2018

The Power of Du’a

Importance of du’a for spiritual, emotional and physical well-being

Ustadha Umm Jamaal ud-Din
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THE POWER OF DU'A

USTADHA UMM JAMAAL UD-DIN

The topic I’ve chosen to speak about today is the power of ad-du’a. And ‫ّللا‬ٰ ‫ ِإن شَا َء‬I am going to looking at
this topic from an aspect that many of you may not have thought about before – which is how connecting to
Allah and making du'a to Him is so important for our spiritual, emotional and physical well-being.

When we think about du'a, the main thing we all tend to focus on is the material outcome of our du'a, and
whether we see our du'a being answered or not. But what most people don't realize, is that the benefits that
can be gained from simply making du'a, upon your spiritual, emotional and physical well-being can often far
outweigh the actual receiving of that thing that you've been making du'a for.

So that’s why today what I want to ‫ّللا‬ٰ ‫ ِإن شَا َء‬share with you are firstly some of the spiritual and emotional
benefits of making du’a, then secondly, the importance of making du’a whenever we are suffering from any
type of physical ailment, and then lastly, I’ll be having a quick look at the secret to making a powerful du’a.

1. SPIRITUAL AND EMOTIONAL BENEFITS OF MAKING DU'A

Closeness to Allah: So first of all, one of the most powerful effects of making du'a, is the closeness that you
feel to Allah each time that you sincerely make du'a to Him. Allah says,

ُ ْ‫ن ۖ فَل ْيَسْتَجِيب ُوا ل ِي و َلْيُؤْم ِن ُوا بِي لَع ََّله ُ ْم يَر‬
﴾ َ‫شد ُون‬ ِ ‫الد‬
ِ ‫اع ِإذ َا د َعَا‬ َّ َ ‫ك عِبَادِي ع َنِي ف َِإنِي ق َرِيبٌ ۖ ُأجِيبُ دَعْوَة‬
َ َ ‫﴿و َِإذ َا سَأَ ل‬

And when My servants ask you [O Muhammad] concerning me - indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the suppliant
when he calls upon Me. So let them respond to Me [by obedience] and believe in Me that they may be [rightly] guided. (Surah al-
Baqarah 2:186)

You are not alone: No matter what you are going through, when you make du'a and you talk to Allah, when
you pour out your problems to Him, you instantly get that feeling that you are not alone. You instantly get
that feeling that you no longer need to bear this problem or this hardship on your own.

Knowing Allah: Because you know that Allah is As-Sami'. You know that Allah is al-Mujeeb li ad-Da'waat
(the One who responds to every du'a). He hears your voice and He is responding to your du'a. And you know
that Allah is 'Aleemun bi zat as-Sudoor (He knows all that is contained within the chests). So He knows all of
the sadness, all of the worries trapped in your heart.

Peace and comfort to the heart: And just feeling that closeness to Allah, and how much He cares for you
brings you the greatest sense of peace and comfort to your heart. This is why I am saying that even if you are
not seeing the material results of that du'a that you are making yet, there are so many other benefits that you

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are getting out of making that du'a, because of how much comfort and peace it is bringing to your heart and
mind and soul.

Allah is taking care of your affairs, no need to carry burdens alone: You've asked Allah and you know
that Allah is taking care of all of your affairs. And you've unloaded all of your problems and burdens to Allah.
And you've realized that you no longer have to carry those burdens on your own.

Relieve and release negative emotions: If you think about Ya'qoob , imagine how tormented his soul
must have felt, losing his most precious and beloved son Yousuf . All those years of not knowing where
he was. But you see how he offloads all of those negative emotions, those toxic feelings and he calls out to
Allah in his beautiful, most heartfelt du'a.

﴾َ‫الله ِ م َا ل َا تَعْلَم ُون‬

َّ ‫ن‬َ ِ ‫الله ِ و َأَ ع ْلَم ُ م‬
َّ ‫ل ِإ َّنمَا أَ شْ كُو ب َثِي وَح ُ ْزنِي ِإلَى‬
َ ‫﴿قَا‬

He said, "Verily I only complain of my grief and sadness to Allah. (Surah Yusuf 12:86)

This is how, when you turn to du'a, it is a means to relieve all of those negative feelings of anxiety about the
future. Because you put your trust in Al-Hayy al-Qayyum, the Ever-Living, the Ever-Sustaining, the One who
is in control of all of your affairs, and you've turned to Him in your du'a.

Healing effect: And it is a means for you to let go of all the sadness and pain in your past. Because you've
turned to Allah and you’ve emptied out of all those sorrows and negative feelings and pain that were trapped
in your heart in your du'a to Him. So this is how du'a, when we call upon Allah with yaqeen, it can have such
a powerful healing effect upon any feelings of stress or anxiety or depression that we might be experiencing.

