Assalaamu alaikum
warahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu my honourable brothers and sisters.
The topic for today MaashaAllah is on humility fear and
quiet in dua, important tools for the acceptance of dua.
All praise is due Allah, The Creator, The Sustainer , The
Nourisher, The Owner of the Day of Judgement. Blessings and salutations be on
the Chosen one, The Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad SAW and his family and his
followers to the day of Qiyaama
No doubt, duaa is an important aspect of our lives as
muslims that we cannot overemphasise.
Allah,The Qareeb(The Near) and Mujeeb (The Responsive) ,
said in the Glorious Quran :Ghafir 40:60
وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ٱدْعُونِىٓ أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْۚ إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ
يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ عَنْ عِبَادَتِى سَيَدْخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِينَ
And your Lord says, "Call upon Me; I will respond to
you." Indeed, those who disdain My worship will enter Hell [rendered]
contemptible.
Nu'maan ibn Bashir reports that the Prophet (SAW) said:
"Duaa is
worship"
He then recited the
above verse.
Reported by Ahmad and others
From the above evidence among a myriad of other evidences,
we can attest to the fact that duaa is amongst the *greatest* acts of worship,
one of the best ways to bring a worshipper closer to Allah, The Most High.
The topic of duaa is a vast and inexhaustible one hence our
limitation to the aspects bearing on humility, fear and quiet.
Let's talk about humility and fear first.
When we are humble in front of Allah subhanahu wa
ta`ala (exalted is He), we understand that He is our Creator, the One who
supplies all of our sustenance with no might or effort from His creation.
It is only when we submit ourselves to the Might and Glory of Allah that we are
able to understand how to be humble. This cyclical process helps us to
perpetuate the feeling of humility.
This act of humility in front of our Creator necessitates
our complete submission to Him. To follow His commandments and avoid His
prohibitions requires us to understand our lower position of weakness and
helplessness in relation to our Lord.
Duaa is a sign of humility, and when a person makes duaa, he
demonstrates his own humility, fear and meekness before his Creator and frees
himself from arrogance as Allah The Most High indicated in the Quran
Ghafir 40:60
وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ٱدْعُونِىٓ أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْۚ إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ
يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ عَنْ عِبَادَتِى سَيَدْخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِينَ
And your Lord says, "Call upon Me; I will respond to
you." Indeed, those who disdain My worship will enter Hell [rendered] contemptible.
Al Shawkaani said in the book, Tuhfat Adhaakirin, commenting
on this verse :"...from this(the above verse) we derive that duaa is
worship and to leave making duaa to our Lord is arrogance, and, in fact,
the most disgusting type of arrogance.
How is it possible that a slave can feel arrogant in making dua to the
One that created him out of nothing - the One that created the entire creation,
and gave it sustenance,and gave it life and will give it death and them reward
or punish it? In fact, there's no doubt that such arrogance is a of madness and
an indication of sheer ungratefulness!"
How is our level of humility and fear when making duaa?
We might find it difficult to evaluate since we barely
concentrate in making duaa.
Without concentration too we cannot visualize the Most High
before us let alone call out to Him humbly. So we form a group that might not
be arrogant to Allah but are also not humbled before their Lord.
How then would our duaa be accepted?
Solution
The presence and humility of the heart before its Lord
according to ibn taymiyya can be achieved in two ways;
A strong desire to do what is obligatory and the weakness of
distractions.
From the above, we can see that being humble before Allah
requires effort and willpower .
We should in essence, feed focus and starve distractions
when making duaa to achieve full concentration which can then be translated
into humility. Humility then would lead to the acceptance of our duaa and draw
us close to our Maker.
May Allah make us among the humble and among those who have
their duaa accepted readily. AameeN
Another effective way to gain humility in duaa is by
learning the names and attributes of Allah and understanding them. This would
in turn help us understand the majesty
of Who we are sending our cries and worries to, and if we sincerely believe in
those names and attributes too, no doubt, we would feel the need to lower
ourselves to the Most High, Allah , The Noble, The Greatest, The All-powerful .
