His Supplication against Someone who Wronged Him

He, peace be on him, supplicated with this holy supplication during his qunut against the ‘Abbasid Caliph who was a contemporary of him and made him suffer from various kinds of pang and pain. We will present the full text of the supplication, that, through it, what the Imam met from the tyrants of his time may be clear:

“O Allah, surely I and so-and-so son of so-and-so are two of your servants! Our forelocks are in Your hand. You know our resting place, our depository, our return, our abode, our secret and open deeds. You know our intentions and encompass our minds. Your knowledge of what we show is just as Your knowledge of what we hide. Your knowledge of what we conceal is just as Your knowledge of what we make public. None of our affairs is hidden from You; none of our conditions is covered from You. No fortress protects us from You; no sanctuary guards us from You and no place to flee from You. The fortresses do not preserve the unjust from You. His fighters do not struggle for him against You. No overcomer attempts to overcome You through his standing by him; You catch up with him wherever he walks and have power over him wherever he goes. Therefore the wronged from among us seeks refuge in You. The vanquished from among us relies on You, resorts to You, seeks help from You when deserted by the aider, cries to You for help when neglected by the helper, seeks shelter in You when banished by the courtyards, knocks on Your gate when doors with bolts are closed before him, reaches You when the heedless kings are veiled from him. You know what happens to him before he complains of it to You; You know what sets him right before he supplicates You for it; therefore praise belongs to You, O Aware, Knowing, Most Kind!

“O Allah, and that it certainly was in Your previous knowledge, Your firm decree, Your going on determination, and Your valid command. Your will is in process among all Your servants, happy and unhappy, pious and sinful. You have given so-and-so power over me, and he has wronged me with it, aggressed against me through his position, showed audaciousness and mighty through his authority with which You have invested him, showed tyranny and pride through his high state which You have given to him. Your giving respite to him has deluded him and Your clemency toward him has made him tyrannical, so he has aimed at me with detested things toward which I am impatient, intentionally performed to me evil (things) before which I am feeble. I cannot seek justice from him because of my frailty nor can I gain a victory over him because of the paucity (of my supporters); therefore I have entrusted his affair to You and I have relied on You in respect with his affair. You have threatened him with Your punishment, warned him through Your power, and frightened him with Your vengeance, but he has thought that Your clemency toward him is out of weakness, and Your giving respite to him is out of feebleness. None has prevented him from (doing) another, nor has he been prevented from a second by a first.

However, he has gone too far in his error, continued doing wrong, persevered in his enmity, and increased his tyranny, out of audaciousness toward You. O my Master and Protector! Undertake Your wrath You do not withhold from the oppressors. So here I am, O my Master, wronged under his authority, abased in his courtyard, transgressed, apprehensive, fearful, terrified, and vanquished. My patience has become little; my strength has become narrow. The ways have been closed before me except (the one leading) to You; the directions have been blocked up all around me except a direction to Your. My affairs have become ambiguous in repelling his detested things. The opinions have become dubious to me in removing his oppression; the one from among Your creatures I have asked for help has deserted me; the one from among Your servants to whom I have clung has handed me over. So I had consulted my adviser and he advised me to beseech You. I had asked my guide to show me the right way and he showed me none except You.

Therefore I have come back to You, O my Protector, lowly, willingly, miserable, knowing that there is no relief for me except from You, and there is no salvation for me except through You. Fulfill Your promise in helping me and grant my supplication; that is because Your words are true and are not refuted and changed. Certainly You, Blessed and Most High You are, have said: and he who has been oppressed, Allah will most certainly aid him; and You, Majestic is Your eulogy and Holy are Your names, have said: Supplicate Me and I will respond to you. So I am going to do what You have commanded me not by making You feel obliged. How can I make you feel obliged and You have guided me to it; therefore, respond to me just as You had promised me, O You Who do not fail to perform the promise. I certainly know, my Master, that You will some day take vengeance on the oppressors for the oppressed; I am sure that some time You will punish the usurper for the usurped. That is because no obstinate precedes You; no opponent comes out of Your grasp. You do not fear the escape of a escaper, but my impatience and dismay do not reach the patience toward Your deliberateness and waiting for Your clemency. So Your power, my Master, is over all powers; Your force overcomes all forces. Every body will return to You even if You give them time; all oppressor will come back to You even if You respite them.

