What is the point of making du'a (prayer)?

What is the point of making Du'a?

We all desire for things in life. You want something, I want something, we all want something. Though, this eternal cycle of desire is not the purpose of our article here. Rather, it is over what we do when we want something. 

I want you to remember the last time you wanted something, it could be anything; job promotion, new phone, a romantic partner. Now, ask yourself: did you really want it? 

Of course you did, otherwise, you wouldn't have remembered anything. Now, ask yourself, what did you do in order to get that thing? You may have done nothing, confining it to your fantasies, or you may have got to work and made sure you acquired that thing. Perhaps you tried at first, then gave up. 

Whatever the case, there is a common factor in all cases:  hope. 

Whether you believe in a higher power or not, you still believe in powers greater than yourself. Even the most adamant of solipsists are still terrified by the power of that mind whom Descartes called 'the Devil', that feeds the illusions. Hence, even if you yourself put in the effort to acquire the object of desire, say the job promotion, you still put faith in external factors, the system of the universe. If your boss hated giving out promotions, he would have never given you the job promotion. 

Napoleon only conquered most of Europe by luck. If not, then he would have conquered the whole world.

 

This is the hope behind desire. 

Thus, the highest manifestation of hope in external factors is supplication, the act of praying to God, the Lord of the Universe. In His hands is all power, so why wouldn't we ask Him? 

But there remains a problem: why should we ask Him? 

The Problem

When you desire a job promotion, your boss will either promote you, or he will decide against it. Understand: when a thing is hoped for, it will either occur, or it will not occur. In propositional logic, it can be put forth as "if A, then either B or C." (A variation of Constructive dilemma). 

Now, God has two attributes.

Firstly, He is all-knowing. So, He knows all things, whether they exist in the blurry haze of the past, or the dark shadows of the future. 

Secondly, He is above the bounds of time, so He sees the past, present, future all in one. This is a reality which we cannot comprehend as beings confined to the boundaries of space-time. A man without a tongue does not understand anything by the words 'bitter' or 'sweet'.

So, let A be your job promotion, then either B (you will get promoted), or C (you will not get promoted). Since you want A, you hope for C. However, if God knows B will occur, your hope will not be fulfilled. What do you do? 

The answer is supplication. You make prayer to Him in advance so that He may answer your call and change His decree of 'B' to your hope -C. 

Now that He has changed His decree to 'C', ask yourself: 
'Did my prayer influence God's decree?'

If yes, then did God not already know (before the original decree of 'B') that you will pray? If He did, then your prayer did not change anything. 
If no, then you were going to receive the job promotion anyways. 
So, what is the point of supplicating? 

Not really a Problem...

The theologians would take a problem with the premise: "if no, then you were going to receive the job promotion anyways."

This is not true

Know that man has two elements. The first is that by which he may break a glass or knock over a chair; interact with the physical realm. The second is that by which he may interact with the angels, as the Prophets and the Saints did, as well as live on in the hereafter. 

Call the former his 'material' element, and the latter his 'spiritual' element.

Take this sentence:

'Even if you had not knocked over the glass, you would have broken it.'

It is saying that since God had decreed for this hypothetical glass to be broken, it would have broken even if the person had not knocked it over. 

This is clearly nonsense. The glass broke because it was knocked over. God does not decree facts in isolation. If He decreed for it to break, He also decreed why it will break. 

So, from perspective, the sentence is true. The 'breaking' will happen. What the speaker does not see, is that the glass breaking is dependent on whether or not it gets knocked. It is clear to all that the effect is conditioned upon its cause. 

Now, take a sentence with a 'spiritual' element:

'Even if you had not made du'a, you would have still gotten the job promotion from your company manager.'

What the speaker does not see is that du'a is one factor by which a human may be a spiritual effect on the world around him. In other words, the effect is the job promotion, and the cause is the du'a. 

Although there was no physical effort from the person, he still attained the job promotion.

This is because, ultimately, God is the controller of everything. From Him all things originate and find their existence. In His system, He can allow spiritual phenomena to develop from physical actions, like granting life to an embryo. Similarly, He can also cause physical phenomena from spiritual actions, like a job promotion from a du'a. 

The mystics would develop this further by reminding you that there is reward to be gained from praying to God. It is a means of benefit for the worshipper either in this world, or in the afterlife, regardless of whether or not it is granted. 

Abu Saeed (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Prophet (upon whom be peace) said:

“There is no Muslim who does not offer any du’a in which there is no sin or severing of family ties but Allah will give him one of three things in return: either He will answer his du’a sooner, or he will store it up for him in the Hereafter, or He will divert an equivalent evil away from him because of it.” They said: “We will say a lot of du’aa’.” He said: “Allah is more generous.”*

 

Related: Why is intention important? 

 

 The existentialists maintained that such acts of worship aid the human in his discovery of himself and his connection to existence and the Lord of creation. Through such acts, and the acceptance of 'faith', a person can attain true happiness and peace amongst a world of coldness and emotional darkness. 

It is the torch guiding you upon your path to Allah Himself. 

The Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard declares:

"The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays."

After all, worship is not for God, it's for you**. 

There is no help except with Allah 

See: What is Islam really?

*Ahmad (10749)

**That is to say, Allah gave 'worship' to benefit mankind, not to deceive benefit from it Himself.