What Does It Mean When I Decided Not to Ask Allah for Anything?
Answered by Ustadha Shazia Ahmad
Question
I’m a teenager who has given up on life and has anger towards Allah for forcing me to live where my life has only pain and suffering. When praying, I said to Allah, “I won’t ask anything from Allah anymore.” The next day while on the bus, I felt faint and ended up asking for help from Allah because I thought I was going to faint on the bus. What’s the meaning of this?
Answer
Thank you for your question. May Allah give you patience and fill your heart with awe and gratitude to your Creator.
Gratitude
Allah Most High has told us in the Quran: “And (remember) when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will certainly give you more. But if you are ungrateful, surely My punishment is severe.’” [Quran, 14:7]
Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah be pleased with him), in his Madarij al-Salikin, explained how to show gratitude to Allah when he said, “Showing gratitude (shukr) is either with the heart by being submissive and tranquil or content; with the tongue by praising (Allah) and acknowledging (His favors); and with the limbs by performing acts of worship and showing obedience.”
Turn to Allah
Shaykh Faraz Rabbani and Shaykh Amjad Tarsin mentioned at a seminar at SeekersGuidance:
Gratitude is a type of happiness, but it’s not happiness at the blessing, because that kind of gratitude, that kind of happiness or appreciation, will turn you away from Allah Most High. That’s why happiness and rejoicing and blessings can be a more difficult test than sadness and feeling down and being in difficulty. When you’re in difficulty, anyone with some faith in their heart, if you’re in difficulty what do you do? Turn to Allah. The difficulty ends up being good for you. You had difficulty, and you turned to Allah.
When pleasing things happen, when success happens, when joyous things take place in your life, naturally, you rejoice. You feel happy. But the key that distinguishes gratitude or religiously consequential gratitude is that it’s not just feeling happy, it’s not just feeling satisfied, it’s the hearts rejoicing at the bestower of blessings. It’s rejoicing with Allah for having given you that blessing.
Allah Most High tells us in the Quran: “You have no blessing except that it is from Allah.” [Quran, 16:53]
He also tells us: “Say! In the bounty of Allah and His mercy, in that let them rejoice. It is far better than the things that they amass.” [Quran, 10:58]
Problems
Problems, pain, and suffering do exist, and there is little we can do to prevent it. If Allah has decreed this, our job as believers is to respond with faith, gratitude, and patience. I believe in your case, you saw the very next day that a person cannot go for the blink of an eye with Allah’s help, and that is what Allah clearly showed you. I urge you to flee to Him rather than from Him. Please say this dua:
”اللّهُـمَّ رَحْمَتَـكَ أَرْجـو، فَلا تَكِلـني إِلى نَفْـسي طَـرْفَةَ عَـيْن، وَأَصْلِـحْ لي شَأْنـي كُلَّـه، لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا أنْـت.“
“O Allah, I hope for Your mercy. Do not leave me to myself even for the blinking of an eye (i.e., a moment). Correct all of my affairs for me. There is none worthy of worship but You.” [Abu Dawud]
Please see these links as well:
- What Should I Expect from Allah? Anxious and Bitter
- Calming the Storm Within: Controlling Your Anger
- Channeling Anger for the Doing of Good – Nurulain Wolhuter
- How Can I Manage The Problems In My Life?
- Problems in My Life.
May Allah give you the best of this world and the next.
[Ustadha] Shazia Ahmad
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Ustadha Shazia Ahmad lived in Damascus, Syria, for two years, where she studied aqidah, fiqh, tajweed, tafsir, and Arabic. She then attended the University of Texas at Austin and completed her Master’s in Arabic. Afterward, she moved to Amman, Jordan, where she studied fiqh, Arabic, and other sciences. She later moved back to Mississauga, Canada, where she lives with her family.
