We are nothing, and we have nothing, but the ability to ‘call’ (du’ā) on the Creator for every one of our needs. Without du‘ā – without calling – the Creator says that He would pay us no attention whatsoever.
For example, you’re sitting reading and then you realise dinner time is near and so you decide to get up and go into kitchen to prepare your food. Since you have absolutely no knowledge of what is needed to move your arms and legs other than your will, that is what you use. The will to move your arms and legs in order to move involves what Said Nursi calls “practical prayer’ (du‘ā fi‘lī). In other words, we ‘will’ to move and He – if He wills – then creates our movement. ‘Verbal prayer’ (du‘ā qawlī) means acknowledging in our hearts, or on our tongues, that He is the true creator of both us and our actions, and that the only thing which is truly ours is our ability to ‘call’ on Him. We are, and have, nothing but du‘ā.
And so we are truly poor and He is truly, incalculably rich. If we forget this, we begin to imagine that we are the true power behind our own existence. But we are not. In reality, we are next to nothing. We are but a call. Or, as the Quran says, “My Lord pays attention to you only because of your invocation to Him…” (25:77)