Salaam the following is a question on behalf of a brother. His question is realted to Allah answering an individuals Du'a. 1. why was my dua not accepted and the non muslims was? 2. why are my duas never accepted? 3. does that mean next time i shudnt make any more duas because my duas are never accepted, going on past records. 4. if you sincerely hold your hands up in the air and make dua to Allah when your down and out, shud he not accept it? 5. i know scholars say we shud be patient but how long can a weak, depressed person be patient for? 6. i know scholars say sometimes it may not be good for but surely we dont know whats in the future and if thats the case then we shudnt make duas at all as it may be bad for us in the future. 7. and finally scholars say that sometimes Allah keeps the dua for the hereafter but in the mean time if you lose your religion as a result of ur duas not being accepted.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

First of all, you should know, dear questioner, that there are some conditions for the supplication to be accepted, and there are some hindrances which prevent the supplication from being accepted, and there are some reasons which lead to their acceptance; all this is discussed in Fataawa 85023, 88296and 85974, so please refer to them.

Nonetheless, there are many people who supplicate without fulfilling the conditions of supplicating, or that they are involved in the hindrances which prevent the supplication from being accepted, and then blame their Lord and forget their own selves which order them to do evil and that they are the reason for the non acceptance of their supplication.

Moreover, you are making a very serious statement by saying that your supplications are never accepted, because all the bounties which you are blessed with are from Allaah. Did you not supplicate Allaah one day to give you good health and He did? Did you not supplicate Allaah one day to cure you and He did? Did you not supplicate Allaah once to save you [from any disaster or calamity] and He did? Did you not supplicate Allaah to give you something and He did? Indeed, Allaah Says (what means): {Verily! Man (disbeliever) is ungrateful to his Lord.}[Quran 100:6].

Al-Hassan Al-Basri when interpreting this verse, said: "An ungrateful person is the one who enumerates the calamities and forgets the bounties which Allaah blessed him with.''

In addition to this, many people believe that the acceptance of the supplication is only done by exactly achieving what they supplicated. Indeed the Prophet said: "There is no Muslim who supplicates Allaah, without supplicating for a sin or severing ties with kinfolks, except that Allaah grants him one of the three following things: to immediately respond to his supplication, or save it for him for the Hereafter (i.e. add to his reward instead), or protects him from a misfortune equal to his supplication." The companions then said: "In such a case we will supplicate as much as we can."  The Prophet remarked: "Allaah gives abundantly [His Treasures never end]."  [Ahmad].

Therefore, this person who claims that Allaah never accepted any supplication from him, is wrong, how did he know that Allaah did not ward off from him many calamities or evil things which he never expected, due to his supplications? For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 90117. 

As regards the statement of the questioner whether this means that one should  abandon supplicating; supplicating is in itself an act of worship, as the Prophet said: "Supplicating Allaah is the core of worship," then he recited the verse: {And your Lord says, ''Call upon Me; I will respond to you.''} [Quran 40:60].

So, how can a Muslim abandon an act of worship, and if he abandons supplicating Allaah, he is the loser, and so, he misses much good. Indeed, the Prophet said: "Allaah gets angry about a person who does not supplicate Him.'' [Al-Bukhari and At-Tirmithi].

As regards until when a weak depressed person should be patient; the answer is that he should be patient until Allaah would make a way out for him, and he should have trust in Allaah, and be careful not to be among those about whom Allaah Says (what means): {…and thought wrongly of Allaah - the thought of ignorance.} [Quran 3:154]; or be among those about whom Allaah Says (what means): {…and never give up hope of Allaah's Mercy. Certainly no one despairs of Allaah's Mercy, except the people who disbelieve.} [Quran 12:87]. Al-Qurtubi when interpreting the above verse, said: ''The believers hope for Allaah's Help, but the disbeliever despair of Allaah's Mercy when they are in difficulty."

Concerning refraining from supplicating on the grounds that we do not know the unseen and that a person may supplicate for something in which there is no good, then this statement is rejected, because it is Allaah Who Knows the unseen Who ordered us to supplicate Him and promised to answer our supplication, and to grant us one of the three things mentioned in the above Prophetic narration.

As long as a person supplicates his Lord, he is not going to lose his religion as the questioner mentioned; rather the loss is in abandoning the supplications and refusing to repent, and despairing of Allaah's Mercy.

As for the statement of the questioner whether Allaah may not accept a supplication, then the answer is yes, Allaah may not grant a person's supplication, because he is involved in hindrances which prevent the supplication from being accepted.

Moreover, a person may supplicate his Lord while his heart is inattentive and is preoccupied with the matters of this world. The Prophet said: "Allaah does not accept a supplication from a person whose heart is not attentive while making the supplication." [At-Tirmithi]. It may also be that the food, drink and clothing of a person are illegal (i.e. obtained from ill-gotten provisions), and he supplicates: ''My Lord, my Lord, and never will his supplication be answered.'', as the Prophet said in a narration.  

Allaah Knows best.