Yasmin Mogahed – My Dua Is Not Being Answered

			When you spend your time,
		

			begging from Allah, you become rich, right? Because you're begging from the one who is the most
rich, and the honey, he's the he's self sufficient. He doesn't need anyone his kingdom doesn't
diminish, no matter how much he gives, as, as the Hadith tells us, if every single individual were
to come together, every human being, from the beginning of time, until the end of time were to come
together, and then ask a law for something. And if the law were to give every single one of them
what they asked for, it would not diminish his kingdom, any more than if you take a needle and put
it in the ocean or in the sea, it diminishes the ocean.
		

			Allies the most rich, so if you are a person who spends your nights and your days begging from the
most rich, what does that make you?
		

			Makes you rich? And when a person is rich, are they generous? Or are they stingy? Are they kind or
are they harsh? When a person is rich, then they can be generous. And that's how you become
compassionate towards the creation. That's how you become merciful towards the creation. That's how
you become generous towards the creation. That's how the prophets lie. Selim was what he was. He was
mercy, he was the epitome of human mercy. He was the epitome of human compassion. Why? Because he
was rich. He didn't beg from the creation, he begged from the king.
		

			And that's how he became rich inside. And that's how he became loving, and compassionate and
merciful. So don't let anyone tell you that talking about don't have attachments means that you're
going to be cold hearted, it doesn't mean that you're cold hearted, it means the opposite. It means
that you are generous, it means that because you're you're seeking from the right source, then you
are already rich, and you have so much to give. When you give from a place of richness, you don't
need to be selfish. You don't need to demand it's like, you know, oh, you know, October 3 2001, I
did such and such for you, when are you going to pay me back for it, you know, keeping track of
		

			everything that you've done for people and waiting for them to pay you back, waiting for them to do
something in return. You don't need to be like that. Because you're you're being filled by Allah,
you're already rich, and your source doesn't diminish. So you don't need to go to the beggar and
beg. You give you give, and you don't need to be demanding and you don't need to be weak, and you
don't need to be in need of others who are also in need. You see, when you go to a poor part of
town, you never see a beggar begging from another beggar. Do you? Does that happen?
		

			It's ridiculous. Right? beggars Don't beg from other beggars. Why? Because a beggar knows that the
beggar is just as in need as the other bigger. He's just this poor? Why would I beg from another
beggar? I need to go to the one who's rich, you see my point. So whatever it is that we need,
		

			essentially we should ask Allah subhanaw taala for it because Allah is the source. Now does that
mean I can go to people for help? Does that mean that because I am asking ALLAH and I make my da and
I begged from the source that I can go to people for help, for example, to you know, a therapist, a
counselor, a doctor, and the answer of course is I can.
		

			These are something that Allah has, has has created called s Bab s bed meaning the means these are
means
		

			just like I take medicine when I'm sick. That's a means and that's that's part of our Deen to use
the means. It's part of our Deen to go and seek help when I need help. That's okay. What is the
problem then? The problem is when I depend on the means, instead of just using it it's when I'm
depending on the medicine instead of on Allah it's when I'm depending on the doctor instead of a
sheffy the one who actually cures it's when I'm depending on this person who is giving me advice or
this person who's giving me counsel instead of on Allah, I just need to realize that a law is the
source and a law is in control and everything else is in his hands. And they are means s Bab that
		

			doesn't mean I can use and and and and involve myself in the s Bab but my dependence should be on
Allah.
		

			Now do I itself as I said the very purpose
		

			Do I and actually, this brings me to a question that I'm going to come to in terms of obstacles. One
of the obstacles that we face that keep us from continuing to make dua is this, we oftentimes feel
I've been making I've been making, and my jaw is not being answered. A lie is not hearing my law,
		

			or laws not answering my da, our the villa, I feel like it's not working.
		

			And sometimes when I feel that way, then I want to give up.
		

			But let me give you guys a scenario. So I can make this point. Imagine a person really, really badly
wants a red Ferrari. Okay. And so what this person does, because they want a red Ferrari, they know
that a law is a semia. Right? And a lot is emoji and a lot answers. And so what they do is they wake
up every single day at four to hedge it. Okay, to pray for the red Ferrari.
		

