supplicant who calls upon Allah with a supplication involving neither wrongdoing nor severing ties of kinship without Allah granting him one of three things in return: either He promptly grants his request, stores up an equivalent good for him, or averts an equivalent evil from him.”

Thus, a supplication involving no transgression brings about what is sought or its equivalent. This is the most complete response. The particular thing requested may be impossible, or it may be harmful to the supplicant or someone else. The supplicant lacks knowledge and does not know what would harm him. Yet the Lord is near and responsive, and He is more merciful to His servants than a mother is to her child.

When the Generous, the Merciful, is asked for something specific and knows that granting it would not be good for the servant, He gives him its equivalent. This is like a father whose child asks him for something that is not his: he gives him its equivalent from his own wealth. And to Allah belongs the highest comparison.

Likewise, when some of the Prophet’s paternal cousins asked him to appoint them to an office that was not appropriate for them, he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, gave them enough from the one-fifth share to leave them without need of that appointment, and arranged their marriages. This is what he did for al-Fadl ibn ‘Abbās and Rabī‘ah ibn al-Hārith ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib.

It has also been reported in a hadith:

“Nothing is more honourable in Allah’s sight than supplication.”

And this is true.