His Supplication when he asked Release
from his Sins
This is one of the Ima`m's outstanding supplications. He supplicated with it when he asked release from his sins or pleaded in seeking pardon for his defects, as it has been mentioned in al-Sahifa al-Sajja`diya. The following is its text:
"O Allah, O He through whose Mercy sinners seek aid! O He to the remembrance of whose beneficence the distressed flee! O He in fear of whom the offenders weep! O Comfort of every lonely stranger! O Relief of all who are downcast and distresses! O Aid of everyone abandoned and alone! O Support of every needy outcast!
( 423 )
You are He who embrace everything in mercy and knowledge! You are He who has appointed for each creature a share of Your favors! You are He whose pardon is higher than his punishment! You are He whose mercy runs before His wrath! You are He whose bestowal is greater than His withholding! You are He who by whose mercy all creatures are embraced! You are He who desires no repayment by him upon whom He bestows! You are He who does not overdo the punishment of him whom disobeys You! And I, my Allah, am Your servants whom You commanded to supplicate and who said: I am at Your service and disposal! Here am I, my Lord, thrown down before You. I am he whose back offenses have weighed down! I am he whose lifetime sins have consumed! I am he who was disobedient in his ignorance, while You did not deserve that from him! Will You, my Allah, be merciful toward him who supplicates You, that I should bring my supplication before You? Will You forgive him who weeps to You that I should hurry to weep? Will You show forbearance toward him whom puts who puts his face in the dust before You in lowliness? Will You free from need him who complains to You of his indigent need with confidence? My Allah, disappoint not him who finds no bestower other than You, and abandon not him who cannot be freed from his need for You through less than You! My Allah, so bless Mohammed and his Household, turn not away from me when I have turned my face toward You, deprive me not when I have besought You, and slap not my brow with rejection when I have stood before You! You are he who has described Himself by mercy so bless Mohammed and his Household, and have mercy upon me! You are he who has named Himself by pardon, so pardon me! You have seen, my Allah, the flow of my tears in fear of You, the throbbing of my heart in dread of You, and the infirmity of my limbs in awe of You. All this from my shame before You because of my evil works! So my voice has become silent, no longer crying to You, and my tongue has gone dumb, no longer whispering in prayer."
This part of supplication shows the Ima`m's firm faith in Allah and his strong devotion to Him. He entrusted all his affairs to Him,
( 424 )
clung to Him during all his worries, and asked Him for pardon, repentance, and good pleasure. Now, let's listen to another part of this supplication.
"My Allah, so to You belongs praise! How many of my flaws You have covered over without exposing me! How many of my sins You have cloaked without making me notorious! How many faults I have committed, yet You did not tear away from me their covering, collar me with their detested disgrace, or make their dishonor plain to those of my neighbors who search for my defects and to those who envy Your favor toward me! But that did not prevent me from passing on to the evil that You know from me! So who is more ignorant than I, my Allah, of his own right conduct? Who is more heedless than I of his own good fortune? Who is further than I from seeking to set himself right? For I spend the provision You deliver to me in the disobedience You have prohibited to me! Who sinks more deeply into falsehood and is more intensely audacious in evil than I? For I hesitate between Your call and the call of Satan and then follow his call without being blind in my knowledge of him or forgetful in my memory of him, while I am certain that Your call takes to the Garden and his call takes to the Fire! Glory be to You! How marvelous the witness I bear against my own soul and the enumeration of my hidden affairs! And more marvelous than that is Your lack of haste with me, Your slowness in attending to me! That is not because I possess honor with You, but because You wait patiently for me and are bountiful toward me that I may refrain from disobedience displeasing to You and abstain from evil deeds that disgrace me, and because You love to pardon me more than to punish! But I, my Allah, am more numerous in sins, uglier in footsteps, more repulsive in acts, more reckless in rushing into falsehood, weaker in awakening to Your obedience, and less attentive and heedful toward Your threats, than that I could number for You my faults or have the power to recount my sins. I only scold my own soul, craving Your gentleness, through which the affairs of sinners are set right, and hoping for Your mercy, through which the necks of the offenders are freed."
( 425 )
The Ima`m, peace be on him, never committed sin throughout his life; rather he devoted himself to his religion, taking great care of his conduct. As he was very fearful of Allah, turned to Him in repentance, and dedicated himself to Him, he placed himself in the station of the sinners, hoping for pardon, salvation, and deliverance. Now, let's listen to the last part of this supplication.
