Book excerpt: Barakatud Du'a or The Blessings of Prayer, written by the Promised Messiah in 1893, is a refutation of Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan's view that there is no such thing as the acceptance of prayer, and that prayer is no more than a form of worship. The Promised Messiah rejects this view and proclaims that Allah hears and accepts the supplication of believers which are offered in humility and sincerity, and that the acceptance of prayer sets in motion its own chain of causes which culminates in the fulfilment of the objective prayed for. In the second part of the book, which deals with Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan's other book Usulut Tafsir (On the Principles of Commentary of the Holy Quran), the Promised Messiah presents his criteria or guiding principles for the correct interpretation of the Holy Quran.