We ask Him to place His love in our hearts and minds and not turn us away from
His remembrance. Aameen
Due to time and length constraints, I would like to zoom in
straight to the next concept in the title; quiet in duaa
Making dua requires that the supplicator not shout or raise
their voice but rather they should call out in a subdued voice.
All ah mentions in the Qur'an
Al-A'raf 7:55
ٱدْعُوا۟ رَبَّكُمْ تَضَرُّعًا وَخُفْيَةًۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَا يُحِبُّ
ٱلْمُعْتَدِينَ
Call upon your Lord in humility and privately; indeed, He
does not like transgressors.
Allah praised the dua of Zakariyya AS when He described it
as
Maryam 19:3
إِذْ نَادَىٰ رَبَّهُۥ نِدَآءً خَفِيًّا
When he called to his Lord a private supplication.
Also, from the sunnah, Once the companions RA were
travelling and loudly engaging in dhikr
(remembrance of Allah). The Prophet (SAW) said : " O people! Be gentle on
yourselves for you are not calling someone who is deaf or absent. Rather you're
calling the One Who hears everything, Ever-close ".
Ibn Abbas stated that " A silent duaa is seventy times
better than a loud one! "
It is also narrated that ibn Masood once forced a group of
people out of the masjid because they were raising their voices loudly
while remembering Allah. In response he
said " I don't think except that you're innovators! "
Among the importance of quiet in dua as outlined by sheikhul
Islam Ibn Taymiyya include
1 It's a sign of strong eeman, as the person demonstrates
that he firmly believes that Allah can hear even the quietest of prayers and
thoughts
2 It is a sign of respect and manners in front of Allah for,
just as it is considered improper for the servant to raise his voice in front
of his master or the peasant in front of the king, even so it is improper that
a slave raise his voice loudly in front of the Creator - and to Allah belongs
the highest parable and example. Since Allah can hear the most silent of
prayers it is not befitting that a person makes duaa in a loud voice.
3 It is a means of achieving humility and humbleness, which is the essence of worship. The one who
is humble does not ask except meekly, whereas the one who is arrogant asks
loudly so softening the voice aids one in achieving this desired humility in
duaa
4 It is a means of achieving sincerity since others will not
notice him.
5 It aids the heart in concentrating in duaa, since raising
ones voice loudly distracts one from ones thoughts. So, to make duaa quietly will help a person
keep his thoughts together and not be distracted from the state that he is in
6 It shows the closeness that the true believer feels to his
Creator. So it is a means of streghthening the relationship a believer should
have with Allah, as it allows him to feel that Allah is closer than any other
object to him . Hence why Allah praised Zakariyya AS when He described his duaa
as being 'secret '.
7 It aids a person in continuing the dua and not breaking
off. This is because it is easier on the tongue and body, for it does not wear
out or tire a person, in contrast to one
who makes dua loudly
8 It causes less distraction for raising ones voice brings
about the attention of others and this leads to a person becoming conscious of
his surroundings. However if he lowers
his voice then he will be able to cut himself off the environment and won't be
distracted by it
Lastly, it prevents a
person from being the target of envy and jealousy. For indeed men and jinn are full of evil
souls that envy others and there is no greater cause for enmity than to see a
person turn to Allah in private
conversation engrossed in His remembrance
In summary, humility, fear and quiet in duaa are ettiquetes whose importance cannot be overemphasized.
Duaa can be likened to a bow and arrow. No matter how pointed an arrow is, it
cannot go far enough to reach it's target if the bow is weak. Let's strengthen
our bows and sharpen our arrows to achieve more with our duaas .
In shaa Allah I'll like to end here and I pray Allah accepts
from us and grant us Jannah without
hisaab
If i said anything wrong it's from my own weakness and lack
of knowledge, and if i said anything
right too ,may Allah make it a witness for us on the Day of witnesses.
Jazaakumullaahu khairan for granting me your audience.
Assalaamu alaikum
warahmatullahi wa barakaatuhu
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