I’ve been teaching Visionaire for years now and one issue that I see come up, again and again, is the issue of supposedly ‘unanswered’ Duas.
I don’t even like to use the word ‘unanswered’, as you’ll see below, but the fact remains:
What would I advise someone who is dealing with a Dua that has been going on for a long time with ‘supposedly’ no answer?
Firstly, let me start off by insisting that you should NEVER say “I made Dua, and my Dua wasn’t answered.” Because once you go down with that attitude, it’ll self-fulfill and your Dua indeed won’t be answered, as per the following Hadith:
It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (R.A) that the Messenger of Allah (P.B.U.H) said: “(The Dua) of any one of you will be answered so long as he is not hasty in seeking a response and does not say, ‘I made Dua but I have not had a response.’” [Narrated by al-Bukhari, 5981; Muslim, 2735]
See, Allah answers all Duas, it’s His promise.
{And your Lord says, “Call upon Me; I will respond to you.} Quran 40:60
Allah answers Duas in one of three ways. Either Yes, Not Now, or I have something better for you.
What some people, so attached to their desire, forget is that “I have something better for you” is a way that Allah ANSWERS Duas. You not only have to accept that Allah might give you something different but be truly GRATEFUL for that. Here’s why:
I sometimes hear about this fear that some have, “What if I make Dua for something, but it’s not good for me. Allah gives it to me, and then it becomes a nightmare?” Personally, I think that’s one of the saddest and most inappropriate expectations one could have of Allah. You ask Him for a gift, and He would send you a nightmare — laa WAllah! May Allah protect us from such low expectation.
So this, “I have something better for you,” way Allah answers Duas is the fail-safe when we make Duas that aren’t good for us, or when we make Duas for which now is not the time, or maybe WE are not ready to accept that gift in our stage of life. Or who knows? … I know who knows:
{And Allah knows, while you do not know} Quran 2:216
The key is to make Dua, and I have a few tweaks from you courtesy of Visionaire Ramadan: Got a Dua you’ve been asking forever with seemingly no exact manifestation? Here’s what I recommend my Visionaire students:
Drop the ‘Unanswered’ Dua
That’s right. If something hasn’t worked out for so long, maybe it’s something you don’t sincerely want. Or maybe it’s just not happening. I’m not talking about marriage or children; those are things we are biologically created to desire — so go for it. And I’m not talking about Duas for good health, we all need that.
Rather, I’m talking about things like, maybe you wanted to be a doctor or sports star and it just never worked out. Or maybe you wanted to marry a particular person, but they’ve gone and married someone else and moved on with their life. Or maybe you wanted to memorize the entire Quran and it’s been like 60 years, and it just isn’t happening.
I’m saying, don’t spend your life worrying about something that you don’t want or isn’t arriving. Focus on the gifts you have, your strengths and talents, and develop those.
Bottom line: Whether to drop a Dua or not has to be after a heart-to-heart talk with yourself. You have to decide whether what you’re making Dua for goes in this above category, or whether you want to take it to the next stage as I mention below…
What if you can’t just ‘Drop it’?
Have you been making Dua for, like, forever — and it really is something you desire from the bottom of your heart, and no it’s not just something you can ‘drop’? Then try this:
1. Get EVEN MORE passionate about the Dua
Instead of mixing your Dua with this slow dehydrated, weak attitude, get super intense and pumped to make Dua day and night, in prostration, in your commute, in the middle of the night, and after Wudu — all times when Dua is accepted.
2. Change up the WORDING of the Dua
Tweak the wording of your Dua until it gives YOU butterflies of excitement, leading to the passion upgrade that I’m talking about in point 1. So, for example, instead of making Dua for a ‘baby’, make Dua to be at the wedding of your son, giving him a hug before the ceremony. Can you see how this shift in Dua wording gives YOU the passion YOU need when making Dua?
This is part of heart-to-heart Dream Dua Discovery we do inside of Visionaire Ramadan, the largest Dream Dua designing community in the world.
See you inside this Ramadan, in sha Allah.