from you—as Allah, the Exalted, says: “Is He not the One who answers the desperate when he calls upon Him, removes harm, and makes you successors upon the earth? Is there any deity alongside Allah?” (Q 27:62). In this verse He makes clear that the Lord brings good to His servants and that whenever a servant calls upon Him he is never turned away.

The same applies to every supplication you raise to your Lord: you will not be disappointed. If nothing else came of it except that supplication itself is an act of worship for which one good deed is multiplied ten-fold, up to seven hundred times, and even more beyond counting, that alone would suffice.

When no barrier stands in the way of an answer, Allah will either give you exactly what you asked for so that you witness it with your own eyes; or He will avert from you something even worse; or He will store the reward for you with Him. In every case, no one who calls upon Allah is ever left empty-handed.

Beware, however, of thinking the response is slow and saying, “I have prayed and prayed, yet I have not been answered.” Satan may plant this notion in your heart and whisper, “How many times have you supplicated Allah and still not obtained what you want?”—until he drives you to despair of Allah’s mercy. Allah forbid! Despairing of His mercy is one of the major sins.

So never despair of Allah’s mercy, even if the answer seems delayed, for you do not know where true benefit lies. Allah only commanded you to call upon Him because He intends to respond to you, as He says: “And your Lord has said: Call upon Me; I will respond to you” (Q 40:60).