Power of Prayer

Prayer, which is an important connection with Almighty Allah, is
demanding in the sense that we demonstrate our weakness in front
ofAlmighty Allah. Our Lord reveals that prayer is an important act of
worshipwith the verse, " Say: 'What has My Lord to do with you if you
do not call on Him? ..." (Surat al-Furqan, 77)
Actually the need to form a connection with Allah exists in every
man's character, entailed in creation. However, while praying is an
inseparable part of their lives for believers, for some people it is
an act of worship to be remembered only when they face with
difficulties or life-threatening situations. However, this is a big
mistake because what is truly good is to ask for Almighty Allah's help
both in difficulty and ease and to take refuge in His mercy.
Being Determined in Prayer
Allah has made it possible for His servants to reach anything that He
sees as good and beautiful. However, being determined in the prayer
being made is just as important as the prayer itself. Praying with
patience is an indication of the need for the desires prayed for, of
the inconvenience about this matter and most importantly an indication
that one's closeness to Allah has increased. Being determined in
prayer makes the believer moremature and bestows on him a strong will
and character. A believer who shows determination in prayer gets much
in return by earning a deep faith, which is more valuable than most of
the things he asked for. It is revealed in the Qur'an that one needs
to be determined in prayer as such:
" Seek help in steadfastness and prayer. But that is a very hard
thing, except for the humble:" (Surat al-Baqara, 45)
Our valuable Prophet (saas) has stated how much he needs Allah
sometimes by praying for years on and our Lord, the All-Merciful,
hasgiven what he asked for at the best time. The factthat Allah
accepts every prayer, both open and hidden, is due to His Mightiness
and Grace. Allah never leaves any thought which crosses one's mind
without a return. However, "accepting a prayer" does not mean
something happening asit was asked for because sometimes a person
maybe demanding something harmful to himself. Almighty Allah reveals
as such about this matter:
" Man prays for evil just as he prays for good. Man is prone to be
impetuous." (Surat al-Isra', 11)
Allah knows best what is good and what is bad for a person because He
is the One Who appreciates everything. As with His every work, there
are many wondershidden in the way He accepts prayers. For example, the
Prophet Jacob (pbuh) rejoining his son the Prophet Joseph (pbuh) after
many long years, the Prophet Joseph (pbuh) gaining power and rulership
after staying inprison for a long time, the Prophet Ayoob (pbuh) being
saved fromthe pain caused by satan; all of these occurred after
showing great patience and continuous prayers. Almighty Allah has
accepted the prayers of these sincere servants of His at the best time
for them and has made them mature, educated them, increased their
loyalty and sincerity and turned them into servants worthy of high
degrees in Paradise.
How Does Allah Accept Prayer?
· When a believer prays, he knows that Allah hears him and
will always accept his prayer in any way. This is because he realizes
that events do not take place in a coincidental way, but according to
the destiny determined by Allah and in the way He wills. Therefore, he
has no doubt that he will nothave any return for his prayer. Praying
with thissincere spirit causes great goodness by Allah's leave. In one
verse, it is revealed that our Lord will always accept a prayer as a
manifestation of His name "Al-Mujib" (One Who accepts the demands of
those who beg to Him).
" If My slaves ask you about Me, I am near. I answer the call of the
caller when he calls on Me. They should therefore respond to Me and
believe in Me so thathopefully they will be rightly guided. " (Surat
al-Baqara, 186)
· The reason that something asked for in aprayer is given with
delay, or accepted in a completely different way, could also be that
our Lord tests His servants. Allah may grantHis blessings after
certain periods of time in order to test the patience of His servants
and to make them mature according to a certain reason.
Due to this and similar reasons, it cannot be expected that every
prayer is realized as it is asked for and as soon as possible. As it
is stated bythe great Islamic scholar Bediuzzaman, Allah may give less
of something asked for in prayer or sometimes more of it as a reward
or because of the reasons we mentioned above He may not grant them at
all. However, in every condition, Allah accepts the prayer of the one
who prays to Him.
