Many people wonder where God is and whether He listens to us or not. The answers is very simple: Even if He is indivisible, He is very near to us and is all ears to what we supplicate or long for. He listens to us very attentively for we are His special creation and in most cases our woes are answered.
In the 186th verse of Surah 2 Al Baqarah (The Cow), Allah tells His beloved Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to tell His servants not to despair for He is quite near to them and hears their call with a condition:
وَاِذَا سَاَلَـكَ عِبَادِىۡ عَنِّىۡ فَاِنِّىۡ قَرِيۡبٌؕ اُجِيۡبُ دَعۡوَةَ الدَّاعِ اِذَا دَعَانِ فَلۡيَسۡتَجِيۡبُوۡا لِىۡ وَلۡيُؤۡمِنُوۡا بِىۡ لَعَلَّهُمۡ يَرۡشُدُوۡنَ
(O Muhammad), when My servants ask you about Me, tell them I am quite near; I hear and answer the call of the caller whenever he calls Me. Let them listen to My call and believe in Me; perhaps they will be guided aright. (Surah 2 Al Baqarah:186)
Even though people can neither see God nor subject Him to any other form of sense perception this should not make them feel that God is remote from them. On the contrary, He is so close to each and every person that whenever any person so wishes he can communicate with his Lord. So much so that God hears and responds even to the prayers which remain within the innermost recesses of the heart.
People exhaust themselves by approaching false and powerless beings whom they foolishly fancy to be their deities but who have neither the power to hear nor to grant their prayers. But God, the omnipotent Lord and the absolute Master of this vast universe, Who wields all power and authority, is so close to human beings that they can always approach Him without the intercession of any intermediaries, and can put to Him their prayers and requests.
" perhaps they will be guided aright " This announcement of God's closeness to man may open his eyes to the Truth, may turn him to the right way wherein lies his success and well-being.
Tafsir Ibn-Kathir: Allah hears the Servant's Supplication
Imam Ahmad reported that Abu Musa Al-Ash`ari said, "We were in the company of Allah's Messenger during a battle. Whenever we climbed a high place, went up a hill or went down a valley, we used to say, `Allah is the Most Great,' raising our voices. The Prophet came by us and said:
(O people! Be merciful to yourselves (i.e., don't raise your voices), for you are not calling a deaf or an absent one, but One Who is All-Hearer, All-Seer. The One Whom you call is closer to one of you than the neck of his animal. O `Abdullah bin Qais (Abu Musa's name) should I teach you a statement that is a treasure of Paradise: `La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah (there is no power or strength except from Allah).')
This Hadith was also recorded in the Two Sahihs, and Abu Dawud, An-Nasa'i, At-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah recorded similar wordings. Furthermore, Imam Ahmad recorded that Anas said that the Prophet said:
("Allah the Exalted said, `I am as My servant thinks of Me, and I am with him whenever he invokes Me.') Allah accepts the Invocation
Imam Ahmad also recorded Abu Sa`id saying that the Prophet said:
(No Muslim supplicates to Allah with a Du`a that does not involve sin or cutting the relations of the womb, but Allah will grant him one of the three things. He will either hasten the response to his supplication, save it for him until the Hereafter, or would turn an equivalent amount of evil away from him.'') They said, "What if we were to recite more (Du`a).'' He said, (There is more with Allah.)
`Abdullah the son of Imam Ahmad recorded `Ubadah bin As-Samit saying that the Prophet said:
(There is no Muslim man on the face of the earth who supplicates to Allah but Allah would either grant it to him, or avert a harm from him of equal proportions, as long as his supplication does not involve sin or cutting the relations of the womb.) At-Tirmidhi recorded this Hadith.
Allah accepts the Invocation
Imam Ahmad also recorded Abu Sa`id saying that the Prophet said:
(No Muslim supplicates to Allah with a Du`a that does not involve sin or cutting the relations of the womb, but Allah will grant him one of the three things. He will either hasten the response to his supplication, save it for him until the Hereafter, or would turn an equivalent amount of evil away from him.'') They said, "What if we were to recite more (Du`a).'' He said, (There is more with Allah.)
`Abdullah the son of Imam Ahmad recorded `Ubadah bin As-Samit saying that the Prophet said:
(There is no Muslim man on the face of the earth who supplicates to Allah but Allah would either grant it to him, or avert a harm from him of equal proportions, as long as his supplication does not involve sin or cutting the relations of the womb.) At-Tirmidhi recorded this Hadith.
Imam Malik recorded that Abu Hurayrah narrated that Allah's Messenger said:
(One's supplication will be accepted as long as he does become get hasty and say, `I have supplicated but it has not been accepted from me.'')
This Hadith is recorded in the Two Sahihs from Malik, and this is the wording of Al-Bukhari.
Muslim recorded that the Prophet said:
(The supplication of the servant will be accepted as long as he does not supplicate for what includes sin, or cutting the relations of the womb, and as long as he does not become hasty.) He was asked, "O Messenger of Allah! How does one become hasty'' He said, (He says, `I supplicated and supplicated, but I do not see that my supplication is being accepted from me.' He thus looses interest and abandons supplicating (to Allah).)
