The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) – Volume III — Page 98
Seal of the Prophets - Volume III 98 The Prayer of a Negligent Heart is not Accepted Then he states: ٍ اُدْعُوْا اللّٰه َ وَاَنْتُم ْ مُوْقِنُوْن َ بِالْاِجَابَة ِ وَاعْلَمُوْا اَن َّ اللّٰه َ لَا یَسْتَجِیْب ُ دُعَاء ً مِن ْ قَلْب ٍ غَافِل ٍ لَاه “When you pray to God, do so with the belief that He shall accept your prayer; And remember, God does not at all listen to a prayer which has come from a negligent and careless heart. ” 1 There should be a Specified Supplication in Prayer Then he states: ٗ اِذَا دَعَا اَحَدُكُم ْ فَلْیَعْزِم ِ الْمَسْئَلَة َ وَلَا یَقُوْلَن َّ اللّٰھُم َّ اِن ْ شِئْت َ فَاعْطِنِی ْ فَاِنَّه ٗ لَا مُسْتَكْرِه َ لَه “When any one of you begins to pray, he should stand firmly upon his request and should not say, ‘O God, if you wish accept my prayer,’ because of course, God will only accept it if He truly wills. For God is the Ruler of us all and He is not compelled by anyone. As such, one should not weaken the effect of his prayer or the concentration of his heart by using conditional or lose-ended words. ” 2 The final part of this instruction by the Holy Prophet sa is based on a very critical and sound principle of psychology. It is obvious that a state of attention, concentration and engrossment is necessary in prayer, and this state can only be developed when the supplicant implores after standing firm upon something with determination and belief. However, if the supplicant uses words such as, ‘O God, if you wish accept this prayer,’ in such a case, the necessary state of attention and engrossment will never be developed which is required for the acceptance of prayer. The Holy Prophet sa states that in any case, God is not subservient to man, in that whatever he asks for, God grants him without question and does not possess the power of denial. Rather, He is a Ruling God and in accordance to His own wisdoms, possesses the power to 1 Sunanut-Tirmidhī, Kitābud-Da‘awāt, Ḥadīth No 3479 2 Ṣaḥīḥul-Bukhārī, Kitābud-Da‘awāt, Bābu Li-Ya‘zimil-Mas’alata Fa-Innahū Lā Mukriha Lahū, Ḥadīth No. 6338