God and His Creation Plan

The essence of a true prayer is patience. A believer must submit to the divine will and entrust his matters to his Creator. He should pray to God for guidance and sustenance. Prayer is not the mere repetition or usage of specific words, rather it is the expression of the believer’s deep sentiment, entreating divine succour. The Quran mentions several expressions of prayers through which divine guidance is sought. Can I ask God for death? N o, this is completely forbidden according to Islamic teachings. This has been alluded to in the following hadith: Sad ibn Ubaid narrated that the Prophet once said, ‘None of you should long for death, for if he is a good man, he may increase his good deeds and if he is an evil doer, he may stop the evil deeds and repent.’ (Sahih al-Bukhari, hadith no. 7235) Hence, the longer you live, the more opportunities you get to do good deeds, or repent if you have committed any bad ones. Keeping this wisdom in mind, one should always pray for wellbeing and happiness and not anything negative. According to the creation plan of God, the hour of death for every individual has been appointed by God Himself. We should accept our natural time of death, as God knows what is best for us. If Allah is with Muslims then why are Muslim countries falling down? If Islam is true, should not Muslims be winning? G od does not differentiate between His creations. In order to become acquainted with the creation plan of God, it is necessary for a person to have a thorough understanding of himself—just as the workings of a machine can only be understood when we study the drawings of the engineer who made it. Besides the mind of the engineer, there is no other thing that can clarify what the machine is meant for. The case of human beings is the same. The existence of a human being is such a unique phenomenon that no other such example can be found throughout the vastness of the cosmos. In the first phase, man was physically brought into existence by the Creator. In the second phase, man must accomplish the task of creating himself. That is, he chooses to follow a course in life, makes decisions and is consequently accountable for the result of his actions. Any unwise decision may cause him to pay the price. While God has discharged His role in the first phase, man must discharge the responsibility of developing