Question:
The duaa (supplication) which is specific to the 3rd day of the month of Shaaban contains:
والأوصياء مِن عترته بعد قائمهم وغيبته.
Who is being referred to as ‘الأوصياء’ after the Qa’im (may Allah hasten his reappearance) ?
Answer:
Here is part of the Du’a:
اَللّهُمَّ اِنّى اَسْئَلُكَ بِحَقِّ الْمَوْلُودِ فى هذَا الْيَوْمِ، الْمَوْعُودِ بِشَهادَتِهِ
قَبْلَ اْستِهْلالِهِ وَ وِلادَتِهِ، بَكَتْهُ السَّمآءُ وَ مَنْ فيها، وَ الْأَرْضُ وَمَنْ
عَلَيْها،وَ لَمَّا يَطَاْ لابَتَيْها قَتيلِ الْعَبْرَةِ، وَ سَيِّدِ الْأُسْرَةِالْمَمْدُودِ بِالنُّصْرَةِ
يَوْمَ الْكَرَّةِ الْمُعَوَّضِ مِنْ قَتْلِهِ اَنَّ الْأَئِمَّةَ مِنْ نَسْلِهِ، وَالشِّفآءَ فى
تُرْبَتِهِ، و الْفَوْزَ مَعَهُ فى اَوْبَتِهِ و الْأَوصِيآءِ مِنْ عِتْرَتِهِ بَعْدَ قآئِمِهِمْ
وَغَيْبَتِهِ، حَتّى يُدْرِكُوا الْأَوْتارَ
Sheikh al-Tousi has narrated this Du’a in his ‘al-Mesbah’ (p.826) from al-Qasem Bin al-‘Ala; the Wakil of Imam al-Askari, on the birthday of Imam Husain (a.s) which is the 3rd of Sha’ban.
The Du’a lists a number of the virtues of the Imam until it says: God has rewarded Imam Husain (a.s) for his martyrdom with certain rewards among which are: 1) the Imams (of Ahlul-Bayt) are from his generation, 2) (exceptionally) there is a healing power in the dirt of his graveyard, 3) prosperity will be with him and his pure progeny in their return after the Qa’em (Imam Mahdi) and his occultation until they take revenge (from the criminals of Karbala and their followers) …
As you can see the Du’a is clearly talking about ‘the Raj’at’ (the Return) of Imam Husain and the Imams after him, at the end of the reign of Imam Mahdi. This is a very commonly accepted belief of Shi’a by the absolute majority of our scholars.
I must note that there is a common mistake in reading the Arabic text of the particular part of the Du’a that the questioner has asked about, which has made it a bit confusing for the Arabic speaking people.
و الْفَوْزَ مَعَهُ فى اَوْبَتِهِ والْأَوصِيآءِ مِنْ عِتْرَتِهِ بَعْدَ قآئِمِهِمْ وَ غَيْبَتِهِ،
That part must be read without any comma after اوبته and also the sign of الاوصیاء must be Kasra at the end because the ‘conjunction’ (و) is connecting the الاوصیاء to the pronoun in معه and the meaning will be as mentioned above. There is still a way to read it the same way with the sign of Fati-ha for الاوصیاء but its a bit more technical to explain.
Answered by: Sheikh Mansour Leghaei
