Supplications (duʿā) has been called the essence of worship for two main reasons. First, by supplicating to Allah, a person fulfils his obligation of calling on Allah, which is understood from the verse “And your Lord says, ‘Call on Me, I will answer you (your prayer)’” (Qur’ān 40:60). This is worship in its purest form. Second, by invoking Allah, one realizes that only He can fulfil one’s needs. The servant who calls upon his Lord abandons hope in everything else and turns his full attention to Allah, bumbling himself in front of Him. This is the essence of worship. Another desires result of worship is to attain reward from Allah. Because there is such great reward in supplication, it has been called the essence of worship.

(Mazād al-Rāghibīn, pg. 7)

We sometimes forget in our enthusiasm to quench our thirst for knowledge that:

الأدب قبل الطّلب
Etiquettes come before seeking knowledge.

One of the most important struggles any intelligent person should undertake is to acquire excellent etiquette in one’s character. Both the Law of Islām and sound reason testifies to its high importance and academics and experts alike are vocal in congratulating those who possess good manners.

Even that emptiness itself was created for a purpose: To drive us to fill it. The problem is we try to fill it with the wrong things. Everything inside us was created to enable our journey to find the true fill, to find Him. Ironically even shaytan and the nafs – if reacted to correctly – can become a means to reach Him. Shaytan and nafs are our enemies. True. But how can we protect ourselves from them? Can the people help? Can money help? Can worldly power or weapons help protect us from our greatest enemies? Where is the *only* shelter from both Shaytan and our nafs? The only shelter is in Allah. It is like sending a storm to push us to the only refuge. To push us to Him (azza wa jal).