Twenty-Three Great Objectives of Building the House of Allah — Page 152
153 “Is this not a convincing proof that, from time immemorial, it is God’s Divine scheme that He responds to prayer with a zeal which imparts tranquillity, satisfaction and true happiness. If we are not wrong in praying for the achievement of an objective, in such a case that very objective is granted. But if we are wrong in our prayer and in asking for a thing, like an erring child who asks his mother for a snake or a piece of fire, then [in its stead] God Almighty grants us that which is good for us. And invariably in both the cases He also increases us in our faith. Because, through prayer we obtain foreknowledge from God, and it so much increases our conviction as if we have seen our God. Right from the outset and ever since man has been created there exists a bond between prayer and its acceptance. When the will of God is favourably inclined towards doing a thing, the Divine practice is that one of His sincere servants engages himself in prayer with anguish, unease and concern, and devotes all his efforts and attention to achieve it. Then the prayers of this mortal being draw Divine grace from the heavens and God Almighty creates such new circumstances that help achieve the task. ” 75 Thus, Allah the Exalted communicates to us three principal points with regard to prayer in the Holy Quran: Firstly, we must not rejoice and be content with our deeds until we absorb the grace of Allah through that supplication which is accepted by the Almighty. However, we cannot say for sure whether Allah the Exalted will grace our prayers with acceptance. For, in