Blessings of Prayer — Page 22
Barak a tud Du‘ a 22 example, if a dear child of a mother should cry and beg her to hand it a burning brand or a snake, or to feed it a poison which seems agreeable, the mother would never fulfil such a wish. Were she to do so, and even if the child were to escape with its life and were to lose one of its limbs, it would certainly grow up with a strong grievance against the foolish mother. There are, in addition, many other conditions in the absence of which a prayer is not worth its name. So long as a prayer is not inspired by full spirituality and a close connection is not established between the supplicant and the person on whose behalf the supplication is made, there is little hope that such a prayer will be accepted. Unless there is a Divine will to accept the prayer all these conditions remain unfulfilled and the faculties remain devoid of complete attention. Sayyid Sahib also accepts that the good fortune, the bounties, the delights and comforts of the hereafter, which constitute salvation, are the result of faith and sincere prayers. This being so, Sayyid Sahib is left with no alternative but to acknowledge that the prayers of a believer do have an effect and do become the means of dispelling calamities and of the achieve- ment of objectives. If this were not so how would