--- title: "Definitions and Merits" event: "The Art of Supplication" session_number: 2 published_at: "2025-04-05" canonical_url: "https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/definitions-and-merits" event_url: "https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-art-of-supplication" type: "event-session" scripture_reference: "Mafatih al-Jinan, Supplications (Duas), Second Munajat: The Whispered Prayer of the Complainers (Munajat al-Shakin), Line 1" --- # Definitions and Merits *Session 2 of [The Art of Supplication](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-art-of-supplication) — 5 April 2025* If you shut your mouth and never ask God for anything, the narrations say plainly: you will be given nothing. This session asks what "dua" actually means — a word that resists translation into "prayer" or "request". The Qur'an's own choice of verb is the clue: God does not say "ask Me", He says "call Me", an invitation broad enough to include complaint, gratitude, or simply pouring out a day's news to the One who already knows it. The session draws an analogy from ordinary tenderness — a parent who breaks a promise to a small child causes real devastation, because the child has no other source of hope — to explain why God's silence would be unbearable, and why He has instead promised, unconditionally, to answer. Two narrations from the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, follow: that supplication is worship, and that it is the very marrow of worship. Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, tells his companion Muyassar that there is a station with God reached only by asking — "if a servant shuts his mouth and does not ask, he will not be given anything." Asking, the session insists, is not merely a means to an end; the act of calling out is itself the goal. If God has promised to answer everyone who calls Him, why does anyone ever stay silent? What the evening covers Why "dua" resists translation. The gap between "prayer", "calling", and "supplication" — and why the Qur'an's chosen verb matters. The parent-child analogy. Why a broken promise devastates a child, and what that tells us about being ignored by God. Dua as the essence of worship. The narration declaring supplication both worship and its very marrow. Imam al-Sadiq and Muyassar. The narration on why asking itself opens a station that silence never reaches. Asking as an end in itself. Why the value of dua does not depend on whether the request is granted. ## Scripture > المناجات الثانية مناجاة الشاكين مناجات دوم: راز ونیاز شاکیان بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ > > In the name of Allah, whose mercy is abundant and whose compassion is everlasting. — *Mafatih al-Jinan, Supplications (Duas), Second Munajat: The Whispered Prayer of the Complainers (Munajat al-Shakin), Line 1* ## Programme - [Watch the full session](https://youtu.be/w0t2PkiG1NE) - [Sermon: Definitions and Merits](https://youtu.be/w0t2PkiG1NE) ## Other sessions in this event - [Session 23 — The Heart of the Matter — Part 3: The Fuel for the Heart](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-heart-of-the-matter-part-3-the-fuel-for-the-heart) — 15 November 2025 - [Session 22 — The Heart of the Matter — Part 2: The Axis of Supplication](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-heart-of-the-matter-part-2-the-axis-of-supplication) — 8 November 2025 - [Session 21 — The Heart of the Matter — Part 1: The Prerequisite of Purity](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-heart-of-the-matter-part-1-the-prerequisite-of-purity) — 1 November 2025 - [Session 20 — The Hearth, The Hub, and The Horizon](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-hearth-the-hub-and-the-horizon) — 25 October 2025 - [Session 19 — The Prison, The Portal, and The Presence](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-prison-the-portal-and-the-presence) — 18 October 2025 - [Session 18 — The Sanctuary, The Saint, and The Sacrifice](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-sanctuary-the-saint-and-the-sacrifice) — 11 October 2025 - [Session 17 — The Crucible, The Criterion, and The Citadel](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-crucible-the-criterion-and-the-citadel) — 4 October 2025 - [Session 16 — Where Earth Meets Heaven](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/where-earth-meets-heaven) — 27 September 2025 - [Session 15 — The Completion of Mercy](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-completion-of-mercy) — 20 September 2025 - [Session 14 — The Arc of Loyalty](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-arc-of-loyalty) — 13 September 2025 - [Session 13 — The Days of Wilayah](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-days-of-wilayah) — 6 September 2025 - [Session 12 — The Yearly Rhythm of Mercy](https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/the-yearly-rhythm-of-mercy) — 30 August 2025 --- _Read this session on the web: https://www.truthpromoters.com/events/definitions-and-merits_