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Prescription 1: “He” Is The Real Healer

The Holy Qur’an, narrating Prophet Ibrahim (ʿa)’s monotheistic expressions, says:

وَإِذَا مَرِضْتُ فَهُوَ يَشْفِينِ

And when I get sick, it is “He” who cures me. (Surah ash-Shu’araa, 26:80).

In other words, He alone is the true healer.
In the well-known supplication of al-Jawshan al-Kabir we are taught to address Allah as follows:

يَا مَن ينقذ الْغَرقَى يَا مَن يُنْجِي الْهَلَكَى يَا مَن يَشفِي الْمَرْضَى

O You who emancipates the drowned, O You who saves the perished ones,
O You who cures the sick ones.1

In Arabic grammar, when the article al is prefixed to a plural noun, all the individuals of the plural can be taken into consideration.2 In the above supplication, the article al precedes the word “marda”, which is the plural of the word marid (lit. disordered or sick).3

Hence, ‘all the sick ones’ are taken into consideration. As a result, the phrase ‘Ya man yashfi al-marda’ would mean “O You who cures all the sick ones.” In other words: “Other than You, there is no healer.”

Amir al-Muʾminin (ʿa) is reported to have said:

كَانَ رَسُولُ اللهِ )صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَآلِهِ( إِذَا دَخَلَ عَلَى مَرِيضِ قَالَ: أَذْهِبِ الْبَأْسَ رَبَّ الْبَأْسِ، وَاشْفِ أَنْتَ الشَّافِي لَا شَافِيَ إِلَّا أَنْتَ

Whenever the Apostle of Allah (peace be on him and his household) would visit a sick person, he would pray [to God] as follows: ‘Remove the misery, O Lord of the misery,4 and cure [the miserable person, for] You alone are the Healer, there is no healer save You.’5

In the above supplication, everything is clear. The Holy Prophet (S) says, “You alone are the Healer, there is no healer except You.” Grammatically, when the article al is prefixed to the predicate (khabar) of a sentence, it signifies that the predicate is restricted to the subject.

In the above case when we are taught to address Allah as ‘Anta al-Shafi’ (“You alone are the Healer”) notice that the article al precedes the predicate Shafi and hence this signifies that Allah alone is the healer. Apparently then the sentence ‘la shafiya siwaka’ (“there is no healer other than You”) that follows is to reinforce this monotheistic reality.

In a beautiful intimate orison, Imam Musa ibn Jaʿfar al-Kazim (ʿa), whilst in the prison of the Abbasid despot Harun al-Rashid, says:

وَإِذَا مرضت ،شفيتنى، وَإِذَا دَعوتُ أجبتنى

And when I turn ill, You cure me, and when I call [You], You respond to me.6

Every doctor must realize that any kind of phenomenon that transpires in this universe is solely through divine permission (bi-idhni Allah). Although the doctor is religiously or naturally duty-bound to work to cure the patient, he must remember that cure (shifaʾ) is entirely in God’s hands. This is because He is the principal cause of every created entity in both the stages of origination and subsistence. This reality is established by intellectual reasoning, the Holy Qur’an, the authentic traditions of the Holy Prophet (S) and his infallible progeny, and in a subtler sense, the spiritual disclosures (mukashafat) of the scholars of insight.

Hence one must never be overcome with self-esteem or pride when a patient or a close associate tries to praise one for the result of one’s struggle of treatment. Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Razi in his Akhlaq al-tabib says:

I have seen from among doctors one, who upon successfully treating a severely ill patient, is overtaken by self-conceit, and his speech is that of the dominators. If that is the case, may such a doctor not exist, nor given the succor to treat, nor get support.7

It is natural however that the spirit of the doctor who has been successful in his treatment would experience happiness and joy. Such a state should not be deemed to be negative. In one of his questions to the great Muslim ethical scholar Ibn Miskawayh (d. 421 AH), Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi (d. 414 AH) says:

I heard a senior physician saying: I get pleased at the cure of a patient due to my [medical] management and feel extremely happy by that. I asked him: And don’t you know the reason behind this? He said: No. So, I told him [i.e. the physician] I would speak with you [i.e. Ibn Miskawayh] for a response, God willing.

