Magazine Articles

= written by Amr Khaled =

13 *   Prophet's innvocation

The Prayers of the Prophet PBUH

Almighty Allah has answered thousands of our prayers but we tend to forget.  We may forget because an answer may not come immediately.  Instead, it is answered at the time Allah specifies.  Hence, one forgets that it is an answer to one’s prayer.

Remember that you prayed and asked Allah to grant you success, work, home, marriage, offspring, affluence, and cure from diseases.  There were thousands of prayers and all of them have been fulfilled.

Mr. Amr Khaled wrote about this subject in an article that was published in Almara’a Alyawm Magazine (The Woman Today), on January 20^th 2004.

The following is what he wrote:

We will start our talk today with a pleasant story whose hero is the great sahaby (one of the Prophet’s companions) Abu-Huraira (May Allah be pleased with him).  His mother was an extreme disbeliever who cursed the Prophet (PBUH).  One day Abu-Huraira went to the Prophet (PBUH) and told him about his situation, “O Prophet! My mother rejects Islam.  Whenever I talk to her about this religion she utters the worse insults and curses ever.”  Abu-Huraira cried in sadness because of his mother’s state. He then said, “O Prophet! Pray for Allah to guide my mother to the right path”. The Prophet (PBUH) immediately said, “O Allah, guide Abu-Huraira’s mother to the right path”. Abu-Huraira became cheerful with this auspicious prayer and went back home.

Afterwards, Abu-Huraira said, “I entered, and my mother called me ‘Abu-Huraira’“. He thought she would start cursing and insulting him. Nevertheless, he answered her, “Yes mother!” She said, “I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad (PBUH) is the Messenger of Allah”.

Abu-Huraira laughed to the extent that he cried with happiness. He then went back to the Prophet and said, “Rejoice! Your prayer was fulfilled. The Prophet (PBUH) thanked Allah and praised Him for fulfilling his prayer.

Abu-Huraira then said, “O Prophet! Pray for Allah to make my mother and I loved by the believers and to make us love them.” The Prophet (PBUH) prayed, “O Allah! Make this slave and his mother love Your believing slaves and be loved by them.”

Later Abu-Huraira said, “I was loved by all who saw me and heard of me.”

O Allah! We call you to witness that we love Abu-Huraira, thus fulfilling the Prophet’s prayer. O Allah! We ask you to grant us the love of the believers.

In this story Abu-Huraira established the meaning of Love in Allah.

Have you noticed something in this story? I feel that you understand what I mean for one cannot help but notice how he was caring and tender towards his mother. There is also a nice gesture with regards to this situation. When he asked the Prophet (PBUH) to pray, the Prophet (PBUH) never asked him about his mother’s name. I realize that you are wondering, and others may be laughing.

O beloved! During Hajj you find a list of names accompanied by their mothers’ names, as if the prayers will not be answered without saying, “O Allah, forgive your slave, son of---”. This has no origin in Islam. One must take the Prophet (PBUH) as a model and not get into difficulties.

Abu-Hurayra did not ask the Prophet (PBUH) to pray for his mother to decrease his state of difficulty or simply because he remembered. I swear by Allah this was not the case. As previously mentioned, he cared for his mother and loved her, despite what she did to him.

Filial devotion does not spring out suddenly in a certain situation. In the conquest of Badr, the Prophet (PBUH) invoked and resorted to Allah, because he had no one else but Allah. He stood before Allah and said, “O Allah, bring this to an end for my benefit. O Allah, grant me what you promised me. O Allah, if this group of believers get destroyed, there will be no one to worship You on earth.”

The Prophet (PBUH) cried and his cloak fell off from the intensity of his prayer, which made the whiteness of his armpits clearly show.  Abu-Bakr As-Siddik (May Allah be pleased with him) felt sorry for the Prophet (PBUH) and said, “Take it easy. Allah will give you what he promised”.

O Allah! Do not deprive us of seeing the Prophet (PBUH) for we believed in him without seeing him, and do not deprive us of accompanying him in Jannah. O Allah! Let us drink a blessed mouthful from his noble hands after which we will never get thirsty. Ameen.

Each person has a different state during wars. What was your state Prophet of Allah?

He was standing before Allah, praying for Him. Allah is the hope where one seeks refuge and shelter.

Let this be your prayer for your brothers in Palestine. In the battle of Al-Khandak (the Trench), the Muslims got besieged, and wondered, “What can we do Prophet of Allah as they have besieged us?” the Prophet (PBUH) told them, “Say ‘O Allah, protect our defects and secure our fears’“. The sahaba (companions of the Prophet) kept repeating this prayer. After a couple of days Allah hurled wind at the faces of disbelievers.

It is worth noting that the Prophet (PBUH) and his sahaba tried all ways and exerted all efforts to solve their problems. Meanwhile, they relied on, trusted, prayed to, and resorted to Allah. They did not merely depend on Allah by not taking any action.

