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What Causes Du‘as to Be Unheard? | Khutbah
If Allah answered the du‘a of Satan, why wouldn’t He answer mine? In this khutbah, Dr. Omar Suleiman talks about the causes of du‘as being unheard and how we can ensure that our hearts remain connected to the All-Hearing.
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Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Alhamdulilahi rabbil alameen, wassalatu wassalamu ala rasulihil kareem wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajma'een. We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and bearing witness that none has the right to be worshipped unconditionally or obeyed unconditionally except for Him. We bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam is his final messenger. We ask Allah to send his peace and blessings upon him, the prophets and messengers that came before him, his family and companions that served alongside him and those that follow in his blessed path until the Day of Judgment. Allahumma ameen. Dear brothers and sisters, because of the weather I wanted to keep the khutbah a little bit shorter today biidhnillahi ta'ala, but we've been with this du'a that inshallah ta'ala I hope all of you have memorized now and I hope that you are inshallah ta'ala repeating Allahumma inni a'udhu bika min ilmin la yanfa' wa min qalbin la yakhsha' wa min nafsin la tashba' wa min du'ain la yusma' Once again, O Allah, I seek refuge in You from knowledge that is of no benefit, from a heart that is not humble, from a soul that is never satisfied, and from a du'a that is not heard. And subhanAllah this last part of the du'a is so profound because you're asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to accept your ask. You're making du'a to Allah to accept your du'a. You're saying, O Allah, hear me and do not let me be from those who are unheard. And this is really beautiful because when
Zakariya alayhi as-salam calls upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and he says, innaka sami' ad-du'a, O my Lord, You are the one who hears all prayers. And so part of this is a beautiful expression that you are affirming to yourself and to your Lord when you call upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that Allah is all-hearing and that He hears you. But part of it when you say, wa min du'a in la yusma' from a du'a that is not heard, is similar to what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam taught us. La malja'a wala manja'a minka illa ilayk. There is no escape and no shelter from you except back to you. What does that mean? You're making du'a that your du'as are not amongst those that are unheard because you know that no one else is going to solve that problem for you except Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. No one else is going to cause your du'as to be heard. You can't have anyone else intercede for your du'as to be heard if al-sami' if the all-hearing does not want to hear what you are supplicating with. And so, O Allah, if I'm doing something that is causing my du'a to be unheard, then let me make du'a to you so that I can be guided to the things that would cause it to be heard. Wa min du'a in la yusma'. And there's something very profound about this as well that someone might say that we learn in the Qur'an that even the supplication of the most despised being that Allah has created is heard. The du'a of shaytan himself. When the devil himself calls out to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and says, rabbi anzirni ila yawmi yuba'athoon. O my Lord, grant me respite until the day that you resurrect them. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, innaka minal mundareen. Allah
accepts his du'a. So someone might say, why is it that Allah can accept the du'a of Iblis but then there is du'a in la yusma'. And the scholars say a few things here which are very profound. Number one, that Allah did not accept the du'a of Iblis out of love for Iblis. Just like Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not accept the du'a of the wronged disbeliever because of the love for the disbeliever. You know the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he narrated in a hadith Qudsi that when any person makes du'a, da'watul mazloom, the du'a of the oppressed person is never rejected. Laysa baynaha wa bayna allahi hijab. There is no veil between that supplication and the Lord of the worlds. Even if that person is a kafir, even if that person is a disbeliever. If that person calls upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala alone, calls upon God alone and they are oppressed, Allah will answer that du'a even if that person is a disbeliever. Why? Because there is a condition by which that du'a is now to be answered. Not because of the love of the quality of that person. So that's another thing. So with Iblis, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala answered his du'a not out of love for Iblis but because there was a wisdom that is beyond Iblis to that du'a being answered. And for the disbeliever who does not even worship Allah properly, who calls upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala despite the fact that they are a disbeliever, Allah accepts their du'a because the condition of oppression is so hated to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala still accepts that du'a. The third thing the scholars say in this regard is that if you look at the hadith of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam where he mentions a person who calls
upon Allah despite being in no condition to call upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He says a person is in the desert and he says, Ya Rabb, Ya Rabb, my Lord, my Lord. وَمَطْعَمُهُ حَرَامٌ وَمَشْرَبُهُ حَرَامٌ وَمَلْبَسُهُ حَرَامٌ وَغُذِيَ بِالْحَرَامِ فَأَنَّى يُسْتَجَابُ لَهُ The Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam said he calls upon Allah and he says my Lord, my Lord, my Lord. And his food is unlawful. His drink is unlawful. His clothes are unlawful. And he sustains himself with everything that is haram, with everything that is unlawful. Meaning he does not do anything that Allah asks of him. And he sustains himself with everything that is prohibited. But then he says, Ya Allah, give me. Realize the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam did not say Allah rejects his dua. Allah says, or rather the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam says here, أَنَّى يُسْتَجَابُ لَهُ On what basis does he expect to be responded to? Meaning what have you done with your condition to where you place that type of an urgency and an expectation on your Lord? And subhanAllah it may be that Allah still responds to some people's duas despite them being in that condition. But it certainly won't be because they are in that condition. An ayah in the Quran that we have that is similar to this where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, وَلَأِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ If you are grateful, I will increase you. وَلَإِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِي لَشَدِيدٌ And if you are ungrateful, know that my punishment is severe. You see the difference in the ayah? The ulama say, subhanAllah look at the mercy of Allah, pay attention. لَإِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ When you are grateful, I will increase you. لَإِن كَفَرْتُمْ And if you disbelieve, which is the highest form of ingratitude, know that my punishment is severe. Meaning what? Allah did not say, I will punish you. Because يَتُوبُ اللَّهُ عَلَى مَنْ تَعْبِ Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala may forgive the ungrateful person. