Imam Zayn al-Abidin's Supplication for the Muslims Guarding the Frontiers

This is one of the great supplications, which display the highest moral traits of the Ima`m, peace be on him, and his great talents, which did not yield to any desire except the truth. Now, let's listen to this great supplication with which he would supplicate for the people of the frontiers: 
"O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, fortify the frontiers of the Muslims through Your mighty, support their defenders through Your strength, and lavish upon them gifts through Your wealth! 
O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, increase their number, hone their weapons, guard their territory, defend their midst, unite their throng, arrange their affair, send them supplies in a steady string, undertake Yourself to suffice them with provisions, support them with victory, help them with patience, and give them subtlety in guile! 
O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, give them the knowledge of that of which they are ignorant, teach them what they do not know, and show them what they do not see! 
"O Allah, bless Mohammed and his Household, make them forget when they meet the enemy to remember this cheating and delusive world of theirs, erase from their hearts the thought of enchanting possessions, place the Garden before their eyes, and display to their sight that part of it which You have prepared for them(the homes of everlastingness and mansions of honor, the beautiful houris, the rivers gushing forth with all sorts of drinks, the trees hanging low with all kinds of fruits(lest any of them think of turning his back or suggest to himself to flee his opponent!" 
This part is full of prayers for the Muslim defenders and guards , who were at the frontiers, and stood as strong barriers in order to prevent the enemies from entering the Islamic lands. The Ima`m supplicated to Allah for them in order to exalt them, to support them, to increase their number, and to make their weapons penetrate the necks of their enemies.
He asked Him to unite their throng, to arrange their affair, to send them supplies in a steady string, and to suffice them with provisions, that they might be stable and free from need. He asked Him to support them with victory when they met their enemies, to make them forget the remembrance of the world, the thought of possessions which would prevent them from resisting their enemies, and to place the Garden before their eyes, that they might fight with faithfulness and sincerity. 
These brilliant paragraphs of the Ima`m, peace be on him, show that he had a wide experience in war techniques and psychological ways which would give the strugglers a success in fighting against the enemies. Now, let's listen to other parts of this great supplication: 
"O Allah, defeat their enemy through that, trim their nails from them, separate them from their weapons, pull out the firm ties from their hearts, keep them far away from their stores, bewilder them in their roads, turn them astray from their direction, cut off reinforcements from them, chop them down in numbers, fill their hearts with terror, hold back their tongues from speaking, scatter by them the ones behind them, make them a lesson for those beyond them, and through their degradation cut off the hopes of those who come after them. 
"O Allah, make the wombs of their women barren, dry up the loins of their men, cut off the breeding of their mounts and their cattle, and permit not their sky to rain or their earth to grow! 
O Allah, through that strengthen the prowess of the People of Islam, fortify their cities, increase their properties, give them ease from their fighting to worship You and from their warfare to be alone with You, so that none will be worshipped in the regions of the earth but You and no forehead of theirs may be rubbed in dust for less than You!" 
These paragraphs are full of supplications against the enemy troops which warred against Islam. The Ima`m, peace be on him, asked Allah, the Exalted, to defeat their troops, to divide them, to separate them from their weapons, to fill their hearts with fear and terror of the Muslims. 
He asked Allah, the Exalted, to tie back their tongues from speaking, and to inflict on them a destructive defeat which would make them a lesson for those beyond them. He asked Allah to dry up the loins of their men and to make the wombs of their women barren, for they would give birth to unbelievers. 
He asked Him to destroy their economic life, that they might not be strong enough to war against the Muslims. Then he asked Him to exalt and strengthen the Muslims, that they might devote themselves to worshipping and obeying Him. Now, let's listen to another part of this Holy Supplication: 
"O Allah, send out the Muslims of every region on raids against the idolaters who face them! Reinforce them with angels in ranks from You, till the idolaters are routed by them to the end of the land, slain in Your earth or taken captive, or till they admit that You are Allah, other than whom there is no god, You are alone, who has no associate! 
O Allah, include in this Your enemies in the regions of the lands, the Indians, the Byzantines, the Turks, the Khasars, the Abyssinians, the Nubians, the Zanjis, the Slavs, the Daylamites, and the rest of the idol-worshipping nations, those whose names and attributes are concealed, but whom You count in Your cognizance and oversee through Your power! 
O Allah, distract the idolaters from reaching for the borders of the Muslims through the idolaters, bar them from cutting them down through being cut down, and hold them back from massing together against them through dissension! 
O Allah, empty their hearts of security and their bodies of strength, distract their hearts from thinking of stratagems, make their limbs too feeble for clashing with men, make them too cowardly for contending with champions, send against them a troop of Your angels with some of Your severity as You did on the Day of Badr, so that through it You may cut off their roots, harvest their thorns, and disperse their number!" 
This paragraph shows that the Ima`m took great care of the victory of the Muslims over the idolaters. He asked Allah to reinforce them with angels in ranks from Him, till the idolaters were routed by them to the end of the land, slain in His earth or taken captive, or till they admitted the Unity of Allah, the Creator of the universe and Giver of life. 