			All right.
		

			Let me actually bring an example maybe more relatable.
		

			You want to marry person x. All right. So you wake up for tahajjud. Every single day to pray, let me
marry person x. All right, whether it's the Ferrari or person x, but you wake up every single day
for a year for to hedge it, and you cry to Allah, to give you this thing.
		

			Let me ask you this question. At the end of that year,
		

			whether you got the Ferrari or you didn't, you actually got something better?
		

			And it was in the process of making the dog that you got that thing? And what was it? What's that
thing that you got that was better than the Ferrari
		

			it's something you can buy with all the money in the world. And that is the near pneus to Allah. The
fact that the process of you getting up for to hedge hood, and crying and begging Allah and praying
and making was in fact bringing you closer to him.
		

			And that near niss itself is more valuable than whether or not you got the answer to your door. The
answer?
		

			The the the process itself, is better than what it was you were asking for. Make sense? So Allah
subhanaw taala sometimes delays the answer to the law for this reason. Now in this example, when the
first night that I woke up and I prayed for my Ferrari, I personally don't care about Ferraris. But
assume I did. And I got up and I prayed for this Ferrari. Imagine if I had gotten the Ferrari the
first night, I woke up the next day, and outside of my house, there was a Ferrari just just sitting
there. What would I have done?
		

			I would have stopped praying, I would have stopped getting up for 200. I would have done it once.
And that's it.
		

			And so actually, by delaying the answer to my door, it pushed me to do what to continue to get
closer and closer and closer to Allah through the process of that begging through that process, by
the very fact that Allah delayed the answer.
		

			So we should never lose hope when the answer to our door is has been delayed.
		

			That's number one. Number two,
		

			I was praying for a Ferrari. But when I went outside, there was a facade.
		

			And I'm like, I didn't ask for this. But it turns out that had I been given the Ferrari, I was gonna
drive way too fast. And I was gonna get in a car accident, I was gonna kill myself. But the pissant
you know, I was gonna drive more sensibly.
		

			And so in this case, I asked for something, yes, but it wasn't good for me. And Allah gave me
something else, which was better for me.
		

			Sometimes the answer to our do I doesn't come in the form that exact form that we think it should.
		

			But that doesn't mean that Allah is not answering our da.
		

			It doesn't mean that Ally's not hearing and answering our da because Allah has promised us that he
hears and answers da and Allah never breaks his promises.
		

			He's
		

			says he does, which means he does. That means I have to have yucky and I have to have full certainty
that Allah is hearing my doula and was answering my doula, even if I don't recognize how, even if I
don't recognize how
		

			one of the other benefits of DHA is it teaches me it trains me to put my dependence on Allah
subhanaw taala.
		

			Because of what it does is it focuses my heart on the source. I am asking from the source, I am
asking from the source. I'm not asking from the shadow. I'm not asking from the reflection I'm
asking from the source.
		

			And in terms of these barriers, one of those barriers, as I said, is the fact that I think that my
diet is not being answered. This as I told you is untrue. It's always being answered, but sometimes
it is delayed. And sometimes it is answered in a way that I don't understand or not in exact in
exactly the way that I think it should be. However, Allah says asset and crochet and wahiawa Hi,
Ron, welcome. It may be that you hate something, and it is good for you.
		

			wasa and to have bushi and Rojas Sharon lacco. And it may be that you love something you want it so
badly, but it is not good for you.
		

			If your child so badly wants to hold a knife because your child has seen you hold a knife cutting
vegetables. The child sincerely wants that knife. You know what I'm saying? Have you ever seen a
child really wants something? You know? They really want it because they see you know, they've seen
mama and Baba cutting, you know, tomatoes with it with a knife. They want to they want to do it too.
So they beg you for the knife, please let me hold the knife. Let me do what you're doing. This is
something that they want so badly
		

			if you gave them what they asked for what would happen to them
		

			they would cut themselves right hurt themselves, possibly kill themselves.
		

			And so it is actually out of your mercy for them and your love for the child that you don't give
them what they asked for right
		

			in the form that they asked for because it's a knife and it's going to hurt them and it may kill
them. We We We asked a lot for a lot of knives sometimes.
		

