Ala-Maududi
(40:60) Your[82] Lord said: “Pray to Me, and I will accept yourprayers.[83] Surely those who wax too proud to worship Me shall enter Hell, utterlyabased.”[84]
82. After the Hereafter, the discourse now turns to Tauhid which was the second point of disputebetween the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the disbelievers.
83. That is, all the powers to answer our prayers rest in Me only; so you should not pray toothers but pray to Me. To understand the spirit of this verse well, three points should becomprehended properly:
First, man prays only to that being whom he regards as All- Hearing and All-Seeing and Possessorof supernatural powers. And the real motive of prayer for man is the internal feeling that thenatural means and resources of the material world are not enough to remove any of his troublesand to fulfill any of his needs, or are not proving to be enough. Therefore, it is inevitablethat he should turn to a being who is possessor of supernatural powers and authority. Maninvokes that Being even without having seen Him; he invokes Him at all times, at all places, andunder all circumstances; he invokes Him in solitude, aloud as well as in a low voice, and evenin the depths of his heart. He does so inevitably on the basis of the belief that that Being iswatching him everywhere, is also hearing whatever he has in his heart, and possesses suchabsolute powers that, it can come to the help of the supplicant wherever he is, and can help himout of every trouble and difficulty. After having known this truth about the prayer, it remainsno longer difficult for man to understand that the one who invokes another than Allah for help,commits shirk absolutely and purely and clearly, for he believes those attributes to bebelonging to the other being, which only belong to Allah. Had he not believed the other being tobe an associate of Allah in the divine attributes, he would never have even thought of invokingit for help.
Second, one should fully understand that man’s merely thinking about a being that it is thepossessor of powers and authority, does not necessitate that it should actually become possessorof the powers and authority. Being possessor of powers and authority is a factual matter, whichis not dependent on somebody’s understanding or not understanding it. The one who is actuallythe Possessor of the powers will in any case remain the Possessor whether man regards Him so ornot. And the one who is not in reality the possessor, will not be able to have any sharewhatever in the powers only because man has believed it to be possessing the powers. Now, thefact of the matter is that the Being Who is All-Powerful, All-Hearing, All-Seeing, and Who isactually controlling the whole Universe is only Allah, and He alone is Possessor of all powersand authority. There is none else in this Universe, who may have any power to hear the prayersand to answer them or reject them. As against this factual matter, if some people of themselvesstart entertaining the belief that some prophets, saints, angels, jinns, planets or imaginarygods also are share-holders in the powers, the reality will not change in any way whatsoever.The Owner will remain the Owner and the helpless servants will remain the servants.
Thirdly, the one who invokes others than Allah behaves like the supplicant who takes his petitionto a government office, but leaving aside the real officer who has authority, presents it beforeone of the other supplicants who may be present there with his petition, and then startsimploring him humbly, saying: you possess all the powers, and yours is the only authority here;so, you alone can fulfill my needs. Such a conduct, in the first place, is in itself highlyfoolish, but in a case like this it also amounts to high insolence, because the real officer whohas the authority, is present and before his very eyes applications and petitions are being madebefore another, apart from him. Then this ignorance and folly reaches its height when the personbefore whom the petition is being presented makes the petitioner understand over and over againthat he himself is a petitioner like him and possesses no power at all, and that the realofficer who has the powers is present, and he should make his petition before him. But in spiteof this counsel and warning, the foolish person goes on saying: You are my lord, you alone canfulfill my need.
Keeping these three things in view, one should try to understand what Allah has said here: Callupon Me, I shall answer your prayers, it is for Me to accept them.
84. Two things deserve special attention in this verse:
(1) Dua (prayer) and ibadat (worship) have been used as synonyms here. The prayer of the firstsentence has been called worship in the second. This makes it explicit that prayer itself isworship, rather the essence of worship.
(2) The words “Who disdain My worship” have been used for those who do not pray to Allah. Thisshows that praying to Allah is the very requirement of one’s servitude to Him, and turning awayfrom Him amounts to being vain and arrogant.