Ibn Miskawayh replies: Indeed, the happiness of a doctor is only because of himself and the correctness of his action. This is because when he observes a patient, he firstly needs to be acquainted with the latter’s malady until he knows it correctly and perfectly. Then when he knows it, he treats it with medicines and foods that are its opposite, which would [then] become the cause of his cure.

In this case the doctor would have really been successful in knowing the malady and treating it with medicine that is its opposite. And such acquisition and knowledge is a state that the doctor experiences with his knowledge, and for which he toils throughout the time of his diagnosis and examination.

And it is characteristic of the soul that when it makes a strong move towards that which it seeks for a long time with great eagerness, and then attains it, it becomes happy and experiences an amazing kind of delight and joy.8

Sometimes the doctor’s joy and delight is due to appreciating the fact that Allah enabled him to diagnose the illness and employ the correct method of treatment, and finally facilitated the cure of the patient through his hands. Such joy, which undoubtedly is highly recommended, naturally reaps thankfulness (shukr), which is fundamental in the development of one’s abilities and skills. The Holy Qur’an, underlining the importance of expressing gratitude, says:

وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ وَلَئِنْ كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِي لَشَدِيدٌ

And when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely enhance you, but if you are ungrateful, My punishment is indeed severe.’ (Surah Ibrahim, 14:7).

If the doctor were also to consider the intricacies of the whole creation, he would come to realise that every step of his efforts likewise is by and through Almighty Allah. The following well-known phrase of supplication refers to this reality:

لا حَولَ وَلا قُوَّةَ إلا بالله العَلَى الْعَظيمِ

There is neither any state nor power save through Allah, the Exalted and the Tremendous.9

The following phrase of the well-known Ayat al-Kursi alludes to this reality:

اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ…

Allah, other than He there is no god; He alone is the Living One, the All- Sustainer … (Surah Baqara, 2:255).

The divine name al-Qayyum in the above verse signifies that Allah is self-subsisting and every entity subsists by Him (al-Qaʾimu bi nafsi-hi wa al-Muqawwimu li-ghayri-hi).10 Hence, whatever exists whether apparently static or mobile draws its existence at every moment from Allah. Accurately speaking, based on the Holy Qur’an, intellectual reasoning, and spiritual disclosures of the insightful scholars, every created entity is bestowed with a new existence every moment, but this is so swift that our normal vision cannot perceive it. The Holy Qur’an clearly alludes to this in the following verse:

وَتَرَى الْجِبَالَ تَحْسَبُهَا جَامِدَةً وَهِيَ تَمُرُّ مَرَّ السَّحَابِ صُنْعَ اللَّهِ الَّذِي أَتْقَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ إِنَّهُ خَبِيرٌ بِمَا تَفْعَلُونَ

And you see the mountains, which you suppose to be stationary, while they drift like passing clouds, the handiwork of Allah who has made everything faultless. He is indeed well aware of what you do. (Surah an-Naml, 27:88).

The great saint and young martyr ʿAyn al-Qudat Hamadani (d. 525 AH) says:

Small children observing a lamp burning continuously would naturally think that what they see is one single flame. But the grownups know very well that it is a series of different flames appearing and disappearing moment by moment. And from the viewpoint of the mystics this must necessarily be the case with everything in the world except God.11

Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 628 AH) in his Mathnawi says:

