بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
يقول الله -تبارك وتعالى: وإذا سألك عبادي عني فإني دعوة اجيب دعوة الداع إذا دعان فليستجيبوا لي لعلهم يرشدون
[سورة البقرة: 186]
When My servants ask you ˹O Prophet˺ about Me: I am truly near. I respond to one's prayer when they call upon Me. So let them respond ˹with obedience˺ to Me and believe in Me, perhaps they will be guided ˹to the Right Way˺.
Alhamdulilah wa salatu wa salamu ‘ala rasulilah
Now that we are in Ramadan one of the specialties of this month is DUA, the predecessors used to wait for this month with great enthusiasm because they knew that it is the month of the dua.
Every year of our life is different and we will have different situations and difficulties to which we will always want to find a solution for, but what better than DUA.
We can try to establish in this ramadan one, two or three special duas that we want to ask for in this month. Every morning when we wake up, every sajdah, every salah, while cooking, we can think of those special duas that we want to ask for, in addition to the other duas. Just like when a child constantly asks his parents for something specific and then they give it to him. We should be like that child constantly asking and asking Allah and Allah never gets bored or tired if we ask Him.
مَن لم يسألِ اللهَ يغضبْ علَيهِ
In the hadith: "Whoever does not ask Allah, will be angry with him."
Allah ya Allah says in the quran:
وإذا سألك عبادي عني فإني قريب اجيب دعوة الداع إذا دعان فليستجيبوا لي
Some of the ulamas say that it is one of the most hopeful ayah in the quran.
Allaah talks to his servants with a lot of Rahma so much so that Allaah says: فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ
A Bedouin asked Rasul (saw): “tell me if Allah is near us, then, we shall pray in a lowered voice; and if He is far, we shall call Him with raised voices”. Thereupon, this verse was revealed.
When a child feels that there is insecurity around him but his parents are close to him he feels safe. When a famous, important person goes out with his bodyguards to the street, that person feels safe.
But Allah says to his servant "I am near". Fear not that I am always there.
It is only with the rahma of Allah that we can ask Him anywhere, anytime. There is no need to go to the kabah to make dua, because Allah is present at any time.
When we raise our hands, Allah feels sorry for not accepting the dua. Sometimes we experience a wish that we feel in the heart without even moving our lips and just after a short time we see how Allah accepted that dua.
Allah mentions the fast of ramadan, then mentions this ayah about dua. Ibn kathir says that there is wisdom in mentioning the ayah of the dua in the midst of all the rules of fasting, according to him he explains: that the duas at the end of the fast are accepted so we must be particular to make dua at that time.
Rasul (saw) said:
للصائم عند فطره دعوة مستجاب
“The prayer made by one who is fasting at the time of his iftar is accepted”
“Moosa (peace be upon him) said: ‘O Lord, You have honoured me by speaking to me directly. Will You give anyone else something like this?’ And Allah revealed: ‘O Moosa, I have slaves whom I will bring forth at the end of time, and I will honour them with the month of Ramadan, and I will be closer to one of them than to you, because you have spoken to Me when there are 70,000 veils between Me and you, but when the ummah of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) fasts until their lips turn white and their faces turn yellow, I will lift the veil between Me and them at the time they break their fast. O Moosa, glad tidings to the one whose liver thirsts and whose stomach hungers in Ramadan.”
Allah commands the malaika who are around the throne of Allaah to give up their tasbeeh and glorify Allaah and say Amin to the dua of the ummah of Muhammad (saw) at iftaar time.
Our situation today, dear mothers and sisters, is that we do not know the value of this precious month, in that precious hour we are cooking, busy in the kitchen... and we forget about the dua.
May Allah give us the ability to make the most of this month and to make dua in the way that Rasul (saw) taught us. Amen!