Thank Allah! Let this be your prayer for your brothers in Palestine. They really need this prayer:” O Allah, protect our defects and secure our fears”.

May Allah accept this prayer of a good honest person to end the gloom and for peace to be enjoyed.

The Prophet (PBUH) said, “Each prophet had a fulfilled prayer, and all of them used it. Yet I postponed mine to mediate for my nation in the Day of Judgment.”

How do you feel after reading those words of the Prophet (PBUH)?

Dear brother, if the sense of affiliation were a person, we would lament our negligence in belonging to our beloved Prophet (PBUH). The sense of belonging is not just words or slogans. It is measured by following the right models.

O my Beloved Prophet!  Whenever I read these words to my nation, I feel happy and excited because Allah created me as one of this nation. O Allah! Bless us with the mediation of our Prophet.

I can hear you saying that these are examples of the Prophets’ prayers, and the prayers of Muhammad (PBUH). They are Prophets, and the prayers of the Prophets are always fulfilled. Yet disappointingly, this truly means that you did not feel the verses or the situations.

Here is an example I am sure you will be convinced with.

Sufyan Ibn-Oyayna said, “Don’t be afraid if Allah will not fulfill your prayers because of your guilt and sins. Allah fulfilled the prayers of the worst creature on earth, Satan, when he asked Allah.  Iblis said what can be translated as, “Allow me respite till the Day they are raised up (i.e. the Day of Resurrection). (Allah) said: “You are of those respited.’  (TMQ, 7:14-15)[1].

Hence, Satan’s prayer was fulfilled! Wouldn’t Allah then fulfill your prayers?!

Dear brother, how do you feel now? I see you are surprised. Is it because you are convinced, or because of another reason?

The late Dr. Abdel Halim Mahmoud, previous Head of AlAzhar (May Allah bless him) related a true story that happened in Egypt. Some time a go, one of the good and wealthy people could not find a way to water his lands.  The plants were on the verge of being totally destroyed. The man sat in his wide plantation and said, “ O Allah, you rightly said what means, ‘I said (to them): ‘Ask forgiveness from your Lord, verily, He is Oft-Forgiving; He will send rain to you in abundance’ (TMQ, 71:10-11). “O Allah, here I am asking for Your forgiveness and begging You to bless me with your mercy.” He kept asking for Allah’s forgiveness enthusiastically and confident that Allah will give him what He promised. Suddenly, the sky was full of clouds, and then it rained heavily.

It is right.  Allah Said, “pray for me and I will fulfill your prayers”. Unfortunately, people always forget this.

Remember, ‘And when My slaves ask you (O Muhammad PBUH) concerning Me, then (answer them), I am indeed near (to them by My Knowledge). I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me (without any mediator or intercessor). So let them obey Me and believe in Me, so that they may be led aright.’ (TMQ, 2:186).

Almighty Allah has answered thousands of our prayers but we tend to forget.  We may forget because an answer may not come immediately.  Instead, it is answered at the time Allah specifies.  Hence, one forgets that it is an answer to one’s prayer.

Remember that you prayed and asked Allah to grant you success, work, home, marriage, offspring, affluence, and cure from diseases.  There were thousands of prayers and all of them have been fulfilled.

Dear brother, you have to know that Allah’s graces and blessings are the result of your prayers to Him.

Dear brother, do not forget that a free person never forgets the kindness of one moment.  Thus, what about the kindness of life?

Satan distracts man from meditating upon the graces and blessings, so as not to know that they are the result of his prayers to Allah. If man realizes this, he will love praying to Allah. Thus, Satan persists in making man forget. This is due to two main reasons. The first reason is to make you hate prayers by forgetting that the graces you have are the fruits of your prayers to Allah.  You will then think that your prayers are never fulfilled. The second reason is to prevent you from feeling close to Allah, because prayer fulfillment has a unique sweetness and pleasure in the heart, which makes you even closer to Allah.

For these two reasons Satan works really hard to keep you away from meditating. I know some people who were leading a dissolute life, but now Allah has guided them to His right path. They said it is because they wholeheartedly prayed to Allah and had their prayers fulfilled.

Almighty Allah has answered thousands of our prayers but we tend to forget.  We may forget because an answer may not come immediately.  Instead, it is answered at the time Allah specifies.  Hence, one forgets that it is an answer to one’s prayer.

Remember that you prayed and asked Allah to grant you success, work, home, marriage, offspring, affluence, and cure from diseases.  There were thousands of prayers and all of them have been fulfilled.

Dear beloved, an answered prayer creates happiness in the heart because of conquering Satan. Let us pray to Allah now as you have confidence that your prayers will be fulfilled.

To be continued next week Insha Allâh.

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