[4] Dua: The Second Greatest Medicine — Why It Sometimes Fails, and What Makes It Powerful

Dua as a Medicine in Its Own Right

Imam Ibn al-Qayyim places Dua (supplication) directly after the Quran as the second most beneficial medicine available to a person. Whatever the affliction, an external illness, an internal sickness of the heart, a worry, or a calamity, Allah has provided an excellent remedy for it, and that remedy is Dua.

In his own words, Dua is “among the strongest causes in repelling the undesirable and achieving the desired.” Just as the Quran is the strongest means of attaining healing and removing calamity, Dua occupies that exact same position. It is not a secondary or symbolic act it is, in Ibn al-Qayyim’s framing, a genuine cause with genuine effect, on the same level as the Quran itself.

But he immediately adds an important caveat: “its effect may vary.” Sometimes Dua works powerfully and visibly. Other times, it seems to produce nothing at all. Why?

Three Reasons Dua Becomes Weak

Ibn al-Qayyim breaks this down into three possibilities: two relate to the Dua and the person making it, and the third relates to barriers that exist around it.

Reason One: The Dua Is Weak in Itself

The first possibility is that the supplication is flawed from the outset, “a supplication that Allah does not love because it contains transgression.” This can happen when a person prays for something Allah dislikes, or when the content of the Dua itself involves oppression, either against oneself or against others. A prayer built on wrongdoing simply isn’t the kind of prayer Allah responds to with acceptance.

Reason Two: The Heart Is Weak and Unfocused

The second reason is “the weakness of the heart and its lack of focus on Allah and its lack of gathering upon Him at the time of Dua.”

This is something almost everyone can recognize in themselves. A person prays, but the Dua never really leaves the tongue, it doesn’t travel down into the heart. Or perhaps there is some impact, but the heart isn’t fully present; the mind has wandered elsewhere. Ibn al-Qayyim even notes that sometimes tears fall during Dua, yet the person still isn’t fully connected to what they’re saying.

To illustrate this, he gives a physical analogy: a heedless heart making Dua is like a bow with an extremely loose string. No matter how good the arrow is, a loose string can’t propel it far, it will fall short of the target. In the same way, a Dua made with a distracted, disconnected heart simply doesn’t have the “tension” needed to reach its destination.

Reason Three: Barriers That Prevent the Dua From Being Accepted

Beyond these two, there’s a third possibility, one that can occur even when the Dua is sound and the heart is present, the person is praying with body and soul, with humility and even tears. And yet, the Dua still isn’t accepted, because something is actively blocking it.

Ibn al-Qayyim lists these barriers as: eating haram (forbidden things), committing oppression, the “rust” of sins accumulated on the heart, and heedlessness and idle distraction overpowering the heart for most of one’s time.

He explores the first of these in considerable depth.

The Heedless Heart

. »كما في مستدرك الحاكم من حدیث أبي ھریرة عن النبي - صلى هللا علیھ وسلم - »ادعوا هللا وأنتم موقنون باإلجابة

Ibn al-Qayyim brings in a Hadith recorded in Sahih Al-Hakim, narrated by Abu Hurairah, in which the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: “Call upon Allah while you are certain of the answer.” In other words, approach Dua with genuine certainty in your heart that Allah will respond not half-heartedly, not as a formality.

،واعلموا أن هللا ال یقبل دعاء من قلب غافل اله« فھذا دواء نافع مزیل للداء، ولكن غفلة القلب عن هللا تبطل قوتھ«

The Prophet continued by saying that Allah does not accept the supplication of a heart that is heedless and distracted. The word used “know” or “beware”, is meant to make the listener stop and reflect: understand this clearly, that a heart cut off from Allah, from the Hereafter, and from religion will not have its prayers accepted.

This is a moment for genuine self-reflection. A person should sit alone and honestly ask themselves whether their heart has become overtaken by heedlessness or by worldly concerns. One should set aside dedicated time to think about the Hereafter, to remember Allah, to cultivate love and longing for Allah and Paradise, fear of the Fire, and awareness of the grave, so that the heart is gradually freed from heedlessness, making it more receptive and more likely to have its prayers accepted.

He summarizes: Dua is “a beneficial medicine that removes the disease, but the heedlessness of the hearts towards Allah weakens its strength.”

Eating and Drinking Haram

وكذلك أكل الحرام یبطل قوتھ ویضعفھا.

The second major barrier is consuming haram food and drink. Ibn al-Qayyim states plainly that this “weakens its strength and makes it feeble” just as heedlessness reduces the effect of Dua, so too does consuming what is forbidden.

