His Supplications for his Children
As for all his supplications, they represent an origin bright side of the sides of Islamic education. They are the best ways to educate souls and to improve morals.The great Ima`m knew that black clouds of social, moral and religious deterioration prevailed in the community during his time. So, he put his supplications known as' al-Sahifa al-Sajja`diya'. Through them he wanted to cure psychological diseases and to renew the mental and spiritual qualities of the community. The supplications are among the most valuable Islamic works after the Holy Koran and Nahjj al-Bala`gha.
Indeed Ima`m Zayn al-'Abidin's supplications are full of knowledge, wise sayings, and spiritual Islamic belief. They supply the community with the teachings necessary to achieve its individual and social balance. Among his holy supplications for his children is the following. He, peace be on him, said:
O Allah, be kind to me through
the survival of my children,
setting them right for me,
and allowing me to enjoy them!
O Allah, make long their lives for me,
increase their terms,
bring up the smallest for me,
strengthen the weakest for me,
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1. Al-Khazzaz, Kifayat al-Athar.
rectify for me their bodies,
their religious dedication,
and their moral traits,
make them well in their souls, their limbs,
and everything that concerns me of their affair,
and pour out for me and upon my hand
their provisions!
Make them pious, fearing, insightful, hearing,
and obedient toward You,
loving and well-disposed toward Your friends,
and stubbornly resistant and full of hate
toward all Your enemies!
Amen!
O Allah, through them strengthen my arm,
straighten my burdened back,
multiply my number,
adorn my presence,
keep alive my mention,
suffice me when I am away,
help me in my needs,
and make them loving toward me,
affectionate, approaching, upright,
obedient, never disobedient, disrespectful
opposed, or offenders!
Help me in their upbringing, their education,
and my devotion toward them,
give me among them from Yourself male children,
make that a good for me,
and make them a help for me
in that which I ask from You!
Give me and my progeny refuge from the accursed Satan,
for You have created us, commanded us, and prohibited us,
and made us desire the reward of what You have commanded
and fear its punishment!
You assigned to us an enemy
who schemes against us,
gave him an authority over us
in a way that You did not give us an authority over him,
allowed him to dwell in our breasts
and let him run in our blood vessels;
he is not heedless though we are heedless,
he does not forget though we forget;
he makes us feel secure from your punishment
and fill us with fear toward other than You.
If we are about to commit an indecency,
he gives us courage to do so,
and if we are about to perform a righteous work,
he holds us back from it.
He opposes us through passions
and sets up for us doubts.
If he promises us, he lies
and if he raises our hopes, he fails to fulfill them.
If You do not turn his trickery away from us,
he will misguide us,
and if You do not protect us from his corruption,
he will cause us to slip.
O Allah, so defeat his authority over us through Your authority,
such that You hold him back from us
through the frequency of our supplication to You
and we leave his trickery
and rise up among those preserved by You from sin!
O Allah, grant me my every request,
accomplish for me my needs
withhold not from me Your response
when You have made Yourself accountable for it to me,
veil not my supplication from Yourself,
when You have commanded me to make it,
and be kind to me through everything that will set me right
in this world and the next,
in everything that I remember or forget,
display or conceal, make public or keep secret!
In all of this, place me through my asking You among
those who set things right,
those who are answered favorably
when they request from You
and from whom is not withheld
when they put their trust in You,
those accustomed to seek refuge in You,
those who profit through commerce with You,
those granted sanctuary through Your might,
those given lawful provision in plenty from Your bound less
bounty
through Your munificence and generosity,
those who reach exaltation after abasement through You
those granted sanctuary from wrong through Your justice,
those released from affliction through Your mercy,
those delivered from need after poverty through Your riches,
those preserved from sins, slips, and offenses through reverential fear toward You,
those successful in goodness, right conduct, and propriety through obeying You,
those walled off from sins through Your power, the retainers from every act of obedience toward You, the dwellers in Your neighborhood!
O Allah, give all of that through Your bestowal of success and Your mercy,
grant us refuge from the chastisement of the burning,
and give to all the Moslems, male and female,
and all the faithful, male and female,
the like of what I have asked for myself and my children,
in the immediate of this world and the deferred of the next!
Verily You are the Near, the Responder,
the All-hearing, the All-knowing,
the pardoner, the Forgiving,
the Clement,
the merciful! And give to us in this world good,
and in the next world good,
and protect us from the chastisement of the Fire!1
Indeed the great Ima`m put the methods of education and the ethics of Islam through this holy supplication, which is among the gifts of Prophethood, the fragrant smells of the Ima`mate, and the bright pages of the heritage of the members of the House (ahl al-Bayt), peace be on them. The Ima`m took care of this supplication to educate the morals of his children and to purify their souls from
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1. Imam Zayn al-'Abidin, al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiya, supplication no. 25.
deviation from the right path and sins. He prayed for Allah to set right their religion, to protect them from committing what he prohibited, and to set right their conduct so that they would be the delight of his eye and a help for him to achieve the affairs of this life. It is natural for the father to be happy when his child is righteous. When the child deviates, he turns his parents' life into an unbearable inferno.