"O Allah, this is my neck, enslaved by sins, so bless Mohammed and his Household and release it through Your pardon! This is my back, weighed down by offenses, so bless Mohammed and his Household and lighten it through Your kindness! My Allah, were I to weep to You until my eyelids drop off, wail until my voice wears out, stand before You until my backbone is thrown out of joint, prostrate to You until my eyeballs fall out, eat the dirt of the earth for my whole life, drink the water of ashes till the end of my days, mention You through all of that my tongue fails, and not lift my glance to the sky's horizons in shame before You, yet would I not merit through all of that the erasing of a single one of my evil deeds! Though You forgive me when I merit Your forgiveness and pardon me when I merit Your pardon, yet I have no title to that through what I deserve, nor I am worthy of it through merit, since my repayment from You from the first that I disobeyed You is the Fire! So if You punish me, You do me no wrong.
"My Allah, since You have shielded me with Your covering and not exposed me, waited patiently for me through Your generosity, and not hurried me to punishment, and shown me clemency through Your bounty, and not changed Your favor upon me or muddied Your kindly acts toward me, have mercy on my drawn out pleading, my intense misery, and my evil situation! O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, protect me from acts of disobedience, employ me in obedience, provide me with excellent turning back (to You), purify me through repentance, strengthen me through preservation from sin, set me right through well-being, let me taste the sweetness of forgiveness, make me the freeman of Your pardon and the slave
( 426 )
released by Your mercy, and write for me a security from Your displeasure! Give me the good news of that in the immediate, not the deferred(a good news I recognize(and make me known to me therein a sign which I may clearly see! That will not constrain You in Your plenty, distress You in Your power, ascend beyond Your lack of haste, or tire You in Your great gifts, which are pointed to by Your signs. Verily You do what You will, You decree what You desire. You are powerful over everything.
1"
The Ima`m, peace be on him, did his best to seek nearness to Allah and prepared for his life in the next world a marvelous station: In the field of worship, he performed all the superfluous and desirable prayers, and in the field of good deeds, he helped the miserable and the deprived, yet he thought that he fell short of obeying Allah, following the prophets and their trustees (of authority) who were very sincere in obeying and worshipping Allah, still they felt that their worship and obedience to Him was not important.
His Supplication in Seeking Refuge
from the Instigations of Satan
He would supplicate with this great supplication when he mentioned Satan and sought refuge in Allah from him and from his enmity and trickery.
"O Allah, we seek refuge in You from the instigations of the accursed Satan, his trickery, and his traps, from trust in his false hopes, his promises, his delusions, and his snares, and lest he should make himself crave to lead us away from Your obedience and to degrade us through our disobeying You, and lest what he has shown us as beautiful be beautiful for us and what he has shown us as detestable weigh down upon us. O Allah, drive him away from us through Your worship, throw him down through our perseverance in
____________
1 Ibid, Supplication no. 16.
( 427 )
Your love, and place between us a covering that he cannot tear away and a solid barrier that he cannot cut through! O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, distract Satan from us with some of Your enemies, preserve us from him through Your good guarding, spare us his treachery, turn his back toward us, and cut from us his trace! O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, give us to enjoy guidance the like of his misguidance, increase us in piety against his seduction, and make us walk in reverential fear contrary to his path of ruin! O Allah, assign him no place of entrance into our hearts and do not allow him to make his home in that which is with us! O Allah, cause us to recognize the falsehood with which he tempts us, and once You have caused us to recognize it, protect us from it! Make us see what will allow us to outwit him, inspire us with all that we can make ready for him, awaken us from the heedless slumber of relying upon him, and help us well, through Your giving success, against him! O Allah, saturate our hearts with the rejection of his works and be gentle to us by destroying his stratagems! O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, turn his authority away from us, cut his hope from us, and keep him from craving us!"
The accursed Satan is the first enemy of man. He makes him follow evil inclinations and thoughts, turns him away from the straight path, adorns for him the acts of disobedience, and makes him love crimes and sins, hence the Ima`m, peace be on him, asked Allah to save him from Satan, his trickery, his traps, from trust in his false hopes, his promises, his delusions, and his snares through which he deludes men, throw them into ruin, and send them far from Allah's favors and mercy. Now, let's listen to the rest of the supplication:
"O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, and place our fathers, our mothers, our children, our wives, our siblings, our relatives, and the faithful among our neighbors, male and female, in a sanctuary impregnable to him, a guarding fortress, a defending cave! Clothe them in shields protective against him and give them arms that will cut him down! O Allah, include in that every one who witnesses
( 428 )
to You as Lord, devotes himself sincerely to Your Unity, shows enmity toward him through the reality of servanthood, and seeks help from You against him through knowledge of the divine sciences!
