From the Inspiration of Supplication .. Until the Breath Runs Out
His Eminence Shaykh Muhammad Hasan Al Ibrahim
Ever since we were children, we have been hearing, in the supplications transmitted from the Household of Prophethood (a), the words (O Lord, O Allah) and others repeated, followed between parentheses by the phrase (until the breath runs out); and often the supplicant reads it as though it were part of the supplication, so that it merges into the folds of his plaintive melody, before one of the fathers corrects him, explaining to him that it is merely an instruction for repetition and not a part included in the text of the supplication.
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And because the supplications in the month of Ramadan are many, long and numerous, some may neglect to comply with this instruction, seeking to shorten, to turn the pages and to feel a sense of achievement in combing through the lines with the eye and the tongue—and likewise the heart—and reading the last letter of the supplication.
What is the purpose of this instruction, and what is this manner?
This instruction, which stops you to elaborate at length in asking, is: a repetition whose purpose is emphasis and insistence upon Allah in supplication, through repeating the remembrance (dhikr) to an extent at which the breath runs out .
For repeating the word within the limits of a single, truncated breath is not truly described as a running out of the breath of itself; rather, it is the supplicant who cut it short. Therefore the more beneficial manner is for the supplicant to repeat the word abundantly until his breath “disappears,” striving to do so abundantly.
So the abundance of remembrance here is measured by the length of the breath, not by number as in some remembrances and supplications; and it is another kind of insistence upon Allah, the Exalted, in asking, and it has its special and far-reaching effect on the answering of the supplication and the fulfillment of the need.
For in the book (Manasik al-Ziyarat) by al-Mufid, from Abu Jaʿfar (a), who said: My father used to be insistent in supplication, saying: O Lord, O Lord, until the breath ran out, then he would return).
Two manners sharing in a single object of request
And sometimes the two manners come together as a single act, as in what is reported from al-Misbah: (....You raise your hands toward the sky and say: O Allah, O Allah, ten times; then you move your index finger and say ten times; and you say, until the breath runs out: O Lord! Then you raise your hand facing your face and say: O Allah, O Allah! ten times).
Citing more than one manner entails their being different, which means that each manner has a particularity, and that each manner is desirable in itself on the part of the Lawgiver, having its own uniqueness, even if they share in attaining the result of obtaining a swift answer to the supplication and the fulfillment of the need, since each of the two manners constitutes part of a cause.
And sometimes it is by way of a choice between the two manners, and that is from the saying of al-Sadiq (a): (I fell ill, and my father (a) passed by ( me ), and he said: Say—O my son—ten times: O Allah, for no servant has ever said it but He said: Here I am. And whoever says: ( O my Lord, O Allah, O my Lord, O Allah ) until the breath runs out, is answered).
What is apparent from this narration is that the supplicant, whichever of the two he performs, obtains what he seeks.
And they may contain undeclared secrets and effects that are hidden from all but the people of sight and insight in religion.
Perhaps this diversity in the supplications, in their level and their perceptible intensity, goes back to the diversity of the supplicant's states or to the variation of the need sought to be fulfilled; and the wisdom of all that is entrusted to its people, “those firmly grounded” in the gnosis of the Ahl al-Bayt (a).
Repetition and resumption until the breath runs out
And just as repetition within a single breath has its effect on the answering, so too resuming this act has a doubled effect; for from Abu Jaʿfar (a), who said: My father used to be insistent in supplication, saying: O Lord, O Lord, until the breath ran out, then he would return) . And we derive from his words (a), then (he would return), that resuming the remembrance in that manner is recommended (mustaḥabb) ..
Supplications reported in this manner are numerous
This instruction “until the breath runs out” has been reported in more than one of the remembrances: among them is what is composed of a particle and a word, such as (O Lord), as mentioned before, and among them is what is composed of several words, such as what is reported from Ziyad al-Qandi, who said: I wrote to Abu al-Hasan the First (meaning al-Kazim) (a): Teach me a supplication, for I have been afflicted with something—and he had been imprisoned in Baghdad, having been accused concerning their funds—so he (a) wrote to him: When you pray, prolong the prostration, then say: ( O One of whoever has no one ) until the breath runs out; then say: ( O He whom abundance of supplication increases only in generosity and nobility ) until your breath runs out; then say: ( O Lord of lords, You, You, You are the One, hope has been cut off except from You, O High One, O Great One ). Ziyad said: So I supplicated with it, and Allah relieved me, and I was set free).
Reflections.. until the breath runs out:
Among the most important things this remembrance calls for, which suit the state in which the supplicant ought to be:
1- That this is a call for help and a plea for compassion from the servant to his Lord, to draw forth mercy and to beg His generosity in fulfilling his need, especially the basic need which, if the servant is granted it, whatever he is denied besides it will not harm him, and if he is deprived of it, whatever is besides it will not benefit him—and that is emancipation from the Fire.
2- That he remembers, by repeating the call, that he is still asking for the answer time after time, just as the pursued one seeking refuge pants while awaiting the word of safety before it is too late.
3- That he senses the meaning of servanthood and the meaning of Lordship, and turns back and forth between fear and hope, not settling in either of the two states.
4- That he becomes acquainted with the symbolism of this remembrance, which suggests the servant's need for his Lord at every moment, from the beginning of his life to the last breath of his life.
5- That he recalls the moments of his last breath, which separates this world from the Hereafter, at the time of dying—and that is the greatest of the states of dire need and of need for Allah.
6- That he realizes the necessity of deepening the words of the supplication in the heart's blood of the supplicant, as he strives and exerts himself until the supplication leaves its mark in the thirst of his scorching middays.
7- Repeating the remembrance contributes to marking the soul with a divine mark, as the servant finds intimacy in remembrance, so that the meanings blend within the breast and the limbs follow them.
8- The running out of breath symbolizes the last hope of one crying for help when on the verge of perishing, like the drowning man who cuts himself off unto Allah and finds none but Allah, where the sound innate nature (fiṭra) of the human being becomes manifest. He, Exalted is He, says: “When waves cover them like awnings; they invoke Allah, putting exclusive faith in Him” (Qurʾan 31:32).
Attention to the instructions of the Ahl al-Bayt (a) regarding the manner of supplication is no less important than adherence to the text of the transmitted supplication; for just as it is recommended to supplicate with what has been transmitted, so too we ought to supplicate in the transmitted manner .
We ask Allah, Glorified is He, to make our hearts flourishing with His love and our tongues constantly uttering His remembrance in an unbroken succession; indeed He is the Patron of success ..
Muhammad Hasan Al Ibrahim
13 Ramadan 1433 AH
