Sahifeh Sajjadien contains the most precious and useful invocations and supplications under fifty four titles

Invocation as the most powerful panacea

Sahifeh Sajjadien contains the most precious and useful invocations and supplications under fifty four titles.

Sahifeh has created these lively and beautiful works of art following the Holy Quran, and the other heavenly books revealed to the Prophets.

Sahifeh has given extra strength to the constructions of invocations and supplications already laid down by Prophets, God’s men, lovers, and Gnostics.

Not only does Sahifeh make zealous suppliants, sympathetic lovers and perplexed Gnostics out of men, it provides us with a complete course in highly Divine issues, Godly knowledge, principles, prospering rules and healthy programs.

An invocation is a truth which can be traced in Divine books, invocation books and in the collections of narrations.

An invocation is a truth which dominates over all particles of thing, elements and the creatures of this world. From this channel all beings are nourished both spiritually and physically.

If invocations did not exist, the life of the earth dwellers would be impossible. The very root of all creatures relies on invocations.

Invocation is the cause for the descent of all assets from the source of Benevolence and Abundance.

Some say: invocation can be regarded as the adoption of tasks for God and anybody who gets involved in this program has shown aggression towards God and it is considered as an act of insolence.

The same group of people contend that Allah is a sacred Being who is aware of all the internal and external needs of human beings and other creatures and He is able to carry out these on His own. He would not need us to tell Him what to do.

It seems this group of people are unaware of the commands issued in Quran, regarding invocation as a compulsory act:

وقالَ رَبُكُمْ ادعوني اسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ اِنّ الذينَ يَسْتكبِرونَ عن عبادتي سَيَدخُلُونَ جهنم دِاخرَين.

“And your Lord says: Call up on Me, I will answer you; surely those who are too proud for My service shall soon enter hell abased. 40: 60”

In this sacred verse, Allah has ordered invocation and has promised to answer it and has doomed any tyrant who refuses to get involved in invocations.

These people are not aware of the context of invocations, however. An invocation is not a command from an inferior to a superior; rather, an invocation is the request of a beggar from the Great Rich, from the Benevolent and the Merciful. This is not definitely against wisdom, logic or common sense.

Another group is of the belief that Allah has predetermined the fate of man and it is impossible to change this course of action. What ever He has decided for us to happen will occur and invocations are irrelevant and of no value.

We should, however, let these people know that the issue of invocations is not outside the frame of the predetermined fate. And the consequences and results of this positive and rational movement are registered on his fate.

In other word, most of the servant’s planning which are of benefit to him are related directly with invocations. It is then up to man to carry out God’s commands in asking God for the expansion of his spiritual and physical sustenance.

Didn’t all Prophets, men of God, lovers, and Gnostics spend their happiest moments of their sweet lives in supplications and invocations and didn’t they reach what was to their advantage both physically and spiritually?

Most of the factors of growth and perfection of the servants of God are dependent upon Allah’s will which will materialize only through invocations. That is why the issue of invocations is insisted upon in Islamic texts; and invocation is considered as a palfrey for the applicant to reach the table – cloth of God’s spiritual and physical assets. Thus, if anybody engages in invocations, supplications and prayers to ask for his needs, he will get most of his needs. If a servant of God shows doubt or indifference towards invocations and if he is too proud to engage himself in invocations, he will suffer greatly by being deprived of God’s graces.

It is strange that these skeptics believe in the cause and effect relations in the world, but are ignorant of the fact that invocations are among the most significant causes to let man reach his goals. Which part of this reasoning is in contradiction with fate, or Divine affairs or Allah’s planning for us?

Invocation is, in fact, the same as the pre-determined fate and is in harmony with God’s planning and administration. It is a firm principle, a Divine truth and fact. It is included in the framework of existence together with the principles of cause and effect and special conditions.

It is said in the Islamic narrations: the Merciful God loved the servant’s supplications, invocations and begging. When the suppliant makes his forehead touch the ground in obedience, when he sheds tears, the clouds of benevolence will move, and the doors of the Unknown treasures will open up to him with the key of invocations, sooner or later this beggar of God’s mercy will reach his goals.

Those who assume that mental ease, heart comfort and the remedy for problems could be earned through material means are at fault. Because man’s tens of thousands of years have shown this to be untrue. What, in fact, is the key to these hard problems is our connection with the origin of existence and our praying him.

Through his prayers towards the Great love, i. e., the wise, Just, kind, Beneficent, Almighty, Dear, and Delicate, man could overcome his anxieties, pains, and hardships.

The flashy things on which people in this world rely could not be considered as pivots for us. If one day these glittering articles stop to exist, what would the material–oriented man do? What is he going to rely on then?

