Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?

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Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
OP - December 31, 2011, 04:15 AM

An interesting contrast whilst discussing prayer with my Jewish friend and my Egyptian friend.

My Egyptian friend said that Duaa is the best thing ever. I explained that personally I didn't like asking God for things in prayer. She says that you should ask God for things and says she proudly keeps praying for a good husband etc.etc. and she asked me if I were to make duaa what would I ask for.. and I said well if I do pray I don't like praying for myself I usually pray for other people. And again she convinced me to make a prayer for myself, which I was a bit taken a back because it felt kind of selfish to only make prayers for myself. I had much difficulty doing, because I'm a very content person, and I had/have no desire to ask for anything.

On the other hand my Jewish friend says, God has a plan for everything and things happen as they happen. And I was taken a back by the contrast in which he does not ask for things but simply is happy for what is given, and has faith in what is to come.

So..any thoughts on this? Is this true in Islam that constantly nagging God for things is very appealing? And believing he'll grant your every wish?

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #1 - December 31, 2011, 04:20 AM

There's a hadeeth that says something like, if you pray to god, he'll either answer your prayer by giving you what you want, or answer your prayer by giving you something else that's equally good, or answer your prayer by preventing something bad from happening to you. So praying is ALWAYS beneficial in Islam. Also, there's 'aayah 2:186 which says "And when My servants question thee concerning Me, then surely I am nigh. I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he crieth unto Me." So making du`aa' is encouraged by the Almighty Himself.

قل للمليحة في الخمار الأسود
مـاذا فـعــلت بــناسـك مـتـعـبد

قـد كـان شـمّر لــلـصلاة ثـيابه
حتى خـطرت له بباب المسجد

ردي عليـه صـلاتـه وصيـامــه
لا تـقــتـلــيه بـحـق ديــن محمد
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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #2 - December 31, 2011, 04:24 AM

Well that shit never worked for me bro, I can guarantee that.

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #3 - December 31, 2011, 04:29 AM

Thing is, you can never know. Good things are bound to happen to you -- how would you know it wasn't Allah answering some previous prayer? Even if life's been shit for you, how do you know he's not going to start answering your prayers tomorrow? Even if you're on your deathbed, how do you know if it wasn't the case that something really fucked up could have happened to you and Allah prevented it because you prayed to him? This shit's unfalsifiable.

قل للمليحة في الخمار الأسود
مـاذا فـعــلت بــناسـك مـتـعـبد

قـد كـان شـمّر لــلـصلاة ثـيابه
حتى خـطرت له بباب المسجد

ردي عليـه صـلاتـه وصيـامــه
لا تـقــتـلــيه بـحـق ديــن محمد
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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #4 - December 31, 2011, 04:33 AM

Cause if something good happens tommorow, I'll know I worked hard for that shit and not some sky fairy who took his bloody time to make it happen. Omnipotent my ass.

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #5 - December 31, 2011, 04:39 AM

I'm talking about stuff like, that time when completely accidentally I rediscovered the most amazing cunnilingus video ever that I'd first seen many years ago and had been looking for ever since. That was clearly the work of a supernatural deity.

قل للمليحة في الخمار الأسود
مـاذا فـعــلت بــناسـك مـتـعـبد

قـد كـان شـمّر لــلـصلاة ثـيابه
حتى خـطرت له بباب المسجد

ردي عليـه صـلاتـه وصيـامــه
لا تـقــتـلــيه بـحـق ديــن محمد
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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #6 - December 31, 2011, 04:44 AM

That ain't a supernatural deity at work, that's the beauty of the interwebs.

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #7 - December 31, 2011, 04:46 AM

'You know who I pray to? Joe Pesci. Two reasons: First of all, I think he's a good actor, okay? To me, that counts. Second, he looks like a guy who can get things done. Joe Pesci doesn't fuck around.' - George Carlin

Quote from: harakaat on December 31, 2011, 04:29 AM
Thing is, you can never know. Good things are bound to happen to you -- how would you know it wasn't Allah answering some previous prayer? Even if life's been shit for you, how do you know he's not going to start answering your prayers tomorrow? Even if you're on your deathbed, how do you know if it wasn't the case that something really fucked up could have happened to you and Allah prevented it because you prayed to him? This shit's unfalsifiable.

