Rania Awaad – A Car Wreck With A Drunk Driver Was The Answer To Her Dua

And this woman's conference, and there's a sister

that I would meet year after year after

year after year, and her story was always

very similar.

It was always, please, Dr. Anya, make dua

for me.

I'm trying to raise my children Muslim and

to pray, but I don't have any support

from my husband.

He doesn't pray, and he's not interested in

trying.

And on top of it all, it seemed

like every year was getting worse and worse.

He was kind of spiraling into difficult habits,

in this case, it was literally alcoholism.

And she said to me, how do you

convince children to pray and to keep up

that fard that Allah has asked us to

when there's literally not just someone not praying,

but openly sinning in front of us?

I kept giving her advice and saying the

thing I would hear my teacher say very

often, never, ever, ever downplay the power of

dua when you think you've tried everything you

can possibly try.

Then one year, in one of the conferences,

a sister came up, and she said, Dr.

Anya, and you don't recognize me?

And she's like, I'm so-and-so.

And I'm like, so-and-so?

Wallahi, I truly, truly could not recognize her.

And she said, oh, I have to tell

you I need dua, and I thought I'm

going to hear the same story that I've

been hearing for many years.

And she said, but this time it had

to do with her daughter.

And I said, Khair.

And she got in a terrible car wreck.

Oh, subhanAllah.

And she said, oh, no, no, no.

She's okay now.

I said, okay, alhamdulillah.

But you have to understand, that is a

good thing.

And I said, how could a car wreck

possibly be a good thing?

And then she said, when that happened, the

person who had hit her was a drunk

driver.

And for whatever reason, it snapped.

Her husband, who had been in this alcoholic

stupor for so long, snapped him out of

it.

And when you know somebody who's been drinking

for a long time, you can't just sort

of cold turkey very easily.

You cannot.

SubhanAllah, it takes time.

But this man, cold turkey.

And then she points over there where the

masjid was.

And she goes, he's there.

And I was like, he's there?

This man who refused to pray, who refused

to everything.

And we would say counseling, refused counseling.

My imam, talked to an imam, refused the

imam.

Wouldn't even step foot in the masjid.

Was literally in the muslimah.

And she said, he cold turkey, stopped the

alcohol, got clean, got better, started praying.

And he was now fully involved in this

family.

After years and years and years and years

of her complaints.

And she said, you always said the power

of dua.

And I thought, la ilaha illallah.

I mean, sometimes, not always do you hear

the full ending of a story, necessarily.

But this was amazing.

Look at the story of the sister.

You know what she said to me?

She said, I'm making dua that my husband

would finally come back to Islam and stop

the sin that he was doing.

I didn't expect that the one who responds

would respond with a wreck, car wreck from

my daughter.

She didn't expect that was going to be

the circle of response.

But Allah chooses to do things the way

He chooses.

And so even when you feel like a

person, you're going to give up on them,

don't.

Because Allah doesn't give up on us.

Even if you've given up on yourself about

something, don't.

Because Ar-Raheem has not given up on

you.

And even if you feel like your sins

are mountains, there is nothing mountainous to Allah

azza wa jal.