هر نفس نو می شود دنیا و ما

بی خبر از نو شدن اندر بقا

عمر همچون جوی نو نو میرسد

مستمری می نماید در جسد

آن ز تیزی مستمر شکل آمده ست

چون شرر کش تیز جنبانی بدست

شاخ آتش را بجنبانی بساز

در نظر آتش نماید بس دراز

این درازی مدت از تیزی صنع

می نماید سرعت انگیزی صنع

Every moment the world is renewed, and we are unaware of its being renewed whilst it remains the same in appearance.
Life is ever arriving anew, like the stream, though in the body it has the semblance of continuity.
From its swiftness it appears continuous, like the spark which thou whirlest rapidly with thy hand.
If thou whirl a firebrand with dexterity, it appears to the sight as a very long line of fire.
The swift motion produced by the action of God presents this length of duration as (a phenomenon arising) from the rapidity of divine action.12

Shaykh Mahmud al-Shabistari (d. after 1340 CE) in his well-known poetical masterpiece Gulshan-e Raz says:

The world is this whole, and in every twinkling of an eye, it becomes non-existent and endures not two moments.

There over again another world is produced, every moment a new heaven and a new earth.

Things remain not in two moments, the same moment they perish, they are born again. 13

Ibn al-ʿArabi (d. 636 AH) in his al-Futuhat al-Makkiyyah referring to how overwhelming it is to comprehend this reality says:

فلو شاهدته لرأيتَ أمرا عظيما يهولك منظره ويُورثك خوفا على جوهر ذاتك ولولاً ما يُؤيد الله أهل الكشف بالعلم لتاهوا خوفا

If you would have visioned it [through the heart] you would have seen a great phenomenon, whose sight would scare you and make you fear over the substance of your essence; and were it not for the knowledge with which Allah supports the men of disclosure, they would have got lost out of fear.14

Essentially, therefore, every movement made by any doctor cannot transpire save through divine power, permission, and leave. Even when employing natural means to cure the patient, it is entirely in Allah’s hands whether to allow the natural effects to transpire or not.
The Holy Qur’an says:

…مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِنْدَهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ…

… Who is it that may intercede with Him except with His permission … (Surah al-Baqara, 2:255).

…مَا مِنْ شَفِيعٍ إِلَّا مِنْ بَعْدِ إِذْنِهِ…

… There is no intercessor, except by His leave … (Surah Yunus, 10:3).

According to authoritative exegetes of the Qur’an like ʿAllamah Tabatabaʾi (d. 1402 AH), the intercession spoken about in this verse includes both existential mediation (al-shafaʿah al-takwiniyyah) as well as legislative mediation (al-shafaʿah al-tashriʿiyyah).15

In simple words, nothing can lay influence and act as an intermediary cause save by His leave.
The principle is also the same in the case of miracles. When Prophet ʿIsa (ʿa), for example, would cure the leper and the blind and restore people to life, he would do so entirely with divine permission. The Holy Qur’an expresses this reality, employing phrases like ‘bi idhni Allah’ (“by the leave of Allah”). Consider the following verses wherein Prophet ʿIsa (ʿa) says:

وَأُبْرِئُ الْأَكْمَهَ وَالْأَبْرَصَ وَأُحْيِي الْمَوْتَىٰ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ

… And I heal the blind and the leper and I revive the dead by Allah’s leave… (Surah aal-‘Imraan, 3:49).

In chapter al-Maʾidah, Allah Himself mentions that everything Prophet ʿIsa (ʿa) did was entirely through His permission:

…وَإِذْ تَخْلُقُ مِنَ الطِّينِ كَهَيْئَةِ الطَّيْرِ بِإِذْنِي فَتَنْفُخُ فِيهَا فَتَكُونُ طَيْرًا بِإِذْنِي…

… And you would heal the blind and the leper, with My leave, and you would raise the dead, with My leave … (Surah al-Maaida, 5:110).

Note that the phrase ‘bi-idhni (with My leave)’ appears in different places in the above verse. Here, Allah Himself informs us that if Prophet ʿIsa (ʿa) was able to cure the leper or the blind, it was only by His leave and permission.