			Yeah, we do. We do. And then when we don't get it we throw a temper tantrum the adult version.
		

			Yeah, oh, why aren't you giving me what I just like the little kid just like the little kid.
		

			You know, why aren't you giving me the knife? Yeah, Allah Why aren't you giving me this job? Yeah,
Allah, why aren't you letting me marry this person? Yellow? Why aren't you letting me have this
promotion? Why didn't I get into this program or get this mark on my exam, we do the same thing.
		

			But we don't realize eisah and Takahashi and wahiawa hydro lakum it may be you hate something and
it's bad for you. And like the child was sent to hibou Shea and wahoo was shutting down lakum the
child loved to hold that knife.
		

			But it wasn't good for him. And Allah knew that and that's why Allah says Allah, Allah, Allah mo and
to lead to Allah moon, Allah knows and you do not know. Allah knows what we don't know. That's why
when we pray istikhara and this brings me to my final point about about different types of different
examples of, of this gift that Allah has given us different examples of dogs. One of them is the
daughter of istikhara.
		

			What do we do in the draw of staccato is staccato as you know, is a dog that you make or you know,
it's the it's a student of the prophets. I sell them for making decisions. It's not only for
marriage, folks.
		

			And it's not just a ritual you do before the wedding.
		

			istikhara is basically asking Allah do what is best. Take the steering wheel. But before you say you
know about your specific issue, your specific matter, you acknowledge a few things in Nikita, Allahu
Allah Allah, because, you know, and I don't know.
		

			This is part of our acknowledgement, you know, and I don't know, just like the, that parent knew
what knives can do to the child and the child didn't know. This was a knowledge that the child
		

			Didn't have.
		

			If a child, if a child doesn't have knowledge in comparison to an adult, what about our lack of
knowledge compared to Allah? Allah, Allah, Who owns all knowledge? I mean, he is
		

			he's Allah. He is the one who knows everything. So how can we compare our knowledge with his
knowledge? So we acknowledge this, we acknowledge this at the beginning, we say, you know, and I
don't know. And you are able and I am not able, he is able and I'm not able.
		

			Because Allah has all the power and you know how much power I have.
		

			I have this much. Literally the there's not even like a point 0001 note, I have no power, La hawla
wala quwata illa Billah. There is no change in state no power or strength except by Allah. It's only
Allah who owns the power only alone the power by the way, that means that no other human being has
power either to harm you or to help you. And it also means no gin.
		

			No, gin has power to harm you or to help you step by the permission of Allah. That means shaitan and
his army. They're powerless except by the permission of Allah. And any harm that comes to us is by
the permission of Allah, Allah is in control of everything.
		

			Knowing this, knowing this is very, very powerful. This is part of towhead realizing who actually is
in control, La hawla, wala quwata illa Billah. There's nothing else that has that power. And so when
we realize this, and we acknowledged this at the beginning of istikhara, before we ask a lot about
our specific issue, we realize he is the one who has the power I have none. And he is the one who
has the knowledge and I have none except what he has given me.
		

			And then I ask Aloma and Quinta Tottenham if in your knowledge, you know, that this thing that this
matter has played only Fiji anyone my shoe activity, Omri and if you know that this thing is good
for me,
		

			and this is of course, talking about this life and the next fuck their holy wire sit who needs
somatically feed, then make it happen make it easy and put blessing in it.
		

			And if you know when Quinta tala head on, head on, I'm Sharon Lee, if you know that this thing is
bad for me. Again in dunya, and Dean, for Cerf who I knew he was swiftly on who then take it away
from me. And then take me away from it. What could only hide Hi, Sue can from Martini be? And then
bring me what is good for me and make me pleased with it.
		

			This is a perfect da. This is a perfect do I asking a law to take the steering wheel of your life?
It's not asking for a dream.
		

			You know what I'm saying? Sometimes we don't really understand how do I how do I you know, how do I
interpret my answer to my estacada we go outside and we look for like lightning in the sky. You
know?
		

			Like if you're considering someone for marriage, like you're gonna see their name in the clouds,
		

			right?
		