How Did Our Prophets Pray?
Praying is a way of submitting to Allah and all people need prayer.
The most erudite examples of this is that all Prophets pray to Allahby
submitting to Him in every matter as revealedin the Qur'an. In the
prayers of our Prophet (saas) and all other prophets, we see both
their submission to Allah,the fact that they see Allah as their sole
friend and helper and that theypraise our Lord's glory with His most
beautiful names.
The Prayer of Our Prophet (saas)
In the prayers of our Prophet Mohammad (saas), the most beautiful
examples of citing Allah with His names are revealed. One of the
verses in which our Prophet (saas)'s prayers are mentioned isas
follows:
" Say, 'O Allah! Master of the Kingdom! You give sovereignty to
whoever You will You take sovereignty from whoever You will. You exalt
whoever You will You abase whoever You will. All good is in Your
hands. You have power over all things. " (Surah Al 'Imran, 26)
In the narrations, it is noted that our Prophet (saas) prayed to our
Lordto give him a good morality and good nature.
"O Allah! Enhance goodness and ethics! O Divine! Remove from me bad
morals! . " (Tirmidhi, Imam Ahmad and Haqim;Hujjat al-Islam Imam
Gadhali, Ihyau Ulum id-din, volume 2, Translation: Dr. Sitki Gulle,
Huzur Publishing, Istanbul 1998, p.789)
The Prayer of the Prophet Noah (pbuh)
The patience of the Prophet Noah (pbuh), who called his society to the
true religion for years with an exemplary determination, was praised
in the Qur'an. The Prophet Noah (pbuh) struggled againsthis society
that acted with enmity towards him and the believers who were with
him. The fact that the Prophet Noah (pbuh) turned to Allah in every
situation, and prayed by hoping for his help sincerely is a great
example for believers. In one verse, itis revealed that Allah knew the
condition the Prophet Noah (pbuh) was in and that he prayed as
follows:
" He called upon his Lord:'I am overwhelmed, so help me!' " (Surat al-Qamar, 10)
Allah accepted the Prophet Noah (pbuh)'s prayer and commanded him to
prepare for the Flood, which was going to take place in future. The
Prophet Noah (pbuh) began to build a massive ship by the command of
Allah, even though there was no seaor lake nearby. During the
construction of the ship, he was continuously subject to spiritual
pressure by his society. When the time came Allah's promise was
realized and the flood disaster took place.
The Prayer of the Prophet Jonah (pbuh)
In the Qur'an, it is revealed that this valuable prophet of
oursseparated himself from his people, as they did not respond to his
calls. (Surat as-Saffat, 139–142) As it is revealedin the verses,
following this, there was a draw inthe ship that the ProphetJonah
(pbuh) was traveling on and as a result of the draw it was decided
that the ProphetJonah (pbuh) was to be thrown into the sea. On top of
these events, the Prophet Jonah (pbuh) submitted to Allah and prayed
to Him. Allah revealed this event as such in the Qur'an:
" And Jonah when he left in anger and thought We would not punish
him. He called out in the pitch darkness: 'There is no god but You!
Glory be to You! Truly I have been one of the wrongdoers.' We
responded to him and rescued him from his grief. That is how Werescue
the belivers ." (Surat al-Anbiya', 87–88)
As it is revealed in the verses the Prophet Jonah(pbuh) confessed his
condition sincerely in hisprayer. He prayed to Allah and waited for
His help. Our Lord, Who has infinite mercy, accepted the Prophet Jonah
(pbuh)'s redemption andsaved him from the stomach of the fish by
accepting his prayer.
The Prayer of the Prophet Job (pbuh)
In the Qur'an, the Prophet Job (pbuh)'s patience was mentionedas an
example to believers. The Prophet Job (pbuh) who received revelations
from Allah and who was a selected servant (Surat an-Nisa, 163)
experienced serious trouble and went through a difficult period.
