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The real invocation is that which is made to Him alone, for they who invoke others in His place, they are never heard; their plight is like the plight of those who sit by a river with their arms outstretched, hoping the water to reach their mouth somehow, which it never will! The prayers of the disbelievers always go adrift!

(Those who strike a flame in the midst of wind and expect it to remain alight; those who lead their vessel into the heart of the doldrums and hope for it to sail past them without steering it; those who sow their seeds in barren land and expect them to grow without irrigating them; those who sit by the table where food is served for them and expect their hunger to die without taking the trouble of serving themselves; those who are in agony from the pain of a tumour and yet expect it to go away without treating it are all similar to those who 'sit by a stream with their arms outstretched, hoping the water to reach their mouths, or those who sit in front of stone idols begging them to come alive and put them out of their misery! For them, there is nothing except disappointment; their expectations can never be fulfilled; their invocations fall on deaf ears; their plight can never be seen by blind eyes and they get no sympathy from their sealed mouths! Just like the water in the stream which cannot hear their pleas, cannot feel their thirst, cannot reach their throat and therefore cannot slake their thirst, those whom they invoke besides Allah cannot do anything for them!

Hence come to Allah Who sees everything without Himself being seen; Who acknowledges every invocation and responds to them without Himself being heard; Who assuages our wounds without moving a finger; Who protects us from falling a prey to the pitfalls and tripwires of life without making a show of it; Who requites our errors and rewards our good deeds without any shortfalls!

So, come to Allah if you are in pain; come to Allah if you are in need; come to Allah if you are at risk; extricate yourself and come to Him if the ordeals of life have turned punitive towards you; cleanse your souls and come to Him if the mire of sin has clung to you and is not washing off; come to Him with your hands outstretched if the blows of adversity have robbed you of what is yours; come to Him if you are in desperate need of a munificent friend who can lend you a shoulder to lean on and lessen your grief; come to Him whether you are poor or rich; whether you are a sinner or a saint; whether you are afflicted or in health; whether you are buoyant with joy or plunged in grief , - for, no one is ever denied access to Him!)

Copyright © 2002 Abdul Mateen Khan. All Rights Reserved.