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala may forgive someone. But Allah says, know that the punishment is justified. Whereas the definite nature of gratitude, receiving a reward of gratitude from ash-shakur is there. So when you call upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, you're calling upon a Lord who is merciful, you're calling upon a Lord who is generous, you're calling upon a Lord who hears, you're calling upon a Lord who can give whenever he wants, sometimes to someone who doesn't deserve it at all. Now here's the thing. Take all of that, and then look at the dua of the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam, or rather the hadith the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam said about the dua, that innallaha hayiyun kareem. But you know Allah himself is hayi, he is shy and generous. He is too shy that if a righteous believer puts up his hands and says ya Allah to let those hands fall, sifrani kha'ibatan, with absolutely nothing inside of them. Not because any of us have really done anything to where we deserve to be able to make dua for whatever we want and know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will answer us. But the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam is saying, when someone is righteous, a righteous believer calls upon Allah and raises their hands and says ya Rabb, Allah is too shy, too generous to let those hands come back empty. There's something profound about that, and then plug it into this dua. Allahumma inni a'udhu bika min ilminna yanfa' wa min qalbinna yakhsha' wa min nafsinna tashba' wa min du'a'inna yusma' Oh Allah, I seek refuge in you from a dua that is not heard. The other thing that we take from this dear brothers and sisters
is you read this part of the dua in the context of the larger dua. You read this part of the dua in the context of the larger dua. If knowledge is beneficial to you, that means that you are necessarily acting upon what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has told you to do. And so you don't have that problem with your dua. And if your heart is khashir, if your heart is humble, the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam said, what is it with a dua where the heart is absent? Qalbun ghaib, a heart that is absent. But your heart is khashir, your heart is present, so you don't have to worry about that with your dua. Nafsin la tashba', this is a profound one. A soul that is never satisfied. That person who the Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wa sallam described in the middle of the desert that says, Ya Rabb, Ya Rabb, and everything about them is haram, is a person precisely who has nafsin la tashba', who has an appetite that's never ending. Why? Because they sustain themselves with haram because the halal is seemingly not enough for them. They have no control over their appetite, over their desires, so they keep feeding it. And then they add dua to the mix, so they just ask Allah to give them more of what? This is not a person who's saying, Ya Rabb, khfir li. This is not a person who's saying, My Lord, forgive me. This isn't a person who's saying, My Lord, give me jannah. This is a person that has violated every command of Allah to have more of this world, and that's asking Allah for more of this world. So it's counter-intuitive. Nafsin la tashba'. And just like a parent would not give a child more candy because they know that it's bad for their appetite, that it's bad for their diet, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has to have you on a diet. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala walillah al-mathrul al-a'la to him belongs the greatest example. He's not going to feed your unhealthy appetite. If you have nafsin la tashba', the way that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is to deal with you is to wean you off of those things, but still give you something better. But don't
expect Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to feed nafsin la tashba', to feed a soul that seemingly has an endless appetite, because it's bad for your spiritual diet. You need to be on a spiritual diet. And Allah will not ruin you because He's too merciful to you. So if you seek refuge in Allah, min ilmin la yanfa', min qalbin la yakhsha', min nafsin la tashba', wa min du'a'in la yusma'. Oh Allah, I seek refuge in you from knowledge that is of no benefit, from a heart that is not humbled, from a soul that is never satisfied, and from a du'a that is never heard. And you're asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to hear you, and you're asking Allah for something good. And you are trying your best to abide by His commandments as you are requesting things of Him for your comfort. Know that you're dealing with a generous Lord. And I end subhanAllah with one more thing here because it's very profound. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam said that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will certainly answer your du'a so long as you don't ask Him for something that is sinful, for something that's haram, or establish through that du'a the cutting off of your relatives, cutting off family members. If you cut off your family, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will cut you off. It's as simple as that. So you're asking Allah, you're trying to connect to Allah. And what did the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam say? That even two brothers, two sisters that don't talk to each other for three days, all their good deeds, your Jum'ah, your Ramadan, your Hajj, everything, it seeks to ascend to the heavens and Allah shuts the door. And Allah says, anziroo hadayni hatta yastaliha. I'm not listening to these two until they figure out what's going on between them. They have to connect themselves and then they can connect to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah did not give you the right to sever the ties of kinship. Allah did not give you the right to sever the ties of sacred bonds
of brotherhood and sisterhood. So you can't sever those ties and then ask Allah why He has severed your tie to Him. And so make sure that you're asking Allah with a condition that would cause your du'a to be answered and you're asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for good things and you're not trying to feed an unhealthy appetite or a sinful decision that you have made, but you are asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to repair you in the best of ways. Allahumma inni a'udhu bika min ilminna yanfa' wa min qalbinna yakhsha' wa min nafsin la tashba' wa min du'ain la yusma' We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to protect us from knowledge that is of no benefit, from hearts that are not humble, from souls whose cravings are never satisfied, and from supplications that are not heard, though He is the All-Hearing. Wa A'udhu Billahi Minash Shaitanir Rajeem. Al Fatiha.
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