LOL yeah. Other alternatives are just as likely, though. And how does God decide whose prayers he's gonna answer? How does he decide who is gonna go through it the worst? Is he gonna answer some actor/actresses' prayers for an oscar and not answer the prayers of a starving child or someone with cancer? If everything is really down to God, then he must be the biggest dick evar, judging by the last 100,000 or so years he's been running this shit.

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #8 - December 31, 2011, 04:46 AM

Quote from: harakaat on December 31, 2011, 04:39 AM
I'm talking about stuff like, that time when completely accidentally I rediscovered the most amazing cunnilingus video ever that I'd first seen many years ago and had been looking for ever since. That was clearly the work of a supernatural deity.

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #9 - December 31, 2011, 09:10 AM

Jema made a good point.

What is more important a starving child saying a prayer or a prick actor or someone scoring a home-run, what about someone with Cancer in severe pain, I bet he would want his pain to go away.

plus does a starving child need to say a prayer, the all mighty and all merciful god should show his mercy here, isn't it ?
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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #10 - December 31, 2011, 09:15 AM

Quote from: harakaat on December 31, 2011, 04:29 AM
Thing is, you can never know. Good things are bound to happen to you -- how would you know it wasn't Allah answering some previous prayer? Even if life's been shit for you, how do you know he's not going to start answering your prayers tomorrow? Even if you're on your deathbed, how do you know if it wasn't the case that something really fucked up could have happened to you and Allah prevented it because you prayed to him? This shit's unfalsifiable.

Like when the Chilean miners were rescued, people thanked God for his efforts.

The fact that, if God exists, he smashed Chile with an earthquake and tsunami six months earlier, then dropped tons of rock on a group of miners 2000ft underground, then thwarted rescue attempts by another rockfall, and also fucked shit up by moving drills off-target, also shattered drills leaving them stuck in the hole and forcing rescuers to start again… the fact that all those things happed seem to fall into a huge theist blindspot. Praise God!

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #11 - December 31, 2011, 02:57 PM

^^

Quote from: harakaat on December 31, 2011, 04:29 AM
Thing is, you can never know. Good things are bound to happen to you -- how would you know it wasn't Allah answering some previous prayer? Even if life's been shit for you, how do you know he's not going to start answering your prayers tomorrow? Even if you're on your deathbed, how do you know if it wasn't the case that something really fucked up could have happened to you and Allah prevented it because you prayed to him? This shit's unfalsifiable.

That's privilege talking. You only expect good things to happen because they have before. How does someone slowly dying of AIDS have their prayers answered. What prevents you from dying before having them answered. And what parent prays for this or can say they'e had their prayers answered:

And another thing- what if you've had a life of complete crap and things just start to look up for you, and then you die? Let's say you're a kid who has grown up being sexually and physically abused in an orphanage or something and you pray for a better life and find out you're going to be adopted by some loving family who was going to treat you well and provide you with life opportunities and then you get hit by a car and die? Something really fucked up has happened to you several times that God didn't prevent, life's about to get better, and then Allah kills you. Nice.

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #12 - December 31, 2011, 03:52 PM

Thanks for that fucking creepy ass shit.

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #13 - December 31, 2011, 06:06 PM

The op sounded so childish - mummy mummy mummy gimme I want I want.

What is this a religion of temper tantrumers?

When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #14 - December 31, 2011, 06:12 PM

And why precisely did Allah design the Ichneumon wasp to lay its eggs in caterpillars, hatch and then proceed to eat the caterpillar from the inside while it is still alive?

Quote
In this strange and apparently cruel operation one circumstance is truly remarkable. The larva of the Ichneumon, though every day, perhaps for months, it gnaws the inside of the caterpillar, and though at last it has devoured almost every part of it except the skin and intestines, carefully all this time it avoids injuring the vital organs, as if aware that its own existence depends on that of the insect upon which it preys! . . . What would be the impression which a similar instance amongst the race of quadrupeds would make upon us? If, for example, an animal . . . should be found to feed upon the inside of a dog, devouring only those parts not essential to life, while it cautiously left uninjured the heart, arteries, lungs, and intestines, — should we not regard such an instance as a perfect prodigy, as an example of instinctive forbearance almost miraculous? [The last three quotes come from the 1856, and last pre-Darwinian, edition of Kirby and Spence's Introduction to Entomology. ]

Quote
I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars, or that a cat should play with mice.

http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_nonmoral.html

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #15 - December 31, 2011, 06:16 PM

or why the hell allahu akbar for ghadaffi's downfall, after
40 plus years of torture, maiming, cruelty beyond comprihension.
where was allah then?

