Hawzah News Agency- Iran's martyred Imam and Leader, in one of his addresses, referred to the Day of Arafah as the "springtime of supplication." Addressing the people, particularly the youth, he declared: "Cherish the Day of Arafah. The hours from noon until sunset on Arafah are momentous hours; every single moment of these hours is as vital as an elixir, as precious as alchemy. Let us not pass through them in negligence. One instance of the prescribed acts is this extraordinary supplication of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) on Arafah — a manifestation of humility, lowliness, remembrance and fervent entreaty before the Almighty."
Undoubtedly, one of the most enduring and beautiful spiritual manifestations of this grace-filled day is the whispered prayer of the Master of Martyrs (peace be upon him). This supplication is rightly numbered among the deepest and most sublime mystical and monotheistic texts of all Muslims. The Imam recited this lofty supplication, overflowing with divine knowledge, servitude and hope at the court of the Almighty, on the afternoon of Arafah, in an atmosphere drenched in spirituality. It stands as one of the finest and most blessed legacies the Ahl al-Bayt have bequeathed to us.
Counting Divine Bounties in the School of Tawhid
In this prayer, Aba Abdillah al-Hussein (peace be upon him), with a tongue overflowing with humility and love, invites the human being to recognize divine blessings, to recall his own frailty and incapacity, and to place his hope in the boundless mercy of the Almighty. It is for this reason that our elders have described this supplication not merely as a conventional prayer but as a grand school of tawhid, ethics, mysticism and, especially, anthropology, emphasizing the necessity of its recitation on the afternoon of Arafah.
Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) says in one passage of this prayer: "O God! I turn longingly toward You and bear witness to Your Lordship. It was You who nurtured me with Your blessings before I was anything worthy of mention, and showed me the path of guidance."
Elsewhere, the Imam enumerates the infinite blessings of the Lord of the worlds, declaring with the utmost humility: "O God! Which of Your blessings can I possibly count? Were I to strive my entire life, I would lack the capacity to give thanks for even one of Your blessings."
A Priceless Prescription for Seeking Needs from God Almighty
Hojatoleslam Seyyed Mahmoud Mousavi, a religious preacher and cultural activist, stated that the spirit of mysticism and divine knowledge in the arena of tawhid truly surges through every passage of this supplication, guiding the wayfarers of the path of truth through the stations of spiritual wayfaring. He noted that imparting knowledge of God and the path to attaining pure tawhid, achieving true faith, and transmitting religious teachings through the medium of prayer and whispered worship has been one of the principal aims of the Infallible Imams (peace be upon them). He added that an analysis of the Arafah supplication teaches us the correct method of supplication itself — how the created should conduct himself with the Creator in prayer and intimate communion, and how the human being ought to present his material and spiritual needs to the Divine Court.
He pointed out that a significant portion of this prayer is brimming with confession and repentance. "Especially where the human being, in the face of the majesty of God Almighty, confesses his own weakness and errors," he said. "Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) here declares: 'It is I who have erred. It is I who have been negligent. It is I who have broken the covenant. It is I who have disobeyed. So forgive me, O Most Merciful of the merciful.'" In another passage, the Imam, with a tone of love and hope, introduces God as the human being's refuge in hardships and loneliness, saying: "Were it not for Your mercy, I would have been among the destroyed. Were it not for Your veiling of my faults, I would have been among the disgraced. And were it not for Your aid, I would have been among the defeated..."
An Opportunity to Cast Off Ruinous Negligence
Hojatoleslam Mousavi recalled that the Arafah supplication prepares the ground to sever the human being from negligence and worldly attachments and guide him toward divine knowledge, repentance and God-given serenity. "We must understand that it is precisely these states of negligence that drive the human being to ruin, and how excellent it is that through such supplications — and, of course, striving on the path of true repentance — we prevent such losses," he said.
He added that the Arafah supplication ushers us, through the gateway of gratitude, into a loving relationship with the All-Bestowing God. He explained that faith born of love, once it takes root and is fortified, will be firm and unshakeable, for it gradually drinks from the nectar of a loving bond with God. In every state — sitting, standing, walking or resting — the human being will manifest servitude and see himself in the presence of the Almighty.
A Charter of Self-Knowledge in the School of the Prince of Martyrs
In the words of Hojatoleslam Ali Sarlak, the Arafah supplication is the charter of self-knowledge in the school of Seyyed al-Shuhada (peace be upon him). Imam Hussein, at the outset of the path that would culminate in Karbala and the epic of Ashura, bequeathed this profoundly meaningful and sublime prayer to us, that we might know that the prelude to and very foundation of all servitude lies in acquaintance with the mysteries of self-knowledge.
He further stated that supplications and whispered prayers such as the Arafah supplication, Kumayl, and the Shabaniyeh whispered prayer seek, by making known the divine blessings and enumerating human weaknesses, to create a loving relationship between the human being and the Exalted Creator. They also seek to acquaint the human being with himself and, from another side, to introduce God to the human being, so that we may know that the Lord of the worlds is, on the one hand, brimming with grace, beneficence and generosity, and on the other, overflowing with assistance, forbearance and benevolence.
Supplication: The Fitting Weapon on the Path of Self-Knowledge
He continued: "On this basis, it must be said that supplication is a bridge connecting the human being with God Almighty — what our narrations describe as the root and very essence of worship. Through supplication, the human being attains, from one direction, a degree of self-knowledge, and from another direction, immediately, through the principle 'He who knows himself has known his Lord,' reaches the grace of loving knowledge of God."
Hojatoleslam Sarlak concluded by stressing that seeking forgiveness and repentance fundamentally has a formative effect on the material and spiritual life of the human being. The key to unlocking progress in human life lies in humble and sincere attentiveness to the Almighty. Conversely, those who turn away from the remembrance and invocation of God suffer confusion even in their worldly lives and never reach their ultimate destination.
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