The real question is whether there is a God of this world at all, Who has created it and is running the system of the universe by His hand of Omnipotence. If there is such a God and after creating the world He has not been deposed from His Divine Throne, nor have His powers suspended, then the concept of prayer cannot be worthy of objection by any wise individual. The only question which remains is if a specific prayer has practically reached a level of acceptance or not and whether a particular result has ever come about therefrom or not. As this relates to the field of observation, in which rational argument is not very significant, I am compelled to move away from my actual topic, otherwise, I could provide hundreds of examples1 and prove that our God is not a superficial King, nor is He the slave of His own law, in that He cannot make changes to it. No doubt, as we shall mention ahead, He does not do anything contradictory to His own custom or promise, conversely, He is a living and powerful God, Who listens to the prayers of His servants and arranges for their definite outcome. However, it is obvious that just as He is not the slave of His own law, similarly, He is not the slave of His servants either, and it is not necessary that He accepts every prayer. As a matter of fact, the acceptance of prayer is intertwined to various specific conditions which, God-willing, we shall describe ahead.
Following this fundamental note, for the enlightenment of readers we present a few Qur’ānic verses and Aḥādīth relevant to the concept of prayer, so that they may be educated as to the essence of the Islāmic teaching in this regard. Therefore, it should be known that Du‘ā is an Arabic word which means ‘to call’ or ‘to implore’ someone, and in calling or inviting although the predominant sense is of imploring or invoking for something, but in its wider sense, all kinds of invocation are included, whether for the purpose of seeking Divine succour, or for some other purpose. For example, if an individual addresses God merely to express emotions of love and devotion, this is also a form of Du‘ā, even though there is no aspect of imploring or seeking of assistance. However, in addition to its wider meanings, the word Du‘ā has also taken on a specific and precise conventional meaning, which relates to invoking or imploring or seeking assistance. In this context, the latter meaning is implied.
1 These examples are more or less found in every religion, for in their origin all religions, the foundation of which is laid upon Divine Revelation, are from God. In their eras, they have all witnessed Divine succour, although now, they have gone astray and have been deprived of this succour.