In Protection from Immortality
The great Ima`m overexerted himself in worship. He was very loyal to Allah. The people saw nobody like him in piety and intense cleaving to the religion. His life was a school for piety, belief, education, and reform. The people admired him very much, for he was the rest of the Prophethood and of Allah in His earth. Thus, they were happy to see him, to sit with him, and to talk with him. This was difficult for the Umayyads who were the most malicious of all the people towards the Prophet's family. They were afraid of the Ima`m, for the people admired him very much, and talked about his vast knowledge. Among the most malicious towards him was al-Walid b. 'Abd al-Malik. Al-Zuhri reported that al-Walid said: "I have no rest as long as 'Ali b. al-Husayn is in this world.1 When this spiteful person became caliph, he decided to kill the Ima`m.Al-Walid poisoned the Imam
Al-Walid committed the most dangerous crime in Islam. He sent deadly poison to his governor of Medina (Yathrib). He commanded him to give the poison to the Imam to drink. 2His governor carried out that order. When the Ima`m was given the poison to drink, he suffered from severe pains. He remained alive for some days on the death bed expressing his grief to Allah. The people crowded to visit him. However, he, peace be on him, was praising Allah for granting him martyrdom at the hands of the worst of His creatures.____________
1. Hayat al-Imam 'Ali b. al-Husayn, p. 426.
2. Ibn al-Sabbagh, al-Fusul al-Muhimma, p. 233.
His Designation for the Ima`mate of al-Ba`qir
He, peace be on him, charged his son, al-Ba`qir, with the Ima`mate after him and designated him as the Ima`m. Al-Zuhri said: [I went to him to visit him. Then I said to him:] "If Allah's unavoidable order occurs, whom shall we follow after you ?"The Ima`m looked at me kindly and said to me: "This son of mine, pointing to his son al-Ba`qir, for he is my trustee, my inheritor, and the container of my knowledge. He is the origin of knowledge and the one who will split it open. "
"Will you not designate your eldest son ?"
"Abu` 'Abd Allah, oldness and youngness do not concern the Ima`mate. In this manner, Allah's Apostle, may Allah bless him and his family, nominated us. Thus, we have found it written in the tablet and the parchment. "
Son of the Apostle of Allah, did your Prophet entrust you to be the trustees (of authority) after him ?"
"We have found twelve names in the parchment and the tablet. Their Ima`mate, their fathers' names, and their mothers' names have been written in the tablet."Then he said: "Seven of the trustees will come forth from the back of Mohammed, my son. Al-Mahdi will be one of them.1
"Some prominent Shi'ites came to him. He told them about the Ima`mate of his son al-Ba`qir. He appointed him as the authority and leader for the community of his grandfather. Then he gave him a basket and a box in which were the prophets' heritage and the weapon and the books of the Apostle of Allah, may Allah bless him and his family.2
His Bequests to his Son al-Ba`qir
Ima`m Zayn al-'Abidin, peace be on him, entrusted his trustee and the Lord of his sons, Ima`m al-Ba`qir, peace be on him, to carry out his bequests that are as follow:____________
1. Ithbat al-Hudat, vol. 5, p. 264.
2. Ibid, p. 268.
1. He said to him: "Through this she-camel of mine, I performed the hajj twenty times. I have never whipped it. When it dies, bury it so as the beasts of prey do not eat its meat. That is because Allah's Apostle, may Allah bless him and his family, said: "Allah numbers the camel from the blessings of Heaven when the pilgrim performs the hajj seven times through it. And He makes blessed its progeny."Ima`m al-Ba`qir carried that out.1
2. He advised him to carry out the following valuable bequest that denote some bright qualities of the members of the House (ahl al-Bait), peace be on them. He said to him: "I advise you with what my father advised me when death came to him. He said to me: "My little son, beware of oppressing him who has no supporter against you but Allah.2
3. He entrusted him to wash and shroud him and to take care of all his affairs till he buried him in his final resting place.3
To the High Comrade
The Ima`m was in a critical condition, for the death pangs became more serious. The members of his House were told that he would move to Paradise in the darkness of the night. He fainted three times. When he got well, he read the of al-Waqi'a and the chapter of Inna Fatahna, and then he, peace be no him, said: "Praise belongs to Allah, Who has made good to us his promise, and has made us inherit the land; we abide in the garden where we please; so goodly is the reward of the workers.4Then that great soul ascended to its Creator as the souls of the prophets and of the apostles ascended. The angels of the Merciful surrounded it. Allah's favors, greetings, and pleasure surrounded it too. His soul ascended to Heaven after it had enlightened the horizons of this universe and the worlds of this world had shone through it.
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1. Al-Baqir, al-Mahasin, vol. 2, p. 635.
2. Al-Khisal, p. 185.
3. Al-Khara'ijj, p. 20.
4. Roudat al-Kafi.
That is because it had left behind it noble practices through which the perplexed one and the straying one follow the right way.
