Does Allah Fulfill Our Hopes and Supplications by Giving What Is Best, Even If We Dislike It?
Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Question
Does the fulfillment of hope mean Allah will give you what’s best for you, even if that may not be something you like? Does it apply to both abodes? I sent a related question, but links were provided, and it seemed it wasn’t answered directly by a scholar.
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful and Compassionate.
We are servants of the Most Merciful (al-Rahman) and the Most Compassionate (al-Rahim). When you hope in Allah and call on Him, He answers with what is best for you, in this world, the next, or both.
The Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said that a supplication free of sin and of cutting ties brings one of three: “Either his supplication is hastened for him, or Allah stores it for him in the next life, or He turns away from him an equal harm.” [Ahmad]
The author of the Hikam, Sidi Ibn Ata’illah said: “He has guaranteed you a response in what He chooses for you, not in what you choose for yourself, and at the time He wills, not the time you will.” [Ibn Ata’illah, al-Hikam]
What Allah Most High chooses may be the very thing you dislike, and it is still His answer, and ultimately best.
Keep Four Things in Mind—All Rooted in Allah’s Mercy and Generosity
When we ask for the wrong thing, four principles apply:
One. Allah’s mercy is wider than our slips, even in what we ask. He tells us: “Your Lord has prescribed on Himself mercy.” [Quran 6:54; Keller, The Quran Beheld]
The great imam of the spiritual path, theologian, and Quranic commentator, Imam Abu’l Qasim al-Qushayri, explains: His writing for you is beginningless, and His writing against you is contingent in time, and what is in time does not cancel the beginningless. [Qushayri, Lataʾif al-Isharat] If we respond right even to our errors, they end up being from Mercy and good.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) told of a man who found his lost camel and cried, “O Allah, You are my servant and I am Your Lord,” and said of him: “He erred from the intensity of joy.” [Muslim] If Allah Most High overlooks that, He’ll overlook a clumsy prayer from us.
Two. The courtesy of supplication is to ask for the good of this life and the next, not for harm.
Allah says: “And Man prays for evil against himself with defiant supplication as he prays for good: And Man was ever rash with haste.” [Quran 17:11; Keller, The Quran Beheld]
The great reference for all Quranic commentators, Imam Tabari, notes such a person would perish, “but Allah, by His grace, does not answer him in that.” [Tabari, Jamiʿ al-Bayan]
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) visited a sick man worn thin from asking to be punished in this world, and said: “Glory be to Allah. You could not bear that! Why did you not say: O Allah, give us good in this world and good in the next, and protect us from the punishment of the Fire?” And Allah healed him. [Muslim]
Shaykh Ibn al-Arabi calls the promise to answer a reminder and a caution from Allah that one should ask only for what he knows holds abundant good for him with Allah in this world and the next. [Ibn al-Arabi, al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya]
Three. If we err, we repent and set things right.
Allah Most High says: “And whosoever repents and works righteousness, Verily it is to Allah that he is repenting an exalted repentance.” [Quran 25:71; Keller, The Quran Beheld]
Imam Qushayri defines repentance: “Repentance is returning from what is blameworthy in the Sacred Law to what is praiseworthy in it.” [Qushayri, al-Risala al-Qushayriyya]
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said: “Allah extends His hand by night so that the one who did wrong by day may repent, and by day so that the one who did wrong by night may repent.” [Muslim]
Four. Repentance wipes away both sins and slips. Allah says of those who repent: “For those shall Allah change their bad deeds for good.” [Quran 25:70; Keller, The Quran Beheld]
In a sacred hadith (hadith qudsi), the Beloved Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) relates that Allah Most High says: “O son of Adam, so long as you call on Me and hope in Me, I forgive you whatever is from you, and I do not mind.” [Tirmidhi] This is the vastness of the generosity of our Merciful Lord.
Having a Good Opinion of Allah, and Keep Your Hopes High
Imam Abd al-Ra’uf al-Munawi says hope (raja’) “entails a good opinion of Allah, and He said, I am as My servant thinks of Me, and at that, mercy turns toward him.” [Munawi, Fayd al-Qadir Sharh al-Jamiʿ]
Keep hoping, and ask with the supplication the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) taught Aisha (Allah be pleased with her) [Ibn Maja]:
اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ الْخَيْرِ كُلِّهِ، عَاجِلِهِ وَآجِلِهِ، مَا عَلِمْتُ مِنْهُ وَمَا لَمْ أَعْلَمْ … وَأَسْأَلُكَ أَنْ تَجْعَلَ كُلَّ قَضَاءٍ قَضَيْتَهُ لِي خَيْرًا
Allahumma inni asʾaluka min al-khayri kullihi, ajilihi wa ajilihi, ma alimtu minhu wa ma lam aʿlam … wa asʾaluka an tajʿala kulla qadaʾin qadaytahu li khayra.
“O Allah, I ask You for all good, the near and the deferred, what I know of it and what I do not know … and I ask You to make every decree You have decreed for me good.”
And Allah is the giver of success and facilitation.
Faraz Rabbani
Related Answers
One. Should We Have Full Hope that Allah Will Give Us Exactly What We Want? — Shaykh Abdullah Anik Misra: Placing our hope in Allah Himself, not in the thing we want from Him.
