time. For an All-Wise and Compassionate One sends them all these things at the right time, from places they do not know. They are beyond their reach. That is to say, the bestowal is the result of supplication.
In Short: All that rises to the divine court from the universe is a supplication. Those things that are causes seek the effects from God.
The Third Sort of Supplication: This is the supplication of conscious beings, which arises from need. It is of two kinds:
If it is made at a time of desperate need, or is completely conformable with innate need, or if it is close to the tongue of latent ability, or is made with the tongue of a pure, sincere heart, this supplication is virtually always acceptable. The greater part of human progress and most discoveries are the result of this sort of supplication. For the things they call the wonders of civilization and the matters and discoveries they take pride in are the result of what is in effect supplication. They were asked for with a sincere tongue of latent ability and so were given. So long as there is nothing preventing them and they are conformable with conditions, supplications made through the tongues of latent ability and innate need are always acceptable.
The Second Kind: This is the well-known supplication and it too is of two kinds. One is by action and the other by word. For example, ploughing is supplication by action. It is not seeking the sustenance from the earth; the earth is a door to a treasury of mercy, and the plough knocks on the earth, the door to divine mercy.
We shall skip details of the remaining sorts, and explain in the following two or three points one or two of the secrets of supplication by word.
Second Point
Supplication has a powerful effect. It almost always yields results, indeed, its results are continuous, especially if it gains universality and is constant. It may even be said that supplication was one of the reasons for the world’s creation. That is to say, the supplications of chiefly mankind, and of them principally the Islamic world, and mainly the sublime supplications of Muhammad the Arabian (Upon whom be blessings and peace) were a cause of the universe’s creation. That is to say, the Creator of the World knew that in the future Muhammad (UWBP) would ask for eternal happiness and for a manifestation of the divine names in the name of mankind, indeed, on account of all beings, and He accepted that future supplicaton and created the universe.
Since supplication possesses this great importance and capacity, is it at all possible that the supplications offered all the time for one thousand