Thursday, September 20, 2007

Reflect on what we asked for

Du'a is very important in the life of a Muslim. We're asking from Allah our needs and our hopes, and in a way we're declaring that we're very reliant towards Allah on every aspect of our lives. It's logic... if we're that self-reliant, we don't really need to ask for help. But we're not... because we will always ask for help one way or another. Rasulullah SAW used to say "du'a is a weapon for the Muslimin - doa ialah senjata orang Muslim."

Al-Baqarah (2:186)
Allah said: "and when My slaves ask you concerning Me, tell them I am near. I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me. So let them obey Me and believe in Me, so that they may be led aright."

Allah will respond to our du'a as long as we obey Allah and believe in Him.

However have we ever reflected on what we asked for? In our society, we always want to excel in our academic performance, have good jobs, good money, nice car etc etc... We pray to Allah to continue/increase His provisions towards us (murahkan rezeki) so that we can achieve our ambition. This is not wrong but the weakness of du'a like this is that it's only for this world.

Ask ourselves what's our final destination?? We die and then we have the HereAfter (Akhirah) to wait for. What's our goal? Paradise or otherwise? So when we say our du'a we should always ask for both of this world and also Akhirah. When we asked Allah to murahkan rezeki, we must think of the aim of asking for the increased rezeki i.e. so that we are able to spend it for Allah's cause (e.g. to help our parents, the poor, the orphans, to share our knowledge with others, to help our society with the job Allah gave us, etc). May Allah guides us to the right path.


Al-Baqarah (2:200 -202)
'...But of mankind there are some who say: "Our Lord! Give us Your Bounties in this world!" and for them there is no portion in the Hereafter.'
'And some of them say: "Our Lord! Give us in this world and also in the Hereafter that which is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire.'
'For them there will be alloted a share for what they have earned...'

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