"O Allah, undo what he ties, unstitch what he sews up, dislocate what he devises, frustrate him when he makes up his mind, and destroy what he establishes! O Allah, rout his troops, nullify his trickery, make his cave collapse, and rub his nose in the ground! O Allah, place us in the ranks of his enemies and remove us from the numbers of his friends, that we obey him not when he entices us and answer him not when he calls to us! We command everyone who obeys our command to be his enemy and we admonish everyone who follows our prohibition not to follow him! O Allah, bless Mohammed, the Seal of the Prophets and Lord of the emissaries, and the folk of his house, the good, the pure! Give refuge to us, our families, our brothers, and all the faithful, male and female, from that from which we seek refuge, and grant us sanctuary from that through fear of which we seek sanctuary in You! Hear our supplication to You, bestow upon us that of which we have been heedless, and safeguard for us what we have forgotten! Through all this bring us into the ranks of the righteous and the degrees of the faithful! Amen, Lord of the worlds!
1"
The Ima`m, peace be on him, asked the Great Creator to be kind to him through placing his father, his mother, his children, his wife, his siblings, his relatives, and the faithful among his neighbors, male and female, in a sanctuary impregnable to Satan, a guarding fortress, a defending cave. He asked Allah to include in that everyone who witnesses to Him as Lord and devotes himself sincerely to His Unity. Moreover he asked Allah to undo what Satan ties, unstitch what he sews up, dislocate what he devises, frustrate him when he makes up his mind, and destroy what he establishes.
____________
1 Ibid, Supplication no. 17.
( 429 )
His Supplication in Asking for Water
during a Drought
During a drought, he, peace be on him, would supplicate with this outstanding supplication.
"O Allah, water us with rain, unfold us Your mercy through Your copious rain from the driven clouds, so that Your goodly earth may grow on all horizons! Show kindness to Your servants through ripening of the fruit, revive Your land through the blossoming of the flowers, and let Your angels(the noble scribers(be witness to a beneficial watering from You, lasting in its abundance, plenty in its flow, heavy, quick, soon, through which You revive what has vanished, bring forth what is coming, and provide plentiful foods, through heaped up, wholesome, productive clouds, in reverberating layers, the rain's downpour not without ease, the lightning's flashes not without fruit! O Allah, give us water through rain, helping, productive, fertilizing, widespread, plentiful, abundant, bringing back the risen, restoring the broken! O Allah, give us water with a watering through which You will make the stone hills pour, fill the cisterns, flood the rivers, make the trees grow, bring down prices in all the lands, invigorate the beasts and the creatures, perfect for us the agreeable things of provision, make grow for us the fields, let flow for us the teats, and add for us strength to our strength!
"O Allah, make not the cloud's shadow over us a burning wind, allow not its coldness to be cutting, let not its pouring down upon us be a stoning, and make not its water for us bitter! O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, and provide us with the blessings of the heavens and the earth! You are powerful over everything!
1"
I (the author) think that there are no Arab words more
____________
1 Ibid, Supplication no. 19.
( 430 )
wonderful and eloquent than this description in the supplication of Ima`m, peace be on him. He descried the reality of clouds with the most accurate qualities. He showed that clouds gave life to the earth, made inclusive changes in the laws of nature, and hence they profited both man and animal. This great Ima`m, like his fathers, was given inclusive words and sound judgment.
His Supplication when something Made him
Sorrow
He, peace be on him, would supplicate with this great supplication when some thing made him sorrow and offenses made him worry. The following is its text:
"O Allah, O Sufficer of the isolated and weak and Protector against terrifying affairs! Offenses have isolated me, so there is no one to be my companion. I am too weak for Your wrath and there is no one to strengthen me. I have approached the terror of meeting You and there is no one to still my fear. Who can make me secure from when You have filled me with terror? Who can come to aid me when You have isolated me? Who can strengthen me when You have weakened me? None can grant sanctuary to a vassal, my Allah, but a lord, none can give security to one dominated but a dominator, none can aid him from whom demands are made but a demander. In Your hand, my Allah, is the tread of all that, in You the place of escape and flight, so bless Mohammed and his Household, give sanctuary to me in my flight, and grant my request!
