Purpose of dua

[PursuitOfKnowledge]

As-salamu alaykum.

I was asked by a non-Muslim what the purpose of making dua to God is from the Muslim perspective. Essentially, he stated that he feels that since God has each member of humanity's destiny (kismat) preordained, our duas are either redundant (since if it is in God's plan for us, what we make dua for would happen regardless of whether or not we make dua) or futile (since nothing will happen unless it is in God's plan for us). What is the best way of responding to this question? What I have always been taught is that the relationship between our making dua and our destinies is something beyond our scope of human understanding, but I am posting this question here in the hopes of receiving more detailed responses rooted in Islamic sources.

JazakAllah Khayran for all of your help.

[hayya]

I though the power of dua can change your qadr? Also a dua never goes unanswered. If your not granted something you've asked for in this life, surely you will be granted its equivalent in the next, insha'allah

besides, its your chance to connect with Allah swt, to pour your heart out, why wouldn't you make dua?


Found this thread, not sure how useful it is as I've not had time to check it out properly, insha'allah it will answer your questions : To What Extent does Dua Change Qadr?

[Servant.of.Allah]

Dua is win win situation

1. your dua is accepted
2. Allah gives you a better one than that
3. Allah will give that in Akhirah, which is the best

[Abu Zakir]

Allah says ask Me. If we ask Him we are obeying His Command so we will get rewarded Insha-Allah. If Allah has Commanded us to ask Him, it cannot be futile, Allah would not ask us to do something futile, our asking and begging opens the doors of Divine Mercy and establishes our ubudiyah (servanthood) making us realize our poverty and neediness in relation to Allah The Rich Beyond any Need. Our ego become deflated.

[a.s.]

Qadr is always a difficult topic to deal with.

My understanding is as follows:
Allah knows everything that we will do, even before he created us. This stuff is written down. However, its not because its written down that we do it. We have free will, Allah wrote it down because He already knows what we will do. Therefore, he knows we will make dua, and what we will ask for. And He accepts all duas, so dua does change destiny.

[mercyofAllah]

Allah knows that we will make duaa for our needs and Allah will grant us our needs because of our duaa. This quote I took from here.

Allah SWT makes duaas as means to get something. If one needs some money, he works and Allah SWT makes his job a means to get the money. Verily Allah SWT is Al-Qadir and is capable of giving money when we just sit inside our houses without working but He SWT has organised things. We adopt some means and Allah SWT gives. So is the case with duaas. Allah SWT makes the duaas as means to get something. Ther is great wisdom in it. It shows one's servitude to Allah SWT. It makes one humble and makes one recognize how incapable we are and how dependent we are on Allah SWT and that is why duaas are the essence of worship as the best servitude is shown here. Allahu alam

[PursuitOfKnowledge]

dua does change destiny.

Can you or anyone else please possibly provide support for this view from Islamic sources? I have never heard a simple enough explanation about the degree to which we can affect our destinies and the relationship between our destinies and our free will.

[mercyofAllah]

Can you or anyone else please possibly provide support for this view from Islamic sources? I have never heard a simple enough explanation about the degree to which we can affect our destinies and the relationship between our destinies and our free will.

"Nothing could change the qadar except du`a’." (musnad ahmad, vol. 5, hadith no. 277; sunan at-tirmidhi, vol. 3, hadith no. 139;
Allah blots out what he wills and confirms (what he wills). And with him is the mother of the book
(al-lauh al-mahfûz) (ra'd 13:39)
This ayah is evidence for that your destiny can be changed by dua.
I tookthis from here.
Allahu alam