Answer
Short Answer: Allah the All Merciful answers (if He wills) the prayers of all His servants, whether they are Muslims or Non-Muslims. So He listens to your prayers too. Even if you do not exactly share the faith of Muslims
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Salam (Peace) Sister,
Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.
I understand from your question, that for the first time in your life you prayed to ‘a God other than your own’, by which you mean ‘the God of Muslims’ (I suppose), while being “not of the faith”. And your question is whether God will listen to your prayer.
The first point I wish to stress is that when you prayed (I assume) to “the God of Muslims”, you were praying to your own God. Because, there is no particular God for Muslims alone. There is only One God. It is true that Muslims call that God, Allah. This is only the Arabic word for God.
But you may note that the concept of the One and Only God is given as the First Commandment in the Torah of the Hebrew Bible and in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible as well:
[Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.] (Deuteronomy 6:4)
[You shall have no other gods before me.] (Exodus 20:3)
And Jesus reiterates this concept most emphatically in the Gospel:
[‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” The second is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” There is no commandment greater than these.’] (NIV- Mark 12:29-31- emphasis added)
Jews and Christians call this One God, Yahweh. We need to understand that He is the One and the same God of the whole of humankind. He is the Creator and Sustainer of the whole universe and every living and nonliving thing in it.
To reiterate, while being the God of Muslims, He is the God of Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. He is also the God of atheists, skeptics, agnostics, and rationalists as well – whether they acknowledge Him to be their God or not.
He Listens to All Prayers
He is All-Seeing, All-Hearing, All-Knowing. So He listens to your prayers too. Even if you do not exactly share the faith of Muslims, you prayed to Him with the hope that He will listen to you; and thereby you were sharing in part the faith of Muslims.
We read in the Quran – which is the Final Guidance of God revealed to the Last Prophet for the benefit of humankind for all time:
{Is not He Who responds to the distressed one, when he calls on Him, and Who removes the evil, and makes you inheritors of the earth, generations after generations: Is there any god with Allah? Little is that you remember!} (Quran 27:62)
The first part of this verse is: {Is He not Who responds to the distressed one, when he calls on Him?}
The above verse means that Allah is the One Whom people call on in times of difficulty, and He is the One to Whom they turn when calamity strikes. Because, there is no other God. And therefore, Allah is the only One Who can give relief to those who are stricken by harm. (Source: Tafsir Ibn Kathir)
Indeed the above verses of the Quran mean that Allah the All Merciful answers (if He wills) the prayers of all His servants, whether they are Muslims or Non-Muslims.
Allah is the Only God; and the persons whom they consider as gods beside Allah are His creation and they have no power except what Allah bestows upon them; and so they are incapable of answering prayers on their own.
Allah Almighty also says:
{Say: “Call upon Allah, or call upon Rahman: by whatever name you call upon Him, (it is well): for to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names.} (Quran 17:110)
And
{He is Allah, the Creator, the Evolver, the Bestower of Forms (or Colors). To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names: whatever is in the heavens and on earth, does declare His Praises and Glory: and He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.} (Quran 59:24)
From the above, the message is clear: The one and only God in Whom we should believe and to Whom we can turn for help and relief is Allah the Almighty. This is emphatically and categorically stated in this verse:
{Unto Him [alone] is due all prayer aiming at the Ultimate Truth, since those [other beings or powers] whom men invoke instead of God cannot respond to them in any way – [so that he who invokes them is] but like one who stretches his open hands towards water, [hoping] that it will reach his mouth, the while it never reaches him. Hence, the prayer of those who deny the truth amounts to no more than losing oneself in grievous error} (Quran 13:14)
The foregoing means that all prayers aiming to reach God, Who is the Ultimate Truth, should be directed to Allah alone; and all invocations addressing other beings, powers, “god-men” such as the son of god, mother of god, or the saints who are supposed to intercede with God, are useless and doomed to fail.
Hence, dear sister, my request to you is to pray most sincerely to Allah the One and Only God of the universe for guiding you to the Ultimate Truth, as well as for the relief of any distress, or for the resolution of any problem you may be facing.
May Allah the All-Merciful guide you and help you in your search for the Truth.
I hope this helps answer your question. Please keep in touch. Salam.
(From Ask About Islam archives)
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