Invocations
(Duah)
in Islam
“Seek
ways to get closer to Him.”
(Al-Ma'ida, 5: 36).
“O
Allah, You are forgiving and You love to forgive, so (please) forgive
me.” Ameen.
The
duah is an
imploration, a prayer, a request, a supplication that we, the Muslim
Ummah,
address to Allah (swt) to satisfy our needs, to grant us His
blessings, to forgive our sins, to help us overcome our difficulties,
to solve our problems, to correct our faults, to find (and tread
upon) the right path, to enlighten our hearts to make the difference
between good and evil, to find the true path and inner peace and to
draw closer to Him.
The
duah is
the favourite weapon of all prophets and true believers so as to
carry out the difficult tasks assigned to them and to endure the
ordeals they have often suffered and shall continue to suffer. That
is to say, just like there were the prophets of Allah and the pious
people who had to go through all kinds of ordeals in the past and
they used to invoke Allah to help them, likewise, presently and in
the future also, there shall be such elects of Allah and the pious
people who shall also seek the help of Allah in all their ordeals
through prayer (duahs). Through various verses of the Holy Quran, we learn how the prophets
(Hazrat) Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa, Ayub, Zakariah and other messengers made
duahs,
especially during the difficult moments of their lives.
And
the Holy Book teaches us how the Seal of the Prophets Hazrat Muhammad
(pbuh) strongly urged believers to seek the help of Allah (swt) in
all circumstances. So much so that to start any particular job/ task
you have to do a very easy duah,
saying: “Bismillah”. The duah
is the best way to have a healthy, perfect, agreeable relationship
between man and his Creator, as well as his rooting in the notion of
faith, since even the prophets who represent the peak of humanity as
to their closeness to Allah (swt) and their connection to Him always
resorted to duahs.
We
must in no case neglect this act of worship, this great and best
worship of Allah (swt) – after Salat
and Quran reading. For if you meditate of its importance, you shall
find that in Salat
(prayer), it is mostly Quranic verses and duahs
which are recited. It is duahs
which embellish our Salat.
The Holy Prophet (pbuh) was right and he made it clear about duah:
“Duah (Supplication) is the essence of
worship.” (Tirmidhi).
Why the need to
do duahs
at any time as we are recommended by various Hadiths? Indeed,
our need for duahs
is our need to express this faith in Allah (swt), and to work to keep
it alive within ourselves, to renew it at all times and to
consolidate it constantly. This
is why it is said in the Hadith that the duah
is the “essence of worship”,
literally, the bone marrow of worship. For it expresses the deep
meaning of the bondage of submission and contemplation embodied in
worship, where we concentrate and meditate on Allah and we
contemplate Him with the eyes of our heart.
Duah
should also not be considered as a simple traditional rite by raising
one’s hands upwards, heavenwards and murmuring a few words while
letting one’s eyes roam to the right and to the left, spying on the
affairs of others. Nay
! Duah
is a direct communication between man and his Creator, a period
during which this man has absolutely no other thought, no other
reflection than to address Allah (swt) in his own language, in his
own style, in a position that suits him.
The greatest moment when a
servant of Allah is closest to Allah is when he is in prostration
before Him, and he maximizes the moment in Sijda
to make lots of duahs.
He humiliates himself before his Rab
(Lord), be it in the mosque or in his house, during the Farz,
Sunnah and Nafil
prayers, whereby he pours out his
sufferings before Allah and share with Him also his joys, and whereby
he renders thanks to Allah for all the blessings He has bestowed upon
him and he praises Allah and glorifies Him. This is such a moment
when he put himself in such a state which is much abased/ lower than
the earth (on which he is prostrating), and he hopes that Allah shall
elevate him spiritually in a position of honour with Him. Moreover,
like I have just said, he can raise up his hands and invoke Allah,
but he should do it with fervour, seeking help and succour from
Allah, and thank Him and be grateful to Him. He should concentrate in
his duah,
in any position which is comfortable to him, be it standing, sitting
or lying down, whereby he remembers Allah and he keeps the
remembrance of Allah alive in his heart and he makes his heart, soul
and his physical and spiritual tongue – in a low tone so as not to
disturb anyone – or in his heart, and he invokes Allah and seek His
help and proximity in all circumstances.
There
are various Quranic verses through which Allah (swt) Himself exhorts
believers to address Him with their prayers, their supplications so
that He may respond to them.
“And
when My servants ask you about Me, I am near. I respond to those who
call Me, so let them respond to Me, and believe in Me, so that they
may be guided.” (Al-Baqara 2: 187).
Your
Lord says, ‘Call on Me and I will answer you; those who are too
proud to serve Me will enter Hell humiliated. (Al-Mu'min, 40: 61).
These
two verses of the Holy Quran must be studied as per their spiritual
value. They show two aspects of the importance of duah.
In the first verse Allah (swt) sympathizes with the distress of the
servants (His servants) and encourages them to appeal to Him, and He
promises them that He will come to their aid and meet their needs.
In
the second verse, the duah
is present as an act of worship for which men must testify of their
servitude to Allah (swt), so as not to be haughty towards Him and
then deserving His terrible punishment. Is duah
not an effective means of achieving salvation in this world, but much
more in the hereafter, and a distinct, well-defined, clear line of
demarcation between the believer and the non-believer? Between
paradise and hell?
Allah
says in the Holy Quran, “Say, ‘What are
you to my Lord without your supplication? But since you have written
off the truth as lies, the inevitable will happen.’”
(Al-Furqan 25: 78).
It
follows from this verse that Allah takes good care of His servants in
proportion to the degree of connection they establish with Him
through the many supplications (duahs).
Some people then ask themselves the question of whether duahs
really have such a great importance in the relationship of man with
his Creator. Indeed, duahs
(invocations to Allah) summarize a living expression of man’s
feeling of his constant need of Allah (swt), in all his affairs, and
of the deep gratitude of his servitude, embodied by his intimate
conviction of his attachment to Him and the total subordination of
his existence to Him. It goes without saying that one cannot attain a
living faith, a pure and unshakeable faith in Allah (swt) without
this feeling and without this conviction, because faith makes sense
only when someone has the intimate conviction of the existence of an
unlimited all-power and an absolute and infinite force before which
man appears weak, very weak indeed, impotent, incapable of justifying
his existence otherwise than by the will of Allah (swt) exclusively.
To
conclude, I invoke Allah to strengthen our faith, to forgive us our
failures and to guide us on the right path! Ameen.
Insha-Allah,
I will continue on the same subject next Friday.
---Friday Sermon of 07 September 2018 (26 Dhul-Hijjah 1439 AH) delivered by Muhyi-ud-Din Al Khalifatullah Hadhrat Munir Ahmad Azim Saheb (atba) of Mauritius.