Making Dua When We Don’t Want To

In times of spiritual dryness, we do not always have to talk in our duas. God knows what we need so we must let silence sometimes be our voice.

By Rayhan al-Safawi

We all talk about how ṣalāt (ritual prayer) is a struggle, but few people talk about how dua (duʿā) or “supplication” can be a struggle. When it comes to dua, it is important to know that God knows our needs. He knows what we want to say and ask for better than we know it ourselves. In fact, there are things we need that we are not even aware of, but He is aware.

During times of spiritual dryness, we don’t need to worry about expressing our dua in words. When we see that our thoughts are so saturated and our spirit so numb that we can’t keep the slightest bit of focus, it is perfectly find to just sit on the prayer mat quietly and let silence be our dua.

Allah wants to enter our hearts but He needs our permission and above all, cooperation. There is a cardical rule which Allah does not break and that is free will. He is willing to have us suffer and even risk hell but He will not risk our free will because free will is at the essence of our genuine relationship with Him. It is important that we don’t fake our relationship with Him, we need to stay real and being real is more important than being emotional and crying.

Like in all relationships, there are times where we are moved with emotions and there are times we are not. Sometimes our relationships with our spouses and children are emotional and at other times they are dry. But the lack of such feelings in no way means that we lack love for them. Similarly, if there is a lack of emotional response in our dua or relationship with God, it does not mean that we lack love of God. Allah cares for us and knows we love Him even when we have to put up with those dry times.

Stay real, you do not always have to talk in dua. Sometimes just sit, dim the lights and let silence be your voice.

Rayhan al-Safawi is a blogger at the World Shia Forum. He lives with his family in the West Coast, United States.