"O Allah, if You should turn Your generous face away from me, withhold from me Your immense bounty, forbid me Your provision, or cut off from me Your thread, I will find no way to anything of my hope other than You nor be given power over what is with You through another's aid, for I am Your servant and in Your grasp; my forelock is in Your hand! I have no command along with Your command. Accomplished is Your judgment of me, just Your decree for me! I have not the strength to emerge from Your authority nor am
( 431 )
I able to step outside Your power. I cannot win Your inclination, arrive at Your good pleasure, or attain what is with You except through obeying You and through the bounty of Your mercy. My Allah, I rise in the morning and enter into evening as Your lowly slave. I own no profit and loss for myself. except through You. I witness to that over myself and I confess to the frailty of my strength and the paucity of my stratagems. So accomplish what You have promised me and complete for me what You have given me, for I am Your slave, miserable, abased, frail, distressed, vile, despised, poor, fearful, and seeking sanctuary!
The great Ima`m believed in the absolute power of Allah, the Exalted, and thought that all things were in the grasp of Him, the Most High, for He is the Possessor, the All-dominating, the All-overcoming, whose command none repels. The Ima`m emptied himself from all his outstanding merits and confessed obedience to Allah showing his feebleness, weakness, misery, and inability to do anything except through the help of Him, the Exalted. Now, let's listen to the last parts of this supplication.
"O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household and let me not forget to remember You in what You have done for me, be heedless of Your beneficence in Your trying me, or despair of Your response to me, though it keep me waiting whether I be in prosperity or adversity, hardship or ease, well-being or affliction, misery or comfort, wealth or distress, poverty or riches!
"O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, make me laud You, extol You, and praise You in all my states so that I rejoice not over what You give me of this world nor sorrow over that of it which You withhold from me! Impart reverential fear of You to my heart, employ my body in that which You accept from me, and divert my soul through obedience to You from all that enters upon me so that I love nothing that displeases You and become displeased at nothing that pleases You! O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, empty my heart for Your love, occupy it with remembering You,
( 432 )
animate it with fear of You and quaking before You, strengthen it with beseeching You, incline it to Your obedience, set it running in the path most beloved to You, and subdue it through desire for what is with You all the days of my life! Let my provision in this world be reverential fear of You, my mercy be toward Your mercy, and my entrance be in Your good pleasure! Appoint for me a lodging in Your Garden, give me strength to bear everything that pleases You, make me flee to You and desire what is with You, clothe my heart in estrangement from the evil among Your creature, and give me intimacy with You, Your friends, and those who obey You! Assign to no wicked person or unbeliever a kindness toward me or a hand that obliges me, nor to me a need for one of them! Rather make the stillness of my heart, the comfort of my soul, my independence and my sufficiency lie in You and the best of Your creatures! O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, make me their comrade, make me their helper, and oblige with yearning for You and doing for You what You love and approve! You are powerful over everything and that is easy for You.
1"
In these parts, the Ima`m, peace be on him, expressed his great trust and faith in Allah, asking Him not to let him forget to remember Him in what He had done for him, be heedless of His beneficence in His trying him, or despair of His response. He asked Him to make his laud and praise for His pleasure in all states. He asked him to empty his heart for His love, occupy it with remembering Him, animate it with fear of Him, set it running in the path most beloved to Him, let his provision in this perishing world be reverential fear of Him, and make Paradise his abode and final station.
The Ima`m, peace be on him, asked Allah, the Most Exalted, to clothe his heart in estrangement from the evil among His creature, and give him intimacy with Him, His friends, and those who obeyed Him, and to assign to no wicked person or unbeliever a kindness toward
____________
1 Ibid, Supplication no. 21.
( 433 )
him or a hand that obliged him, nor to him a need for one of them! The Imam entrusted all his affairs to Allah, the Most High, for He freed him from need to all His creatures.
His Supplication in Hardship
The Ima`m, peace be on him, would supplicate with this holy supplication in hardship, effort, and difficult affairs.
"O Allah, You have charged me concerning myself with that which belongs more to You than to me. Your power over it and over me is greater than my power, so give me in myself what will make You pleased with me and take for Yourself Your good pleasure in my self's well-being! O Allah, I have endurance for effort, no patience in affliction, no strength to bear poverty. So forbid me not my provision and entrust me not to Your creatures, but take care of my need alone and Yourself attend to sufficing me! Look upon me and look after me in all my affairs, for if You entrust me to Your creatures, they will frown upon me, and if You make me resort to my kinsfolk, they will refuse to give me; if they give me, they will give me little and in bad temper, making me feel long obliged and blaming me much. So through Your bounty, O Allah, free me from need, through Your mightiness, lift me up through Your boundless plenty, open my hand, and with that which is with You, suffice me!
