Bismillahi Rahmani Raheem, Assalamu alaikum.
I received this simple answer from the prophets (as), if a person makes a dua saying something general like Rabi Authi Bika min Kulli fitnah bi Khal’ak, Ya Allah I seek refuge in you from every trouble in your creation, while you are speaking Allah is the one who defines what all the troubles are in His creation so your dua can have an effect on everything you intended in it.
Allah is the one who defines what things are as people act, speak and live, as all life lives, and so life impacts the universe through Allah, here is how it works in scientific terms:
In a Hadith found in Bukhari Rasul Allah (saws) said “Kursiyuhu Ilmuhu”, His Kursi (Footstool) is His knowledge, while in the Quran Allah says “wasi’ah Kursiyuhu al Samawati wal Ardh” (2:255), His kursi extends over the heavens and the earth”. From this and many other verse in the Quran as well as many Ahadith it becomes clear His Kursi is responsible for the existence of knowledge in All things, that is, the knowledge regarding how they should be created and how they should live.
The existence all kinds of knowledge in the universe especially because He further explains in the Quran that His knowledge (Kursi) surrounds all things in it including us, all these things are statements of science and physics;
“It is Allah who has created seven heavens (solar system, galaxies, seven expansive regions of space) and of the earth, the like of them (the other planets in the universe). [His] command (Laws of physics) descends between them (from subatomic space down to earth) so you may know that Allah is Able to do all things (subatomic space controls all things and He controls it) and that Allah has encompassed all things in knowledge (His Kursi).” (65:12)
It is also clear from Ahadith that the Kursi is one of the seven regions or depth of subatomic space just before the deepest one, the Arsh; understanding Physics, what things are responsible for what in the universe, like the electromagnetic field is responsible for electricity, magnetism, light, life why every object has boundaries and does not just pass through each other or why black holes are not everywhere, it becomes clear that the Kursi is responsible for quantum entanglement (why and how all particles interact with each other, think how biology, chemistry and physics exist) which fulfills all the roles Allah describes the Kursi fulfills, Ahl Al Ghayb have affirmed our understanding of this many times over the years including Rasul Allah (saws) who said it is exactly as you understood, He (saws) then showed it to us so we had al yaqeen (certainty).
The point of understanding this is to understand that when Allah says in the Quran He istawa the Arsh, established Himself on the Arsh it means He established His reality in the universe after creating it in the Arsh in order to control it from here, this intention is mentioned literally in the Quran.
It does not mean part of Him is in creation but the Arsh mimics His reality, is an Image of it like man was created in His image, it does the same things as Him and so we see from this as the scholars said, “man is a copy (image) of the universe”, because in reality the universe is an image of Allah’s reality (Arsh) and knowledge (Kursi and everything it created), this is the meaning of the Hadith Qudsi where Allah says “I am Time (Dahr, the passing of time)”, or rather I am known by seeing the complete passing of time.
This role was given to the Angels to witness because of their age and to pass on its wisdom to man and Allah’s other creatures who would complete the picture for them and increase all things further in knowledge from their life experiences.
That is how all things come to know each other by familiarity by associating things in the world to what we understand about our self, this is the meaning of the hadith “He who knows Himself Knows his Lord.”,
When you understand that and subatomic space is the ghayb Allah is answering you from when you pray who he gives you things, then you understand why Allah says in the Quran ‘He is closer to you than your jugular vein’, because subatomic space all of it is contained within the space of a single atom, from here to the Arsh and it is everywhere.
“And indeed We have created man (know the process of His creation), and We know what his ownself whispers to him (we know everything inwardly). And We are nearer to him than his jugular vein” (50:16)
So when Allah answers your dua, defining “what are all the fitnah’s in the universe” at the same time you are intending it, He is creating action in the universe from the Arsh to every fitnah in the universe and to you.
From this you can understand what Allah means by; “His is what is in the heavens and what is in the earth and what is between them [the subatomic]…What is secret [hidden at the surface level] and what is more hidden [Akhfa, in the subatomic depths]” [Qur’an 20:6-7]
Shaykh Rami Al Rifai.
“O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and those in authority among you.” (4:59)