Past eventOther · The Lantern of the Path · Session 67

Sayyed al-Murtada and the Twenty-Three Years

Wednesday, 6 May 2026

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Mahdawiyyah, Part 23 · The Architecture of Guidance, Part 7 · The Brothers of Baghdad, Part 3 of 4 The most productive thirty years of his life began the day grief kept him from his own brother's funeral. When Sayyed al-Radi died in 406 AH at forty-seven, his elder brother could not walk to the burial — he fled to the shrine of Imam Musa al-Kadhim, peace be upon him, and let another lead the prayer in his place. For the next thirty years, until his own death in 436 AH, Sayyed al-Murtada carried his brother's offices, his students, and his unfinished work — while sitting as chief justice of Baghdad's highest court of appeal, and training the young scholar newly arrived from Tus who would one day carry his teaching out of the city. A title reached him by letter at sixty-five: Alam al-Huda, the Banner of Guidance — given, he was told, by Imam Ali, peace be upon him, in a dream. He wrote back that the name was too great for him. What does a scholar owe a title he never asked for? What the evening covers Five books, one hawza. The texts a student in Najaf or Qom still opens at the moment he reaches bahth al-kharij, the advanced study before independent legal reasoning. A library without a gate. A private collection opened, without exception, to any serious student — Shia, Sunni or Mu'tazilite — who came to his door. Twelve dinars a month. The stipend paid from his own pocket to a student named al-Tusi, so poverty could never end his studies. Four Arabic words. Wa 'ada ila durusihi — "and he returned to his lessons" — his response the day rioters burned his father's house down.

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اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ اقْسِمْ لِي حِلْما يَسُدُّ عَنِّي بَابَ الْجَهْلِ وَ هُدًى تَمُنُّ بِهِ عَلَيَّ مِنْ كُلِّ ضَلالَةٍ وَ غِنًى تَسُدُّ بِهِ عَنِّي بَابَ كُلِّ فَقْرٍ وَ قُوَّةً تَرُدُّ بِهَا عَنِّي كُلَّ ضَعْفٍ وَ عِزّاً تُكْرِمُنِي بِهِ عَنْ كُلِّ ذُلٍّ وَ رِفْعَةً تَرْفَعُنِي بِهَا عَنْ كُلِّ ضَعَةٍ وَ أَمْناً تَرُدُّ بِهِ عَنِّي كُلَّ خَوْفٍ وَ عَافِيَةً تَسْتُرُنِي بِهَا عَنْ كُلِّ بَلاءٍ وَ عِلْما تَفْتَحُ لِي بِهِ كُلَّ يَقِينٍ وَ يَقِينا تُذْهِبُ بِهِ عَنِّي كُلَّ شَكٍّ وَ دُعَاءً تَبْسُطُ لِي بِهِ الْإِجَابَةَ فِي هَذِهِ اللَّيْلَةِ وَ فِي هَذِهِ السَّاعَةِ السَّاعَةِ السَّاعَةِ السَّاعَةِ يَا كَرِيمُ وَ خَوْفا تَنْشُرُ [تُيَسِّرُ] لِي بِهِ كُلَّ رَحْمَةٍ وَ عِصْمَةً تَحُولُ بِهَا بَيْنِي وَ بَيْنَ الذُّنُوبِ حَتَّى أُفْلِحَ بِهَا عِنْدَ الْمَعْصُومِينَ عِنْدَكَ بِرَحْمَتِكَ يَا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ

O Allah, send blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, and grant me such forbearance that it closes the door of ignorance upon me, and such guidance that by it You bestow upon me the favor of deliverance from every misguidance, and such wealth that by it You close upon me the door of every poverty, and such strength that by it You remove from me every weakness, and such honor that by it You dignify me against every humiliation, and such lofty station that by it You raise me from every downfall, and such security that by it You drive away from me every fear, and such complete well-being that by it You shield me from every affliction, and such knowledge that by it You open before me the door of every certainty, and such certainty that by it You remove from me every doubt, and such a supplication that by it You spread the table of acceptance on this night and at this hour — this very hour, this very hour, this very hour, O Most Generous — and such awe that by it You disperse for me every manner of mercy, and such a restraint that becomes a veil between me and my sins, so that by it I may attain salvation in the presence of the infallible ones at Your threshold, by the right of Your mercy, O Most Merciful of the merciful.

Mafatih al-Jinan, Acts of the Year, Remaining A'mal for the 21st Night, Line 1