According to Numan bin Bashir, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: The prayer is the veryessence of worship. Then he recited this verse. (Ahmad, Tirmidhi, Abu Daud, Nasai, Ibn Majah,Ibn Abu Hatim, Ibn Jarir). According to Anas, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Prayer isthe marrow of worship. (Trimidhi). Abu Hurairah says that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:Allah becomes angry with him who does not ask Him for anything. (Tirmidhi).
In the light of the above, the enigma that often causes confusion in the minds is also resolved.In connection with prayer, people say that when the evil or the good destiny is in the controlof Allah and whatever He has already decreed in accordance with His dominant wisdom andexpedience has to take place inevitably. What is then the use of the prayer? This is a seriousmisunderstanding which destroys the importance of prayer from the heart of man, and with thisfalse notion even if man prays, his prayer would be soulless. The above verse of the Quranremoves this misunderstanding in two ways:
In the first place, Allah says in clear words: Call upon Me: I will answer your prayers. Thisproves that fate or destiny is not something which, God forbid, might have tied the hands ofAllah Himself also, and the powers to answer the prayer might have been withdrawn from Him. Thecreatures have no power to avert or change the decrees of Allah: but Allah Himself certainly hasthe power to change His decrees and decisions on hearing a servant’s prayer and petition. Theother thing that has been stated in this verse is that whether a prayer is accepted or not, itis never without an advantage. The servant by presenting his petition before his Lord and bypraying to Him acknowledges His Lordship and Supremacy and admits his own servitude andhelplessness before Him. This expression of servitude is in itself worship, rather the essenceof worship of whose reward the servant will in no case be deprived, irrespective of whether heis granted the particular thing for which he had prayed or not.
We get a full explanation of these two themes in the sayings of the Prophet (peace be upon him).The following traditions throw light on the first theme. Salman Farsi relates that the Prophet(peace be upon him) said: Nothing can avert destiny but the prayer. (Tirmidhi). That is, no onehas the power to change the decisions of Allah but Allah Himself can change His decisions, andthis happens when the servant prays to Him.
Jabir bin Abdullah says that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Whenever man prays to Allah,Allah either gives him the same which he prayed for, or prevents a calamity of the same degreefrom befalling him provided that he does not pray for a sin or for severing relations with thekindred. (Tirmidhi). Another Hadith on the same subject has been reported by Abu Saeed Khudri inwhich the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Whenever a Muslim prays, unless it be a prayer for asin or for severing relations with a kindred, Allah grants it in one of the three ways: Eitherhis prayer is granted in this very world, or it is preserved for rewarding him in the Hereafter,or a disaster of the same degree is prevented from befalling him. (Musnad Ahmad).
Abu Hurairah says that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Whenever one of you prays, he shouldnot say: O God, forgive me if You so please, show me mercy if You so please, grant me provisionsif You so please, but he should say definitely: O God, fulfill my such and such need. (Bukhari).According to another tradition from Abu Hurairah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Pray toAllah with the certainty that He will answer it. (Tirmidhi). In still another tradition AbuHurairah has reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: The servant’s prayer is grantedprovided that he does not pray for a sin or for severing connections with the kindred, and isnot hasty. It was asked: What is being hasty, O Messenger of Allah? He replied: Being hasty isthat man should say: I have prayed much, too much, but I see that my prayer is nor beinganswered. Then he should be tired of it and give up praying. (Muslim). The other theme isexplained by the following traditions:
Abu Hurairah relates that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Nothing is as praiseworthy in thesight of Allah as the prayer. (Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah).
Ibn Masud says that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Ask of Allah His bounty, because Allahlikes that He should be asked. (Tirmidhi).
Ibn Umar and Muadh bin Jabal state that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: The prayer is inany case beneficial, both with respect to those calamities which have descended and with respectto those which have not yet descended. So, O servants of Allah, you must always pray. (Tirmidhi,Musnad Ahmad). Anas says that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Each one of you should askhis every need of Allah; so much so that even if his shoe-lace breaks, he should pray for it toAllah. (Tirmidhi). That is, even in matters which man feels are in his own power, he shouldinvoke Allah’s help for it before planning his own devices for it, for in no matter can mansucceed only on the basis of his own devices without the help and succor of Allah, and prayingbefore devising plans means that the servant is at all times acknowledging the supremacy ofAllah and admitting his own helplessness.