A Beautiful Way to Be Heard by Allah.
Why Your Kindness May Be the Key to Accepted Duaa.
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The other day, I curled up on the sofa with "The Power of Duaa" , a book I've been slowly making my way through these days. The weather was quiet and calm, and a cool breeze gently brushed my face as I flipped through the pages.
You know those quiet moments where everything slows down just enough for words to really settle in your heart?
Where you're so indulged in between those words that you don't care what's happening around you.
That's exactly what happened.
I turned to a page and read the heading that made me pause: "Expect the Best from your Lord."
It felt like a gentle yet deep reminder that hit straight into my heart. So often, we make Duaa with hope, but a part of us still whispers wondering that: Will He grant me what my heart desires? , Is He listening to me ? , Am I worthy of His mercy?
But after reading that one line made me realise, what if expecting the very best from Allah alone is also a part of worship? One of the manners of asking your deepest desires from Allah? What if trusting in Him deeply is the very thing that brings our duas to life?
As I read further into the chapter, the author mentioned a true story of a woman named Sumayya.
She was running late, trying to get her kids to a scouts meeting and worried about missing the bus. On her way, she noticed a woman struggling to find her way. Summaya paused for her despite her rush and helped the lady without hesitation.
After helping the lost lady set off to her right direction, with her heart full and time slipping away, Sumayya whispered a simple duaa filled with a humility like any other: "Allah, for the sake of this ease that I was able to provide for the lady, please also grant us some ease. I really want to get to Scouts on time."
And just 5 seconds after she made the Duaa it got answered in the most unexpected, beautiful way - a woman with her own kids was already waiting nearby at the pavement in her car. She greeted and then offered them a ride stating she too was on her way to drop her kids at the Scouts. Sumayya sat down and made it to the scouts meeting on time.
Sumayya was shocked for a moment, she had never seen anyone else walk by on the same path she took for the Scouts for over an year and there she was, sitting in the car instead of having to walk and be late.
It was such a quiet yet powerful reminder: when you ease someone else's path, Allah eases yours. And when you ask Him with hope, with full trust that He will listen to you in the best of ways, He responds - sometimes faster than we expect.
I paused for a while, absorbing the whole story within myself and it suddenly reminded me of how Prophet Musa (AS) did the very same.
When he was in dire need of a place to rest, of food, of safety, stranded alone in a foreign land after fleeing Egypt he didn't complain. But instead even in his exhaustion, he paused to help two women struggling to water their animals.
After helping them he too looked up at the sky and made the following Dua:
So he watered [their flocks] for them; then he went back to the shade and said, "My Lord, indeed I am, for whatever good You would send down to me, in need." (Surah Al Qasas, Verse 24)
And what happened after that?
Not only was he granted a home, but a job. A companion for himself. A family. His duaa was answered in a way that no one but Allah had the power to grant, so beautifully, so rewarding.
Isn't that just so beautiful?
That when we show up with even a thin line of sincerity for others... when we help someone while our own heart is heavy and in despair... when we whisper a duaa not with pride, but with humbleness and trust that Allah responds. Not always in the way we want, but always in the way we need and sometimes even greater than we could ever ask ourselves!
That is the generosity that our Rabb holds for us. When you help a servant of His, He in turn comes to your need, your rescue and blesses you beyond your expectations.
If you look at it closely, whenever you get an opportunity to be of service to someone, to be a lending hand for them, it is Allah who Himself sends you their way , you are thereby an answer to their prayers.
Similarly, in return when you make Dua to Allah (SWT) to grant you ease just like you tried your best for others, He in turn too sends someone or something your way to answer your Dua. Someone else therefore becomes an answer to your prayers.
That's where His mercy overflows, and where miracles unfold from places you never expected. That's when Ar-Rahman, the Most Merciful, gives you more than you could ever imagine. It's like a never ending circle we're always caught up in this world.
You never lose by being kind. For having a good heart.
You never lose by helping someone else, even when your own soul is tired.
Because with every ease you provide in this Dunya, every little burden that you help lift from upon the shoulders of another, you're planting the seeds of your own answered prayers.
In Sumayya's story she had the best expectations that Her Lord would grant her ease during this difficulty and so He did. This in turn allowed her to be grateful thus increasing her belief in Allah and the next time she grants ease to someone else, she'll expect twice the best from Allah again.
Narrated by Abu Huraira (RA)
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Allah says: 'I am just as My slave thinks I am, (i.e. I am able to do for him what he thinks I can do for him) and I am with him if He remembers Me. If he remembers Me in himself, I too, remember him in Myself; and if he remembers Me in a group of people, I remember him in a group that is better than they; and if he comes one span nearer to Me, I go one cubit nearer to him; and if he comes one cubit nearer to Me, I go a distance of two outstretched arms nearer to him; and if he comes to Me walking, I go to him running."
This hadith beautifully emphasizes not just Allah's profound mercy, but the importance of having good expectations of Him and how He draws even closer to the one who simply turns to Him.
So the next time you find yourself helping someone, pause and realise that you may be the answer to their dua.
Because you never walk towards Allah except that He runs toward you. And you never give ease to a soul except that Allah, in His infinite mercy, prepares an ease for you too.
May we always be among those who answer the prayers of others, and whose own prayers are answered in the most beautiful, miraculous ways. Ameen.
