a perfect example is that of ayyub 'ala nabiyyina wa 'alaihis salatu wassalam. we are healthy and we are sinners; yet we ask for paradise. sayyidina ayyub 'alaihis salam was in difficulty, so what does he say [21:83]? And remember Ayub when he called his Lord that distress has touched me and You are the Most Merciful of the merciful. he could have asked Allah to remove his difficulty but he asks indirectly. he praises Allah and is pleased with what Allah has decreed. he doesn't at all ask Allah to cure him.
Imam Dhahabi narrates an anecdote of Imam Al-A'azam in his Manaqib Abu Hanifah: One day, a youth in Abu Hanifah's shop opened the cloth rolls and was awestruck at the beauty of the red, green and yellow silk. He said: 'We ask Allah to give us paradise'. Abu Hanifah began to weep until he began to shiver and shudder; he ordered the shop to be closed and he walked home hastily covering his head. The next day, he said: 'My brother, what makes us so audacious to ask Allah ta'ala to give us paradise? Surely, those who have pleased Allah ta'ala and are worthy of paradise and they can ask Him that - but people like us, we must beseech Allah to pardon us, we must ask Him for forgiveness.' --- aah!
