Fifty-first Supplication of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya
This article is an introduction to the Fifty-first Supplication of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya; to read its text see text:Fifty-first Supplication of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya.| Subject | Pleading to God and gratefulness to God |
|---|---|
| Hadith-Based/Non-Hadith-Based | Hadith-Based |
| Issued by | Imam al-Sajjad (a) |
| Narrator | Mutawakkil b. Harun |
| Shi'a sources | Al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya |
The fifty-first supplication of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādīyya (Arabic: الدعاء الواحد والخمسون من الصحيفة السجادية) is a supplication transmitted from Imam al-Sajjad (a), in which the Imam pleads to God and expresses his gratefulness to God because of His innumerable blessings to man, although he admits that man’s thankfulness always falls short of God’s blessings. Moreover, in this supplication, the Imam describes God as the only supporter of man, noting that the way out of one’s troubles is to trust in God. The persistence of the social life only in light of God’s concealment of people’s faults and God’s answer to one’s prayers at times of misery are other themes of the supplication.
Doctrine
The themes of the fifty-first supplication of al-Sahifat al-Sajjadiyya include praise to God, asking one’s needs from the one who is essentially without need, taking refuge to God, asking for forgiveness and amnesty, asking for health, the problem of predestination, thankfulness toward God, and expression of human shortcomings.[1] According to Hasan Mamduhi Kirmanshahi in his exposition of the supplication, the words of Infallible Imams (a) in their supplications are the best prayers toward God, because they fully grasp man’s essential poverty toward God and God’s self-sufficiency, and thus, they note all the needs by God’s servants and ask for God’s mercy in the best way.[2]
Here are the doctrines of the supplication:
- Gratefulness toward God for His benefaction
- God’s benefaction to His servants before they ask Him for it
- God’s innumerable blessings given to people
- Man taking God’s blessings for granted and failing to be thankful
- God responding to one’s supplications at the time of distress and misery
- God turning away painful afflictions from man
- God’s special care for His servants
- The servants not being disappointed by God
- God as man’s only supporter
- Admiring God with one’s heart, tongue, and intellect
- God condoning one’s slips
- The social life persisting in light of God’s concealment of people’s faults
- The human humility as a result of sins
- God’s grace for people being permanent
- Man’s absolute need for God
- Prayer for not being disgraced by one’s shameful defects being uncovered
- Indolence in doing one’s obligations as Satan’s guile
- The trust in God as the only way out of one’s troubles
- Thankfulness to God falling short of God’s innumerable blessings
- God’s punishment being absolutely just.[3]
Commentaries
In the commentaries of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, such as Riyad al-salikin by Sayyid Ali Khan al-Madani,[4], Fi zilal al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya by Muhammad Jawad Mughniya,[5] Riyad al-'arifin by Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Darabi,[6] Afaq al-ruh by Muhammad Husayn Fadl Allah,[7] the fifty-first supplication is explicated. The words used in the supplication is also elucidated in lexical commentaries such as Fayd Kashani's Ta'liqat 'ala l-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya[8] and 'Izz al-Din al-Jaza'iri's Sharh al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya[9]
The fifty-first supplication of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya is expounded in such commentaries as Shuhud wa shinakht by Muhammad Hasan Mamduhi Kirmanshahi,[10] Sharh wa tarjumi-yi Sahifi-yi Sajjadiyya by Sayyid Ahmad Fihri,[11] in Persian.
Notes
- ↑ Anṣārīyān, Dīyār-i Āshiqān, vol. 7, p. 607.
- ↑ Mamdūḥī Kirmanshāhī, Shuhūd wa shinākht, vol. 4, p. 311.
- ↑ Mamdūḥī Kirmanshāhī, Shuhūd wa shinākht, vol. 4, p. 311-336; Commentary of 51th supplication of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, Irfan website (Persian).
- ↑ Madanī Shīrāzī, Rīyāḍ al-sālikīn, vol. 7, p. 333-364.
- ↑ Mughnīya, Fī zilāl al-Ṣaḥīfa, p. 641-646.
- ↑ Dārābī, Rīyāḍ al-ʿārifīn, p. 707-715.
- ↑ Faḍl Allāh, Āfāq al-rūḥ, vol. 2, p. 601-613.
- ↑ Fayḍ al-Kāshānī, Taʿlīqāt ʿalā l-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādīyya, p. 102-103.
- ↑ Jazā'irī, Sharh al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādīyya, p. 288-292.
- ↑ Mamdūḥī Kirmanshāhī, Shuhūd wa shinākht, vol. 4, p. 307-336.
- ↑ Fihrī, Sharḥ wa tarjuma-yi Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādīyya, vol. 3, p. 547-552.
References
- Anṣārīyān, Ḥusayn. Dīyār-i Āshiqān: tafsīr-i jāmiʿ al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādīyya. Tehran: Payām-i Āzādī, 1372 Sh.
- Dārābī, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad. Rīyāḍ al-ʿārifīn fī sharḥ al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādīyya. Edited by Ḥusayn Dargāhī. Tehran: Nashr-i Uswa, 1379 Sh.
- Faḍl Allāh, Sayyid Muḥammad Ḥusayn. Āfāq al-rūḥ. Beirut: Dār al-Mālik, 1420 AH.
- Fihrī, Sayyid Aḥmad. Sharḥ wa tarjuma-yi Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādīyya. Tehran: Nashr-i Uswa, 1388 Sh.
- Fayḍ al-Kāshānī, Muḥammad b. al-Murtaḍā al-. Taʿlīqāt ʿalā l-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādīyya. Tehran: Muʾassisat al-Buḥūth wa l-Taḥqīqāt al-Thiqāfīyya, 1407 AH.
- Jazāʾirī, ʿIzz al-Dīn. Sharḥ al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādīyya. Beirut: Dār al-Taʿāruf li-l-Maṭbūʿāt, 1402 AH.
- Madanī Shīrāzī, Sayyid ʿAlīkhān. Rīyāḍ al-sālikīn fī sharḥ al-Ṣaḥīfa Sayyid al-Sājjidīn. Qom: Muʾassisat al-Nashr al-Islāmī, 1435 AH.
- Mughnīya, Muḥammad Jawād al-. Fī zilāl al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādīyya. Qom: Dār al-Kitāb al-Islāmī, 1428 AH.
- Mamdūḥī Kirmanshāhī, Shuhūd wa shinākht; tarjuma wa sharḥ Ṣaḥīfa-yi Sajjādīyya. Qom: Būstān-i Kitāb, 1388 SH.