Does an Unanswered Prayer Show That Prayer Is Ineffective in Treating Illness?

Supplication has a noble purpose, profound wisdom, and immense blessings and benefits.

From one perspective, supplication is a request, a plea, a longing, an intimate conversation—a pouring out of one’s heart by a creature to the peerless and only Creator.

Supplication is a gift from the Eternal Lord to His servant, a means of forging the finest bond between them.

It is a distinct form of worship and devotion to God. A servant’s appeal to God is among the most beautiful expressions of devotion.

Even when a servant’s supplication is not answered, the very privilege of being able to pray—granted by the Creator to His creation—is an unalloyed and immeasurable benefit.

In His mercy, God has placed many layers of benefit in supplication, multiplied many times over. Here are a few examples:

A sincere bond with the Eternal Beloved
Turning one’s attention to and remembering the One God
Healing from heedlessness and forgetfulness of the One God of all worlds
Kindling hope and emerging from confusion and despair
Seeking help from, and trusting in, the inexhaustible Source, which brings joy and vitality and wards off depression
Holding fast to the very purpose of our creation and remembering the aims of existence: worship and devotion to God
Receiving a manifold benefit when a supplication is answered
Receiving, in place of the servant’s request, something better from the One who is wholly self-sufficient, when the supplication is not answered according to divine wisdom and what is best

And so on.

There is certainly a purpose greater than the fulfilment of one’s need hidden in the very heart and wisdom of supplication. Even if a servant does not obtain what they ask for, through supplication they will attain a benefit greater than their request.

It is not necessary for a servant’s supplication to be answered, though most often it is answered at the threshold of the Almighty Lord’s mercy.

The sincere friends of God are always answered. In their prayers, God’s pleasure takes precedence over their own wishes. Acceptance of God’s decree is inseparable from the lives of the Ahl al-Bayt, peace be upon them.

Had Fatima al-Zahra, peace be upon her, asked God to heal her, she would have been healed. But she chose instead to meet God, content with His decree, and was martyred. One passage of her supplication reads:

یا إلهی عجل وفاتی سریعا = “My God, hasten my death.”

As for our master, Imam Ali, peace be upon him, when he was struck, he expressed his joy with these words: فزت و رب الکعبه = “By the Lord of the Ka‘bah, I have triumphed!” Martyrdom had long been his cherished wish. And when the Noble Messenger, blessings and peace be upon him and his family, spoke of the manner of his martyrdom, the Imam asked him: فی سلامه من دینی‏ — that is, “Will my martyrdom come while my faith remains unharmed?” In other words, would he meet his death at the height of devotion and purity in worship?

Learn the watchwords of God’s friends: صبرا على بلائه و تسلیما و رضى بقضائه‏- إنا لله و إنا إلیه راجعون تسلیما لأمره و رضاء بقضائه و احتسابا لحکمه و صبرا لما قد جرى علینا من حکمه

Thus, asking God for one’s needs while remaining content with and submitting to His decree is a defining quality of those who love Him. With willing hearts, lovers of God give precedence to His command over their own needs and desires.

If Almighty God so wills, a person may live for thousands of years, as Noah and the Mahdi, peace be upon them, did.

Through supplication, even the dead may be brought back to life. Christ, peace be upon him, raised the dead, and he also healed the gravely ill through prayer.

Āl ʿImrān: 49
و رسولا إلى‏ بنی‏ إسرائیل أنی قد جئتکم بآیه من ربکم أنی أخلق لکم من الطین کهیئه الطیر فأنفخ فیه فیکون طیرا بإذن الله و أبرئ الأکمه و الأبرص و أحی الموتى‏ بإذن الله و أنبئکم بما تأکلون و ما تدخرون فی‏ بیوتکم إن فی‏ ذلک لآیه لکم إن کنتم مؤمنین

And [He will appoint him] as a messenger to the Children of Israel, who will say: “I have brought you a sign from your Lord. I will fashion for you from clay the shape of a bird, then breathe into it, and it will become a bird by God’s leave. I will heal the blind from birth and the leper, and bring the dead back to life by God’s leave. I will tell you what you eat and what you store in your homes. Surely in this is a sign for you, if you are believers.”

Al-Anbiyāʾ: 83
و أیوب إذ نادى‏ ربه أنی مسنی الضر و أنت أرحم الراحمین

And remember Job, when he called upon his Lord, saying: “Affliction has befallen me, and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful.”

Al-Anbiyāʾ: 84
فاستجبنا له فکشفنا ما به من ضر و آتیناه أهله و مثلهم معهم رحمه من عندنا و ذکرى‏ للعابدین

So We answered him, removed the affliction that had befallen him, restored his family to him, and gave him as many again, as a mercy from Us and a reminder to those who worship.

Let us not forget!

Al-Furqān: 77
قل ما یعبؤا بکم ربی لو لا دعاؤکم فقد کذبتم فسوف یکون لزاما

Say: “My Lord would not concern Himself with you were it not for your supplication. But you have denied the truth, and the consequence will cling to you.”