Is the supplication of tawassul through Lady Fatimah and the secret deposited in her reported from the Ahl al-Bayt?

In the Name of Allah, exalted is His power and immense is His bounty among creation

And blessings and peace be upon the noblest of creatures, our Prophet Muhammad, and his good and pure Household,

This supplication and tawassul has been taken up by a wide group of the eminent figures of the Shiʿi community — its marajiʿ, its jurists and its scholars — explaining it, interpreting its meanings and benefiting from its outpourings of grace. Some scholars committed themselves to persisting in tawassul through it, such as the great marjaʿ, the owner of the largest personal Shiʿi library, namely Sayed al-Marʿashi al-Najafi (rh), who enjoined his sons to persist in it every day. And Sayed Abu al-Qasim al-Khuʾi (rh) expressed, in his book Sirat al-Najat, in question no. 1075, his opinion on the meaning of “the secret deposited in her”: that the meaning may refer to our master Imam al-Mahdi, the Awaited (aj).

For in supplications, our jurists act upon leniency regarding the proofs of recommended practices (al-tasamuh fi adillat al-sunan), especially if the meanings agree with religious foundations and do not contradict them. Perhaps this supplication is among the things tried and tested by some scholars, and it is something to which there is no impediment in realizing tawassul in general through our Lady Fatimah al-Zahraʾ, her father, her husband and her sons, or through any phrases that convey that meaning.

As for its attribution to the Ahl al-Bayt (a), it is established that nothing can be attributed to them unless we find some evidence for it, even if only probable, that indicates it, such that we may apply the rule of leniency regarding the proofs of recommended practices. We have not found this supplication in our well-known books, but some scholars cited it in a way that makes its issuance from them (a) possible. Here are two sources that mentioned this supplication:

The first source: The religious marjaʿ Sayed Shihab al-Din al-Marʿashi al-Najafi mentioned in his annotations on al-ʿUrwa al-Wuthqa the following text: (Among the supplications whose recitation in the qunut the authors of the books of recommended practices have stressed is what I narrate from my father, the ʿAllama, and others, from the ʿAllama, the beauty of the wayfarers, al-Hajj Murtada al-Radawi al-Kashmiri, through his chains to the exemplar of the wayfarers, our master Sayed Radi al-Din ibn Tawus al-Hasani, through his chains: that our Lady al-Zahraʾ al-Batul — may my soul be her ransom — used to supplicate in the qunut with this supplication: (O Allah, I ask You by the right of Fatimah, her father, her husband, her sons, and the secret deposited in her, to send blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, and to do with me what You are worthy of, and not do with me what I am worthy of, by Your mercy, O Most Merciful of the merciful); and he said: This is the supplication of the angels in their qunuts. (al-ʿUrwa al-Wuthqa wa al-Taʿliqat ʿalayha, vol. 7, p.) 440.

Al-Shaykh Muhammad Fadil al-Masʿudi mentioned in his book al-Asrar al-Fatimiyya, p. 25, quoting from Qabasat min Hayat al-Marʿashi al-Najafi, the words: We found this supplication among the important testamentary counsels in which Ayatollah Sayed al-Marʿashi al-Najafi enjoined his sons to persist in reciting it, especially his eldest son, where he says: ( And I enjoin him — i.e., his eldest son — to persist in reciting this noble supplication in the qunuts of his obligatory prayers.. and he mentioned the supplication. (End of quote).

As for what al-Marʿashi mentioned from al-Kashmiri — that Sayed Ibn Tawus narrates the supplication from al-Zahraʾ (a) — we have not found any trace of it in his works available to us that are devoted to supplications and ziyarat; perhaps the narration from him is from a book that has not reached us.

The second source: In the book Bahjat Qalb al-Mustafa: al-Shaykh Ahmad al-Hamadani said: I heard my shaykh and the one I rely upon, the late Ayatollah Mulla ʿAli al-Maʿsumi, say regarding tawassul through al-Zahraʾ (a): You say five hundred and thirty times: O Allah, send blessings upon Fatimah, her father, her husband and her sons, by the number of what Your knowledge encompasses;

And also from him (rh): My God, by the right of Fatimah, her father, her husband, her sons, and the secret deposited in her.

Your need will be fulfilled, if Allah, the Exalted, wills. (Vol. 1, p. 252)

Sayed Muhammad Baqir al-Musawi commented on this report in his book al-Kawthar fi Ahwal Fatimah bint al-Nabi al-Aʿzam (a), saying: I say: The author of the book reported this supplication; perhaps the late Ayatollah Mulla ʿAli al-Maʿsumi saw the supplication in a narration, or reported the narration with the chain of transmission omitted; and it is unlikely for one like him to report something he had not seen from the Infallible (a), or whose authenticity had not been established for him. (Vol. 5, p. 14).

Perhaps al-Maʿsumi mentioned the supplication by way of things tried and tested, whose soundness he believed in in terms of meaning, not in terms of issuance. The supplication has mostly been reported, as is well known, as a narration from scholars without attributing it to any of the Infallibles, except what Sayed Shihab al-Din al-Marʿashi mentioned with a connected [chain] from al-Zahraʾ (a). Thus the supplication is, at the very least, possibly issued [from them]; therefore it is not right for us to assert categorically that it was not issued, and to disparage tawassul through it on the pretext that it has no basis.

As for the content of the text, its contents are sound and precise in their meanings, which correspond to what has been narrated from the Ahl al-Bayt (a) concerning the necessity of tawassul through them, and through al-Zahraʾ (a) in particular, for the fulfillment of needs, and that she was entrusted with divine secrets of which no one has knowledge. These [narrations] are many; we mention some of them, by way of example:

1 - In al-Ziyara al-Jamiʿa, from Imam al-Hadi (a): (And He approved of you as vicegerents on His earth, proofs over His creatures, helpers of His religion, guardians of His secret, treasurers of His knowledge, and a repository of His wisdom). (al-Tahdhib, vol. 2, p. 610).

2 - The saying of Imam al-Sadiq (a) to his son al-Kazim (a): O my son, may my father and mother be your ransom, O repository of the secrets. (Wasaʾil al-Shiʿa, vol. 5, p. 135).

3 - From Khaythama al-Juʿfi, who said: Abu ʿAbd Allah (a) said to me: O Khaythama, we are the tree of prophethood, the house of mercy, the keys of wisdom, the mine of knowledge, the place of the message, the frequenting-place of the angels, and the place of Allah's secret; we are Allah's trust among His servants, and we are Allah's greatest sanctuary. (Basaʾir al-Darajat, vol. 1, p. 57).

4 - In al-Kafi: From Abu Basir, who said: Abu ʿAbd Allah (a) said: O Abu Muhammad, by Allah, we possess a secret from the secret of Allah and a knowledge from the knowledge of Allah; by Allah, neither an angel brought near, nor a prophet sent [as a messenger], nor a believer whose heart Allah has tested for faith can bear it. (Vol. 1, p. 402).

Thus tawassul through any of the aspects of al-Zahraʾ (a) is a sound matter about which there is no doubt — such as seeking intercession through her son al-Muhsin, through her afflictions, through her light, or through the secret or secrets deposited in her. So we ask Allah, the Exalted, to fulfill our needs and the needs of the believers by the right of the secret of Fatimah (a), her merit and her affliction.

All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the worlds.

Sayed Mahmoud Al-Mosawi

13/9/2022