It should be noted that for prayers to be answered and for...

It should be noted that for prayers to be answered and for the intercession of saints to be accepted by the will of Allah (awj), the following conditions must be fulfilled: The suppliant must be sincere and focused and should accompany his supplication with salutations and prayers (salawat) for the Prophet and his family (ع) along with heartfelt repentance for past sins. He must have performed all obligatory acts of worship and must have paid all mandatory Islamic taxes (khums and zakat) .

He must not hold any belligerence to the way of life (sunnah) of the Prophet and his household (ع). He must act according to the teachings of the Qur`an. He must be thankful to Allah (awj) under all circumstances. He must actively fulfil his duty to enjoin the good and forbid the evil (al-amr bi’l ma’ruf wa’l nahyu ‘ani’l munkar) .

He must accompany his prayers with the appropriate natural and supernatural means at his disposal (that is to say, his prayers should not issue from laziness and farfetched hopes). He should have no unfulfilled obligations to people. He must be wont to fulfil all promises and pledges. Occasionally, it occurs that despite the fact that none of the aforementioned conditions is fulfilled, a prayer is answered or the intercession of an Imam (ع) is accepted.

The philosophy behind such an apparently unwarranted acceptance might be one of several things: It might be to soften the person’s heart by showing him divine grace. Perhaps it is to fulfil the divine call (itmam al-hujjah) upon a person. In the extreme circumstances surrounding sickness, when all natural means seem to fade away, the favours of Allah (awj) and in turn the Prophet’s family (ع), increase, thereby closing the doors of doubt to even the greatest sophist.

If this person, after experiencing divine grace, returns to his past improprieties, he will be left with no excuse on the Day of Judgment. It is also possible that Allah’s (awj) acceptance of this person’s supplications was a reward for a past act of goodness or an act of devotion with respect to one of Allah’s (awj) saints in such a way as to take the place of the person’s reward in the next life.

In conclusion, it is important to keep in mind that one must not look to prayer and intercession as a last resort to be used only when all hope in natural causes—and in particular medical treatment—fades, only to be forgotten when treatment is successfully achieved.