So, your daily duty is to pray to God. This is your real work. Never ponder whether or not your prayer has been heard in the Court of God. That is His prerogative. Our prayers should be in harmony with the will of God, and we should feel happy in whatever He wills.
To pray effectively, it is necessary that we should conduct our life as desired by the Master, and that we should experience happiness in the remembrance of God Almighty.
The prayer that can redeem sinners and cure physical, mental and spiritual diseases must be made with full faith in God and the conviction that He is All-Powerful. The prayer is right which is full of yearning and pangs. It should be made with patience and full confidence and with a loving heart, in all humility and submission.
O mind! Stand in awe of God Almighty! However low, even the lowest of the low, He calls him to Him. When you pray in this way, you express gratitude for favours received. Gratitude cannot be expressed by mere words that have no connection with our conduct. Feel happy in remembering God and He will fulfil your desires. Jesus (pbuh) says: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done unto you. Delight yourself also in the Lord; and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”
Ceaseless effort to make our life pure and truthful is true prayer. This draws to us the mercy of God Almighty, and His grace and limitless blessings then fulfil the sincere and pure desires of our heart.
By merely asking of the Lord that we may love Him, we do not, as a matter of fact, begin to love Him. But if we consciously pray for a truthful and pure life and try to elevate our life, we will then be moulded as He wills and will begin to realise His presence and to share His love.
If you want to live in harmony and to see peace in your homes then it is imperative that you engage yourself in prayers and fill your homes with blessings of prayers. In a house, where people pray, this abode is never destroyed. Those people who spend a relaxed life, eventually angels will wake them up. If you keep remembering God, all the times, then be sure, God will never forget you. He will never treat you as He is dealing with sinful and morally corrupt people.
Sometime you face a period in
life that you become an instrument in the hand of Almighty God. All your
movements become subordinate to the wishes of Allah. Prayers of such a person
are always accepted. There is no single rule to tell you that will assist to
get your prayers accepted. This all depends on your spiritual status and to
attain a particular spiritual status is not in one’s control.
There is a question that some people put: Is it necessary to pray God? Many would like to know why we should pray, when God Almighty knows all our needs. If we are to be given only after asking, then it seems possible that we might not be given something owing to our lack of knowledge or comprehension. It is also possible that we might ask for something which would be to our disadvantage. God Almighty knows our needs, and advise us to pray with this in mind: “Your Lord knows what things you have need of, before you ask Him.”
Prayers for selfish gain and for spiritual progress are very different. As compared to spiritual prayer, the other prayer is of no consequence – it is empty of blessings.
To confess our sins in prayer and to think that they are thereby washed away or removed is a mistake. This kind of mistake keeps us away from true spirituality. Our sins will only be forgiven when God Almighty forgives them. Actually, such prayers may become the cause of evil. A man may offer such prayers and then keep on committing sins without hesitation. And all the while he goes on praying under the false impression that his sins will be forgiven as a result of his prayers.
The Messenger (Prophet) of God comes to persuade men to give up sin and to unite them with God Almighty. Our duty is to act in accordance with His wishes and to give up all evil deeds which are worldly. Love for God Almighty and the Prophet of God reforms us, and makes us follow the path of God Almighty. Man may forgive, but it is the all-pervading power of the Prophet of God which ultimately reforms a sinner. Prayers cannot make any change in the current of mercy. It is what it is. But prayers can bring us into harmony with this current. It is not necessary to beg for our needs. This often becomes an obstruction. Of course, by praying in humility and faith, we can take more advantage of that current of mercy. But He does not stand in need of vocal prayers, for He knows our hidden feelings. God is love, is it proper for us to ask Him to be more loving? Is it necessary to pray to Him for more mercy when He is already giving us more than we deserve? By not voicing our feelings, we come nearer to His presence and grace. He is eternal. He is the same in the beginning, the present and the end.
God is the embodiment of truth. Truth emanates from Him continually without His being reminded of it. How can man with his limited intellect advise Him? The current of His mercy is flowing everywhere. It is taking care of us of itself. God knows what is for our good. God Almighty is present everywhere and perceives our feelings and hears us. Then the question remains: Where is then the necessity to pray to Him?
“Wherever I look, I see You dwelling
there. To whom should I pray? God Almighty hears all.” It is, thus, our
duty to be in harmony and gratitude with Him and to derive the utmost benefit.
It is very necessary that we should pray and meditate on Him in our heart and
thank Him for all that which He has done for us, without any our own efforts
and so that His reflection may shine within us. The soul is a particle and an
image of Him and shares His wonderful qualities. To learn to understand the
Lord (God Almighty) is a continuous process and to succeed in it, we should
surrender all our thoughts, powers and desires at Him with all humility.
Are we thankful to God Almighty for all the gifts and mercies shown to us? If we are sincerely thankful, we become deserving of more grace even without asking for it. Prayer cannot change the principle of Truth, nor can it enable one to understand it. It is through the attraction of inner love and yearning and obeying the direction of the Messenger of God Almighty (Allah) that we are led to the Truth.
The purpose of prayer is to lead us to act according to the wishes of God Almighty. We are very weak and feeble. We wish to reach God Almighty with the aid of the mercy and strength of the Messenger of God.
Even though we may fall at every step, that spiritual power helps us. If you take one step to take refuge in God, God Almighty meets you on the way by taking hundreds of steps. If you remember God just once, God remembers you again and again. Even, if your devotion is as small as a fragment of a cowrie shell, God Almighty showers all benefits on you. God is All-Merciful; His praise is beyond understanding.
Let us all bow again and again to the One, Unique and Incomprehensible God. When you stand for the prayers, it is compulsory that you believe that God is in control of everything. God has enriched the prayers with great force. God has revealed me so many times that whatever will happen, it will be only through prayers. Our weapon is only prayers and I have no other weapon except this. Whatever I beg in isolation, God reveals that in the end, there is no bigger weapon than prayers. So when you stand for prayers it is compulsory that you believe in that God Who is All-Powerful and then your prayers will be accepted, Insha-Allah. May God Almighty bless you all and accept your prayers, Ameen, Summa Ameen.
---Friday Sermon of 11 December 2020 ~25 Rabi’ul Aakhir 1442 AH Hazrat Khalifatullah Munir A. Azim (aba) of Mauritius.