High levels of inner peace: And so it is through fully utilizing this gift that Allah has given us of making
du'a to Him, that we can achieve high levels of inner peace of mind, body and soul ‫ّللا‬
ٰ ‫إِن شَا َء‬.

2. IMPORTANCE OF MAKING DU'A WHEN WE ARE SUFFERING FROM ANY

PHYSICAL AILMENT

One of the mistakes we all make when we fall sick or suffer from any physical ailment like a headache, is we
fall straight to the material means in seeking a cure. We run to the doctor, we go straight for the medicine, but
we neglect taking the spiritual means that Allah has given us of making du'a to Him. And ‫ سب َحان هللا‬we don't
realize that this is a type of deficiency in our tawheed and our having tawakkul upon Allah ‫ س ْب َحانَه َو تَ َعالَى‬and
reliance upon Him.

Medicine with tawakkul: One of the most important things we need to realize when we take any type of
medicine, is that as long as a medicine is halal, it is permissible for us to take it. And it doesn't negate having
tawakkul on Allah ‫س ْب َحانَه َو تَ َعالَى‬. As long as you are only taking that means while your heart is fully trusting in

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Allah who is the Controller of the effectiveness of that means. But the problem is that many of us tend to
take that means, we take that medicine, and in reality, we let our hearts become attached to that means. So we
believe that it is the medicine or the doctor that can cure us instead of fully depending on Allah ‫س ْب َحانَه َو تَعَالَى‬
and placing our trust and tawakkul in Allah, fully depending on Him.

In reality, He is the only One who can cure you. And it is only by His permission that medicine or that doctor
will be of any benefit to you. So that’s why if you want to have a powerful connection with Allah, if we want
to reach a higher level in our tawheed and tawakkul in Allah, then we need to focus on making sure that we
make du'a for ourselves and our loved ones whenever we fall sick, instead of only resorting to the material
means for the cure.

Ruqyah: And that is why we should fully utilize things like making ar-ruqyah. A lot of people think that ar-
ruqyah is only protecting or curing yourself from the evil eye. And they don't realize that it is actually sunnah
to make ruqyah for yourself even if you are suffering from any type of physical illness.

One of the greatest examples of this, is when our beloved Prophet  was on his deathbed, and Aishah
tells us how the Prophet  was reciting al-Muawidhat, which is the last three surahs of the Quran, Surah al-
Ikhlas, Surah al-Falaq and Surah an-Naas. And so he would recite these three suwar and then blow them into
his hands and then wipe them over himself. And when he became too weak and sick to do that for himself,
then Aishah used to recite those suwar for him, and then she would use his blessed hands to wipe all over
him.

And you may also have heard the story which is in al-Bukhari when one of the sahabah recited Surah al-
Fatihah for a man who was stung by a scorpion. So Surah al-Fatihah also can be used as a ruqyah if you are
suffering from any type of physical ailment.

Besides these, there are also authentic ad'iyah that we can say from the sunnah. And one of these du'as
that we can say is a du'a for ash-shifa, which the Prophet  used to say,

ً ‫ شفا ًء ال يغادر سقما‬،‫ ال شافي إال أنت‬،‫ اشف أنت الشافي‬،‫ مذهب البأس‬،‫اللهم رب الناس‬

Allahumma rabbannas azhib al ba's washfi anta ash-shafi la shifa illa shifaa'uk shifaan la yughadiru saqama.

O Allah, Lord of mankind, remove the affliction, bring the cure, for You are the One who cures, there is no cure except Your
cure, a cure after which no illness remains.

And if you are suffering any pain in your body such as a headache, the Prophet  taught us to place our hand
on the place of the pain and to say three times,

ِ‫ّللا‬ ِ َ ‫ِباس ِْم‬

َ ‫ّللا ِباس ِْم‬ ِ‫ّللا‬
َ ‫ِباس ِْم‬

Bismillah, bismillah, bismillah.

And to say 7 times,

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‫اَّللِ َوقد َْر ِت ِه مِ ْن ش َِر َما أ َ ِجد َوأ َحاذِر‬

َ ‫أَعوذ ِب‬

audhu billahi wa qudratihi min sharri ma ajidu wa uhadhir.

I seek refuge with Allah and His power from the evil of what I feel and of which I am wary of.

