As for the one who offers praise, he is remembering the very things Allah loves—His names and attributes. The aim here is to know Allah, love Him, and worship Him. This is sought for its own sake, not for anything else, and it is the purpose for which creation was brought into being. As Allah Most High says:

“I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.”

Asking is a means to this end. Hence He says in al-Fātihah:

“You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help.”

He places “You alone we worship” first, because it is the end sought for its own sake, before “You alone we ask for help,” because that is a means to it. Ends take precedence over means in intention and speech. Moreover, this worshipper who offers praise obtains what the petitioner seeks through supplication, while occupying himself with the nobler of the two.

As for the one who supplicates, when he is preoccupied with his need to obtain some benefit or avert some harm—such as his need for provision and essential support—this very preoccupation distracts him from other things. When he supplicates to Allah, glorified is He, his supplication may bring him such knowledge of Allah, love for Him, praise of Him, servitude to Him, and dependence upon Him as is better and more beneficial than what he sought.

As one of the early Muslims said:

“O son of Adam, blessed indeed is a need that has led you to knock repeatedly at your Master’s door.”

Another said:

“I may have a need that I ask Allah to fulfil, and as I supplicate to Him, He opens for me a door to knowing Him such that I wish He would not hasten to fulfil my need, lest my heart turn away from supplication.”

Once the petitioner obtains what he asks for, his ardour cools, for he wanted nothing but what he requested. When he obtains it, he turns away from Allah. This is the condition of the disbelievers whom Allah censures in the Quran, as in His words:

“When adversity touches man, he calls upon Us, lying on his side or sitting or