Allaah says
وَمَا خَلَقۡتُ ٱلۡجِنَّ وَٱلۡإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعۡبُدُونِ
And I (Allâh) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone). (51:56)
So clearly we are all here for one purpose and one purpose only. And that is to worship Allaah, and Allaah alone. One of the greatest and most noble forms of worship is du’aa. What is du’aa? It is a call from the heart of the believer directed to The Hearer of all things, the Knower of all secrets, Allaah. By making du’aa we believers confess that we are nothing but weak and helpless and that what we need is Allaah and that we can’t do anything without His will,help and permission. It is also an affirmation of the perfect names and attributes of Allaah, asmaa wa sifaat. Because it affirms that Allaah is al-Khaliq (the Creator), al-Muqeet (the Sustainer), al-Mudhaabeer (the Controller of all affairs), al-‘Aleem (the All-Knowing), as-Sami’ (the All-Hearer), al-Baseer (the All-Seer), Ar-Rahmaan (the Most Merciful), al-Kareem (the Most Generous), al-Ghaffoor (the Most Forgiving) and so on. Linguistically du’aa means to call out, to cry, to say something out loud. In shari’ah, du’aa means to ask Allaah, to ask Allaah about something that will be of benefit for us in this life and in next, or to ask that something evil will be removed or prevented from coming to us. In it self, du’aa is an act of worship. Du’aa is ibadah. Allaah says in soorah al-Gahfir, ayah 60.
وَقَالَ رَبُّڪُمُ ٱدۡعُونِىٓ أَسۡتَجِبۡ لَكُمۡۚ إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ يَسۡتَكۡبِرُونَ عَنۡ عِبَادَتِى سَيَدۡخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِينَ
And your Lord says: ”Call on Me; I will answer your (Prayer): But those who are too arrogant to worship Me will surely find themselves in Hell in humiliation!” (40:60)
Allaah says make du’aa to me. And then He says “I will respond to you”. Then He continues saying, but those who are too arrogant to worship Me, (yastakbiroona ‘an ‘ibaadatee). Allaah first mentiones to make du’aa to Him, and then mentiones those who are too arrogant to worship Him, they will be in Hell. So those who do not ask Him, who do not make du’aa to Him, Allaah counts them as those who are to arrogant to worship Him, and this shows that du’aa is worship, Du’aa is the essence of worship. To not make du’aa, means to leave worship, ibadah. And this is why the Messenger of Allaah, aleyhi salato wasalaam, said:
Du’a is worship!
