Past eventOther · The Art of Supplication · Session 7

The Advantages and Benefits of Supplication — Part 3

Saturday, 10 May 2025

The line in Ziyarat Ashura that curses the enemies of the Prophet's family is not what it sounds like. Imam al-Baqir, peace be upon him, once asked: "Is religion anything but love? Indeed, love is loyalty." The Qur'an confirms it directly — "Say: if you love God, then follow me; God will love you and forgive you your sins." This session takes that claim seriously: if faith is love, and love is loyalty, what does the opposite of love actually look like inside a believer's heart? The answer is not what most assume. La'n — often translated simply as "curse" — is examined as a precise theological term, not an emotional outburst. It is disassociation from injustice, the counterpart to tawalla, loving God's friends, used with exact intent in Ziyarat Ashura against those who wronged Imam Husayn, peace be upon him. The session also returns to the softened heart — the hazin, the sorrowful, tender heart God is said to love — and to Imam al-Sadiq's warning, peace be upon him: "The heart is the sanctuary of God, so do not allow anyone other than God to reside in it." If love decides who you are raised with on the Day of Judgement, what exactly is your heart loyal to right now? What the evening covers Love as loyalty, not sentiment. Imam al-Baqir's narration and the Qur'an on what following God actually requires. The sorrowful heart. Why hazin — humility and longing, not despair — is described as beloved to God. La'n unpacked. Why the distancing in supplications like Ziyarat Ashura is moral clarity, not vengeance. The heart as sanctuary. Imam al-Sadiq's warning against letting anything but God take residence there. Dua as sustenance. How drifting from the fitrah, the soul's built-in orientation toward God, is tied to modern despair.

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Sermon: The Advantages and Benefits of Supplication — Part 3

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جِئْتُكَ مُخْلِصاً بِتَوْحِيدِ اللَّهِ وَ مُوَالاةِ أَوْلِيَائِهِ وَ الْبَرَاءَةِ مِنْ أَعْدَائِهِمْ [أَعْدَائِهِ ] وَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ خَالَفُوكَ يَا حُجَّةَ الْمَوْلَى وَ بِكَ إِلَيْهِمْ [اللَّهُمَ ] تَوَجُّهِي وَ بِهِمْ إِلَى اللَّهِ [إِلَيْكَ ] تَوَسُّلِي

I have come to your service in a state of sincerity in the oneness of Allah, and in love for the friends (Awliya) of Allah, and in disavowal of their enemies and of those who opposed you. O proof (Hujjah) of the Master (Mawla), my face is turned through you toward them, and through them is my supplication (tawassul) unto Allah.

Mafatih al-Jinan, Visitations (Ziyarat), Ziyarat of the Four Deputies (Nuwwab al-Arba'ah) (AS), Line 2