አል ኢህሳን ኢሥላሚክ ቻናል

And you know what? He answered my longed-for dua’.  He did. And in a way and timing which was beyond my wildest hopes and dreams. I know what some of you are thinking–that I’m just special in getting my unanswered prayer. At times this took ten years to come to fruition for me. This is not something only I’ve experienced, it’s a story I hear from others all the time. The answer is always there; it just may not be how you expect.
Don’t give up. Ibn Ataillah made this profound statement, “When God inspires your tongue to ask, know that He wants to give.” Have that fervent certainty that Allah  will answer your dua’ in the best way for your particular circumstances as you continue to ask Him.   
Shifting Our Understanding of How Dua’s are Answered

When it seems like a dua’ I’ve made for so long is not answered, I have to remind myself that our prayers are always being answered, but just not always in exactly the same way we are asking for them. So know that even if you don’t feel it, He is protecting you in what He withholds from you. Know that whenever you pray, He answers. But He answers in His timing, when it’s best for you. And if it turns out that it’s not best for you in this life–then without a doubt, it’ll be waiting for you in the next. 
The fact of the matter is that Allah  is All-Knowing and All-Wise and The Best of Planners, not me. Thus,it may be that I am making a dua’ which is in actuality not in my best interests for my deen, dunya, or akhirah, and He is answering in the way He knows will be best for me in all three. In hindsight I have realized, and I’m sure for many of you have as well, sometimes what I’ve so desperately insisted upon has made me sick: physically, spiritually, or mentally, and I realized that God was protecting me by withholding it. Other times, what I want has come, but delayed to a better time and in a better way than I could have imagined.
As Imam al Ghazali said, “As I look back on my life, I realize that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good; I was actually being re-directed to something better. You must convince your heart that whatever God has decreed is most appropriate and most beneficial for you.” Convince your heart that Allah  is always answering your prayers and always in the best way possible for your very specific, intimate circumstances, even when we don’t see or understand how He is. 

#Islam
Don’t Give Up On That “Unanswered” Prayer
Continuing to ask Allah  for that seemingly unanswered dua’ over and over again may seem impossible or pointless, but it is not.

Published
 January 5, 2022
By
 Ustadha Maryam Amir

I know sometimes you think it’s unfair and you wonder why God isn’t blessing you with the dua’ you’ve been making when you’ve tried so hard and done things right for so long. An unanswered prayer is a part of every human’s life. You want to get married and despite all your efforts and your commitment to doing things right, you’re still so alone. You’re trying to have a baby, and despite months or years of trying, you have friends who didn’t even want to get pregnant but are conceiving children. You want to get that particular job or get into that particular school and yet…the doors are closed for you, again. And you wonder: what am I doing wrong? Is God mad at me? And you’ve often caught yourself wondering…what’s the point in me still making this dua’ which is not being answered, anyway? 
Sometimes you think it’s unfair that God isn’t blessing you when you’ve tried so hard and done things right for so long. I myself wanted something so badly and I kept praying for it, pouring my heart into begging God to give it to me. But after making dua’ for a while, eventually I would make that dua’ while saying to myself, “God probably wants to test me. He knows how much I want this, so He probably will give me the opposite of it just because I want it so badly.” 
Continuing to ask Allah  for that thing over and over again may seem impossible or pointless, but it is not. With training yourself to hold a positive opinion of Allah  and to recognize His wisdom even when you cannot understand it in the moment, inshaAllah, you will feel the patience to persist by shifting your understanding of a prayer which seems unanswered. Holding these two views in your heart will help you persist in praying for your unanswered prayer, for what you want and never giving up hope in the power of your dua’ and the promise that Allah  will answer it.  
Having a Good Opinion of Allah 
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After praying with so much devotion for something and losing hope in Allah’s  willingness to grant me what I wanted, one day I realized: God says:
أَنَا عِنْدَ ظَنِّ عَبْدِي بِي
“I am as My servant thinks I am.” [Hadith Qudsi;Al Bukahri]
Why would He give me what I want when all I’m thinking is about how much He wouldn’t give it to me? If I don’t even believe He’ll give it to me, if while I’m praying for it I’m thinking He will withhold it–then why would I be blessed with it? The Prophet Muhammad  taught us that we should pray for something while we are certain that God will answer us. It might not come in the same way we want it–but, then again, maybe it will!
Maybe it’ll be better, or maybe we’ll get it in the Hereafter, or perhaps something evil will be prevented and averted from us because of our prayer. In all those scenarios there is one common factor: God will answer. And all the more so, His answer to that dua’ will always be good.
With this newly found positive conviction, I went back to begging God to grant that specific dua’ for me; but this time, I was fervently certain that He would answer me. As the months went by and as one year merged into the next, every time a doubt would enter my heart, I cast it away. I screamed at it! I would say: He has to answer. He will answer. This is Al Mujeeb–The One Who Responds! This is Al Kareem–The Generous! This is Al Wadud–The Loving!

know sometimes you think it’s unfair and you wonder why God isn’t blessing you with the dua’ you’ve been making when you’ve tried so hard and done things right for so long. An unanswered prayer is a part of every human’s life. You want to get married and despite all your efforts and your commitment to doing things right, you’re still so alone. You’re trying to have a baby, and despite months or years of trying, you have friends who didn’t even want to get pregnant but are conceiving children. You want to get that particular job or get into that particular school and yet…the doors are closed for you, again. And you wonder: what am I doing wrong? Is God mad at me? And you’ve often caught yourself wondering…what’s the point in me still making this dua’ which is not being answered, anyway? 
Sometimes you think it’s unfair that God isn’t blessing you when you’ve tried so hard and done things right for so long. I myself wanted something so badly and I kept praying for it, pouring my heart into begging God to give it to me. But after making dua’ for a while, eventually I would make that dua’ while saying to myself, “God probably wants to test me. He knows how much I want this, so He probably will give me the opposite of it just because I want it so badly.” 
Continuing to ask Allah  for that thing over and over again may seem impossible or pointless, but it is not. With training yourself to hold a positive opinion of Allah  and to recognize His wisdom even when you cannot understand it in the moment, inshaAllah, you will feel the patience to persist by shifting your understanding of a prayer which seems unanswered. Holding these two views in your heart will help you persist in praying for your unanswered prayer, for what you want and never giving up hope in the power of your dua’ and the promise that Allah  will answer it.  
Having a Good Opinion of Allah