If one comprehends this reality properly, one would understand the secrets behind how those who have been diagnosed with seemingly incurable diseases suddenly find their cure, and how those who had a simple malady meet their death. The reality is that every effect is entirely through Allah’s power.

It is imperative to understand that the causativeness (sababiyyah) of the natural causes is not independent (mustaqill) but depends on Allah’s will and volition. In other words, if they are created with a particular essence, it is not necessary for them to always possess the effect that they are known to normally have; rather, it entirely depends on Allah whether He allows their normal effect to transpire or not.

Mulla Sadra, in his Qur’anic exegesis, explaining the verse “Maliki Yawm al-Din” (1:4) at one point says:

ولم يعلم أحدهم إلّا العرفاء بالله خاصة إنّ هذه الأسباب بمنزلة أعيان منصوبة مقرونة بما يجرى عليها من صدور هذه الآثار بلا تأثير من قبلها وإنّ زمام هذه الأمور كلها بيد مالك الملوك

None of them, save only those endowed with divine gnosis, have known that indeed these causes resemble entities made to accompany what normally follows them of the effects, without any [independent] effect by them, and that indeed the reign of all matters are in the hand of the Owner of kings.16

Sometimes we also observe that some causes give a different or opposite effect. Nimrod’s fire is a good example. Although it naturally burns a person, it bestowed coolness to Ibrahim. The Holy Qur’an says:

قُلْنَا يَا نَارُ كُونِي بَرْدًا وَسَلَامًا عَلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ

We said, ‘O fire! Be cool and safe for Ibrahim!’ (Surah al-Ambiyaa, 21:69).

The reason for this is not any kind of evasion of the natural law of causation between natural causes and their effects, but ignorance on our part about other additional causes that led to the coolness of the fire.

Similarly, although the normal effect of a specific poison is to render a person sick and bring death to him, if Allah wishes the same poison can act as a powerful medicine on the person and cure him. This is not necessarily due to changing the causative effect of specific causes but taking recourse to other hidden causes that lead to cure and well-being.

In his work Isti'adha: Seeking Allah's Protection from Satan, the late martyr of the prayer niche Ayatullah Sayyid ‘Abd al-Husayn Dastghaib Shirazi says:

Sometimes a person observes that something is solved without any [apparent] cause, or through a thing that never had any kind of causative effect. I remember more than thirty years ago, Marhum

Sadr al-Hukamaʾ who was a religious and high-ranking physician, would narrate:

In my youth in the city of Jahrum I would practice medicine. One day they brought a villager to me. I found that he does not have just one or two maladies. He suffered in his kidney, liver, heart, etc. In short, it was impossible to treat him and his death [it seemed] was inevitable. I said to them: I shall not give any medicine. They became angry toward me, taunted me, and said: It shows that you do not know anything. Being upset, I also scornfully told them: Go and give him yunjeh (donkey fodder). I said this out of sarcasm just to respond to their vilifications.

After some time, one day I saw the same sick person together with his carers come to me. They brought together with them a sheep and other gifts and said: You having known such a medicine, why did you not tell us from the very beginning? The same yunjeh made him well.

Indeed, sometimes it is possible that He removes the causative effect from a cause, and sometimes makes a thing that is not a cause to be a cause. He is the One who renders every cause to cause (Musabbib al-asbab). In other words, He makes something to be a cause, and gives an effect to something that does not have effect.17

It must be understood however that in the same way that Allah makes natural things transpire through material causes, He can also facilitate extraordinary phenomena to take place through material causes, the only difference being that whereas the former material causes are apparent, the latter are hidden to most of the people. Hence the latter do not evade the universal law of cause and effect between material and natural things. Furthermore, if a specific material cause gives a different or opposite effect it does not go against the aforesaid principle also. Rather, we come to realise that apart from the apparent cause, there can be some other causes hidden from us that naturally lead to the different or opposite effect. Despite this, it must be realised that any kind of natural cause, whether known or unknown, ultimately depends on the Independent Cause which confers causation to the natural causes.

