Call it the result of having many agnostic or atheistic friends, but my thoughts about God’s signs are not unchallenged by inner dialogue about how they would respond to such musings. “That’s nice,” they may respectfully say of my previous post, “But you know, Sarah, there’s also tilt of the earth’s axis, and its position on certain parts of its orbital arc around the sun. Ya know. That’s just how it is.”
It reminds me of another grand nature-related buzzkill whose memory always makes me smile. There was a time, back when I was living in Lahore for my undergraduate studies, when we were finally blessed with rain after a long, long time. Inhaling that precise beautiful, rich smell of long-awaited rain in on dry land, I thought out loud to my friend: “I should pray. Duaas are answered when it’s raining.”
With a barely suppressed eyeroll, she said: “Sarah, with all due respect, if the Prophet was born in London, he’d have told us to pray when the sun was shining.”
Oh, dear. Good times.
A Muslimah Writes 
Ah, but aren’t the tilt of the earth’s axis and the differing days and seasons all miraculous in how they contribute to our and other creatures adapted lives on earth? And despite living in an area where the non-locals (which is pretty much everybody) can’t seem to get enough of complaining about the rain, I love it and find joy in it and its amazing ability to sustain such an abundance of lush and beautiful life. The sound of it is soothing even on the stormiest day, and generates a rush of gratitude inside me almost every time it begins to fall. Even amongst the oversaturated the many aspects of rain are delightful.
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Very well put! The question still remains, though: how is it that duaa is accepted during rain? Is it a localized way of rejoicing in an extremely rare event–as is the case with Saudi Arabia–or a universal norm, meaning that Londoners are blessed to have ample opportunity to have their duaas accepted?
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Insha’allah I think it means duas are accepted during rain anywhere, be it a typically rainy location or somewhere dry. I see rain as something to celebrate regardless, a life-giving event. But, I don’t think it means that someone in a dry area is necessarily worse off… there are many hadiths about other times when dua will not be rejected, e.g. some here: http://www.islamawareness.net/Dua/best.html. Plus, it doesn’t follow that you would have your dua rejected outside of these occasions, these are just especially good times to make dua just as there are especially good times to praise Allah. You could make heartfelt dua at any time and have it accepted insha’allah 🙂
For example: “”The invocation of any one of you is granted [by Allah] as long as he does not show impatience by saying “I have invoked Allah but my request has not been answered.” [Sahih al-Bukhari, Muslim]
“Any muslim who supplicates to Allah in a Du`a which contains no sin breaking of kinship, Allah will give him one of three things: either his Du`a will be immediately answered or, it will be saved for him in the hereafter, or it will turn away an equivalent amount of evil (from him)” The companions said “so we will ask for more” he replied, “Allah is more [generous].” [at-Tirmidhi, Ahmad]
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I like your response and agree with it completely. JazakAllah khayr for sharing those ahadith 🙂
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Ah Sarah, your post just made me smile on this muggy/rainy evening!
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Heh, glad to hear it!
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This post made me smile as well! But then, it is the rare and unexpected that cause us all to think and really ruminate on important things, so why not? In Lahore you can pray on rainy days and find them extra special, and in London they can pray on and find the sunny days extra special. It is the specialness that makes them seem more beautiful and as a day for answered prayers, no?
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