A short note on the metaphysics of prayer
The purpose of duꜤā - any duꜤā and prayer in general - is straightforward. It is to allow an experience of Theophany (tajallī) via the engagement of the subject (you) with object (text) with the middle term between subject and object being the self-disclosure (tajallī) of the All-High Itself. That is why without maꜤrifa (gnosis) duꜤā and prayer in general is just words on paper or empty ritual.
That said, the metaphysics of prayer is quite more involved than people are articulating here. If all existence is the locus of the manifestations of the Hidden Treasure desiring to be known, therefore prayer becomes a significant medium by which such manifestations are realized in the horizons and the souls. This means that the muṣallī or mudāꜤī (the one who prays) of high station can in fact determine the course of the Divine Will. The Sufis, and Ibn ꜤArabī in particular, call this himma (spiritual aspiration). But it requires the attainment of a high station (maqām) to be effective here, i.e. maꜤrifa which the 6th Imam (ع) warns the world about since the true believer is the Ꜥārif (gnostic) who sees and hears with the sight and hearing of God.
For example, one of the final Divine Names in the duꜤā jawshan al-kabīr, which I keep talking about, is the Name mughayyir (مُغيّر); meaning, the ‘Alterer’ or the ‘One Who Changes things’. This means that on the spatiotemporal plane of Manifestation and on the level of the Names and Attributes, the course of the Divine Will is actually capable of changing its course. In early ShiꜤism this is a doctrine that is openly articulated as al-badāʾ (البداء), the alteration of the Divine Will or plan, which explicitly denotes the Power of God to do anything, at any time, It so desires, including changing the course of Its own Will and plans.
Given this, duꜤā and prayer in general are not merely some metaphorical or literary flourishes or ornamentation without actual substance and reality incapable of effecting things or even changing things altogether. It very much does hold that kind of power, but only in the hands of those whose eyes have actually been opened and who are fully in line with the Divine Will - or when and if the Divine Will Itself otherwise makes a determination to alter the course of things.