There is an interesting incident18 narrated by the venerable Shaykh al-Tabrasi (d. 588 AH) in his masterpiece al-Ihtijaj from Imam Hasan al-ʿAskari (ʿa) who narrates from Imam Zayn al-ʿAbidin (ʿa) that a person from Greece who claimed to be a physician and a philosopher once came to Imam ʿAli (ʿa) and saw the Imam (ʿa) had jaundice and weak legs. He advised the Imam (ʿa) to take a specific medicine and refrain from applying pressure on his apparently weak legs. The Imam (ʿa) tried to prove both of his directions as futile. He asked the doctor whether he had any medicine that would worsen his condition; the doctor showed him something and claimed that if any patient suffering from jaundice would consume it, that patient would instantly die. The Imam (ʿa) asked the doctor to give that to him, and the doctor duly obliged.

The Imam (ʿa) swallowed the medicine and instead of instantly dying, he turned well and regained his vigour. The expression employed by the amazed Greek physician to describe the Imam’s state of recovery in the lengthy tradition is: ‘… fa inna-ka al-ana muwarradun’ (“for indeed you are now like a red rose”). Then the Imam (ʿa) showed the doctor how his apparently thin legs could shake a strong pillar. This overwhelmed the doctor and he fell unconscious.

The gist of this anecdote is that the effect of every medicine is in Allah’s hands. An effective medicine can harm a person and a dangerous and lethal drug can have the effect of a powerful medicine, not because of evading the natural effects of the drugs, but due to other additional hidden causes that naturally bring about illness or health. It is also possible for God to exceptionally confer a different effect to a specific medicine.

Although we are advised to seek the cure of sicknesses from their usual remedies, we must not be oblivious of the monotheistic principle that ultimately, He alone is the healer. Hence, although the doctor employs his ingenuity and acumen, and diagnoses and treats the patients with the best-established medicine, he must totally entrust his affairs to Allah and know that He alone is the true healer, and He alone renders the medicines to possess their effects, and He alone can grace the patient with supplementary unknown causes to attain perfect health. Underlining the importance of relying solely on Allah, Ibn Zakariyya al-Razi in his Akhlaq al-tabib says:

ويتكل الطبيب في علاجه على الله تعالى، ويتوقع البرء منه، ولا يحسب قوته وعمله، ويعتمد في كل أموره عليه، فإذا فعل بضد ذلك ونظر إلى نفسه وقوته في الصناعة وحذقه، حرمه الله البرء

The doctor must, in his treatment, rely on Allah the Exalted, and anticipate cure from Him [alone] and not take into account his [own] strength and action, but [rather] rely on Him in all matters. However, if he does the opposite, and recognizes himself and his strength in terms of art and skill, Allah would deprive him of affecting cure.19

Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi in his poetical masterpiece Mathnawi narrates a very interesting story of how a king who goes hunting sees a beautiful slave girl and falls in love with her and purchases her. Thereafter he takes her to his palace, but after a while she turns ill. So, he tries to get the best doctors for her treatment and the doctors lured by the great wealth promised to them if she is cured, rely solely on their expertise and forget that the ultimate healer is God alone. Despite their great struggles the doctors see no positive results. This leads the king to turn to Allah and seek the cure for her sickness from Him.
Mawlana poetically portrays this as follows:

O my friends, hearken to this tale: in truth it is the very marrow of our inward state.
In olden time there was a king to whom belonged the power temporal and also the power spiritual.
It chanced that one day he rode with his courtiers to the chase.
On the king's highway the king espied a handmaiden: the soul of the king was enthralled by her.
Forasmuch as the bird, his soul, was fluttering in its cage, he gave money and bought the handmaiden.
After he had bought her and won to his desire, by Divine destiny she sickened.
A certain man had an ass but no pack-saddle: (as soon as) he got a saddle, the wolf carried away his ass.
He had a pitcher, but no water could be obtained: when he found water, the pitcher broke.

