The Duaa (supplication) is one of the most important concepts in Islam, so much so that the Prophet (saaws) said in a hadith: The Du'a is the core of Ibadah. By making Dua, we not only perform a great act of Ibadah which gives us more reward, but we show our dependence to Allah (swt) and submission to Him.

Unfortunately, the Duaa today is grossly misunderstood and misused as a result, and its impact can be devastating. Many Muslims look at the Duaa not as an act of Ibadah but also as a method for changing their situation, whether the change is on an individual scale (such as getting married, earning one's livelihood) or the change is for the Ummah (such as removing the occupation from Muslim lands and bringing back the Islamic system into full application). This is an incorrect understanding because of two reasons:

1). Allah (swt) legislated for us certain objectives (as individuals and as an Ummah), and we are required to undertake certain physical actions to achieve those objectives.Allah(swt) also legislated a specific method for a specific action.Its extremely important that we differentiate these.For example prayer is not the method for fasting.Similarly memorizing the Quran is not the method to change the thinking of the Ummah.

2). Part of worshipping Allah (swt) is not only to perform the Ibadah (including the Duaa) but also to recognize the natural laws that He created, and one of these laws is the law of cause and effect. By relying solely on the Duaa as our method for change, we are ignoring the physical actions that Allah (swt) obligated us with to achieve our objectives as well as ignoring this natural law of cause and effect, which actually results in us disobeying Allah (swt).

The Prophet (saaws) and the early Muslims understood the Duaa correctly. As a result, they combined the Duaa with actions, and made sure that their actions were within the limits of the Halal and the Haram. If the Duaa is all that is required to change our situation, then the Prophet (saaws) and the generations after him would not have struggled so hard to carry the Islamic Dawah and establish and maintain the Islamic way of life.

Somebody may ask two questions:

1). If somebody were to make Duaa for something, and he were to get what he asked for, does this mean that Allah (swt) changed the Rizq for him?

2). If somebody were to make Duaa for something, and he either did not get that thing or even got the exact opposite (for example, somebody makes Duaa for Allah to give him good health, and he gets into an accident that renders him crippled for life), does this mean that Allah (swt) did not respond to the Duaa?

The answer to both questions is an absolute NO. Allah (swt) has set the Rizq for every human being and the Rizq does not change; this is one of the fundamental concepts of the Islamic Aqeedah. The fact that somebody asked for something in his Duaa and he got that thing merely shows that his Duaa coincided with the Rizq that was already set for him. The Rizq would come whether or not the person makes the Duaa, but the one who makes the Duaa gets the added benefit of the reward from Allah (swt) for performing this ibadah in addition to strengthening his relationship to Allah (swt).

As for the second scenario, just because one did not get something in the life that he asked for in the Duaa, it does not mean that Allah (swt) did not respond to that person. At the very least, Allah (swt) will reward that person for the Duaa, and the Duaa was never meant to be a means to achieve physical results in the first place. The Duaa was legislated as an ACT OF IBADAH, and the purpose of the Ibadah is to strenghten our relationship with Allah (swt) and to get the reward in the Hereafter. Physical results, on the other hand, are achieved by carrying out physical actions based on the parameters set by Islam and with awareness of one's surroundings. If we look to the Duaa as a means of attaining physical results, then we run the risk of turning our relationship with Allah (swt) into a business relationship: If we get what we asked for, we become closer to Allah; but if we do not get what we asked for, then this means that Allah has turned away from us. And this is the fate that befell the people of other religions.

May Allah (swt) help us in understanding Islam correctly and increasing our knowledge.