The materialistic people have shown in history that when they are entangled in the abyss of despair, sorrow, fright, and absurdity, they have no way but to resort to mental diseases.

The flashy and ornamental aspects of life, if used in the obedience of Allah, will not create a problem; rather, they will serve us to get our satisfaction and ease of mind. If it were not for this, why are the Prophets, God’s men, and God lovers reported to have chanted the fallowing all their lives?

الهي رِضاً بقضائكَ، اَصْبراَ على بلائك تسليماَ لِامْرِكَ.

“O God! I am satisfied with the fate you have appointed for me; I am patient towards the disasters you have sent to me; and I am obedient toward your commands.”

The materialistic frame of life by itself and without spiritual aspects will result in nothing but mental disturbance, anxieties and worries. Man’s sciences have found ways to heal material wounds, but they are unable to produce anything to ease our mental and spiritual calamities. The medicines for our internal wounds can be found in God’s pharmacy. The Divine envoys keep the door of this pharmacy open to people where everybody may satisfy his spiritual needs.

The issues of faith and reliance on God and invocations, supplications, and prayers are so important that they could, even in the opinion of non–Islamic scholars, solve all our problems.

These scholars hold that the only means which could solve our mental problems is the belief in God and the Resurrection.

In fact, the factor of man’s victory over pains, and worries is the establishment of connection with the Great Love.

But the mental conditions of those who are away from this spiritual sphere and do not involve themselves in supplication and invocations and show pride in shunning prayers altogether, will suffer greatly.

William James, who is among pragmatic philosophers, explains the role of faith and the dangers of not having faith in the following words:

“Faith is among the powers through which man can survive and its complete lack equals man’s fall”[1]

The above issues are referred to in the Holy Quran in the following manner:

وَمَنْ يُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ فَكَأَنَّمَا خَرَّ مِنْ السَّمَاءِ فَتَخْطَفُهُ الطَّيْرُ أَوْ تَهْوِي بِهِ الرِّيحُ فِي مَكَانٍ سَحِيقٍ.

“And whoever associates others with Allah, it is as though he had fallen from on high, then the birds snatch him away or the wind carries him off to a far distant place. 22:31”

He who has left the sphere of monotheism, and has put the real love aside, and has disconnected with the Great Truth, and has shunned the spiritual world and has, in fact, deprived himself of reliable strongholds, has fallen from a high position. During this descent, the vultures will get hold of him between the earth and the sky or he will be at the mercy of hazardous tornados.

In the precious interpretation of Nemuneh under this verse, we will read:

“The word ^“sky^” in the above verse refers to monotheism and the adoption of any god except Allah causes man to fall from this sky. It is natural for stars and moon and sun to shine in this sky.

Lucky is the person who is at least a shining star in this sky, if he can not be the sun or the moon. But if a man falls from this lofty place, he will face one of the following two situations: either, in the middle of the way, before he reaches the ground, he is captured by vultures; in other words, with losing the reliable stronghold of faith he falls prey to uncontrollable wishes or whims, each of which can destroy his life completely; or he will be carried away by a deadly torrent which takes him away, smashing him to pieces. This issue refers to Satan, of course.

Without doubt, one who falls from the sky loses his determination power and is headed towards destruction with unexpected speed, and finally vanishes.

Ali (s) in Hekmat 138 (Nahjolbalaqa) says:

وادْفعوا أمواج البلاءِ بالدعاء.

“Let continuaus hardships be away through invocations”.

Now after one thousand and five hundred years, this wise statement shows its value when the world scientists claim that continuous emotionalism leads to metal sickness.

The clinical and experimental observations have shown that the repeated stimulation of emotions can lead to body impairment in prone persons.

Thus, supplication, invocation and prayers are significant factors which can prevent numerous diseases and are considered as strong medicines for mental disturbances.

Imam Zainol Abedin(s) spent fifty seven years of his precious life encountering disasters, hazards, hardships and pains. He observed the last two years of Ali’s government which was replete with the Saffein, and Nahravan wars and Bani Ommayeh’s numerous crimes. Then Imam Zainol Abedin(s) was caught among the innumerable problems during his uncle’s last ten years of life. Then he faced many calamities during his father’s last ten years of life. And then, after the Karbala Event and the captivity of his household members, he spent thirty five years in numerous hardships which Marvani’s cruel governors had created for him. But within those hard and alarming years due to his engagement in prayers, supplications and invocations he was immune against emotional turmoils and bodily ailments. He could defeat the waves of disasters with the help of his prayers at the dawn. Facing all those misfortunes, he used to tell God, “Please let me live longer and through your benevolence postpone my death”