Q: Du`a' (supplication) is like a weapon given to every believer; are there other conditions for the carrier of this weapon.
A: Yes, the greatest conditions of Du`a' (supplication) are: Trusting Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him), believing that Allah is the Truth and all that He says is true, devoting oneself and one's intention to Allah, and believing that the Messenger (peace be upon him) has delivered the true message. This should spring from firm faith and trust in Allah, a sincere heartfelt desire for His Paradise, that He is the Planner of all affairs and that He is the Omnipotent. This should come out of well thought of Allah (Exalted be He) and firm trust in Him, not out of doubt or ill thinking.
Whenever something asked in a supplication does not happen, perhaps this is because of not fulfilling one of the mentioned conditions. The servant of Allah should adopt all means, and Allah is the Originator of all means, the Omniscient, the Wise. Sometimes the medicine is taken but the illness is not cured for reasons not known to the servant, but Allah Alone knows them. This includes the perceivable medicine prescribed by physicians, operations, and so on, and the moral medicine such as supplication, healing recitation, and so on. In spite of taking all the means, the asked matter may not occur for many reasons, such as being unmindful about Allah (Exalted be He
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Committing sins, and especially ill-gotten money. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said in an authentic Hadith, Whenever a servant supplicates Allah with an invocation that does not contain a sin or severance of one's ties, Allah will give him one of three things: his supplication will be accepted in this life, his supplication may be saved for him in the hereafter, or he may be saved from similar kind of trouble. The companions said: "Then, we shall supplicate plenty.'' He (peace be upon him) said: "Allah is more plentiful (in responding)."
Thus, believing men and women should know that answering supplications could be postponed to the Hereafter for reasons required by Allah's Wisdom. Because of one's supplication, Allah may save one from much evil instead of granting one's request. Allah (Exalted be He) is the Wise All-Knower in His doings, words, law, and destiny, as He says,Surah Yusuf, 12: 6 Verily, your Lord is All-Knowing, All-Wise.” Finally, Allah is the Grantor of success
The end of Volume Three, all praise is due to Allah. Following is Volume four about Monotheism, and
the subsequent volumes of the compiled fatwas and various articles for His Excellency Sheikh
`Abdul `Aziz Bin `Abdullah Ibn `Abdul-Rahman Ibn Baz