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #16 - December 31, 2011, 06:22 PM

Quote from: Alecto on December 31, 2011, 02:57 PM
^^

Something really fucked up has happened to you several times that God didn't prevent, life's about to get better, and then Allah kills you. Nice.

i can soooooooooooooooo relate to this D: Whats worse, is thinking allah is watching the
whole thing, like a fucking observer, or getting off watching us writhing in pain, being tortured,
being raped, being killed. D: !!!!!

When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.
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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #17 - December 31, 2011, 07:46 PM

One of the main reasons why I left Islam. I sat down one day after realising that the stuff I prayed for came true but was troubled by why it's so easy for a privileged person such as me to get her prayers answered when so many others pray and pray but never get a smidgen of mercy. I was even told to do Dhuha prayers regularly because that was the secret of an amazingly successful aunt of an acquaintance.

Yes if only it were that easy. To solve all their problems, all the downtrodden, the unfortunate, the miserable, have to do is pray Dhuha prayers. Allahu Akbar.
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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #18 - December 31, 2011, 08:41 PM

Quote from: Alecto on December 31, 2011, 02:57 PM
^^

That's privilege talking. You only expect good things to happen because they have before. How does someone slowly dying of AIDS have their prayers answered. What prevents you from dying before having them answered. And what parent prays for this or can say they'e had their prayers answered:

(Clicky for piccy!)
And another thing- what if you've had a life of complete crap and things just start to look up for you, and then you die? Let's say you're a kid who has grown up being sexually and physically abused in an orphanage or something and you pray for a better life and find out you're going to be adopted by some loving family who was going to treat you well and provide you with life opportunities and then you get hit by a car and die? Something really fucked up has happened to you several times that God didn't prevent, life's about to get better, and then Allah kills you. Nice.

Ya 7abibi, I agree that prayer doesn't work -- but can you actually prove it? No.

قل للمليحة في الخمار الأسود
مـاذا فـعــلت بــناسـك مـتـعـبد

قـد كـان شـمّر لــلـصلاة ثـيابه
حتى خـطرت له بباب المسجد

ردي عليـه صـلاتـه وصيـامــه
لا تـقــتـلــيه بـحـق ديــن محمد
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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #19 - December 31, 2011, 08:45 PM

Quote
Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?

Because they're a materialistic bunch, therefore evil! ASTAGHFARALLAH!!
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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #20 - January 01, 2012, 08:00 PM

Quote from: harakaat on December 31, 2011, 08:41 PM
Ya 7abibi, I agree that prayer doesn't work -- but can you actually prove it? No.

What about someone who's had an absolutely shitty life for whom nothing good has ever happened, but deserved it?

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #21 - January 01, 2012, 08:45 PM

Quote from: Fombles on December 31, 2011, 04:24 AM
Well that shit never worked for me bro, I can guarantee that.

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #22 - January 01, 2012, 09:33 PM

Lol thanks for the responses. I think I was more taken aback by Praying for yourself rather than others. I know growing up in church you spend more time praying for others, rather than praying for something for yourself. Especially something materialistic and superficial. I could not be happy knowing that God grants my wish for a perfect husband (As my Muslim friend constantly makes Duaa) knowing that somewhere someone has an abusive husband, despite praying and being devout all the same. I think praying for yourself is selfish, because I was taught to be grateful for what you have/ work hard to obtain what you want.

And further more all the poor people in the world suffering. It is not god who answers their prays but other people who come to their aid, yet god gets all the credit. the most reknown charities in the world are either run/started by aetheist or Christians. Such as the Red Cross.

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #23 - January 01, 2012, 10:31 PM

Quote from: Alecto on January 01, 2012, 08:00 PM
What about someone who's had an absolutely shitty life for whom nothing good has ever happened, but deserved it?

A. They could have had an even shittier life which may have been made less shitty by prayer
B. There's some hadeeth about how unanswered prayers in dunyaa give you extra bonus points in `aakhirah, if I recall correctly

Or, alternatively, a Muslim might say "You're asking a hypothetical question, but show me a devout Muslim adult who has never had anything good happen to him? You won't find one."

