Introduction

At this point, the question naturally arises: how was it possible that there were no clouds and the Holy Prophet(sa) prayed and clouds appeared and it began to rain? Then, when this rain became excessive the Holy Prophet(sa) prayed that the rain be withheld and the clouds dispersed and the horizon cleared. In other words, if these things take place under a general law of nature, how is it that in contradiction to this well-known and famous law of nature, clouds appeared as a result of the prayer of the Holy Prophet(sa) and then through this very prayer, the clouds parted giving way to sunlight? Hence, in response to this question, it should be remembered that this matter directly relates to the doctrine of the acceptance of prayer. Moreover, this doctrine is such as it is accepted in every religion and in every era and examples of the acceptance of prayer are, more or less, found in the life of the saints of every nation. Actually, in most aspects, this issue is tied to the issue of miracles, with relevance to which a fundamental discussion has already occurred in the second volume of this book.1 We humbly request our readers to refer to the relevant pages in this volume of the book along with the following note.