a heedless heart.”1 Its chain of transmission is weak because it includes Abdullāh ibn Lahīah, whose memory was poor; the remainder of its narrators are trustworthy. It does, however, have a corroborating narration that strengthens it, recorded by Imam al-Tirmidhī in his Sunan from Abū Hurayrah—may Allah be pleased with him—2.
The meaning of the hadith is sound, for when supplicating, a Muslim must have an attentive, unheedful heart and be certain of an answer. Thus, in his book al-Jawāb al-Kāfī, the eminent scholar Imam Ibn al-Qayyim—may Allah have mercy on him—counted heedlessness and inattentiveness of the heart among the impediments to supplication being answered. He cited this hadith as evidence and then said: “This is an effective remedy that removes the ailment, but heedlessness of the heart nullifies its power.”
He also said—may Allah have mercy on him: “If supplication is joined with an attentive heart wholly focused on what is sought; if it coincides with one of the six times when supplications are answered—the final third of the night, the time of the call to prayer, the interval between the call to prayer and the commencement of prayer, the conclusion of the obligatory prayers, the period from when the imam ascends the pulpit on Friday until the prayer of that day is completed, and the final hour after the afternoon prayer; if it is accompanied by humility of heart, brokenness before the Lord, submission to Him, earnest entreaty, and tenderness; if the supplicant faces the qiblah, is in a state of ritual purity, raises his hands to Allah, begins by praising and extolling Allah, and then follows this by invoking blessings upon Muhammad, His servant and Messenger; if, before presenting his need, he offers repentance and seeks forgiveness, then turns to Allah, persists in his request, humbly seeks His favor, calls upon Him in hope and fear, seeks nearness to Him through His names, attributes, and oneness, and gives charity before supplicating—then such a supplication is hardly ever rejected, especially if