قل للمليحة في الخمار الأسود
مـاذا فـعــلت بــناسـك مـتـعـبد

قـد كـان شـمّر لــلـصلاة ثـيابه
حتى خـطرت له بباب المسجد

ردي عليـه صـلاتـه وصيـامــه
لا تـقــتـلــيه بـحـق ديــن محمد
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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #24 - January 01, 2012, 10:33 PM

hhhhh... allah is nothing but an arab santa claus, and ACTUALLY...
i believe he is a jinn himself! hhhh!

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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #25 - January 01, 2012, 11:48 PM

Quote
Ya 7abibi, I agree that prayer doesn't work -- but can you actually prove it? No

Actually it has been proven that prayer does not work.

http://www.freethoughtpedia.com/wiki/Harvard_prayer_experiment

Quote
Results
Some patients were told they may or may not receive intercessory prayer: complications occurred in 52 percent of those who received prayer (Group 1) versus 51 percent of those who did not receive prayer (Group 2).

Complications occurred in 59 percent of patients who were told they would receive prayer (Group 3) versus 52 percent, who also received prayer, but were uncertain of receiving it (Group 1).

Major complications and thirty-day mortality were similar across the three groups. Major events and 30-day mortality were similar across the 3 groups. (13 in group 1, 16 in Group 2, and 14 in Group 3)

Not only did prayer not help the patients, those that were told they were being prayed for experienced more complications.

When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.

A.A. Milne,

"We cannot slaughter each other out of the human impasse"
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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #26 - January 02, 2012, 01:11 AM

That's not called PROOF, that's called EVIDENCE. There's a difference, epistemologically. Here're some possible counterarguments:

- They were not Muslim, so Allah didn't listen
- Allah chose not answer because to do so would be to show that prayer worked, which would take away your freedom of will not to believe in him
- God answered their prayers in a different way -- by making their death less painful, by rewarding them more in the afterlife
- Maybe God didn't like the people who prayed in this instance, or the people whom they prayed for. Maybe God chose not to answer their prayers -- this doesn't mean he doesn't answer anyone's prayers
- Even if we accept that the prayers in this case didn't work at all, you've still got the problem of induction: can you prove that your generalization of the findings to the entire human population is valid? No you cannot.

قل للمليحة في الخمار الأسود
مـاذا فـعــلت بــناسـك مـتـعـبد

قـد كـان شـمّر لــلـصلاة ثـيابه
حتى خـطرت له بباب المسجد

ردي عليـه صـلاتـه وصيـامــه
لا تـقــتـلــيه بـحـق ديــن محمد
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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #27 - January 02, 2012, 01:15 AM

What good is an all powerful deity watching you if he won't help out every now and then?
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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #28 - January 02, 2012, 11:15 AM

Quote from: harakaat on January 02, 2012, 01:11 AM
That's not called PROOF, that's called EVIDENCE. There's a difference, epistemologically. Here're some possible counterarguments:

- They were not Muslim, so Allah didn't listen
- Allah chose not answer because to do so would be to show that prayer worked, which would take away your freedom of will not to believe in him
- God answered their prayers in a different way -- by making their death less painful, by rewarding them more in the afterlife
- Maybe God didn't like the people who prayed in this instance, or the people whom they prayed for. Maybe God chose not to answer their prayers -- this doesn't mean he doesn't answer anyone's prayers
- Even if we accept that the prayers in this case didn't work at all, you've still got the problem of induction: can you prove that your generalization of the findings to the entire human population is valid? No you cannot.

But I can't become a muslim, I am addicted to bacon buttes and cider and whisky!

When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.

A.A. Milne,

"We cannot slaughter each other out of the human impasse"
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Re: Why are Muslims obsessed with asking Allah for things?
Reply #29 - January 02, 2012, 11:29 AM

قل للمليحة في الخمار الأسود
مـاذا فـعــلت بــناسـك مـتـعـبد

قـد كـان شـمّر لــلـصلاة ثـيابه
حتى خـطرت له بباب المسجد

ردي عليـه صـلاتـه وصيـامــه
لا تـقــتـلــيه بـحـق ديــن محمد
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