His Preparation for Burial
Ima`m Abu` Ja'far (al-Ba`qir) prepared his father's body. When he washed his body, the people saw the places of his prostration (in prayer). They were similar to the camel's kneels because of his many prostrations for his Creator. The people looked at his shoulders. They looked like the camel's kneels too. Thus, the people asked al-Ba`qir about that. He told them that his father's shoulders were so because of the food bag he carried on them for the poor and the deprived.After al-Ba`qir had washed his father's body, he shrouded it and prayed over it.
His Funeral
Ima`m Zayn al-'Abidin was escorted to his final resting place in the manner which Medina (Yathrib) had never seen before. The pious and the sinners paid him the last hours. All the people wept over him, for they lost much good at his death. Moreover, they lost that high soul of which no soul was created. The people crowded around that holy body. They were happy to raise it. It was strange that Sa'id b. al-Musayyab, one of the seven jurists in Medina, did not escort the Ima`m and did not pray over him. Hushrum, Ashja's retainer, blamed him for that. Sa'id said to him: "To pray two raq'a`s in the mosque is more lovable for me than to pray over this good man from the good House.1 Sa'id was deprived of escorting the Ima`m who was the most pious human being Allah created after his pure grandfathers.To his final Resting Place
The people were around the great body praising and glorifying Allah. They brought it to the (cemetery) of Baqi' al-Gharqad. They dug a grave for it beside the grave of his pure uncle, Imam al-Hasan____________
Al-Kashi. Rijal, p. 76.
b. 'Ali, the Lord of the youth of Heaven. Ima`m al-Ba`qir buried his father's body in its final resting place. He buried with it kindness, piety, clemency, and the spiritual qualities of the prophets and of the pious.
Then the people hurried toward Ima`m al-Ba`qir, peace be on him, to condole him. The Ima`m, his bothers, and all the Ha`shimites thanked them for that.
After he had buried his father at the (cemetery) of Baqi` al-Gharqad, Ima`m Abu` Ja'far (al-Ba`qir), peace be on him, went home weeping The Ha`shimites, the children of the Companions (of the Prophet), and the notable Moslems surrounded him. They were weeping over Ima`m Zayn al-'Abidin and mentioning his traits and his deeds. They were also mentioning with great sorrow the heavy loss that befell the Moslems at his death.
After his father's death, Ima`m al-Ba`qir, peace be on him, undertook the spiritual leadership and the general authority of the Moslem world. The Ima`mate and the religious leader with the Shi'ites passed to him.1 From that moment, he began to proclaim knowledge and to teach the scholars special lessons about the affairs of Islamic Law and the rules of religion. Most historians mentioned that he lived for 39 years under the protection of his father.2 The orientalist Roait M. Reynolds made a mistake when he mentioned that the Ima`m's age was 19 years when the Ima`mate passed to him. 3That has occurred because of the paucity of the studies on the affairs of Islamic history.
Fabrication
In his book al-Tarikh, b. 'Asa`kir reported some fabrications on the authority of Mohammed b. Ja'far al-Samiry, who said: I heard Abu Musa, the educator, say: Qays b. al-Numan said: "One day I went to some graveyards of Medina. Suddenly, I found a boy. The boy was sitting beside a grave and weeping loudly. Rays of light were____________
1. Al-'Aqd al-Farid, vol. 5, p. 204.
2.Ibn Abi al-Thalj al-Baghdadi, Tarikh al-A'imma, p.5.
3. 'Aqidat al-Shi'a, p.123.
coming out of his face. I walked toward him and said: "O Boy, what has made you sad to the extent that it has made you lonely at the graveyards and weep over the deed while you are in the inexperience of boyhood paying no attention to the difference of the times and the longing of grief? The boy raised his head and lowered it. He kept silent for an hour without giving an answer. Then he raised his head and said:
Indeed the boy is he whose intellect is young.
Neither youngness nor oldness has abased the wise from us.
Then he said to me: You have no ability to think. Your bowels are free from sorrow. You feel safe from the approach of death through the long hope. Indeed the thing that has made me lonely at the graveyard reminds me of the Words of Allah, the Great and Almighty :' And the trumpet shall be blown, when lo! from the graves they shall hasten on to their Lord. ' So, I said: May my father and mother be ransom for you, who are you? He said:' The unhappiness of the fools is that their knowledge of the children of the prophets is little. I am Mohammed b. 'Ali b. al-Husayn. This is the grave of my father. Which sociability is more sociable than his nearness? Which loneliness is with him? Then he composed, saying:
When my tears decrease at a misfortune,
I make weeping a cause for it.
Qays said:' I went away. I did not leave the visitation of the graves from that time. 1This report was fabricated, for it denotes that the Ima`m was still young after his father's death. However, the historians have unanimously agreed that his holy age was 39 years. Thus, when we consider carefully this report, we understand that it is among the fabrications.
With this our talk about Ima`m Mohammed al-Ba`qir under the wing of his father and of his grandfather is over. He inherited from them the greatest thing which the branches inherit from the origins. He inherited from them knowledge, wisdom, and sound judgments.
