How can a person supplicate and not be answered even though Allah says:
"Invoke Me, I will answer you."
All praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds, and I send peace
and salutations upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his
family and companions. I ask Allah, the Most High to grant me and
my Muslim brothers success in attaining rightness in belief, speech
and action.
Allah, the Almighty, the All-Powerful says:
"And your Lord said: Invoke Me, I will respond to your
(invocation). Verily, those who are too arrogant to worship
me, they will surely enter Hell disgraced!" [Ghafir: ٦٠]
وَقَالَ رَبُّكُمُ ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ عَنْ عِبَادَتِي سَيَدْخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِينَ
The questioner says that he supplicated to Allah the Almighty, the
All-Powerful, but Allah did not answer his invocation, and thus he is
confused about how to reconcile this with the noble verse, in which
Allah has promised those who call upon him that He would answer
their supplication; and surely, Allah does not break His Promise.
So, the answer to this is that there are prerequisites which should be
fulfilled for the prayer to be answered, and they are:
1. Sincerity towards Allah, the Most Glorified, the Most High i.e. a
person must be sincere in his supplication; he should turn towards
Allah with an attentive (and focused) heart, having recourse to Him
earnestly, knowing that He - the Almighty, the All Powerful - is able
to answer hisinvocation, and be hopeful for a response from Allah,
the Most Glorified, the Most High.
2. That when supplicating, a person should feel that he is in the
utmost want, rather: dire need of Allah, the Most Glorified, the Most
High. And that it is Allah alone Who responds to the supplication of
the distressed when he calls upon Him, and relieves the suffering. On
the other hand, if he supplicates Allah, the Almighty, the AllPowerful, while feeling that he is self-sufficient, and not in dire need
of Allah; and he supplicates as a mere routine, then such a person is
not worthy of being answered.
3. That the one supplicating avoids consuming what is Haram
(usury, stolen money etc.) because devouring Haram is an obstacle to
his supplication being answered. This is proven by the Hadith narrated
in As-Sahih (of Imam Muslim) in which the Prophet Η said:
"Allah is Good and He accepts only that which is good. And
Allah commanded the believers as He commanded the
Messengers". For He, the Most High said:
"O you who believe! Eat of the good things that We have
provided you with and be grateful to Allah if it is indeed He
Whom you worship."[Al-Baqarah: ١٧٢]
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا كُلُوا مِنْ طَيِّبَاتِ مَا رَزَقْنَاكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لِلَّهِ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ إِيَّاهُ تَعْبُدُونَ
And He, the Most High said:
"O Messengers! Eat of the good things and do righteousdeeds.” [Al-Mu'minun: ٥١]
يَا أَيُّهَا الرُّسُلُ كُلُوا مِنَ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَاعْمَلُوا صَالِحًا ۖ إِنِّي بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ عَلِيمٌ
The Prophet ﷺ then mentioned a person who makes a long journey,
his hair unkempt and covered with dust; he lifts his hands towards the
sky (invoking): 'O Lord! O Lord!' whereas his food is Haram, and his
clothes are Haram, and he has been nourished with Haram. The
Prophet ﷺ said:
"So how then can his supplication be answered?"(١)
So, the Prophet ﷺ regarded it as unlikely that this man's prayer will
be answered in spite of him having used all the apparent means
through which prayers are more likely to be answered. Those apparent
means are:
١. Raising the hands towards the heavens, i.e. towards Allah, the
Almighty, the All-Powerful because He is in the heavens, above His
Throne. Extending out one's hand to Allah is one of the means of
having one's prayer answered, as is shown by the Hadith narrated by
Imam Ahmad in his Musnad:
"Verily Allah is Bashful and Generous, He is embarrassed
from turning His slave down empty-handed when he raises
his hands towards Him."
٢. This man called upon Allah, the Most High by His name
"Ar-Rabb" (The Lord) saying: "O Lord! O Lord!" And invoking Allah
by this Name is one of the means of having one's supplication
answered. This is because is "The Lord" means the Creator, the
Owner, and the Disposer of all affairs; in His Hand are the keys of the
heavens and the earth. And this is why you find that most of the
supplications mentioned in the Noble Qur'an are by this Name.