Advanced search
Visit
8878
Last Updated: 2011/10/23
Summary of question
If every wish is supposed to be granted through dua, then what is our own role in our lives?
question
If every wish is supposed to be granted through dua, then what is our own role in our lives? Is it not better for a man to be industrious and hardworking rather than to engage himself in dua?
Concise answer

The religion of Islam is a religion that combines between the exterior and the interior, the material and spiritual aspects. God is the creator of the wind and cloud, and rainfall depends on the rules which He has embedded in the nature, yet God says that the cause of rainfall is people's faith and piety. [1]

God, the Sublime, has laid out the entire affairs of this world on the basis of order and wisdom; He has fixed a cause for every phenomenon and every event. It is not possible to attain an objective except through its special cause or causes.

First of all, one must move ahead and should pray to God to help him tread in the right path so that he may achieve his desired goal. This is the meaning of dua and seeking divine assistance. A dua is fulfilled only when we endeavor to achieve our goal using its specific means and causes, and pray to God to help us achieve the goal.

One who prays for something, he also puts all his will and efforts into it; but when the occurrence of something is not linked with our will only and there are a lot of other factors involved in order for it to be actualized, then we pray to God, the Cause of all causes, to make other means or causes available for us. If you go through Shiite revayāt (traditions), you will find out that they have been very well combined together. On the one hand we have been instructed to pray for the fulfillment of our wishes, on the other hand we must strive towards achieving it.

Imam Sadiq (a.s) says: "God does not do a task without its means." [2] In some other traditions, those individuals have been introduced whose duas (supplications) are not fulfilled. They are people who do not give importance to hard work and endeavor and wish God to grant them everything. He who does not toil to earn something and expects God to give him sustenance, his dua will not be fulfilled. [3]

Therefore, dua has a very important role in the solution of our problems but it does not at all mean that hard work and endeavor do not pay.

Related links:

1. Question 15808 (site: 15646) The Circumstances under which a Dua is Fulfilled.

2. Question 2145 (site: 2269) Conditions and Ways of Fulfillment of Dua

3. Question 397 (site: 413) The Relationship between Dua and Individual Effort for Marriage



[1] - "And if the people of the towns had believed and guarded (against evil) We would certainly have opened up for them blessings from the heaven and the earth, but they rejected, so We overtook them for what they had earned. " [Al-A'araf: 96]

[2] - Al-Kaafi, pg. 183, excerpted from question 2900 (site: 3109). Of course, it should be noted that generally God does not grant a wish unless it is accompanied with its means. That is because God wants mankind not to depend on material causes very much and not to ignore God's roles in their affairs. God does certain actions without the involvement of their natural causes such as the creation of Prophet Jesus without father.

[3] - Al-Kafi, vol.5, pg. 77.

Detailed Answer
This question does not have a detailed answer.
Question translations in other languages
Comments
Number of comments 0
Please enter the value
Example : Yourname@YourDomane.ext
Please enter the value
Please enter the value

Thematic Category

Random questions

  • What is the meaning of self-consciousness according to the Holy Quran?
    17982 Exegesis 2015/04/18
    According to the Quran, self-consciousness means realization of one's own self through nourishing or nurturing and reviving one's own inner and inborn talents and potentialities followed by a profound understanding of the realities of the universe and divine attributes. Self-consciousness has various degrees and it is of ...
  • Is there a problem in paying off one's debt in the evening or after dark?
    7251 Laws and Jurisprudence 2009/03/12
    Continue... ...
  • Will a husband and wife, after leaving this world, live together in paradise?
    14652 Traditional 2009/10/22
    The specific conditions and details of how we will live in the next world are not completely known to anyone except the infallibles (masoomeen). With this in mind the relationship between a husband and a wife is something that is related to this world and pious women are ...
  • What is the meaning of mutawatir and ma'roof traditions?
    10523 Contextual study 2014/10/01
    For information about the meaning of mutawatir traditions and its various types, see index "the criterion for verbal, spiritual and ambiguous mutawatir traditions", question 2412. Ma'ruf Hadith Different definitions have been presented for Ma'ruf tradition: 1. A ma'ruf tradition is one whose text and it is content ...
  • How can I repent from an illegitimate sexual relationship I had with one whom I planned to marry?
    9030 Laws and Jurisprudence 2010/11/22
    Zina or fornication (in Islamic terms, which is the subject of certain Islamic laws) means for a man’s penis to enter the vagina or anus of a woman until the glans is completely enveloped without the two being married or at least ‘similar to married’ (“similar to married” ...
  • Is it permissible to eat chips containing porcine enzymes?
    8238 Laws and Jurisprudence 2012/01/19
    The grand maraji’ responded to this inquiry like this:The office of the grand Ayatullah Khamenei:In the case of the question it isn't permissible.The office of the grand Ayatullah Makarem Shirazi:It isn’t permissible.The office of the grand Ayatullah Safi Golpaygani:If ...
  • Please let me how to get rid of masturbation?
    10527 Practical 2015/01/05
    Sin is like a foul-smelling swamp full of sewage; the more one sinks into it, the less he senses its smell, because he actually loses his sense of smell and can't tell that he is drowning anymore. At the same time, anytime one makes a strong decision ...
  • Is the story of the wedding of Hadrat Qasim in Karbala true or false?
    31431 تاريخ بزرگان 2012/10/01
    One of the concocted stories regarding the epic of Ashura is the story of the marriage of Qasim bin Al-Hasan (as), a story which has no basis and which has not been related by any authentic and reliable sources. In addition, such a thing is not rationally ...
  • Do my feet become najis when I walk on wet pavement that a dog has walked on?
    10868 Laws and Jurisprudence 2008/07/21
    If rainwater or any other water gathers in a ditch and is less than kur (there is a difference of opinion on what amount is exactly kur, and there are different ways of measuring it, according to Imam Khomeini, one way is that if ...
  • What is the Sunni opinion on Bilal al-Habashi?
    14612 تاريخ بزرگان 2008/07/02
    What Sunni references say about the great sahabi, Bilal, is that he was freed by Abu Bakr, a resistant believer against the tortures of the Kuffar, the Prophet's Mu'adhin, and one of the Mujahidin (soldiers) of Islam in different battles alongside the Prophet (pbuh). After the Prophet's demise, he ...

Popular