Two. What Does Having Unconditional Hope in Allah Mean? Is It for Entering Paradise? — Shaykh Faraz Rabbani: What hope (rajaʾ) means, what it implies, and what the believer is called to hope for (video).
Three. If Du’a with Certainty Is Answered, Why Ask Twice? — Shaykh Faraz Rabbani: Why asking again is worship rather than doubt, and the different ways Allah answers.
Four. How Can We Cultivate Contentment with Allah’s Decree? — Shaykh Anas al-Musa: Accepting what Allah chooses, pleasing or painful, without resentment.
«النصوص» · Source-Texts
[أحمد، المسند]
«مَا مِنْ مُسْلِمٍ يَدْعُو بِدَعْوَةٍ لَيْسَ فِيهَا إِثْمٌ، وَلَا قَطِيعَةُ رَحِمٍ، إِلَّا أَعْطَاهُ اللهُ بِهَا إِحْدَى ثَلَاثٍ: إِمَّا أَنْ تُعَجَّلَ لَهُ دَعْوَتُهُ، وَإِمَّا أَنْ يَدَّخِرَهَا لَهُ فِي الْآخِرَةِ، وَإِمَّا أَنْ يَصْرِفَ عَنْهُ مِنَ السُّوءِ مِثْلَهَا»
[ابن عطاء الله، الحكم]
«فهو ضمن لك الإجابة فيما يختاره لك لا فيما تختاره لنفسك، وفي الوقت الذي يريد لا في الوقت الذي تريد»
[القشيري، لطائف الإشارات]
«كتابته لك أزلية، وكتابته عليك وقتية، والوقتية لا تبطل الأزلية»
[مسلم، الصحيح]
«ثم قال من شدة الفرح: اللهم! أنت عبدي وأنا ربك. أخطأ من شدة الفرح»
[الطبري، جامع البيان]
«فلو استُجيبَ له في دعائِه على نفسِه ومالِه وولدِه بالشرِّ كما يُستجابُ له في الخيرِ هلَك، ولكنَّ اللَّهَ بفضِله لا يستجيبُ له في ذلك»
[مسلم، الصحيح]
«سبحان الله! لا تطيقه – أو لا تستطيعه – أفلا قلت: اللهم! آتنا في الدنيا حسنة وفي الآخرة حسنة وقنا عذاب النار؟»
[ابن عربي، الفتوحات المكية]
«فهو تنبيه من الله وتحذير أن لا يسأل إلا فيما يعلم أن له فيه الخير الوافر عند الله في الدنيا والآخرة»
[القشيري، الرسالة القشيرية]
«فالتوبة الرجوع عما كَانَ مذموما فِي الشرع إِلَى مَا هُوَ محمود فِيهِ»
[مسلم، الصحيح]
«إِنَّ اللَّهَ ﷿ يبسط يده بالليل، ليتوب مسيء النهار. ويبسط يده بالنهار، ليتوب مسيء الليل»
[الترمذي، السنن]
«يَا ابْنَ آدَمَ، إِنَّكَ مَا دَعَوْتَنِي وَرَجَوْتَنِي غَفَرْتُ لَكَ عَلَى مَا كَانَ فِيكَ وَلَا أُبَالِي»
[المناوي، فيض القدير]
«والرجاء متضمن لحسن الظن بالله وهو قال أنا عند ظن عبدي بي وعند ذلك تتوجه الرحمة له»
[ابن ماجه، السنن]
«اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ مِنْ الْخَيْرِ كُلِّهِ، عَاجِلِهِ وَآجِلِهِ، مَا عَلِمْتُ مِنْهُ وَمَا لَمْ أَعْلَمْ … وَأَسْأَلُكَ أَنْ تَجْعَلَ كُلَّ قَضَاءٍ قَضَيْتَهُ لِي خَيْرًا»
Shaykh Faraz Rabbani is a recognized specialist scholar in the Islamic sciences, having studied under leading scholars from around the world. He is the Founder and Executive Director of SeekersGuidance.Shaykh Faraz stands as a distinguished figure in Islamic scholarship. His journey in seeking knowledge is marked by dedication and depth. He spent ten years studying under some of the most revered scholars of our times. His initial studies took place in Damascus. He then continued in Amman, Jordan. In Damascus, he was privileged to learn from the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas. Shaykh Adib al-Kallas was renowned as the foremost theologian of his time. Shaykh Faraz also studied under Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi in Damascus. Shaykh Hassan is recognized as one of the leading Hanafi jurists of our era. Upon completing his studies, Shaykh Faraz returned to Canada in 2007. His return marked a new chapter in his service to the community. He founded SeekersGuidance. The organization reflects his commitment to spreading Islamic knowledge. It aims to be reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible. This mission addresses both online and on-the-ground needs. Shaykh Faraz is also an accomplished author. His notable work includes “Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School.” This book, published by White Thread Press in 2004, is a significant contribution to Islamic literature. His influence extends beyond his immediate community. Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been recognized as one of the 500 most influential Muslims. This recognition comes from the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center. It underscores his impact on the global Islamic discourse. Shaykh Faraz Rabbani’s life and work embody a profound commitment to Islamic scholarship. His teachings continue to enlighten and guide seekers of knowledge worldwide.
