[7]

PRAYER OF RELIEF AND IT'S SUPPLICATION

This prayer was taught by the leader of the time (peace be upon him) to a man in order to propel his worries.

Abu Ja'afar, Muhammad bn Jareer Tabari in Musnad Fatimah (peace be on her) said: Abu Al-Husein (the writer) said: I imitated an action from my father, Mansur bn Saalihaan, it happen between me and him that I was necessitated to be in hidden.

I remained hiding with fear until Friday night when I decided to visit the grave yard of Quraysh,

I sanctioned in the house for prayer and supplication and it was a raining night, I inquired bn Ja'afar Al-Qayyim to banned the door and try to vacate the place as I will like to be in seclusion for prayers and supplications and he should secure from entering those he did not trust, he did as I instructed him, at the midnight wind started blowing together with rain fall till it prevent people from coming to the place.

I remained there, praying, offering Ziyarah and in this condition I heard pressure from my master, Musa (peace be upon him) suddenly there is a man offering Ziyarah, he saluted Adam and other endowed Prophets (peace be on them) then the Imams (peace be on them) one after the other until he reach the leader of the time (peace be upon him) and I was surprise that he did not mention him, I said to myself, probably he may forget or he is ignorant of the Imam or that is the sect he believed on, he offer two units of prayer after his Ziyarah, he then approach our master Abu Ja'afar (peace be upon him) and offer his prayers and Ziyarah and send his salutations as he does before, I begin to entertain fear because the man was not familiar with me. The man is young wearing white cloth with Turban round his chin, he said to me, O' Aba Husein bn Abi Al-ala, why are you far from the prayer of relief? Which of it O' my master? He said:Observe two units of prayer and recite the following:

 يا مَنْ أَظْهَرَ الْجَميلَ وَسَتَرَ الْقَبيحَ ، يا مَنْ لَمْ يُؤاخِذْ بِالْجَريرَةِ وَلَمْ يَهْتِكِ السِّتْرَ ، يا عَظيمَ الْمَنِّ ، يا كَريمَ الصَّفْحِ ، يا مُبْتَدِئَ النِّعَمِ قَبْلَ اسْتِحْقاقِها ، يا حَسَنَ التَّجاوُزِ ، يا واسِعَ الْمَغْفِرَةِ ، يا باسِطَ الْيَدَيْنِ بِالرَّحْمَةِ ، يا مُنْتَهى كُلِّ نَجْوى ، وَيا غايَةَ كُلِّ شَكْوى، وَيا عَوْنَ كُلِّ مُسْتَعينٍ، يا مُبْتَدِئاً بِالنِّعَمِ قَبْلَ اسْتِحْقاقِها، «يا رَبَّاهُ» ten times، «يا سَيِّداهُ» ten times ، «يا مَوْلاهُ» ten times، «يا غايَتاهُ» ten times، «يا مُنْتَهى رَغْبَتاهُ» ten times . أَسْأَلُكَ بِحَقِّ هذِهِ الْأَسْمآءِ ، وَبِحَقِّ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ الِهِ الطَّاهِرينَ عَلَيْهِمُ السَّلامُ إِلّا ما كَشَفْتَ كَرْبي ، وَنَفَّسْتَ هَمّي ، وَفَرَّجْتَ عَنّي ، وَأَصْلَحْتَ حالي.

 O' He who reveals virtue, and concealed vice, O' He who does not call to severe account for sin and does not disclose the secrete of his servant, O' He whose favour is tremendous, O' the Most Magnanimous in overlooking short comings, O He who commence granting Favour before one merits it, O' He who possess beautiful skipping, O' He whose forgiveness is encompassing, O' He whose hands is strengthen with mercy, O' He who all secrets are directed to him,

O' He who all complaint are directed to, O' He who help those that are in need of help, O' He who commence granting favour before one merits it.

 O' Lord(repeat it ten times)O' Master(repeat it ten times)O' Chief(repeat it ten times)O' The Extreme(repeat it ten times)O' The Utmost Desire(repeat it ten time).

 I seek from you by the sake of all this names and for the sake of Muhammad and his pure progeny peace be on them to dispel all my grief and to relief all my sorrow and to make me happy after my sufferings and reform my conditions.

You then put forward all your requests and needs, after you place your right cheek on the ground and recite the following supplications (100) one hundred times.

يا مُحَمَّدُ يا عَلِيُّ ، يا عَلِيُّ يا مُحَمَّدُ ، إِكْفِياني فَإِنَّكُما كافِياني ،  وَانْصُراني فَإِنَّكُما ناصِراني.

O' Muhammad, O' Ali, O' Ali, O' Muhammad, suffice me as both of you are enough as my suffice, help me as both of you are enough as my helper

Then you place your left cheek on the ground and recite the following (100) one hundred timesادرکنی{Attain me} and you also recite the followingالغوث [الغوث‏] الغوث‏{the reliever} till your last breath. Then you raise your head. Verily God Almighty with His Generosity will grant your requests.

