أسبابُ بُط‏ءِ الاستِجابَةِ The Reason for a Delayed Response

77ـ الإمامُ عليٌّ (عَلَيهِ الّسَلامُ): لا يُقَنِّطَنَّكَ إبطاءُ إجابتِهِ ، فإنَّ العطيَّةَ على قَدْرِ النِّيَّةِ ، وربّما اُخِّرَتْ عنكَ الإجابةُ لِيَكونَ ذلكَ أعظَمَ لِأجرِ السائلِ وأجزَلَ لِعَطاءِ الآمِلِ ، وربّما سألتَ الشيءَ فلم تُؤْتاهُ واُوتيتَ خيراً مِنهُ عاجِلاً أو آجِلاً ، أو صُرِفَ عنكَ لِما هُوَ خيرٌ لكَ ، فَلَرُبَّ أمرٍ قد طَلِبْتَهُ وفيهِ هلاكُ دينِكَ لو اُوتيتَهُ.

77– Imam Ali (AS) said, ‘A delay in response should not dishearten you, for verily the grant [from Allah] is proportional to [the sincerity of] your intention, and maybe the response has been delayed in order for it to be a greater reward for the one who asked and a greater bestowal for the hopeful one, or maybe you asked for something and it was not given to you and instead you are to be granted something better sooner or later, or it may have been kept away from you for your own good, for many a matter that you ask for would be detrimental to your religion [and faith] if it were to be given to you.’[Kashf al-MaIajja, no. 228]
 

78ـ الإمامُ الصّادقُ (عَلَيهِ الّسَلامُ): قالَ اللّه‏ُ تعالى: وعِزَّتي وجلالي وعَظَمَتي وبَهائي ، إنّي لَأحمِي وَليّي أن اُعطِيَهُ في دارِ الدنيا شيئاً يشغَلُهُ عن ذِكري حتّى يَدعُوَني فأسمَعَ صوتَهُ ، و إنّي لَاُعطي الكافرَ مُنيَتَهُ حتّى لا يَدعُوَني فَأسمَعَ صوتَهُ بُغضاً لَهُ .

78– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, ‘Allah said, ‘By My Might, Exaltedness, Greatness and Splendour, verily I protect My friend by not giving him something in this world that will preoccupy him from My remembrance, and so [that he may continue to call Me] so that I can hear his voice, and verily I grant the disbeliever his wish for him so that he stops calling Me lest I hear his voice.’[al-Tamhis, p. 33, no. 17]