Du3a ( Part one)

Alhamdulillaahi rabbil alameen

Assalaato wasalaamo ala rasoolullaah sayyidina Mohammad

wa ala ahlihi washabihi ajameen

In the Quran, Allah says:

وَمَا خَلَقۡتُ ٱلۡجِنَّ وَٱلۡإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعۡبُدُونِ

And I (Allah) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone). (51:56)

So clearly we are all here for one purpose and one purpose only. And that is to worship Allaah, and Allaah alone. One of the greatest and most noble forms of worship is du’aa. What is du’aa?  It is a call from the heart of the believer directed to The Hearer of all things, the Knower of all secrets, Allaah. By making du’aa we believers confess that we are nothing but weak and helpless and that what we need is Allaah and that we can’t do anything without His will, help and permission. It is also an affirmation of the perfect names and attributes of Allaah, asmaa wa sifaat. Because it affirms that Allaah is al-Khaliq (the Creator), al-Muqeet (the Sustainer), al-Mudhaabeer (the Controller of all affairs), al-‘Aleem (the All-Knowing), as-Sami’ (the All-Hearer), al-Baseer (the All-Seer), Ar-Rahmaan (the Most Merciful), al-Kareem (the Most Generous), al-Ghaffoor (the Most Forgiving) and so on. Linguistically du’aa means to call out, to cry, and to say something out loud. In shari’ah, du’aa means to ask Allaah, to ask Allaah about something that will be of benefit for us in this life and in next, or to ask that something evil will be removed or prevented from coming to us. In it self, du’aa is an act of worship. Du’aa is ibadah. Allaah says in soorah al-Gahfir, ayah 60.

وَقَالَ رَبُّڪُمُ ٱدۡعُونِىٓ أَسۡتَجِبۡ لَكُمۡۚ إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يَسۡتَكۡبِرُونَ عَنۡ عِبَادَتِى سَيَدۡخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِينَ 

And your Lord says: "Call on Me; I will answer your (Prayer): But those who are too arrogant to worship Me will surely find themselves in Hell in humiliation!" (40:60)

Allah says make du’aa to me. And then He says “I will respond to you”. Then He continues saying, but those who are too arrogant to worship Me, (yastakbiroona ‘an ‘ibaadatee). Allah first mentions to make du’aa to Him, and then mentions those who are too arrogant to worship Him, they will be in Hell. So those who do not ask Him, who do not make du’aa to Him, Allah counts them as those who are too arrogant to worship Him, and this shows that du’aa is worship, Du’aa is the essence of worship. To not make du’aa, means to leave worship, ibadah. And this is why the Messenger of Allah, aleyhi salato wasalaam, said:

Du’a is worship!

Allah created us to worship Him, which means we should and we must make du’aa. Of course there are many other ways of making ibadah, of worshipping Allah, and of course we should think of that in every aspect in our lives.

How can it be that du’aa is ibadah and that it is such an important part of our lives? By making du’aa to Allaah, azza WA jall, we are able to draw closer to Him. It means that we completely submit to Allaah, we confirm that only He has the right to be worshipped and we assure that we are nothing but a poor servant to Allaah, subhano wata’ala. A created thing, that has neither power nor any control over things. Rather it is we who are controlled. By making du’aa we also confirm that we are in need of Allaah, in every part of our lives, but that Allaah doesn’t need anything from us. Just as it says in soorah adh-Dhaariyat. First Allaah says, as we already mentioned, that He created man and jinn except that they should worship Him. Then He continues by saying: I seek not any provision from them (i.e. provision for themselves or for my creatures) nor do I ask that they should feed Me (i.e. feed themselves or my creatures). Verily, Allah is the All-Provider, Owner of Power, the Most Strong. (51:57-58)

In another ayah, Allaah also mentions du’aa (well he mentions this in many ayaat of course) but in this specific ayah, Allaah calls du’aa deen. This is in soorah al-Ghafir, ayah 65

هُوَ ٱلۡحَىُّ لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ فَٱدۡعُوهُ مُخۡلِصِينَ لَهُ ٱلدِّينَۗ ٱلۡحَمۡدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ ٱلۡعَـٰلَمِينَ

He is the Ever living (al-Hayy), none has the right to be worshipped but He, so make du’aa to Him, and to Him is the deen. (40:65)

OR

He is the Ever Living, Lâ ilâha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He), so invoke Him making your worship pure for Him Alone (by worshipping Him Alone, and none else, and by doing righteous deeds sincerely for Allah’s sake only, and not to show off, and not to setting up rivals with Him in worship). All the praises and thanks are to Allah, the Lord of the 'Alamîn (mankind, jinn and all that exists) (40:65)

Du’aa is the only thing, the only act that ever has been equated to the entire deen, or connected to the entire concept of worship.

Du’aa is strongly connected to aqeedah and tawheed. By making du’aa we acknowledge that there is a God, that Allaah exists and that there is only one Creator, one Lord. We acknowledge that Allaah has the all the power and He is controlling everything. Otherwise, what would be the point in turning to Him? Allaah is the only one that can hear our du’aa and can answer our du’aa. By making du’aa we also acknowledge that only Allaah, azza WA jall, deserves our worship. Because if He is the one and only God, the one and only Creator, and the one that controls the world and the entire creation, the surely he is the only one that deserves our worship. By making du’aa we also acknowledge that Allaah subhano wata’ala, has the most perfect names and attributes, for only He can hear the du’aa from His servants no matter where we are, no matter how quiet or loud we call upon Him. And only Allaah knows what’s in our hearts and knows completely what situation we are in. He has knowledge about all things. This proves that du’aa affirms all three aspects of tawheed.