The author of ad-durr al-Manthur reports from Ma’adh bin...

The author of ad-durr al-Manthur reports from Ma’adh bin Jabal that the Holy Prophet (S) said, “Had you recognized Allah with the recognition due to Him, your prayers would have dislodged the mountains.”[^5] Regarding the verse ‘So let them respond to Me, and let them have faith in Me…’[^6], al-’Ayyashi narrates a tradition in his Tafsir from Imam as-Sadiq (‘a), “They should know that I am capable of granting them what they ask from Me.” ^7 At-Tabrasi relates a narration from Imam as-Sadiq (‘a) in Majma’ al-Bayan under the above verse to the effect that, “‘…and let them have faith in Me’[^8] {means} that they should be convinced that I am capable to give them what they have asked for, ‘so that they may fare rightly.’[^9]” It is reported that once Imam as-Sadiq (‘a) recited the verse, “Is not He the one who answers the call of the distressed {person} when he invokes Him…”[^10] So he was asked, “Why is it that we invoke but are not answered?” Imam (‘a) replied, “Because you invoke one whom you do not recognize, and you pray for what you do not know.”[^11] This tradition emphasizes on the importance of the role of the supplicant’s awareness of ‘the object of prayer’ and of ‘the one asked from’ in the acceptance of a prayer.

In another tradition, Imam as-Sadiq (‘a) says: “The Holy Prophet (S) has said, ‘Allah, the All-mighty, the Majestic, says: ‘Whoever asks Me, knowing that I am the {only} One who harms and benefits, then I will surely answer him.

”[^12] In one of his supplications, Imam ‘Ali bin al-Husayn Zayn al-’Abidin (‘a) says: “You have lauded Yourself for having no need for Your creatures, and it suits You to have no need for them, and You have attributed to them poverty, and it suits them to be poor toward You.

So he who strives to remedy his lack through what is with You and wishes to turn poverty away from himself through You, has sought his need in the most likely place and come to his request from the right quarter.” [^13] Imam ‘Ali (‘a) says in a whispered prayer ( munajat ), “Immaculate is He on whom relies every believer, and of whom every denier ( jahid ) is in need; and no one can become needless except by the grace of what is with Him.”[^14] Imam Zayn al-’Abidin (‘a) says in a supplication, “We rise in the morning in Your grasp.

Your kingdom and authority contain us and Your will embraces us. We move about by Your command and turn this way and that through Your governing.