The reality of du’a

 سم الله الرحمن الرحيم

Ayat 60, Surah Al-Mumin:
And your Lord has said, “Call Me, I will respond to you. Definitely those who show arrogance against worshipping Me shall enter Jahannam, disgraced. - 40:60.

Literally, du’a means to call, and it is frequently used to call for something needed. On occasions, the dhikr of Allah (acts devoted to His remembrance) is also referred to as du’a. This verse confers a special honor on the large community of the followers of the Holy Prophet SAW when they were ordered to make du’a with the assurance that it would be answered. And whoever does not make a prayer has been warned of punishment.

Qatadah reports from Ka’b Ahbar that earlier this used to be peculiar to prophets, as they were the ones who were ordered by Allah Ta’Ala that they should make du’a and He SWT would answer. Now, it is the distinction of the followers of the Holy Prophet SAW (popularly identified as Ummah Muhammadiyyah) that this order was universalized for his entire Ummah. (Ibn Kathir)
Explaining this verse, Sayyidna Nu’man Ibn Bashar RA narrated a Hadith that the Holy Prophet SAW said: Surely, prayer is worship on its own and then supported it by reciting this verse: Definitely those who show arrogance against worshipping Me shall enter Jahannam, disgraced. (reported by Imam Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Nasa’i, Abu Dawud and others – Ibn Kathir).

It appears in Tafsir Mazhari that, if looked at under the rules of Arabic diction (confining of the predicate to the subject), the Hadith: ‘Surely, prayer is worship on its own’ could mean: ‘du’a is the very name of “ibadah’ or worship, that is, every dua ‘ is but ‘ibadah. Then, by reversing the same rule (confining the subject to the predicate), it could also mean that every act of ‘ibadah is itself nothing but a du’a. Both probabilities exist here. And at this place, the meaning is that du’a (prayer,  supplication) and ‘ibadah (worship, devotion) are, though separate from each other in terms of the literal sense, yet in terms of substantiation, they are unified, as every du’a is ‘ibadah and every ‘ibadah is du’a: The reason,is that ‘ibadah is the name of the attitude of showing one’s utter modesty and abasement before someone, and it is all too obvious that showing one’s utter helplessness before someone and extending one’s hand before him with ,the beggar’s bowl is a matter of great disgrace- which is the very sense of ’ibadah. Similarly, the outcome of every ‘ibadah is also to ask Allah Ta’Ala for forgiveness and Jannah and that He blesses us with a perfect state of well being in this world and in the world to come. Therefore, it appears in a Hadith qudsi ( – a Hadith in which the Holy Prophet SAW conveys a saying from Allah that is not iqcluded in the Qur’an) that Allah Ta’Ala said: “One who is so engrossed in remembering Me that he does not have even the time to ask for what he needs, I shall give him more than those who ask (by fulfilling his needs without the asking)” (reported by al-Jazri in An-Nihayah) and in a narration appearing in Tirmidhi and Muslim, the words are:  
(“One who is so engrossed in the recitation of the Qur’an that he does not have even the time to ask for what he needs, I shall give him even more than what those who ask ever get”). 
This tells us that every ‘ibadah brings the same benefit as is the benefit of du’a.

And in the Hadith of ‘Arafat, it appears that the Holy Prophet said, “In ‘Arafat, my dua’ and the dua’ of prophets before me is (the saying la ilaha il-lal-lahu wahdahu la sharika lahu lahul-mulku wa lahul-hamdu wa huwa ‘ala kulli shai’in qadir: There is no god but Allah who is one. No one shares His godhead. To Him belongs the kingdom and to Him belongs all praise, and He is powerful over everything) (reported by Ibn Abi Shaibah – Mazhari).



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