Ibn al-Jawzi to this effect remarked: “If you repent and supplicate but are not answered, reflect on your condition, for perhaps your repentance has not been realized, therefore work toward completing it. Then supplicate, and do not tire of supplication, for perhaps it is in your best interest for the answer to be delayed, or for it not to be answered. In this way you accumulate rewards, and you will be answered through that which benefits you, and perhaps it is to your benefit that you do not get what you seek, but are given something better that replaces it.”5
