By  Haruna Razaq

One of the important conditions for the acceptance of du‘a (supplication) in Islam is heeding the call of Allah as clearly stated in Suratul Baqarah (Qur’an 2) verses 186 that read thus: “And when My servants ask you (O Muhammad concerning Me, then answer them), I am indeed near (to them by My knowledge).

I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me. So let them answer My calls (obey Me) and believe in Me, so that they may be led aright. As a result, any person more importantly the Nigerian Muslim Leaders that asked the Muslim to pray to Allah to solve the country’s varying problems must ponder the condition for the acceptance of du‘a in this verse by encouraging them to answer the call of Allah if, truly we want Allah to answer our call.

This is the rule of Allah, and it must be noted that the rules of Allah never changes.( See Fatir: 43). He also says: He will not change the condition of a people as long as they do not change their state themselves. (Ar-Ra‘d: 11). Answering the call of Allah means answering the call of Islam in its entirety and fully obeys all that Allah and His Messenger (SAW), enjoined us to do. (See Al-Anfal: 24) A Muslim must obeys Allah’s commandments in every aspect of his life.

This is by doing everything as the Prophet (SAW) does it, for example, he must possess sound aqiidah (doctrine, belief, and faith), authentic acts of worship and deals with other creation of Allah, man or animal with kindness. Allah answers the call of those who answer His call, however, when Muslims failed to answer the call of Allah and His Messenger, Allah did not grant them their prayers and they were left to depend solely on themselves.

The Sahabah (companions of Prophet Muhammad SAW) set an excellent example of answering the call of Allah and His Messenger as a result, their names remain in goodness. Whenever Allah revealed a verse commanding them to do or to desist from something, they would quickly do as they were told.

This clearly reflects their deep faith and sincere obedience to Allah and His Messenger. There are numbers of quick respond to the call of Allah in the life of the Sahabah, for example, when Allah revealed the final command on the prohibition of alcohol, (See Al-Ma’idah, 90).”

And when Allah reveled the verse, (An-Nur, 31), commanding them to use Hijab, they look for something to cover and wrapped up immediately out of faith and belief in what Allah had revealed in His Book.