Gems of the Promised Messiah & Imam Mahdi (as) – Why Acceptance of Supplications is Sometimes Delayed

Sometimes it happens that a seeker supplicates with great yearning and pain, but he observes that the result of his prayers is being postponed and delayed. What is the reason? In this connection it is necessary to remember that there is a gradualness in the affairs of the world. How many stages has a child to pass through before becoming a full grown person? How much time is taken by a seed to become a tree? In the same way, divine matters are also completed gradually. There is also this divine purpose in such a delay that the supplicant should become confirmed in his resolve and courage and his understanding should be strengthened. To the degree to which a person desires to acquire high rank and gradations to that degree he is called upon to work hard and to wait. Perseverance and resolve are such excellent qualities that without them a person cannot traverse the stages of success. It is necessary, therefore, that he should first pass through difficulties. That is why it is said: 

اِنَّ مَعَ الۡعُسۡرِ یُسۡرًا

[Aye, surely there is ease after hardship.’ (94:7)]

Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), The Essence of Islam – Volume II (Tilford, Surrey: Islam International Publications Ltd., 2004), 221.