An Easy Way to Understand and Invoke Allah for a Happier Life

In the name of Allah, The Merciful, The Beneficent.

Alhamdulillah… Infinite praise and thanks are due to the Almighty Allah, who enjoined us to invoke Him alone, in order to attain the happiness of this life and the next. Complete blessings and salutations are to the most submissive servant of Allah who has ever invoked and has effectively taught us how to invoke Him, Sayyidinā Muhammad, his household, his companions, and all those who follow his guided path.

This is a quick piece that teaches you an easy way to understand the concept of du’a and how to invoke Allah for a happier life.

When We Invoke Allah for the Hereafter

When we invoke Allah and ask for guidance, He grants us guidance us. Similarly, when we invoke Him and ask for forgiveness, He forgives us. Best still, when we invoke Him and ask for mercy, He bestows upon us His mercy.

The good news is, when He grants us any, or all of the above, He also adds on to them our other needs for survival in this life, that we didn’t ask for, in the invocation.

This is because, whatever our worldly needs are, no matter how gigantic they are, they can only fall second our need for His guidance, mercy and forgiveness. In addition to our constant need for His protection.

When We Invoke Allah for Worldly Matters Only

On the other hand, when we invoke Him and specifically ask for something worldly, that and only, say success in an exam, success in accomplishing a certain project, securing a dream job, winning the heart of that crush, traveling to the dreamland, and you name it, He may grant us them. And He may not grant them for us.

Yes… He’ll grant them for us, if they’re good for us. And when He grants them, He will grant just that. Because that’s what asked for. It’s only if we’re lucky that He will inspire us to ask for guidance, so He will grant them to us. Do you know why? Because we have asked Him. We have invoked Him. Him and only.

When it comes to worldly matters, man may turn to Allah, and he may, if not guided turn to the Devil. The good news is that when one turns to Allah, even if it’s to ask for a worldly matter only, then he’s carrying out a form of ‘Ibādah. This is because du‘a’ or invoking Allah is one of the essential pillars that strengthens the Muslim’s creed and keeps him away from associating partners with Allah. In a ḥadīth narrated by Sayyidunā al-Nu’mān Ibn al-Bashīr raḍiya Allāhu ’anhu, the Prophet ṣallā Allāhu ’alayhi wa sallam says:

إِنَّ الدُّعَاءَ هُوَ العِبَادَةُ

“Du'a' is the very essence of worship”

And the Difference?

As mentioned above, when it comes to worldly affairs, many may choose evil means to attain material possessions. How often do we see someone invoking Allah to allow Him access to commit a crime, to commit Zina, to watch pornography, or to involve in corruption? He’ll rather turn to fortune-tellers and engage sorcery and end up invoking the Devil. Isn’t it?

However, when he wants to quit these same acts, i.e., Zina, pornography, corruption, and any form of evil, the only way out he will think of is to knock on the door of Allah, invoke Him and restart afresh with Him, where possible or applicable.

When We Can’t See the Outcome of Our Invocations

Often a time, we become disappointed or demotivated when we (wrongly) feel that our invocations to Allah were not retuned unaccepted. This happens because we can’t see the outcome of our invocations. However, if we’re to be honest to ourselves, we’ll admit, that this happens to invocations we made or continue to make asking for specific worldly matters. Again, think of when you invoke Allah asking for success in an exam, success in accomplishing a certain project, securing a dream job, winning the heart of that crush, traveling to the dream land, and you name it.

While that may be the case when we invoke Allah pertain to worldly affairs, you can hardly feel or find someone who feels disappointed or demotivated that he invoked Allah pertaining to the matters of His Hereafter and got his invocations returned unanswered.

It’s important for the Muslim to understand this. Once this understanding is established, it’ll be a matter of time, and you’ll no longer feel your invocations (du‘a’s) are unanswered.

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The Takeaway…

In summary, if you invoke Allah and ask for the Hereafter, He will surely grant it for you. Because that’s something you need. And there’s no success nor salvation if one fails to attain his Hereafter… that is admission into Jannah. This is in addition to the fact that He will also take care of your worldly needs in this dunyā.

However, if you invoke Him and ask for this dunyā only, He may or may not grant it for you. Either way, because you asked him, and did not associate partners with him in the process, He’ll inspire you with guidance. Insha Allah.

But if you go for dunyā only without seeking it through Him, it’s going to be a big waste. As you’ll definitely attain what is meant for you in this dunyā, but nothing more. And in the Hereafter, one will never be able to stand the torment of Hell.

مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ نَزِدْ لَهُۥ فِى حَرْثِهِۦ ۖ وَمَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ حَرْثَ ٱلدُّنْيَا نُؤْتِهِۦ مِنْهَا وَمَا لَهُۥ فِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ مِن نَّصِيبٍ ﴿٢٠﴾ـ

Whoever desires the harvest of the Hereafter, We shall grant an increase in his harvest. And whoever desires the harvest of this world, We may give him something thereof, but he will have no share in the Hereafter. (Sūrah al-Shūrā, 42:20).

May He safeguard us and our loved ones from the torment of Hell. And may He grant us and our loved ones the happiness of this life and the next. Allāhumma āmīn!

Allāhu Ḥāfiẓ 🙂