The supplication of Imam Ali bin al-Husayn Zaynol Aabideen (a.s.) for his parents and his supplication for his children. In these supplications, Imam Zaynol Aabideen (a.s.) has comprehensively shown the principles of moral and material education together. He has emphasized the importance of the relationship between the progenies and generations connected with each other in the light of the principles of the true religion of Islam. These principles are to be believed in the hearts and applied in the conducts. Let us read these unique themes ponderingly and reverently.
His supplication for his parents
O Allah, bless Muhammad, Thy slave and Thy messenger, and his household, the pure, and single them out for the best of Thy blessings, Thy mercy, Thy benedictions, and Thy peace! And single out my parents, O Allah, with honor near Thee and blessings from Thee, O most Merciful of the merciful!
O Allah, bless Muhammad and his household, and inspire me with the knowledge of everything incumbent upon me towards them, and gather within me the knowledge of all that completely! Then make me act in accordance with what Thou hast inspired me and give me the success to put into practice the knowledge Thou hast shown to me, lest I fail to act according to something Thou hast taught me or my limbs feel too heavy to perform that which Thou hast inspired me!
O Allah, bless Muhammad and his progeny, as Thou hast honored us through him, and bless Muhammad and his progeny, as Thou hast made our rights incumbent upon the creatures because of him! O Allah, make me fear my parents, as the fear of a tyrannical sovereign, and let me be devoted to them, with the devotion of a compassionate mother! Make my obedience and devotion to them more gladdening to my eyes than sleep to the drowsy, and more refreshing to my chest than drink to the thirsty, so that I may prefer their inclination to my inclination, set their satisfaction before my satisfaction, make much of their devotion to me though it be little, and make little of my devotion to them though it be great.
O Allah, lower before them my voice, make agreeable to them my words, make mild before them my temper, make tender towards them my heart, and make me their kind companion and their loving friend!
O Allah, thank them for raising me, reward them for honoring me, and guard them as they guarded me in my infancy! O Allah, whatever harm has touched them from me, detested thing has reached them from me, or a right of theirs that has been neglected by me, make it as forgiveness for their sins, and exaltations in their degrees, and addition to their good deeds! O Thou, Who change evil deeds into manifold good deeds!
O Allah, whatever saying through which they have transgressed against me, or action through which they have been immoderate to me, or a right of mine which they have wasted, or an obligation towards me in which they have fallen short, I grant it to them and bestow it upon them, and I beseech Thee to remove from them its ill consequence, for I do not accuse them concerning myself, or find them slow in their devotion toward me, or dislike the way they have attended to my affairs, my Lord! They have more incumbent rights on me, and precedence in favor on me that is greater than that I should settle accounts with justice or repay them with equivalents.
Where then, O my Lord, would be their long occupation with bringing me up? Where would be the hardship of their toil in taking care of me? Where would be the stinting of themselves to provide me with plenty? How far! I can never discharge their right on me, or fulfill my obligations towards them, or accomplish the duty of serving them.
O Allah, bless Muhammad and his household and help me, O the Best of those Who are asked for help! Give me success, O the Most Guiding of those whom we beseech! Place me not among the people of undutifulness to fathers and mothers on the day when every soul will be repaid for what it has earned, and they shall not be wronged.
O Allah, bless Muhammad, his household and his progeny and single out my parents with the best of which Thou hast singled out the fathers and mothers of Thy faithful servants, O Most Merciful of the merciful!
O Allah, let me not forget to remember them after my prayers, at every time throughout my night, and in each of the hours of my day!
O Allah, bless Muhammad and his household, and forgive me through my supplication for my parents, and forgive them through their devotion to me with unfailing forgiveness, and be well pleased with them through my intercession for them with resolute good pleasedness, and make them reach through Thy generosity the abodes of safety! O Allah, if Thy forgiveness reaches them first, make them my intercessors, and if Thy forgiveness reaches me first, make me their intercessor, so that we may gather together through Thy gentleness in the house of Thy generosity and the place of Thy forgiveness and mercy! Verily Thou art the Possessor of the abounding bounty and the ancient favor, and Thou art the Most Merciful of the merciful!
His supplication for his children
O Allah, be kind to me through allowing the survival of my children, and setting them right for me, and allowing me to enjoy them! O my Lord, make long their lives for me, increase their terms, bring up the smallest for me, strengthen the weakest for me, rectify for me their bodies, their faiths, and their morals, make them well in their souls, their limbs, and everything that concerns me of their affair, and pour out for me and upon my hand their provisions! Make them pious, fearing, insightful, hearing, and obedient to Thee, loving and well-disposed to Thy guardians, and stubbornly resistant and full of hate toward all Thy enemies! Amen!
O Allah, through them strengthen my arm, straighten my burdened back, multiply my number, adorn my presence, keep alive my mention, suffice me when I am away, help me in my needs, and make them loving towards me, affectionate, approaching, upright, and obedient and never disobedient, undutiful, opposed, or offensive! Help me in their upbringing, their education, and my devotion to them, give me among them from Thyself male children, make that a good for me, and make them a help for me in that which I ask from Thee! Protect me and my progeny from the accursed Satan, for Thou hast created us, commanded us, and forbidden us, and made us wish the reward of what Thou hast commanded and fear its punishment, and assigned to us an enemy who schemes against us, gave him an authority over us in a way that Thou didst not give us authority over him, allowed him to dwell in our chests and let him run in our blood vessels; he is not heedless when we are heedless, he does not forget when we forget, he makes us feel secure from Thy punishment and fills us with fear of other than Thee. If we are about to commit an indecency, he encourages us to do so, and if we are about to perform a righteous doing, he holds us back from it. He incites us to desires, and sets up for us doubts. If he promises us, he lies, and if he raises our hopes, he fails to fulfill them. If Thou dost not turn his trickery away from us, he will misguide us, and if Thou dost not protect us from his corruption, he will cause us to slip.
O Allah, so defeat his authority over us through Thy authority, so that Thou holdest him back from us through our abundant supplication to Thee and we leave his trickery and rise up among those preserved by Thee from sin!
O Allah, grant me my every request, accomplish for me my needs, withhold not from me Thy response when Thou hast made Thyself accountable for it to me, veil not my supplication from Thyself, when Thou hast commanded me to make it, and be kind to me through everything that will set me right in this world and the afterworld, in everything that I remember or forget, display or conceal, make public or keep secret! In all of this, place me through my asking Thee among those who set things right, those who are answered favorably when they request from Thee and from whom is not withheld when they put their trust in Thee, those accustomed to seek refuge in Thee, those who profit through trading with Thee, those granted sanctuary through Thy might, those given lawful provision in plenty from Thy boundless bounty through Thy munificence and generosity, those who reach exaltation after abasement through Thee, those granted sanctuary from wrong through Thy justice, those released from affliction through Thy mercy, those delivered from need after poverty through Thy riches, those preserved from sins, slips, and offenses through reverential fear of Thee, those successful in goodness, right conduct, and propriety through obeying Thee, those walled off from sins through Thy power, the abstainers from every act of disobedience toward Thee, the dwellers in Thy neighborhood!
O Allah, give us all of that through Thy bestowal of success and Thy mercy, grant us refuge from the chastisement of the burning, and give to all the Muslim men and Muslim women, and all the faithful men and faithful women, the like of what I have asked for myself and my children, in the immediacy of this world and the deferment of the afterworld! Verily Thou art the Near, the Responder, the All-hearing, the All-knowing, the Pardoner, the Forgiving, the Clement, the Merciful! And give to us in this world good, and in the hereafter good, and protect us from the chastisement of the Fire.
