To Expect the Best from Allah

Amongst the etiquette of du (a is that  the  person   making   the du’a expects  the  best  from  Allah, and  anticipates a response  from  Allah, whether that  response   is quick in coming or not.

Allah says:

"And when My servants ask you concerning Me, then (answer them), I am indeed near to them. I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me!”[1]

Zakariyya said, as Allah quoted him in the Qur'an,

"Verily, You are the One who hears all invocations!"[2]

"So their Lord accepted of them (their supplication and answered them), Never will I allow to be lost the work of any of you, be he male or female!”[3]

And He said,

 “Verily, your Lord has said:  "Call upon Me, and I will answer you!" Those who are arrogant to worship Me will enter Hell, Humiliated!"[4]

Salih said to his people:

"So ask Him for forgiveness, and turn to Him in repentance. Verily, my Lord is Ever-Near, Responsive.”[5]

And Allah also said,

"And  indeed, Noah called upon Us,  and  We  are  the  best  of those Who answer."[6]

Therefore, Allah is close to His worshippers, and He is present with them in His knowledge, aid and protection. The Prophet (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) has commanded us to leave the response to our du'as to Allah, and to expect that Allah will answer our du’as, for he (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said,

"Make du’a to Allah in a state that you are certain that your du’a will be responded to."[7]

This hadith means that we should firmly believe that Allah is not going to leave our du’a unanswered, for He is the Most Beneficent. Therefore, whenever a worshipper asks Allah with sincerity, hoping for Allah's mercy, and fulfilling the etiquette and manners of du’a, he should be certain that his du' a will be responded to.

The hadith concerning Allah's 'Shyness' has already been mentioned;

"Indeed, Allah is Shy and Beneficent. He is Shy when His servant raises his hands   to Him (in a du'a) to return them empty.”[8]

In other words, Allah wants to respond to the worshipper when he has not even requested something, so how the situation is after the worshipper has asked his Creator? For Allah is Shy as allowing the hands of His servant to return empty after he has raised them to Him. Allah treats us with the utmost Beneficence and Generosity.

Abo Hurayrah narrates that the Prophet (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) said,

"Allah, all Glory and  Praise  be to Him,  has  said, 'Whatever My servant  assumes  of Me, that  is how  I will treat  him,  and I am with him when he remembers Me.'"[9]

So if a person  only expects good  from Allah, and  is certain  that Allah will not  destroy  his hopes  and  desires,  then  Allah will fulfil his expectations.   On  the  other  hand,  if he is not  certain  of the response of Allah, and  he feels that  he will not be responded   to, then he will be treated  the way that  he feels. Al-Shawkani   commented on this hadith as follows:

In this hadith, Allah encourages   His servants to expect the best from Him, since He will treat them according to their expectations. So whoever  expects good  from  Him  will be showered with  His  Good,   and  will  be  shown   His  Beautiful   Generosity ... But  he  who  is not  like that  will  not  be  treated in  this manner.   And  this  is the  meaning   of the  fact that  He  is with him  when  he remembers   Him. So it is obligatory on the slave to always assume the best of Allah. And  he should  help  himself to achieve  this  state  by always  recalling   the  texts  (of the Qur'an  and  Sunnah)   that  show  the great  Mercy of Allah.

This is why the true Muslim always expects the best from Allah. The Prophet   (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) states,

"Let not any of you die except that he assumes the best from Allah"[10].

Since a person not know when he will die, the implication of the hadith is that a Muslim must always have good thoughts and assume the best about his Creator, such that, when death does overtake him, he is still intent upon this feeling.

Ibn al-Qayyim said,

 “Whoever reflects  upon  this  issue  deeply  will  realise  that  having  the  best  expectations   from  Allah  is equivalent   to having good  deeds,  and  doing  good  with  one's  soul.  For  only when  a person  expects the best from Allah will he perform  good deeds, since  he will expect  that  Allah  will reward  him  for his deeds and accept them.  Therefore,   the reason  that he performed  these good  deeds  was because  of his good  expectations   of Allah;  so the more a person  betters  his expectations  from Allah, the more good  deeds  he does!"[11]

In other words, having the best expectations necessitates doing good deeds. Therefore, the one who continues   to sin, and does not do any good deeds, does not truly have the best expectation of Allah. Rather, such a person has a shallow understanding of this concept, and follows his desires!