWT begging Him for something and in front of our very eyes our Dua is being answered. But why are we surprised?

Allah SWT tells us "And your Lord said, invoke me, (make Dua to me) and I will respond to you" (40:60). It is a promise from Allah SWT that He will respond to the Dua. Dua is a very important act of worship. In fact the Prophet SAW said, ”Dua is the essence of Ibadah" (At-Tirmdhi, Ahmad).

And he also said,” There is nothing nobler in the sight of Allah than Dua".(At-Tirmidhi, Ibn Hibban, and al-Hakim). 

Indeed Allah SWT ordered the Prophet SAW, saying to him, “When My servants asked you (O Muhammad SAW) about Me, tell them that I am close by and that I am near to them, I will respond to the supplication of the supplicants when he calls Me" (2:187).
So why that when we want something, we turn to everybody else. We turn to the Creation first, we look at every other person and beg everyone else to fulfill our needs first, only when all doors are closed, only then we turn to the Creator. The Messenger of Allah SWT said, “The most incapable person is the one who does not make Dua" (Sahih Al-Jami` no. 1055). So why is it that we don’t turn to Allah first when He's the one who is testing us and He is the one who can take us out of this test.

In fact, another issue that many people forget is that they ask Allah SWT only when they are in need, rather we should ask Allah SWT for every matter whether it is a great or minor thing. In fact, Allah likes it when we make Dua and ask him for things. The Prophet SAW said, "Whoever wants Allah to answer his Dua, when he is in the time of need and in unfavourable and difficult conditions then he should make a lot of Dua in times of ease and comfort." (Sahih Al-Jami No 6166).

Furthermore he said, "The person who does not ask from Allah, Allah will become angry for him". (at-Termidhi, Ahmad).

Another hadith is the Prophet SAW said, "He who supplicates for his brother behind his back then an angel of commission says Ameen and also for you." (Saheeh Muslim, Book 35, No 6589). So when a person makes a Dua for another Muslim brother, an Angel makes Dua for him saying Ameen and also may this Dua applies upon you.

Hence, we ask Allah to make it easy for us to make Dua in times of ease and in times of comfort. Ameen