Past eventOther · The Art of Supplication · Session 10

The Advantages and Benefits of Supplication — Part 6

Saturday, 31 May 2025

The greatest mercy you have ever received might not be the answer to a prayer — it might be that you were allowed to ask one. This session closes the six benefits of supplication with the sixth: becoming a witness to God's mercy. It begins where the Qur'an itself begins, with two names repeated before every chapter but one: ar-Rahman, God's mercy that encompasses all creation, and ar-Raheem, the specific, sustaining mercy reserved for believers — a distinction Imam al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, draws explicitly. Behind both stands a hadith qudsi, narrated by the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him and his family, and found in Sunni and Shia sources alike: "Indeed, My mercy has preceded My wrath." The session's central claim is that dua does not summon mercy from nowhere — it uncovers what was already there. Sayyid Ibn Tawus writes that the sincere caller "does not force the Hand of Mercy to move — he only removes the veil that was covering it from his sight." In Dua Kumayl, Imam Ali, peace be upon him, does not say God created mercy for him, but that God "spread" it — the verb itself carries the point. And the Qur'an's promise carries no hedge: "Call upon Me — I will respond to you." Not might. Will. What if the door was never closed, and the only veil in the way was yours? What the evening covers Two mercies in the Bismillah. Ar-Rahman, universal, and ar-Raheem, specific to believers — and the difference between them. The narration beneath the whole worldview. "My mercy has preceded My wrath," and what it changes about how God is approached. What dua actually does. Sayyid Ibn Tawus on removing the veil rather than moving the Hand. A promise with no hedge. The difference between "I might" and "I will". The mercy before the mercy. Why being permitted to call at all is itself the first gift.

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Sermon: The Advantages and Benefits of Supplication — Part 6

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اللَّهُمَّ إِنْ كَانَتِ الذُّنُوبُ وَ الْخَطَايَا قَدْ أَخْلَقَتْ وَجْهِي عِنْدَكَ فَلَمْ تَرْفَعْ لِي إِلَيْكَ صَوْتا وَ لَمْ تَسْتَجِبْ لِي دَعْوَةً فَإِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ بِكَ يَا اللَّهُ فَإِنَّهُ لَيْسَ مِثْلَكَ أَحَدٌ وَ أَتَوَسَّلُ إِلَيْكَ بِمُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِهِ وَ أَسْأَلُكَ أَنْ تُصَلِّيَ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ أَنْ تُقْبِلَ إِلَيَّ [عَلَيَ ] بِوَجْهِكَ الْكَرِيمِ وَ تُقْبِلَ بِوَجْهِي [إِلَيْكَ ] وَ لا تُخَيِّبَنِي حِينَ أَدْعُوكَ وَ لا تَحْرِمَنِي حِينَ أَرْجُوكَ يَا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ.

O Allah, if my sins and transgressions have disgraced me before You, and as a result have prevented my cry from rising to You, and You have not answered my supplication, then I ask You, O Allah, the like of whom there is none, and I seek intercession to You through Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, and I ask You to send blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, and to turn toward me with Your generous countenance, and to direct my face toward You, and not to disappoint me when I call upon You, and not to deprive me when I place my hope in You, O Most Merciful of the merciful.

Mafatih al-Jinan, Visitations (Ziyarat), Rituals of Masjid al-Sahlah, Line 7