			Or we really, really want a certain answer, right? So it's like, oh, okay, you step outside.
		

			And you see a dog crossing the street.
		

			And you and you say, Oh my God, that's a sign because dog starts with D. and d is one of the letters
in this person's last name.
		

			Right? It's a sign.
		

			Why are we like this? Because we
		

			first of all, is Takata is not really about science. It's not about dreams. Remember, nothing in
this class that I just translated says give me a sign or give me a dream. It actually just says take
over
		

			take over do it take care of it. And if it's bad, take it away. So after you pray is to Cora, and
this thing is being taken away.
		

			But no, I saw the dog.
		

			It rained, and rain begins with our anyway.
		

			But your answer to your istikhara is in also what
		

			happens, that something can become facilitated, or something can become obstacle upon obstacle upon
obstacle, you have asked Allah, if this is good, then make it happen and make it easy and put
blessing in it. And if it is not taken away,
		

			but you see didn't really mean that.
		

			You know what I mean? It's just a ritual. But at the end of the day, folks, at the end of the day,
is there anyone who doesn't want him? Is there anyone who doesn't want goodness? Is there anyone who
says actually, for me, I want shot.
		

			I want something bad to happen. Nobody wants that. Right? Everyone wants what is best. Yes. Everyone
wants goodness, yes. So how come we would hold on to something that is bad for us? If we trust a lot
to do what is best? Then why do we continue to hold on to things that may be bad for us? Why do we
continue to hold on to the knives?
		

			The reason we do that is because we don't realize and we don't have enough trust in Allah subhanaw
taala that he knows what he's doing. He knows what he's doing. And you asked him to take over,
didn't you? Because you're, you're being wise, you're saying I have no idea what I'm doing? Only you
know, so take over.
		

			You know, it's like you get in a car, like a two year old gets in the car. And then there's an
adult, the two year old says no, no, no, I'm gonna drive.
		

			I got this. That's what do you think about that situation? Right? The two year old is taking the
steering wheel. While there's a professional, you know, driver adult, right there sitting in the in
the passenger seat. Does that make any sense?
		

			Why? Because that two year old has no idea what he or she is doing. That two year old shouldn't be
driving, because a two year olds gonna cause an accident and kill everyone. Right? But this is what
we do and allows high above any analogy, but this is what we do. We want to take the steering wheel,
let me decide. Yeah, Allah, you know, let me decide. I know, I know something.
		

			Like, do we know better than Allah? Do we? Do we? Are we more able to steer and direct that car than
Allah?
		

			Are we more able to direct our lives than along? Do we know better? It's like going into surgery
surgery room, the surgical room and being like, surgeon, I got this.
		

			You know what I mean? Like, you don't know anything about surgery, you don't even know how to like,
cut an apple. And you're gonna go and cut this person and think that, you know, this is what we do
with God. I mean, it sounds funny when I tell you what we you know, if we did this with another
human being at the end of the day, the surgeons just a human like you, right. But yet you think it's
so silly to go in and think you know, that you can take over that surgery because you know,
something.
		

			But now I'm talking about God. I mean, we do this with God, we do this with a law. We think we
should take over. No, yeah, Allah actually this should have happened. No, no, I I think there was a
bit of a mistake here. I actually was supposed to marry that person.
		

			It was a bit of a mistake. I'm sorry. Like, can you fix it?
		

			Like, how would the villa or no, no, I was really supposed to get that job? Or it was really not
supposed to miss that flight.
		

			Anyway, yeah. You know what I mean, when things happen, and we don't like it, things happen. We
don't like it. We act as if we act as if there was some mistake, and it should have happened my way.
You know, a lot doesn't make mistakes, and no one knows what he's doing.
		

			We ask Allah subhanaw taala to make dua, a tool for us to get closer to him. And for us to realize
that while we can ask for things, that's fine, but we realized that the greatest gift of God is the
near pneus to Allah subhanaw taala that comes in the process of begging from the king a calling call
your head that was stuck for too long. You will not come in our food and Rahim subhanak Elohim
samdech eyeshadow en la ilaha illa and istockphoto KOA to bow Lake, wa salam o Alaikum
warahmatullahi wabarakatuh