"O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, rid me of enemy, encircle me against sins, make me abstain from things unlawful, give me not the boldness of disobedient acts, assign me love for that which is with You and satisfaction with that which comes to me from You, bless me in that which You provide me, that which You confer upon me, and that through which You favor me, and make me in all my states safeguarded, watched, covered, defended, given refuge, and granted sanctuary!
"O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, and let me accomplish everything which You have enjoined upon me or made
( 434 )
obligatory for me toward You, in one of the ways of Your obedience, or toward one of Your creatures, though my body be too frail for that, my strength too feeble, my power not able to reach it, and my possessions and what my hand owns not encompass it, and whether I have remembered it or forgotten it. It, my Lord, is among that which You have counted against me while I have been heedless of it in myself. Let me perform it through Your plentiful giving and the abundance which is with You(for You are Boundless, Generous(so that nothing of it may remain against me, lest You would wish to settle accounts for it from my good deeds or to compound my evil deeds on the day I meet You, my Lord!"
Consider carefully these paragraphs of this supplication and you will find deep faith in Allah, perfect sincerity to Him, and absolute freedom from all material inclinations. The Ima`m asked Allah, the Exalted, to include him in His care and favors and to be kind to him through:
1. Not trying him with that toward which he had neither force nor strength.
2. Not afflicting him with poverty and neediness, for they were the hardest of all the disasters in this world's life.
3. Not entrusting him to His creatures, whether near or far, for they disdained him who was in need of them.
4. Ridding him from envy, which was one of the most evil inclinations.
5. Preventing him from committing sins and acts of disobedience.
6. Making him cling to piety and Allah-fearingness.
7. Making him desire for that which was with Him.
8. Making blessed his property and children
( 435 )
9. Safeguarding him in all his states and affairs, covering him over, and protecting him from the evil.
10. Granting him success for performing his past duties and obligations. These are some of the Ima`m's requests. Now, let's listen to the rest of this supplication.
"O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, and provide me with desire to serve You for the sake of my state in the hereafter, such that I know the truthfulness of that (desire) in my heart, be dominated by renunciation while in this world, do good deeds with yearning, and remain secure from evil in fright and fear! And give a light whereby I may walk among the people!, be guided in the shadows, and seek illumination in doubt and uncertainty! O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, and provide me with fear of the threatened gloom and yearning for the promised reward, such that I may find the pleasure of that for which I supplicate You and the sorrow of that from which I seek sanctuary in You!
"O Allah, You know what will set my affairs right in this world and the next, so be ever gracious toward my deeds! O Allah, bless Mohammed and Mohammed's Household and provide me with what is Your right when I fall short in thanking You for that through which You have favored me in ease and difficulty, health and sickness, such that I may come to know in myself repose in satisfaction and serenity of soul in that which You have made incumbent upon me in whatever states may occur: fear and security, satisfaction and displeasure, loss and gain!
"O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, and provide me with a breast safe from envy, such that I envy none of Your creatures in anything of Your bounty and such that I see none of Your favors toward any of Your creatures in religion or this world, well-being or reverential fear, plenty or ease, without hoping for myself better than it through and from You alone, who has no associate! O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, and provide me in this world and the
( 436 )
next with caution against offenses and wariness against slips in the state of satisfaction and wrath, such that I may remain indifferent toward that which enters upon me from the two states, work toward Your obedience, and prefer it and Your good pleasure over all else in both friends and enemies. Then my enemy may stay secure from my wrongdoing and injustice and my friend may despair of my inclination and the bent of my affection. Make me one of those who supplicate You with sincerity in ease with the supplication of those who supplicate You with sincerity in distress! Verily You are Praiseworthy, Glorious.
1"
These paragraphs contain some of the Ima`m's psychological desires when he asked Allah:
1. To serve Him for the sake of his state in the hereafter.
2. To make him renounce this world.
3. To help him in doing good deeds.
4. To giving him a light whereby he might walk among the people, be guided in the shadows, and seek illumination in doubt and uncertainty.
5. To make him fear the terrors on the Day of Resurrection and yearn for the abundant repayment He (Allah) had prepared for His pious, righteous servants.
6. To save him from envy, which was among the most dangerous psychological blights.
7. To provide him with guarding against sins and slips. These are some contents of this part of the supplication.
____________
1 Ibid, Supplication no. 22.
