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SUPPLICATION OF ISTEKHARA

NARRATED FROM IMAM MAHDI (A.S.)

A supplication regarding Istekhara issued from the holy threshold of Imam Mahdi (A.S.) and is the last letter issued from his holiness during the Short Occultation period.

Mohammad bin Ali bin Mohammad writes in his book that: ‘The Istekhara of names’ which is performed by the clerics and is recited in the Prayer of Requests and elsewhere, and which Abu Dulf Mohammad bin Muzaffar (R.A.) has reckoned as the last letter issued by Imam Mahdi (A.S.) during his Short Occultation period, is as follows:

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحيمِ

    أَللَّهُمَّ إِنّي أَسْأَلُكَ بِاسْمِكَ الَّذي عَزَمْتَ بِهِ عَلَى السَّماواتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ، فَقُلْتَ لَهُما « إِئْتِيا طَوْعاً أَوْ كَرْهاً قالَتا أَتَيْنا طائِعينَ»، وَبِاسْمِكَ الَّذي عَزَمْتَ بِهِ عَلى عَصا مُوسى ، «فَإِذا هِيَ تَلْقَفُ ما يَأْفِكُونَ».

    وَأَسْأَلُكَ بِاسْمِكَ الَّذي صَرَفْتَ بِهِ قُلُوبَ السَّحَرَةِ إِلَيْكَ ، حَتَّى « قالُوا آمَنَّا بِرَبِّ الْعالَمينَ × رَبِّ مُوسى وَهارُونَ »، أَنْتَ اللَّهُ رَبُّ الْعالَمينَ ، وَأَسْأَلُكَ بِالْقُدْرَةِ الَّتي تُبْلي بِها كُلَّ جَديدٍ ، وَتُجَدِّدُ بِها كُلَّ بالٍ .

    وَأَسْأَلُكَ بِحَقِّ كُلِّ حَقٍّ هُوَ لَكَ ، وَبِكُلِّ حَقٍّ جَعَلْتَهُ عَلَيْكَ ، إِنْ كانَ هذَا الْأَمْرُ خَيْراً لي في ديني وَدُنْيايَ وَآخِرَتي ، أَنْ تُصَلِّيَ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَآلِ مُحَمَّدٍ ، وَتُسَلِّمَ عَلَيْهِمْ تَسْليماً ، وَتُهَيِّئَهُ لي ، وَتُسَهِّلَهُ عَلَيَّ ، وَتُلَطِّفَ لي فيهِ بِرَحْمَتِكَ يا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمينَ .

    وَإِنْ كانَ شَرّاً لي في ديني وَدُنيايَ وَآخِرَتي ، أَنْ تُصَلِّيَ عَلى مُحَمَّدٍ وَآلِ مُحَمَّدٍ ، وَتُسَلِّمَ عَلَيْهِمْ تَسْليماً ، وَأَنْ تَصْرِفَهُ عَنّي بِما شِئْتَ ، وَكَيْفَ شِئْتَ ، ( وَحَيْثُ شِئْتَ ) ، وَتُرْضِيَني بِقَضائِكَ ، وَتُبارِكَ لي في قَدَرِكَ ، حَتَّى لا اُحِبَّ تَعْجيلَ شَيْ‏ءٍ أَخَّرْتَهُ ، وَلاتَأْخيرَ شَيْ‏ءٍ عَجَّلْتَهُ ، فَإِنَّهُ لا حَوْلَ وَلا قُوَّةَ إِلّا بِكَ ، يا عَلِيُّ يا عَظيمُ ، يا ذَا الْجَلالِ وَالْإِكْرامِ .

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

O’ Allah, indeed I ask You through Your name with which You decided to bring the Heavens and the Earth into being, and said to them, ‘Come (into being) willingly or by compulsion^[1]’, and through Your name with which You intended upon the staff of Musa (A.S.), ‘At once it devoured what they were falsifying’^[2]. And I ask You through Your name with which You deviated the hearts of the sorcerers towards Yourself, until ‘We have believed in the Lords of the Worlds, The Lord of Moses and Aaron’.^[3] You are Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and I ask You through Your power with which You will make all the fresh things old, and renew all the old things. And I ask You through the right of all the rights which are for You, and through all the rights which You have regarded for Yourself, if this affair is good for me in the eyes of my religion and my world and my hereafter, bless Mohammad and his household, and bestow them the desirable peace, and prepare my affair, and make it easy for me, and shower Your Grace upon me in it, with Your Mercy O’ the most Merciful of the Merciful. And if it is evil and wrong for me in the eyes of my religion and my world and my hereafter, bless Mohammad and his holy Progeny, and bestow upon them the desirable peace, and keep it away from me however You wish, and in whichever way You wish, (and wherever You wish), and make me satisfied with Your command, and adorn my destiny with Your grace, so that I do not desire the early outcome of something You have delayed, or the delay of something You brought early, indeed no movement or power exists without You, O’ Almighty, O’ Sublime, O’ Glorified and Dignified. ^[4]