This article is an introduction to the Twelfth Supplication of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya; to read its text see text:Twelfth Supplication of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya.


The twelfth supplication of al-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādīyya (Arabic: الدعاء الثاني عشر من الصحيفة السجادية) is a supplication transmitted from Imam al-Sajjad (a), involving the confession to one's sins and the plea for repentance. In this supplication, Imam al-Sajjad (a) also refers to the factors that lead to one's deprivation of the opportunity for supplication, characteristics of God's favorite servants, the openness of the path of repentance, and the states of repenting servants of God.

Twelfth Supplication of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya
SubjectConfession to one's sins and the plea for repentance • Characteristics of God's favorite servants
Hadith-Based/Non-Hadith-BasedHadith-Based
Issued byImam al-Sajjad (a)
NarratorMutawakkil b. Harun
Shi'a sourcesAl-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya

This supplication is expounded thoroughly in such commentaries as Riyad al-salikin (in Arabic) by al-Sayyid 'Ali Khan al-Madani and Diyar-i ashiqan by Husayn Ansarian and Shuhud wa shinakht by Hasan Mamduhi Kirmanshahi (in Farsi).

Doctrines

The main theme of the twelfth supplication of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya is confession to sins, the plea for the return to God, factors leading to one's deprivation of the opportunity for supplication, characteristics of repenting servants, and characters of the best servants of God.[1] Below are the doctrines of the supplication which are stated by Imam al-Sajjad (a) within 16 sections[2]:

  • Factors leading to one's deprivation of the opportunity for supplication: negligence in compliance with divine commands and ignorance of one's obligations, hastening to do what God has forbidden, and failure to be grateful for God's blessings (ingratitude for God's blessings)
  • Divine grace as the ground of people's favorable opinion of God and their requests from Him
  • The need of creatures for God
  • Request for divine help in redemption from sins
  • Concern for consequences of sins and disobedience
  • Openness of the path of repentance to sinners
  • Seizing the opportunity for repentance
  • States of a repenting servant: bending over as a consequence of humility and modesty, the shaking of one's legs, tears flowing down, etc.
  • Hopefulness of divine forgiveness (the precedence of God's mercy over His wrath as a result of the servant's repentance)
  • The attempt at the attraction of divine mercy and forgiveness
  • Confession to one’s failures before God
  • Characteristics of the best and the most favorite servants of God: refraining from vanity, avoiding the persistence on sins, and requiring one's own self to ask for God's forgiveness
  • Trusting in God, and asking God for forgiveness of one's vanity and one's persistence on sins
  • Taking refuge to God from unfortunate effects of sins and being hopefulness of His grace
  • Trusting in God, taking refuge to Him, and expressing one's humility toward Him
  • Taking refuge to God as the only way of triumph
  • Enjoyment of divine blessings even by sinful servants
  • People's wronging themselves by committing sins
  • God's gratification of people's minor deeds and abundance of His reward.[3]

Commentaries

In the commentaries of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya, such as Fi zilal al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya by Muhammad Jawad Mughniya,[4] Riyad al-'arifin by Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Darabi,[5] Afaq al-ruh by Muhammad Husayn Fadl Allah,[6] and Riyad al-salikin by Sayyid Ali Khan al-Madani,[7] the twelfth 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]

The twelfth supplication of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya is expounded in such commentaries as Diyar-i ashiqan by Husayn Ansarian,[9] Shuhud wa shinakht by Muhammad Hasan Mamduhi Kirmanshahi,[10] Sharh wa tarjumi-yi Sahifi-yi Sajjadiyya by Sayyid Ahmad Fihri,[11] and some other books in Persian.

Notes

  1. Mamdūḥī Kirmanshāhī, Shuhūd wa shinākht, vol. 1, p. 505.
  2. Translation and commentary of Twelfth Supplication of al-Sahifa al-Sajjadiyya
  3. Anṣārīyān, Diyār-i āshiqān, vol. 5, p. 129-157; Mamdūḥī Kirmanshāhī, Shuhūd wa shinākht, vol. 1, p. 505-557.
  4. Mughnīya, Fī zilāl al-Ṣaḥīfa, p. 171-181.
  5. Dārābī, Rīyāḍ al-ʿārifīn, p. 145-158.
  6. Faḍl Allāh, Āfāq al-rūḥ, vol. 1, p. 299-316.
  7. Madanī Shīrāzī, Rīyāḍ al-sālikīn, vol. 2, p. 465-523.
  8. Fayḍ al-Kāshānī, Taʿlīqāt ʿalā l-Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādīyya, p. 35-38.
  9. Anṣārīyān, Diyār-i āshiqān, vol. 5, p. 125-157.
  10. Mamdūḥī Kirmanshāhī, Shuhūd wa shinākht, vol. 1, p. 505-557.
  11. Fihrī, Sharḥ wa tarjuma-yi Ṣaḥīfa al-Sajjādīyya, vol.2, p. 15-62.

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.
  • 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, Ḥasan. Shuhūd wa shinākht; tarjuma wa sharḥ Ṣaḥīfa-yi Sajjādīyya. Qom: Būstān-i Kitāb, 1388 SH.