O My Master, certainly Your clemency toward so-and-so, Your long deliberateness toward him, and Your giving him time have harmed me. Despair is about to dominate me were it not for trust in You and certainty in Your promise. So if it is in Your valid decree and Your going on power that he will turn to You in repentance or repent or withhold from wronging me or refrain from the things I detest and leave the great (sins) he commits (through wronging) me, then bless Mohammad and his family and let that fall into his heart before You remove Your blessing You have bestowed upon him and before You muddy Your good You have done to him. If Your knowledge of him is other than that of his station through which he has wronged me, then I ask You, O Helper of the wronged and transgressed, grant my supplication. Bless Mohammad and his family and overtake him in his place of safety with the overtaking of a Mighty, Powerful One. Surprise him during his inattention with the surprise of a Victorious King. Deprive him of his blessing and his authority, disband his troops and his helpers. Completely tear apart his kingdom, thoroughly scatter his supporters, isolate him from Your blessing for which he has showed neither gratitude nor kindness. Strip him of the shirt of Your Exaltation toward which he has showed no good turn. Snap him, O Snapper of the tyrants. Destroy him, O Destroyer of the bygone generations. Ruin him, O Ruiner of the oppressive nations. Abandon him, O Abandoner of the rebellious groups. Cut off his lifetime; take his properties; efface his trace; cut off his news; put out his fire; make dark his house; ball his sun; make him give up the ghost; smash his legs; cut off his head; rub his nose in the ground; hasten his death. Leave neither shield for him unless you destroy it, nor support for him unless You snap it, nor a union unless You scatter it, nor a post of loftiness unless You lower it, nor a pillar unless You undermine it, nor a tie unless You cut it off. Show us his helpers and troops as slaves after the exaltation; make them disunited after their unity, bow their heads after their show-off before the community. Relieve, through the removal of his affair, the fearful souls, the grieved hearts, the perplexed community, and the lost mankind. Show, through his removal, the suspended, prescribed punishments, the effaced laws (sunan), the neglected precepts, the changed, principal features (of religion), the distorted verses, the deserted schools, the abandoned places of worship, and the demolished shrines. Through it (his removal) satisfy the hungry, hollow stomachs.

Water, through it, the exhausted palates and the thirsty livers. Through it give rest to the tired feet. Strike him with an affliction that has no sister (lit. no like), with an hour when there is no abode, with a misfortune with which there is no refreshment, and with a stumble from which there is no release. Make lawful his forbidden things; muddy his ease. Show him Your most violent seizing, Your ideal vengeance, Your power that is over all powers, Your force that is mightier than his. Overcome him for me through Your strong strength and Your severe punishment. Protect me from him through Your protection. Afflict him with poverty he cannot redress and with evil he cannot cover. Entrust him to himself in what You desire. Surely You do what You desire! Release him from Your force and power and entrust him to his force and power. Remove his scheming through Your scheming; repel his will through Your will. Sicken his body; orphan his children; decrease his fixed term; disappoint his hope; remove his state; prolong his wailing; make him busy with his own body. Do not set him free from his sadness. Turn his trickery into error, his affair into disappearance, his comfort into removal, his earnestness into lowness, his authority into vanishing, and his final result into the most wicked result. Make him die of his fury if You intended to make him die; let him remain in grief if You intended to let him remain. Protect me from his evil, his backbite, his slander, his influence, and his enmity. Glance at him with a glance through which You destroy him; for most surely You are strongest in prowess and strongest to give an exemplary punishment.”

From this holy supplication we conclude that Imam Musa met heavy misfortunes and exhausting pain from his opponent, for he did not supplicate against him with this supplication unless he filled his heart with severe sadness and bitter pain.