However, despite all of the heavy tribulations he was in, he always
set an example for believers with his patience and submission to
Allah. (Surah Sad, 44) The sincere prayer of this holy prophet of ours
wasrevealed in one verse as follows:
" And Job when he calledout to his Lord, 'Great harm has afflicted me
and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful,' " (Surat al-Anbiya',
83)
It is revealed in the Qur'an that Almighty Allah accepted the prayer
of the Prophet Job (pbuh) who was oneof His sincere servants:
" We responded to him and removed from him the harm which was
afflicting him and restored his family to him, and the same againwith
them, as a mercy direct from Us and a Reminder to all worshippers. "
(Surat al-Anbiya', 84)
Prayer, which is an important means to reach Almighty Allah,
theAll-Knowing and the All-Hearing, Who is nearer to man than his
jugular vein (Surah Qaf, 16), is an act of worship believers carry out
in every occasion and condition. However, when believers do this, as
it is revealed in the verse " But you will not will unless Allah wills
..." (Surat al-Insan, 30) they behave in a manner conscious of the
fact thateverything is always under the control of our Lord and that
everythingis realized by His will.
There is a Response to Sincere Prayers in Both the World and the Hereafter
Prayer leads the person towards what is going to happen in his
destiny; Allah is the One Who determines destiny and creates prayer.
However,the blessing that comes following a prayer contains
prosperity in this world and a good return in the Hereafter. Aperson's
whole life is a result of the active or verbal prayers previously
made, whether he realizes it or not. Active prayer is our actions and
efforts put forth on the subject of prayer by Allah's leave. When this
effort is not for the good pleasure of Allah –as is the case with
some people- it could still be a means for an individual to reach his
orher wishes, by Allah's leave. People who do not have faith but carry
out their active prayers with great ambition, for example, those who
work and earn a lot, becomes rich or becomes expert about a subject
and becomes famous, have reached that degree through their active
struggle by holding onto causes, andagain by Allah's leave. However,
active prayers that are not made for the good pleasure of Allah will
bring no benefit to the individual in the Hereafter even if aperson
reaches his or her objectives from timeto time in this world.
No Other Than Allah is Prayed To
By the verse revealed in the Qur'an, " O Prophet! Allah is enough for
you, and for the faithful who follow you. " (Surat al-Anfal, 64),
believers know that Allah is the only One Whom to ask help. He is the
most superior, the most powerful and the One Who sees and hears
everything. Allah is the One Who is excluded from all deficient
features, and Who is the Owner of eternal power.All power in the
universeis in His hands. So help and forgiveness should be asked for
only and only from Allah, Whom everyone is need for andWho Himself
does not need anyone. In the Qur'an it is revealed that it is wrong to
pray to others than Allah and that Allah is the sole authority of
prayer:
" So do not call on any other god along with Allah or you will be
among those who will be punished. " (Surat ash-Shu'ara', 213)
Conclusion
Prayer is an example of Allah's mercy and compassion for His servants.
Believers can pray to Allah at every moment and under every condition
and theyare peaceful that Allah will accept these prayersin the best
ways. In this way, they can tell their deepest secrets and the most
hidden desires to Allah, and live the goodness, prosperity and beauty
that comes from the knowledge that Allah is the only friend , guide
and helper. We can see the biggest secret in Allah accepting prayers
in the lives of prophets as we have mentioned in someexamples. There
is a relation in praying and carrying out the actions Allah commands.
The physical effort shown forAllah's good pleasure, mercy and Paradise
is anact of worship as important as prayer. Allah revealed in the
Qur'an about the importance of effort: " But as for anyone who desires
the akhira, and strives for it with the striving it deserves, being a
believer, the striving of such people will be gratefully acknowledged.
" (Surat al-Isra', 19)
Islamic scholar Imam Rabbani explained this matter with these words:
"Desiring something means attaining it; indeed, Almighty Allah does
not make His servant pray for something He will not accept."Believers
who know that their actions are also prayers not onlypray at moments
of difficulty but at every moment by feeling the existence and
mightiness of Allah. Theypreserve this close connection to Almighty
Allah at every moment oftheir lives.

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