I was busy with the above prayer while the man left, when I finished, I came to Ibn Ja'afar to inquire of the man from him but very surprising that I met the door closed and pad locked, I thought within myself that he was inside with us without my knowledge, I draw the attention of Ja'afar Ibn  Al-Qayyim, he came out and inquire from him about the coming in of the man, he said, the doors are closed and he didn't open them, I then narrate the incident to him, he said to me: That is our master, the Imam of the time (peace be upon him), I have witnessed him on many occasions like this night, when this place is secluded from people.

 Indeed I regretted for what missed me. I went out near the dawn intending going to my hidden place, it was not yet noon while the companions of ibn Saalihaan seeking to meet with me asking of me from my friends and along with them security from the minister and coupon with his hand writing, I presented myself with my trusted friends, he stood to embrace me and treated me fine not as usual with him before and said: your situation has reached such an extent that you complain of me to the leader of the time (peace be upon him)?

I said: I have merely prayed and requested. He replied: Woe unto you, I saw the Imam, the leader of the time (peace be upon him) in my dream yesterday (i.e. Friday night) he was commanding for good and avoidance of bad to the extent I became frightened, I said to him: there is no deity of worship except Allah, I bear witness that they are the truth and extreme fact, I saw the Imam face to face yesterday and said so and so to me. I narrated for him what I had witness with my own eyes.

Abu Mansoor was astonished when I explained the incident to him and he performed great acts of good nature for me. With the grace of Imam (peace be upon him), I attained from him what I had not thought of.[1]

Allama Sheikh Ali Akbar Nahawandi (R.A.) writes in his book ‘Al Abqariyyul Hisaan’:

I have experienced this supplication several times and have found it to be effective in its acceptance and accomplishment of motive. Then he narrates the statement of Ayatullah Iraqi from the book ‘Dar us Salaam’, which is in the following manner:

I have witnessed astonishing effects of this supplication, amongst which the first effect was witnessed in the city of Tehran, in the year 1266 Hijri. I was the guest of Hajj Mirza Baqir – the Imam of Friday prayer, in the house of ‘Malik ut Tujjaar’. He was exiled from his homecity and was not permitted by the ruler to return to Tabriz. Though I was his guest and my food expenses were not on myself, but due to other expenditures, as I was a stranger and wasn’t familiar with the people of that place, it wasn’t possible for me to borrow loan, which made me entangle in severe poverty.

One day, I was sitting with the Imam of Friday prayer in the lawn of the house. I stood up and went to the room upstairs for relaxation and prayer. After offering the Zuhr and Asr prayer, I saw a book inside the room. I picked it up and found out that it was the translation of the thirteenth volume of ‘Bihar ul Anwaar’, written on the life sketch of Imam Mahdi (A.S.).

When I opened the book, I found this supplication in the chapter Miracles. I said to myself: I must test it. Then I rose up, offered prayer and supplicated, then postrated. Thereafter, I went to the Sheikh and sat beside him. Meanwhile, a man came to the Imam holding a paper in his hand which he handed over to him and placed a white cloth in front of him.

After reading the letter, Imam gave it to me with the cloth and said: this is for you.

When I opened the cloth, I found that trader Ali Asghar Tabrizi has placed twenty Tuman in the cloth and written a letter addressed to me. When I saw the time when the letter was written, it turned out to be exactly the same time when I finished my supplication. I became astonished, and began to smile while glorifying Allah Almighty. Imam inquired about the reasond behind my smile and I narrated the entire incident for him.

Imam said: Allah is Glorious! I myself perform this act for dispersing my sorrows as well.

I said to him: Stand up and hasten.

He went to his room and after offering the Zuhr and Asr prayers, performed the same set of acts and within no time, the ruler who had called him to Tehran was expelled and the emperor sought apology from him, then honorably returned him to Tabriz. And thereafter, this act became a treasure for me in all my entanglements and I witness astonishing impacts from it.

In some year, in the city of Najaf, the disease of plague had become widespread. As a result, a large group of people died and the rest were left distressed and helpless. When I witness such a situation, I went towards the outskirts of the city and performed this act requesting from Allah to bring an end to the widespread plague. Then I entered the city and did not inform anyone about the act I had performed. But informed my close ones about the plague nearing its end.

They asked me: How can you say that?

I said: I will not reveal my source of information before you.

They said: So and so was caught by this disease last night.

I said: Definitely it is not how you mention it to be. He was caught by the disease before last night.

After a series of research, the correctness of my word was proved.

Several times my friends were entangles by sorrows and difficulties, I taught them this act and they were soon relieved of their difficulty.

One day, when I was at the house of one of my friends, I came to know of his miserable condition and taught him this act, then returned home. After a short while, I heard someone knocking at the door, that same man came to my house and said, “by the grace of the supplication of Faraj (Relief), my difficulty has ended and I have earned some money; how much do you need so that I may give you?

I said: by the grace of this supplication, I have no more needs; but narrate your incident for me.

He said: the incident was such that after you left, I visited the Holy Shrine of Imam Ali (A.S.) and performed this act there. When I came out of the holy shrine, I met a man who gave me as much money as I was in need of.

In a nutshell, I have witnessed the impacts of this deed very quickly. But I teach this supplication only to those who are in grave need and difficulty, and I don’t perform it myself until I face the same situation. As this supplication has been named the supplication of Faraj by Imam Mahdi (A.S.), it implies that it will have its impact at times of extreme misery and difficulty.[2]