Three Persons Whose Supplication will not be rejected: In the Musnad of Imam Ahmad and the Sunans of At-Tirmidhi, An-Nasa'i and Ibn Majah it is recorded that Abu Hurayrah narrated that Allah's Messenger said:
(Three persons will not have their supplication rejected: the just ruler, the fasting person until breaking the fast, and the supplication of the oppressed person, for Allah raises it above the clouds on the Day of Resurrection, and the doors of heaven will be opened for it, and Allah says, `By My grace! I will certainly grant it for you, even if after a while.')
Javed Ahmad Ghamidi Explanation:
Ie., now when the Qur’an is being revealed and Muhammad(sws) is amongst his people, they can obtain guidance from the Almighty through him whenever they can.
This is an encouragement for people to ask questions which are necessary for the explanation of the shari‘ah. It does not imply unnecessary questions which the Qur’an at another place has stopped people from asking.
Although in general circumstances too, the Almighty answers the calls of the suppliant, however here it refers to the answers which people would immediately get from Muhammad(sws) during the time of revelation of the Qur’an. A number of similar questions have been mentioned further down in this surah.
The implication is that when the Almighty is near them and is also answering their questions to remove their confusions, no one should adopt a hypocritical attitude with Him and neither should people object to and raise doubts against any of His directives; in fact, they should obey them with full faith and conviction.
Verse by Verse Quran Study Circle Tafsir:
Ibadi [عِبَادِي ] is the plural of the word ‘abd. The entire creation (believers and disbelievers) are the servants of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. He owns us. When He says: My Servants, it means those who follow His commands and prove by their actions that they are indeed the servants of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
The word ujeebu [جِيبُُ ُأ] is from the root jeem-wau-bay [jawaab] which means response or answer. From the same root is the word falyastajeebu [فَلْيَسْتَجِيبُوا ].
Imam Ahmad reported that Abu Musa Al-Ash’ari radhiAllahu ‘anhu said, “We were in the company of Allah’s Messenger during a battle. Whenever we climbed a high place, went up a hill or went down a valley, we used to say, ‘Allah is the Most Great,’ raising our voices. The Prophet salAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam came by us and said:
“O people! Be merciful to yourselves (i.e., don’t raise your voices), for you are not calling a deaf or an absent one, but One Who is All-Hearer, All-Seer. The One Whom you call is closer to one of you than the neck of his animal.” [This hadeeth was also recorded in the Two Saheehs, and Abu Daw’oud, An-Nasa’i, At-Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah recorded similar wordings.]
According to Ibn Katheer, a visitor from a village asked the Prophet salAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam: “Tell me if our Lord is near us, then, we shall pray in a lowered voice; and if He is far, we shall call Him with raised voices.” Thereupon, this ayah was revealed.
Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala says, “I am indeed near. I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me.”
The words: [دَعْوَةَُ ] [الدَّاعُِ ] [دَعََنُِ ] all are from the same root i.e. dal-ayn-wau which means to call, invoke or invite. Notice the repetition of the words.
From this ayah we may draw following Lessons:
- Here we learn that when we are going through a trial in our life or have a need then instead of pursuing a haram path to satisfy our need we should call upon Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. He is the Master of all the worlds; there is nothing that He cannot do. Therefore, we should put our worries and anxieties aside and solely depend on Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala.
- We also learn that one of the conditions to get our du’as answered is to directly call Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala without intermediaries. Do not believe that you have to be a devout Muslim to get your supplications answered. There is no such condition. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala listens to everyone when they call out to Him. Be sincere in your supplications. Have the conviction that He is All-Able to fix our matters.
- We should know the etiquette of supplication. We should not be screaming or yelling. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala hears the whispers that we make in the state of prostration.
- If we want our du’as to be accepted, we must make heart-felt supplications. We should be conscious of what we are saying and asking for. Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala does not answer the supplications which are made with an absent heart.
You may like to listen to prominent Muslim scholar Nouman Ali Khan explaining the above said ayah:
May Allah help us understand Qur'ān and help us to act upon the commandments of Allah contained therein. Aameen.
For more Selected Verses, please refer to our reference page: Selected Verses from the Qur'an. You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Qur'ān.
For more Selected Verses, please refer to our reference page: Selected Verses from the Qur'an. You may also refer to our Reference Pages for knowing more about Islam and Qur'ān.
An effort has been made to gather explanation / exegesis of the surahs of the Qur'ān from authentic sources and then present a least possible condensed explanation of the surah. In that:
- The plain translation has been taken from the Qur'ān officially published by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
- The exegesis of the chapters of the Quran is mainly based on the "Tafhim al-Qur'an - The Meaning of the Qur'an" by one of the most enlightened scholars of the Muslim World Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi.
In order to augment and add more explanation as already provided by [2], additional input has been interjected from following sources:
- Towards Understanding the Quran
- Tafsir Ibn Khatir
- Muhammad Asad Translation
- Al-Quran, Yusuf Ali Translation
- Javed Ahmad Ghamidi / Al Mawrid
- Verse by Verse Qur'an Study Circle
In addition the references of other sources which have been explored have also been given above. Those desirous of detailed explanations and tafsir (exegesis), may refer to these sites.
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