صالحا إني بما تعملون علیم{ ]المؤمنون: ١٥[ وقال: }یاأیھا الذین آمنوا كلوا من طیبات ما رزقناكم{ ]البقرة: ٢٧١[ إن هللا طیب، ال یقبل إال طیبا، وإن هللا أمر المؤمنین بما أمر بھ المرسلین، فقال: }یاأیھا الرسل كلوا من الطیبات واعملوا

He supports this with a Hadith from Sahih Muslim, narrated by Abu Hurairah, in which the Prophet said that Allah is Pure and accepts only what is pure and that Allah gave believers the very same instruction He gave the Messengers. In the Quran, the Messengers were told to eat from what is pure and to act righteously. Believers were given an almost identical instruction: to eat from the good things provided for them.

Ibn al-Qayyim asks the reader to sit with the weight of this comparison. The status of the Prophets is immense and yet, when it comes to the basic command of consuming only halal and acting righteously, Allah did not give them a different standard than He gave ordinary believers. The instruction is the same for everyone.

The Man Whose Dua Cannot Be Answered

وغذي بالحرام، فأنى یستجاب لذلك ثم ذكر الرجل یطیل السفر أشعث أغبر، یمد یدیھ إلى السماء: یا رب یا رب، ومطعمھ حرام، ومشربھ حرام، وملبسھ حرام،

The Hadith then describes a scene that Ibn al-Qayyim asks us to really picture: a man on a long, exhausting journey the kind that, in earlier times, could take months on foot, by camel, or on horseback. By the end of such a journey, a person would typically be disheveled, covered in dust, worn down and wretched in appearance.

This is a condition that naturally evokes sympathy. If you saw someone in that state, broken and exhausted, your heart would soften toward them, you’d likely want to help if they asked you for something.

This man raises his hands to the sky, itself proof, that Allah is established above the Throne and cries out, “O Lord, O Lord!” Using the most intimate and beautiful of names for Allah, in a state that would move anyone to compassion.

And yet his food is haram, his drink is haram, his clothing is haram, and everything that has nourished him has been haram. The Prophet’s question is direct: how, then, can his Dua be answered?

The implication: Allah is more compassionate toward His servants than a mother is toward her own child. Yet even in this state desperate, broken, calling out with the tenderest of names, the Dua is not accepted, purely because of what the man has consumed and worn.

Two Types of Haram

The first is intrinsically haram things that are forbidden in and of themselves, regardless of how they’re obtained. This includes certain animals, alcohol, the blood of a pig, or meat that hasn’t been slaughtered correctly.

The second is haram by acquisition, the item itself is perfectly halal (money, clothing, food), but the way it was obtained makes it impermissible. Money gained through bribery or oppression, for example, is haram and if that money is then used to buy halal clothing, the clothing itself becomes tainted by how it was funded.

Both types can stop a Dua from being accepted.

One should spend time in genuine reflection: think about how many hopes and desires regarding this world, the Hereafter, one’s children, one’s provision are tied up in Allah’s response to Dua. Given all of that, would anyone really want even a single one of those hopes blocked because of something haram they consumed or wore? Whenever haram threatens to enter someone’s life, they should treat it as something that could become a wall between them and their Lord.

The Children of Israel and the Wilderness

حین اشتد غضبي علیكم؟ ولن تزدادوا مني إال بعدا أخبرھم: إنكم تخرجون إلى الصعید بأبدان نجسة، وترفعون إلي أكفا قد سفكتم بھا الدماء، ومألتم بھا بیوتكم من الحرام، اآلن وذكر عبد هللا بن أحمد في كتاب الزھد ألبیھ: أصاب بني إسرائیل بالء، فخرجوا مخرجا، فأوحى هللا عز وجل إلى نبیھم أن

To reinforce this, Ibn al-Qayyim quotes a narration from Imam Ahmad’s Az-Zuhd, as told by his son Abdullah. When a calamity struck the Children of Israel, they went out into the wilderness to pray for relief. Allah revealed to their Prophet a sharp rebuke: they had come out with impure bodies, raising hands that had shed blood and filled their homes with haram and because of this, Allah’s anger toward them had only intensified, and they would only grow further from Him.

The lesson, Ibn al-Qayyim notes, is that haram can create such distance between a person and Allah that even raising one’s hands in desperate prayer doesn’t bring the Dua any closer to acceptance.

وقال أبو ذر: یكفي من الدعاء مع البر، ما یكفي الطعام من الملح.

He follows this with a saying from Abu Dharr: “A little Dua with righteousness is sufficient, just as a little salt is sufficient for food.” No matter how large the pot, a small amount of salt is enough to season it. In the same way, a life grounded in piety and righteousness means that even a small amount of Dua is enough for one’s needs to be met.

