The Importance of Effort with Dua

Hazrat Shaikh Moulana Muhammad Zakariyya رحمه الله once mentioned:

Making dua is extremely important and I do not deny its significance in any way. However, it is important for one to understand that merely sufficing on dua without making a concerted effort to improve one’s life is incorrect. One will not see improvement in one’s life through sufficing on dua.

Allah Ta’ala mentions in the Quraan Shareef

O Muhammad  (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم) ! Say (to your Ummah), “If you (claim to) love Allah Ta’ala then follow me, (through following me,) Allah Ta’ala will make you beloved to Him and forgive your sins, and Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

Therefore, you should endeavour to follow the blessed sunnah of Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم) to the best of your ability and be punctual upon your Ibaadat with abstaining from all sins.

Dua will show its effect and assist a person when he makes an effort as well, just as certain medications are beneficial to a person when they are coupled with the correct diet, dosage of medications, etc.

Ponder and think that no person’s dua could ever be equal to the dua of Rasulullah . If dua alone was sufficient and there was no need for one to make an effort, then merely on account of the dua of Rasulullah صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم)), everyone would have accepted Islam and no person would have remained on kufr.

Adhere to the sunnah of Rasulullah (صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم) to the best of your ability, for it is through adhering to the sunnah that one’s dua will prove beneficial.

(Qutbul Aqtaab Hazrat Shaikhul Hadith Moulana Muhammad Zakariyya رحمه الله pg. 411)