The Ima`m, peace be on him, went on supplicating against the unbelieving troops which spread in the regions of the earth. He asked Allah to abase and undermine them, to spread among them enmity and detest, so that they might not unite their throng against the Muslims.
He asked Him to empty their hearts of security and their bodies of strength, make their limbs too feeble for clashing with the Muslims, to reinforce the Muslims with angels in ranks, that He might grant them a victory, as He did at the Battle of Badr, so that He might harvest the thorns of the idolaters, disperse their number and throng. 
Now, let's listen to another part of this great supplication: 
"Mix their waters with pestilence and their foods with maladies, hurl down their cities, harass them with peltings, hinder them through drought, place their supplies in the most ill-omened part of Your earth and the farthest from them, bar them from its fortresses, and strike them with constant hunger and painful illness!
O Allah, if a worrier from the people of Your creed wars against them or a struggler from the followers of your prescriptions struggles against them so that Your religion may be the highest, You party the strongest, and Your share the fullest, cast ease to him, arrange his affair, attend to him by granting success, select for him his companions, strengthen his back, lavish upon him livelihood, give him enjoyment of joyous vitality, cool for him the heat of yearning, give him sanctuary from the gloom of loneliness, make him forget the remembrance of wife and child, pass along to him an excellent intention, attend to him with well-being, make safety his companion, release him from cowardice, inspire him with boldness, provide him with strength, support him with help, teach him right conduct and the norms of the Sunna, point him straight in judgment, remove from him hypocrisy, purify him from seeking fame, and make his thinking and remembrance, his departing and his staying, be in You and for You! 
When he stands in ranks before Your enemy and his enemy, make them few in his eye, diminish their importance in his heart, give him a turn to prevail over them, not them a turn to prevail over him! But if You seal him with felicity and decree for him martyrdom, then let it be after he has exterminated Your enemies by slaying, captivity has afflicted them, the borders of the Muslims are secure, and the enemy has turned his back in flight!" 
This part of the supplication of the Ima`m, peace be on him, contains the following: 
Firstly, the Ima`m supplicated Allah against the idolaters who warred against Islam and showed enmity toward it. He asked Allah to strike them with the pestilence which is nowadays called Cholera, which spreads through water, and it infects those who drink it. In his supplication, the Ima`m has discovered this scientific reality. 
He also supplicated Him to mix their foods with maladies, that they might be unable to fight against Islam. Moreover, he asked Him to afflict their cities with eclipse and earthquakes, to strike them with drought and hunger, and to decrease their foods, that their sate might be worse.
Secondly, the Ima`m, peace be on him, asked Allah, the Exalted, to strengthen those who struggled for His sake, in the way of Islam, and defeating the troops which showed enmity toward it. He asked Him to give them success, strength, activity, well-being, bravery, boldness, and harshness against the enemies. Any how, he asked Him to lavish upon them all good qualities. After this, let's listen to the last parts of his supplication: 
"O Allah, and if a Muslim should take the place of a warrior or a soldier in his home, attend to those left behind in his absence, help him with a portion of his property, assist him with equipment, hone him for the struggle, send along with him a supplication for his purpose, or guard his honor in his absence, reward him with the like of his reward measure for measure, like for like, and recompense him for his act with an immediate compensation through which he will hasten to the profit of what he has sent forth and the joy of what he has given, till the present moment takes him to the bounty You have granted to him and the generosity You have prepared for him! 
"O Allah, and if the affair of Islam should worry a Muslim and the alliance of the idolaters' against Islam should grieve him, so that he has the intention to go to war and is about to enter the struggle, but frailty keeps him seated, neediness keeps him waiting, a mishap delays him, or an obstruction prevents him from his wish, write his name among the worshippers, make incumbent for him the reward of the strugglers, and place him among the ranks of the martyrs and the righteous! 
"O Allah, bless Mohammed, Your slave and Your messenger, and the Household of Mohammed, with a blessing high above all other blessings, towering beyond all other blessings, towering beyond all other salutations, a blessing whose end is never reached and whose number is never cut off, like the most perfect of Your blessings that have passed to any one of Your friends! You are All-kind, Praiseworthy, the Originator who takes back again, Accomplisher of what You desire."
(Al-Sahïfa al-Sajja`diya, supplication no. 27). 
The Ima`m, peace be on him, supplicated for him who took the place of a warrior or a soldier, attended to his family in his absence, helped him with a portion of his property, assisted him with equipment, and honed him for the struggle. He asked Allah to reward such a person with the like of the worrier's reward measure for measure.
He also supplicated for the Muslim who took care of the affair of Islam, grieved because the idolaters massed together against Islam, intended to go to war, and was about to enter the struggle, but an obstruction kept him seated.
The Ima`m, peace be on him, asked Allah to make his reward like that of the strugglers, and place him among the martyrs and the righteous.