Call Him and He will respond [40:60]

Note: Today’s reflection has been adapted from the introduction to the book Calling on the Merciful which contains excerpts from various duas taught to us by the Beloveds of Allah [swt].

There is a beautiful command and invitation in verse 60 of Sura Ghafir which is followed by a promise of Allah [swt]

وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ

[40:60] And your Lord says: Call upon Me, I will answer you;

The All Merciful knows that despite our perceptions of our own power, strength and resources, we are truly and utterly in need from Him. He knows that no matter where we go, and upon which doors we knock, calling on Him is the answer to all that afflicts and concerns us. Allah is well aware of how empty our hearts feel despite being surrounded by people and things. We long for connection with, and attachment to, that which will not fail us. We long to be connected to the Source from whence we came.

Allah reminds us in the Quran that the elixir for the emptiness we feel inside is connection to Him. He is aware that the void in the human heart can only be filled through connection to the Divine.

He tells us in Sura Ra’ad: Surely by Allah’s remembrance are the hearts at peace. [Holy Quran 13:26]

He also knows that we humans are often so distracted that we need to be commanded and reminded about where to go and whom to call upon to restore this connection. He also knows that we need some surety, some reassurance that if we call, we will be heard.

And so the invitation from the All-Powerful is immediately followed by His promise: I will respond to you. Ask Me and I will answer.

He has guaranteed a response to our call. No matter how alone we feel or how difficult our circumstances may be, this verse provides us hope and comfort that He, the All Powerful, is on our side, in our corner, witnessing our pain, listening to our pleas and responding to them. Unlike creation, the Creator does not ever get tired of our complaints and the constant demanding of our needs. His door does not close, and His treasures are never exhausted.

We are fortunate indeed to have such a Glorious and Magnanimous Maste

As Imam Ali (as) reminds his son Imam Hassan (as):

Realize this truth, my son, that the Lord who owns and holds the treasures of Paradise and the earth has given you permission to ask and beg for them and He has promised to grant your prayers.

Calling on Him, then, has granted us an audience with the Divine. We now have His attention. So, once we have the attention of the All Powerful and the All Merciful, what should we ask for?

Of course, we can ask for anything at all. In fact, there is a Hadith e Qudsi where Allah tells Prophet Musa (as): "Ask Me for the Salt in your bread and for Your shoelaces".

In other words, no request is too small for Him. Unlike the created, the Creator is not bothered by, or tired of, the constant demands from the Creator. He gives whatever we ask for and so much beyond that.

We human beings however, are so focused on the current challenges of our lives that we are likely to stop right here, at the mundane and the immediate. We may use our supplications simply as a mechanism to influence the outcomes in our lives, to get the next shiny object that we think will please us and to solve the everyday problems that confront us. Our Duas, in other words, are in accordance with our (very) limited and short-term vision 

And so, the Quran reminds us also to aim high and not stop simply at the salt and the shoelaces. It re- minds us not to be satisfied with picking mere pebbles from the shore of His Divine Mercy. But to dive deeper.

For among mankind are those who say, "Our Lord, give to us in this world," but have no share in the Hereafter. Holy Quran 2:220

Allah is telling us not to be satisfied with the transitory, the shallow and the ephemeral and instead to aim for transcendent wellbeing as well as immediate relief. And while we may pray for blessings in the Dunya, for a change and improvement in our external circumstances and for our troubles to go away, we should also supplicate to change our internal universe through connection to the Divine, to build inner resiliency and to improve emotional and mental wellbeing no matter what worldly challenges confront us.

While building our inner strength and ridding our souls of toxins through supplication are worthy goals, we should aim still higher. We must not stop there.

The ultimate purpose of calling on Him, is connecting to Him. The process of Dua then becomes its own purpose. It is in the asking itself that we are raised to higher levels of consciousness, we undergo mental transformation, we are able to let go of spiritual and emotional burdens and we experience a profound healing.

When we supplicate in this way, we are naturally driven towards righteous action, actions that are solely for His pleasure and love. And of course, deeds that are pleasing to Him will benefit us both in this world and the next.

Dua then, is a prescription for healing our bodies, our minds, our hearts and our souls.

As frail and confused human beings, we cannot do justice to the process of Dua without Divine guidance and help. It is hard for us to see the big picture. We simply want our suffering to end now. We just want life to change so that we are more comfortable living it. During times of distress, it is very difficult for us to recognize that there might be a bigger purpose to it all, that there might be lessons to be learned from our experiences, and strength to be gained through the challenges.

It is the supplications from the AhlulBayt that invite us to focus not only on our troubles, but on attachment to the One with the Plan.

It is challenging, if not impossible for us to come up with the words that capture the depth of our feelings, especially when we are distracted by grief or fear or overwhelmed with the recognition of our own shortcomings.

In fact, much of the time we may not even be aware of what we need, spiritually or emotionally, to heal us.

This is why we turn to the Divinely inspired supplications taught to us by the Messenger and his beloved family. It is turning to Him through the words of His Beloveds that provides solace to the heart and also hope of salvation.

So, especially during this blessed month, let us turn to the words of the Beloveds of God to Call on the Merciful. Let us take a few verses, a page at a time, and connect with these treasures mindfully rather than just ritually. Let us allow them to remind us of what is truly important to ask for, and use the perfect language in which to ask.

The sweetness of supplicating in this way is by itself a removal of our distress even before the answer is received. It is in the asking, in the utterance of these comforting words, that our consciousness begins to expand and our soul begins to heal.

Please join us on Instagram throughout this month as we share brief extracts from these beautiful supplications.

If you are located in Pakistan, Dubai or Canada we have limited copies of the book Calling on the Merciful available. Once it is available on Amazon, I will let you know Inshallah.
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Wishing you a day full of spiritual fulfillment, positivity, purpose and peace.