3. SECRET TO MAKING A POWERFUL DU'A

Presence of heart: Whether you are making du'a or making ruqyah for yourself, one of the most important
components of having your du'a accepted, is your own internal attitude. Shaykh Ibn al-Qayyim , he said
du’a is like a weapon. But it is only as effective as the person who is wielding that weapon. So that is why, it is
very important that you focus on your presence of heart when making du'a. Focus on pouring out your heart
into du'a, and having yaqeen in Allah that He is going to respond to your du'a.

Don’t focus on our deficiency, focus on Allah’s greatness: Sometimes we might hesitate to make du'a.
We might think that we’re not good enough for Allah to answer us. Or maybe we've fallen into a lot of sins,
or maybe we have a feeling of low self-worth that makes us feel there is no use asking Allah, because we think
we are not good enough for Him to answer us. So it is very important that we stop over-focusing on
deficiency of ourselves, and rather we focus on the greatness and generosity of Allah ‫س ْب َحانَه َو تَ َعالَى‬.

Think about the beautiful names of Allah ‫س ْب َحانَه َو تَ َعالَى‬, such as al-Jawwad, the One who is the most
generous, the One who loves to give, who gives even without being asked. Ar-Rahman, the One who is full
of mercy. Ar-Raheem, the Most Merciful.

The Prophet  tells us in an authentic hadith,

ِ ‫الرجل إِلَ ْي ِه َي َد ْي ِه أ َ ْن َيردَه َما‬

‫ص ْف ًرا خَا ِئ َبتَي ِْن‬ َ ‫ي ك َِري ٌم َي ْستَحِ ي إِذَا َرفَ َع‬ َ َ ‫إِ َن‬
ٌّ ‫ّللا َح ِي‬
Verily your Lord is Generous and Shy. If His servant raises his hands to Him in du'a. He becomes shy to return them empty.

Nothing is too great, nothing too trivial for Allah: So never feel that what you are asking is too great to
ask from Allah because nothing is too great for Allah. Never think that what you are asking is too worthless
to ask Him, because nothing is too trivial or too small to ask from Allah . Aishah tells us, ask Allah
even if it is just for your shoelace that became broken or untied.

We need to realize that Allah loves us to ask from Him. He loves us to ask from Him and He loves to give:
He never gets tired from us asking from Him, unlike the creation of Allah, they quickly get tired when asked
for something. Because we have to remember that Allah loves to give and He loves to be asked to give from
His bounty.

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Call Allah with His names: So call upon Allah sincerely with your du'a. Call upon Allah with His beautiful
names and His attributes - ya Rahman, ya Raheem, ya Kareem.

Hope from Allah alone: Empty out your heart from having hopes from anyone else, and fill it with having
hope only in Allah alone.

Poverty in front of Allah: And also realize your poorness and brokenness before Allah. And realize the only
way out from your trial, the only way out from your sickness, the only way out to find your light in the
darkness is through Allah ‫س ْب َحانَه َو تَعَالَى‬. The secret to having your du'a accepted is showing to Allah your
absolute need and your absolute poverty to Allah ‫س ْب َحانَه َو تَعَالَى‬.

This is why the Prophet  tells us that if anyone makes the same du'a that Younus  made when he was in
the stomach of the whale, that Allah will answer their du'a. And if they are in a type of distress, Allah ‫س ْب َحانَه َو‬
‫ تَ َعالَى‬will take them out of that distress by the virtue of du'a. When he said

َ ‫﴿ َال إِلَ ٰـهَ إِ َال أَنتَ س ْب َحانَكَ إِنِي كنت مِ نَ ال‬

﴾ َ‫ظالِمِ ين‬

La ilaha illa ant subhanaka inni kuntu min az-zaalimeen.

Why is this du'a so powerful? Because first of all, he mentions tawheed, he mentions tawheed of ‫ال ِإ ٰلهَ إِ َال ٱلل‬,
َ
then he glorifies Allah, and after that he admits his poorness to Allah.

CONCLUSION

Realize that turning to Allah for all of your needs and making du'a to Him has a powerful effect on your
spiritual, emotional and physical well-being. I ask Allah to help us to always be from al-Mutawakkileen, those
who do tawakkul upon Allah, in making du'a to Allah for all of our needs, whether big or small. I ask Allah to
make all of our du'a a means to heal our pain, a means to remove our sadness and worry, and a means to cure
us from every type of sickness that we are suffering from.

And I leave you with the words of Shaykh ibn al-Qayyim ,

Therefore, if the pains of this world tire you, do not grieve, for it may be that Allah wishes to hear your voice by way of ad-du'a.
So pour out your desires in prostration and forget about it and know that verily Allah does not forget.

YOUTUBE LINK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoKJlkdrgP8

THE POWER OF DU’A USTADHA UMM JAMAAL UD-DIN