Dua

Man has always had a need to communicate with the Divine, to commune with the Ineffable. Who else can know the fineness of human feeling, the depth of human need, and the direness of their predicament? Who else knows the subtleties of our thoughts, the shades of our emotions, the varied facets of our circumstances? He knows us better than we know ourselves; He is closer to us than our jugular vein.

So it is no small gift to be able to whisper to the One who knows and cares more than a mother cares for her child about their deepest secrets or most poignant needs. This is the gift of dua.

It connects the mundane with the Transcendent, and in doing so, lifts man out of the doldrums of his or her troubles into the presence of the Divine Court. The catharsis of being able to call out to someone, at any time, in any moment, with any need, in any language is in itself a miracle. But dua is more than this, for we do not call upon One who is incapable. Rather all things are subservient to Him and everything is in His mighty grasp: every destiny, every outcome, every felicity. So, He not only hears but He can reply- and He does, sometimes in undeniable clarity and sometimes veiled in the beautiful mysteries of His wisdom. But reply He does. And He tires not from hearing nor does He tire from giving. The more He is begged, the more one’s poverty is manifest, the happier He is to give, that Giver for whom giving does not decrease his kingdom. So at its core, dua is the bridge through which we interact with Allah, through which we know Him, through which we see Him, and through which we connect with Him. This is why dua has been described in one narration as the essence, the very core, of worship, for the aim of worship is the same- to allow man to be with His lord.

Knowing this, it is only the one ignorant of Allah or the abject fool, who would not ask the One who hears the call of the caller when he calls, the One who can respond to all, and the One who loves to do so. Dua is the arrow of the believer against his enemies, be they from men or jinn. None can oppose he who Allah supports and none can support he who Allah opposes. None can raise he who He debases, and none can debase he whom He raises. Dua is deliverance from calamities of every bent. Poverty and fear, anxiety and war, famine and sickness, straitened times and times of grief, loss and the possibility of loss, all of these and more in a moment can become all but naught if touched by His all-encompassing grace.

Dua is forgiveness of sins. Through dua one relieves their hearts of the burden of disobedience and its dark consequences. The Hell-destined free their necks from the fire; the sinner turns saint. The hearts are cleansed of the caliginous taint of ill doings and the soul washed clean of its guilt, though all the earth’s oceans could not have cleansed it so.

Dua is thanks. When the heart wells with gratitude such that the back is bowed to prostration and the heart is forced to utter His praise. When so, it is done by dua. Such a heart speaks in a language no tongue can convey.

Dua is love. When the lover remembers his Beloved and wishes to speak to him, he races to dua. It matters little what is said, what is more important is He who it is being said to. For a few moments, to be in the special attention of the Creator of the universe, this is the dua of the lover.

Dua is Salwat on the prophet. Without dua, we would be crippled to send blessing and salutations on our master, Muhammad (S). Nothing we can ever do could ever repay him, so we submit our need to gift Rasulullah (S) as he deserves in the hands of the only one who can.

This is dua.

Allahumma Salli ala Sayyidina Muhammad Abadan Da’iman