The Three Levels of Dua Versus Calamity

الثالث: أن یتقاوما ویمنع كل واحد منھما صاحبھ.. الثاني: أن یكون أضعف من البالء فیقوى علیھ البالء، فیصاب بھ العبد، ولكن قد یخففھ، وإن كان ضعیفا .أحدھا: أن یكون أقوى من البالء فیدفعھ :ولھ مع البالء ثالث مقامات .للدعاء مع البالء مقامات . »»الدعاء سالح المؤمن، وعماد الدین، ونور السماوات واألرض كما روى الحاكم في صحیحھ من حدیث علي بن أبي طالب - رضي هللا عنھ - قال: قال رسول هللا - صلى هللا علیھ وسلم: .والدعاء من أنفع األدویة، وھو عدو البالء، یدفعھ، ویعالجھ، ویمنع نزولھ، ویرفعھ، أو یخففھ إذا نزل، وھو سالح المؤمن الدعاء من أنفع األدویة

Shifting to a new topic, Ibn al-Qayyim describes three possible relationships between a person’s Dua and an approaching calamity.

First: The Dua is stronger than the calamity, and it repels it entirely, the calamity never even reaches the person’s religion, health, or family.

Second: The Dua is weaker than the calamity, and the calamity overtakes the person anyway. But even here, the Dua isn’t wasted, it softens the blow, lightening the impact of what would otherwise have been worse.

Third: The Dua and the calamity are roughly equal in strength. They push against each other — a kind of ongoing struggle and the Dua holds the calamity back.

Supporting Evidence from the Hadith

الرزق بالذنب یصیبھ وفیھ أیضا من حدیث ثوبان عن النبي - صلى هللا علیھ وسلم - »ال یرد القدر إال الدعاء، وال یزید في العمر إال البر، وإن الرجل لیحرم . »وفیھ أیضا من حدیث ابن عمر عن النبي - صلى هللا علیھ وسلم - قال: »الدعاء ینفع مما نزل ومما لم ینزل، فعلیكم عباد هللا بالدعاء . »وقد روى الحاكم في صحیحھ من حدیث عائشة - رضي هللا عنھا - قالت: قال رسول فیلقاه الدعاء فیعتلجان إلى یوم القیامة

Ibn al-Qayyim brings a narration from Al-Hakim’s Mustadrak, related by Aisha, in which the Prophet said: “Caution does not avail against destiny, and Dua benefits against what has descended and what has not descended.” He continued: the calamity descends, the Dua meets it, and the two “wrestle” until the Day of Resurrection.

This single Hadith, Ibn al-Qayyim notes, captures all three levels described above, sometimes the Dua wins outright, sometimes it loses but softens the blow, and sometimes the struggle between the two continues indefinitely.

He adds further supporting narrations. From Ibn Umar: “Pray and benefit from what has descended and what has not descended, so upon you, O servants of Allah, is Dua.” From Thawban: “Nothing averts destiny except Dua, and nothing increases lifespan except righteousness” though scholars differ on exactly what “increasing lifespan” means, whether it refers to literal years added or to the lifespan being filled with blessing. And finally, a sobering reminder: a person can be deprived of provision because of a sin they commit.

What Makes a Dua Strong: Persistence

»الملحین في الدعاء وذكر األوزاعي عن الزھري عن عروة عن عائشة - رضي هللا عنھا - قالت: قال رسول هللا - صلى هللا علیھ وسلم: »إن هللا یحب . »وفي صحیح الحاكم من حدیث أنس عن النبي - صلى هللا علیھ وسلم: »ال تعجزوا في الدعاء فإنھ ال یھلك مع الدعاء أحد . »وقد روى ابن ماجھ في سننھ من حدیث أبي ھریرة قال: قال رسول هللا - صلى هللا علیھ وسلم: »من لم یسأل هللا یغضب علیھ .ومن أنفع األدویة: اإللحاح في الدعاء اإللحاح في الدعاء فصل ]فصل اإللحاح في الدعاء

Ibn al-Qayyim closes this section with what he describes as one of the most beneficial “medicines” of all: Al-Ilhah, persistence in Dua. This means pleading earnestly, asking again and again, refusing to give up.

He cites a narration from Abu Hurairah in Sunan Ibn Majah: “Whoever does not ask Allah, He becomes angry with him.” This is reinforced by a poet’s words, paraphrased here: don’t take your needs to other people, take them instead to the One whose doors are never closed. Unlike people, who grow irritated when constantly asked for things, Allah becomes displeased when not asked. A wise person, then, directs their requests to the One who welcomes being asked and is displeased by silence.

A narration from Anas reinforces this further: never despair in Dua, for no one is ever destroyed because of Dua. And from Aisha: Allah loves those who are persistent in supplication.

لعل هللا عز وجل أن ینجیھ. وفي كتاب الزھد لإلمام أحمد عن قتادة قال: قال مورق: ما وجدت للمؤمن مثال إال رجل في البحر على خشبة، فھو یدعو: یا رب یا رب

Finally, Ibn al-Qayyim quotes Muwarriq from Kitab Az-Zuhd, who said he could find no better likeness for a believer than a man lost at sea, clinging to a piece of wood, crying out “O Lord, O Lord,” in the hope that Allah will save him. This, Ibn al-Qayyim suggests, is the spirit a believer should bring to Dua, the urgency, the total dependence, and the refusal to let go, of someone fighting for their life in the middle of the ocean.