Making dua to Allah can be easily underestimated. We must
trust Allah but sometimes our own insecurities drive us to worrying and being
scared that our duas won’t be answered. Allah Listens to All our duas and He is
the Best Disposer of our affairs. If you put your trust in Allah, then put your
trust fully in Allah and be content and at peace knowing that Allah Will Look
after you.
It is important that everyone has a correct understanding of
dua and particularly WHO you are asking your dua from. You can only make duas
to Allah because it is only Allah Who Can Answer you dua, Who Knows your
situation, Knows what is best for you and Has the Power to Grant that dua.
There are many Muslims who also make the mistake of thinking that they can make
duas by ‘going through’ other people or objects or animals. We can ask living
people to make a dua for us, but we do not ask living people to grant that dua
or ask dead people, or objects or animals to grant that dua.
From what has preceded, it is clear du’a can only be
directed towards Allah alone.
Say (O Muhammad): “I make du’a only to my Lord (Allah
alone), and I associate none as partners along with Him.” [Surah al-Jinn, v20]
To make du’a to other than Allah is pure shirk
(associating partners with Allah), which is the one sin that Allah will not
forgive. This is due to the fact that the one that makes a du’a to other than
Allah is in fact attributing to a created object characteristics and attributes
that only Allah has. So, the person who makes a du’a to a saint, or rock, or
idol, believes that that object:
- can hear him,
- and has eternal life,
- and is capable of responding to his invocation,
- and has knowledge of his situation,
- and can see the state that he is in,
- and has mercy upon him,
- and has the power to grant him what he wishes.
Yet, the perfection of all of these attributes is only with
Allah. It is only Allah that can Hear everything, in fact, Allah Knows our very
thoughts even if we do not vocalise them. It is only Allah that Knows our
situation perfectly, and has a Divine Mercy for us, and is All-Powerful in
responding to our requests.
And who is more astray than one who makes a dua to
other than Allah – who will not answer him until the Day of Resurrection, and
who are (even) unaware of their duas to them? [Surah al-Ahqaf, v5]
The object that is called besides Allah does not even know
it is being called, and if du’a were made to them until the Day of Judgement,
nothing would occur!
And whoever makes a du’a to (or worships) other than
Allah, any other god, of whom he has no proof, then his reckoning is only with
his Lord. Surely, the disbelievers will not be successful. [Surah al-Mu'minun,
v117]
It is irrelevant what excuses, or distorted logic, those
that make du’a to other than Allah use to try to justify this shirk for the
reality of an act is not affected by invented names given to it. So you find
some of them claiming that they are only calling out to ‘holy’ people, whereas
others use the concept of intercession {shafa’ah) to justify this shirk. Yet
others pervert the correct understanding tabarruk (seeking blessings from an
object), while others use the concept of tawassul (seeking a means of nearness
to Allah). No matter what means a person seeks to use, the fact should
be clear to everyone that to call upon a dead person, or an angel, or a
prophet, or a rock or stone, or a deity other than Allah, is the essence of
shirk concerning which there is no difference of opinion amongst Muslims. This
type oi shirk is the worst type, for it is directing the greatest act of
worship to other than Allah. A person who commits this type of shirk has
removed himself from the fold of Islam, and this act of his is no different from
prostrating to an idol. Despite the clarity of this type of shirk it is
appalling to note that such acts are rampant amongst many Muslim societies and
cultures.
It is possible to hear a person who believes that he is
Muslim, and might even be praying or fasting, call out, ‘O ‘ Abd al-Qadir al-
Jilani! Save me!’ And here is another one that makes a du’a, ‘O Badawi! O
Tijani! O Rifaai! Guide me! Help me!
Give me my sustenance! Take care of my needs!’ And yet a third might say, ‘O
Muhammad, (ﷺ)! Grant me a righteous
child!’ So they call out to ‘pious’ saints, believing that these saints have
the power to respond to their du as, or that they have a right over Allah that
Allah answers their prayers.
Another manifestation of this evil is the culture of
grave-worship that is predominant in certain Muslim countries. The erecting of
beautiful structures over the graves of ‘holy’ people, and travelling distances
to visit these graves, is forbidden in Islam for the very reason that such
glorification leads to shirk. It is even prohibited to pray (perform salat) in
front of a grave, even though the salat is to Allah, so what is the case of the
one who actually makes a du a to the dead? Similarly, others use these dead
‘saints’ as intercessors between them and Allah, thinking that, by using these
people as intermediaries, their du’as will have a stronger chance of being
accepted by Allah. This act of theirs is based on their own ignorance, for the
Arabs at the time of the Prophet (ﷺ)
would worship their idols with the exact same excuse — that they were only
trying to come closer to Allah – and yet, despite this excuse, Allah considered
them to be committing shirk.
The reason for this being that the pure concept of tawheed
in Islam does not allow for any intermediaries between man and Allah when it
comes to the worship of Allah. Worship is a right that is due only to Allah,
and it is shirk to divert any act of worship to other than Allah. To
conclude, du’a is one of the greatest acts of worship, and therefore to make a
du a to other than Allah is the essence of shirk. And there is no
difference in making du’a to a prophet, or an angel, or a pious person, or to a
grave, a star, a rock, or a stone; all of these are created objects, and cannot
compare in any way to Allah. Likewise, there is no difference if a person makes
du’a to them or uses them as intermediaries between him and Allah; both of
these acts are manifestations of shirk.”
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