If sins invalidate dua, isn't it impossible for our duas to be answered?

Question

Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “By Him in whose hand is my soul, if you did not sin Allah would replace you with people who would sin and they would seek the forgiveness of Allah and He would forgive them.” (Source: Sahih Muslim 2749)

Considering the above Hadith and the fact that humans are mistaken most of the time and sin all the time, and that none of us are like Muhammad (pbuh), doesn't it make no sense to make dua if we are going to sin inevitably anyway and invalidate it? Sure we can ask for forgiveness from Allah and he's going to forgive us because he's Ar-Rahman. But didn't our dua just get invalidated because we sinned? Because one of the criteria for one's dua to be answered is him not invalidating it by sinning.

For example, I ask Allah for a certain thing I want or something that I want happened. Then I foolishly and knowingly sin and that invalidates my dua. I then ask for forgiveness from Allah. But I myself invalidated my dua in the first place. Then I ask for it again and the same cycle repeats because it's impossible for us to not sin, and even if we were to theoretically stop sinning completely, Allah would replace us by a people who would sin so that he could forgive them.

That would mean I can't really ask anything from Allah because I'll sin later and invalidate my dua.

If that really is the case, doesn't it make more sense to just stop making dua and just keep asking for forgiveness from Allah for the sins we commit?

Answer 1

Alright, after reading the related hadees and link you gave, i think their is a slight mis-understanding, it does not say it if someone sins, dua is necessarily invalidated. But, it means the effect of dua is different for one who sins more than one who sins less and repent more.

It's not like some electronics device on which we throw water and it will necessarily burn away, dua is something different and for more righteous person the effect is high, the chances of it being accepted in the form he wants it are rather high, than for dua of someone who sins more and repent less.

From the same link you gave this is beautiful saying:

Imaam Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allaah have mercy on him) said:

“Du’aa’s and ta’awwudhaat [prayers seeking refuge with Allaah] are like a weapon, and a weapon is only as good as the person who is using it; it is not merely the matter of how sharp it is. If the weapon is perfect and free of faults, and the arm of the person using it is strong, and there is nothing stopping him, then he can lay waste the enemy. But if any of these three features is lacking, then the effect will be lacking accordingly.”

(al-Daa’ wa’l-Dawaa’, p. 35)

SubhanAllah, This is a perfect analogy. Even with this analogy, if the weapon is not very good, and the person using it is not very strong and good at it, even then their are always chance he can hit the target. It's not like he will never hit the target.

I would also point to that story of the people of the cave, who were stuck in a cave on mountain, and every one of them made dua with reference of their good deeds, and their dua was accepted and was effective.

So, in short it's matter of effectiveness rather than complete invalidity of dua. This is different for the people who are deep in haraam things, they need to make taubah first and repent, only than their duas will be accepted.

I would also point to another great story, this is a well known story and i don't think reference for this is necessary, i will be glad if someone adds that though. In short, there was no rain for long time, prophet musa gathered people in a ground to ask Allah for rain collectively, after the prayer he was told by Allah that their is a person in the people gathered because of whose sins, i am not allowing rain. He should leave this town and i will send rain, again cutting it short, in the end no one came out of there and rain came, musa asked Allah no one has came out, how rain came, Allah told that this is because of the taubah of the same person, whose sins were the cause of the rain to stop, he has repented in such a manner that i am pleased with him. And that person was never exposed even to prophet musa a.s.

So, by this tory we also conclude that sins do make Allah angry, and they can cause our duas to be delayed, but with proper repentance, their is nothing stopping them to be accepted. That's the reason we should always repent first before asking Allah anything.

I think this makes the situation clear.

Answer 2

I agree with Zia Ul Rehman. Zia there's one more evidence in the Qur'an itself that answers this question which is in Surah Al-Anfal, Ayah No. 33, "And Allah would not punish them while they seek forgiveness". This ayah in itself is self explanatory and says a lot about the mercy of our Beloved Rabb. Hope this helps.