When a servant asks his Lord to grant what he seeks and ward off what he fears, Allah grants him faith in Him, love for Him, knowledge of Him, affirmation of His oneness, and hope in Him, while enlivening his heart and illuminating it with the light of faith. These benefits may be greater than what he sought, if it was some worldly possession. But if he asks Allah to help him remember Him, thank Him and worship Him well, and for related matters, then what he seeks may be more beneficial than the act of seeking it—that is, supplication. What he seeks is remembrance, gratitude, worship performed in the best possible manner, and other such things. This is a subject to be discussed at length elsewhere.

And (the point) is that whatever a servant desires and loves, or fears and dreads, may engulf and overpower his heart, whatever it may be. Hence Allah Most High says:

“But their hearts are steeped in heedlessness of this, and they have other deeds besides this that they persist in doing.”

Their hearts are immersed in what distracts them from that of which they have been warned. It engulfs them, keeping them from remembering Allah and the Hereafter, with its bliss and painful punishment.

Allah Most High says:

“So leave them in their heedlessness for a time.”

That is, leave them immersed in the love of wealth and children that engulfs their hearts and prevents them from hastening to good deeds and righteous works.

And He Most High says:

“May the liars be destroyed—
those who are engulfed in confusion and heedless.”

And the following verses. That is, they are heedless of the Hereafter and engulfed in what distracts them from it: love of this world and its enjoyments overwhelms their hearts, while they remain heedless of the Hereafter and of the purpose for which they were created.

This resembles His saying:

“And do not obey one whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance and who follows