Causes for the Non-Answering of Supplication
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you. Umm Thamir says: O Shaykh, I have supplicated to my Lord a great deal, but I do not know why my supplication has not been answered during these years. Is there something wrong with my situation? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
You should persist in supplication and increase in it, and do not be impatient for the response. The response may be delayed by Allah for your benefit, either by storing up for you something better than what you asked of Him, the Exalted, or by averting from you an evil equal to it, or because the conditions for your supplication were not met. For example, if the one making supplication eats something forbidden and sustains himself with forbidden things, his supplication will not be answered, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: And the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas: "Purify your food, and your supplication will be answered." Likewise, if a person supplicates with sin or by severing family ties, his supplication will not be answered, because this is transgression in supplication, and transgression in supplication is not permissible, or
May Allah reward you. Umm Thamir says: O Shaykh, I have supplicated to my Lord a great deal, but I do not know why my supplication has not been answered during these years. Is there something wrong with my situation? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer:
You should persist in supplication and increase in it, and do not be impatient for the response. The response may be delayed by Allah for your benefit, either by storing up for you something better than what you asked of Him, the Exalted, or by averting from you an evil equal to it, or because the conditions for your supplication were not met. For example, if the one making supplication eats something forbidden and sustains himself with forbidden things, his supplication will not be answered, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
regarding the man who travels a long distance, disheveled and covered in dust, stretching his hands to the sky and saying, "O Lord, O Lord," while his food is forbidden, his drink is forbidden, his clothing is forbidden, and he is sustained by forbidden things. In this case, will he be answered?
في الرجل يطيل السفر أشعث أغبر يا رب يا رب يمد يديه إلى السماء يقول يا رب يا رب مطعمه حرام ومشربه حرام وملبسه حرام وغذي بالحرام فهنا يستجاب لذلك،
Source
نور على الدرب - الفوزان - 02/246 — archive.org (5:30)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.