The Open Gate of Heaven and the Answering of Supplication

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 7 May 2026 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

O Allah, set right for us our affair, set right for us our worldly life in which is our livelihood, and set right for us our Hereafter to which is our return. O Allah, make life an increase for us in every good, and make death a rest for us from every evil. Please us and be pleased with us, overlook our misdeeds and our sins, treat us with gentleness, have mercy on our weakness, mend our brokenness, ease what is before us, fulfil our needs, and arrange our livelihoods, through mercy and good pleasure from You, O Lord of the worlds. Your gentleness, our Lord, upon the people of Palestine and its surroundings, and upon every oppressed person on earth who affirms Your oneness and supports Your religion and the Sunnah of Your Prophet, through mercy and good pleasure from You, O Lord of the worlds.

The Prophet's ﷺ Glad Tidings

In the ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ there is a very great glad tiding; he ﷺ says in it, in the sense of: there is no believer who turns his face to Allah asking Him for a request except that He gives it to him, hastening it for him in this world or storing it for him in the Hereafter, so long as he does not grow hasty. They said: How does he grow hasty, O Messenger of Allah? He ﷺ said: He says: I supplicated and I was not answered.^[1]

And the ḥadīth has narrations in which the Messenger of Allah ﷺ speaks in general wording, not specifying the believer, saying that when any one of you supplicates, he is answered. So it is as though I stand before the gate of heaven, always open, never closed. And glory be to the Most High, the All-Powerful; we do not say that our Lord is "behind" something, for He is glorified and exalted above being confined to a direction, but I mean that behind the words of supplication there is always a Lord who answers, exalted in His highness, who is not heedless of a tongue that murmurs to Him, nor of a heart that beats with His remembrance, nor of a mind that reflects upon Him. Glory be to Him, He knows all the states of His servants and looks upon them all.

Even the Polytheists, When They Are Sincere in Supplication

Reflect on the Qur'anic text: ﴿هُوَ الَّذِي يُسَيِّرُكُمْ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ ۖ حَتَّىٰ إِذَا كُنتُمْ فِي الْفُلْكِ وَجَرَيْنَ بِهِم بِرِيحٍ طَيِّبَةٍ وَفَرِحُوا بِهَا جَاءَتْهَا رِيحٌ عَاصِفٌ وَجَاءَهُمُ الْمَوْجُ مِن كُلِّ مَكَانٍ وَظَنُّوا أَنَّهُمْ أُحِيطَ بِهِمْ ۙ دَعَوُا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ﴾ (It is He who makes you travel through land and sea, until, when you are on the ships and they sail with them with a good wind and they rejoice in it, there comes upon them a storm wind, and the waves come upon them from every place, and they think that they are encircled, they call upon Allah, sincere to Him in religion).^[2] And we are speaking about disbelievers, about polytheists, who called upon Allah. So when they call upon Allah sincere to Him in religion, how is the response? He did not say: so He answered; rather He said: He saved them; as though the command had been issued and carried out. And as though, when I hear the phrase "so He answered them," I reflect: how did He answer while they were in this predicament? And where did they go? And who reached them? Then the Lord of the worlds gives you the final scene: ﴿فَلَمَّا نَجَّاهُمْ إِلَى الْبَرِّ﴾ (But when He delivered them to the land); and the matter has ended.^[5]

And imagine a very large ship with a group of polytheists, disbelievers in Allah, in His oneness, in faith in Him and in the Last Day, and what they do there of loud music, shameless mixing and constant drunkenness. But at one stage, at that moment, they called upon the Lord of the worlds sincere to Him in religion, and He, Glorified is He, saved them. So what is expected of the likes of these? But to our great regret they return to their first polytheism.

And our Lord, Glorified and Exalted, opens for us the doors of the mouths so that tongues move within them and murmur supplication to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and no supplication of a supplicant is turned back. Glory be to the Most High, the All-Powerful, glory be to the Bestower, glory be to the Subtle, glory be to the Generous, glory be to the Most Merciful, glory be to the One who answers the supplication of His servants; with Him, Glorified and Exalted, there is no hesitation, and with Him, Mighty and Majestic, there is no stinginess, and He never withholds good from anyone unless the withholding is a punishment, and that is the perfection of good for the servant. So do not deprive yourselves of supplicating with whatever you wish, whenever you wish, however you wish.

The Times of Response

And it is from the generosity of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, that He specifies for you times in which, if you supplicate, He answers you. In the ḥadīth of the Prophet ﷺ: «أقرب ما يكون العبد من ربه وهو ساجد» ("The closest a servant is to his Lord is when he is prostrating").^[3] And the completion of the ḥadīth is his ﷺ saying: «فأكثروا الدعاء» ("so make much supplication"); it states explicitly to make much supplication at the time of prostration. So whoever wants to knock on the door of the Lord of Honor, Glorified and Exalted, to enter to Him with a request not postponed, with a hastened petition, and with a need fulfilled, let him prostrate: he opens his prayer with the opening takbīr, bows to Allah in one rakʿah, then prostrates to Him in one prostration, and there the supplication is accepted, the need is fulfilled, and the petition is not turned back. Glory be to the One whose affair this is and whose greatness is such.

And part of the perfection of the greatness is that you realize there is a time in which the Lord of the worlds descends, as the ḥadīth states, to the lowest heaven, and says, in the sense of: Is there any supplicant? Is there any one who asks? Is there any one who seeks forgiveness?^[4] And each time He gives the answer before the servants ask: Is there any supplicant, that he may be answered; any one who asks, that he may be given; any one who seeks forgiveness, that he may be forgiven. He has given the answer before the action exists, and that is the perfection of the mercy of the Lord of the worlds, Glorified and Exalted. So what more do servants want from their Lord than this? Their needs are fulfilled, their questions are not turned back, their supplication is accepted, and their hope before Allah, Blessed and Exalted, is at once a hope for an answer. Glory be to the Most High, the All-Powerful, that is our Lord; to Him be praise that He guided us to Him, taught us how to supplicate to Him, and raised our hands in supplication to Him by our own choice; to Him be praise in the first and the last.

O Allah, we ask You to fill our chests with certainty in what is with You, and to make us among those who were certain of what You promised, so that You bestowed upon them what You promised. Our Lord, teach us how to ask You, and give us beyond our asking. Our Lord, accept our repentance, answer our supplication, forgive us, and have mercy on our weakness, through mercy and good pleasure from You, O Lord of the worlds.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The ḥadīth was conveyed by meaning as the speaker gave it, without attribution; what is established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs is: «يُستجاب لأحدكم ما لم يعجل، يقول: دعوتُ فلم يُستجب لي» ("The supplication of any one of you is answered so long as he does not grow hasty, saying: I supplicated and I was not answered"); the addition "hastening it for him in this world or storing it for him in the Hereafter" occurs in other narrations that were not verified here. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: Sūrat Yūnus, verse 22. As for the phrase "But when He delivered them to the land," it is not from Yūnus; its place is Sūrat al-ʿAnkabūt (65) and Sūrat Luqmān (32), and the speaker blended the two scenes. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: Narrated by Muslim from the ḥadīth of Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), and its completion is: «فأكثروا الدعاء» ("so make much supplication"). ^[4]: Editor's documentation: The ḥadīth of the divine descent, agreed upon with close wordings, and the speaker gave it by meaning. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: The phrase is from Sūrat al-ʿAnkabūt (65) and Luqmān (32), not from Sūrat Yūnus.