The king gathered the physicians together from left and right and said to them, “The life of us both is in your hands.
My life is of no account, (but) she is the life of my life. I am in pain and wounded: she is my remedy.
Whoever heals her that is my life will bear away with him my treasure and pearls, large and small.”
They all answered him, saying, “We will hazard our lives and summon all our intelligence and put it into the common stock.
Each one of us is the Messiah of a world (of people): in our hands is a medicine for every pain.”
In their arrogance they did not say, “If God will”; therefore, God showed unto them the weakness of Man.
I mean (a case in which) omission of the saving clause is (due to) a hardness of heart; not the mere saying of these words, for that is a superficial circumstance.
How many a one has not pronounced the saving clause, and yet his soul is in harmony with the soul of it!
The more cures and remedies they applied, the more did the illness increase, and the need was not fulfilled.
The sick girl became (thin) as a hair, (while) the eyes of the king flowed with tears of blood, like a river.
By Divine destiny, oxymel produced bile, and oil of almonds was increasing the dryness.
From (giving) myrobalan constipation resulted, relaxation ceased; and water fed the flames, like naphtha.
How it became manifest to the king that the physicians were unable to cure the handmaiden, and how he turned his face towards God and dreamed of a holy man.
When the king saw the powerlessness of those physicians, he ran bare-footed to the mosque.
He entered the mosque and advanced to the mihráb (to pray): the prayer-carpet was bathed in the king's tears.20

The follow-up of this tale21 is very interesting but it does not concern us in our present discussion.22 What Mawlana Rumi stresses upon however is that the doctor who is just an intermediary must not be deceived to conjecture that he is the fundamental healer. Instead, he must totally rely on God and struggle to treat the patient with the understanding and realization that every effect, whether positive or negative, is only through Allah.

In conclusion, reckoning God as the sole healer is one of the most fundamental prescriptions taught by Prophet Ibrahim (ʿa) for every God- conscious and intelligent doctor whose aim is to really cure the patient and manifest the divine name al-Shafi (the Healer):

وَإِذَا مَرِضْتُ فَهُوَ يَشْفِينِ

And when I get sick, it is He who cures me. (Surah ash-Shu’araa, 26:80).

A Deeper Consideration

Sometimes, having read the above verse, or intellectually comprehended the reality that Allah is the principal cause, we vehemently say, ‘He is the healer’. Sometimes however the case is different and much loftier than simple intellectual comprehension. Due to having cleansed one’s heart, one visions the fact that God is the sole healer and what we observe as causes are manifestations of His actions. Hence there is nothing parallel to Him that can do anything on His behalf. He is the one who does everything. Such a vision is experienced by spiritual wayfarers to Allah in some of the stages of their journey towards perfection. Mawlana in his Mathnawi says:

این سبب ها بر نظرها پرده ها است

که نه هر دیدار صنعش را سزاست

ديده اي بايد سبب سوراخ کن ،

تا حجب را برکند از بیخ و بن

تا مسبب بيند اندر لامکان

هرزه بیند جهد و اسباب و دکان

از مـ مسبب می ب میرسد د هر خیر و شر

نیست اسباب و وسایل ای پدر

جز خیالی منعقد بر شاه راه

تا بماند دور غفلت چندگاه

These causes are veils on the eyes, for not every eye is worthy of (contemplating) His work.
An eye that can penetrate the cause is needed to extirpate (these) veils from root and bottom,
So that it may behold the Cause in (the world of) non-spatiality and regard exertion and earnings and shops as (mere) nonsense.

Everything good or evil comes from the Causer; causes and means, O father, are naught
But a Phantom that has materialized on the King’s Highway in order that the period of heedlessness (the reign of ignorance) may endure for some (little) time.23

And in another place, he says:

در حقیقت خالق آثار اوست

لیک جز علت نبیند اهل پوست

مغز کو از پوستهـا آواره نیست

از طبیب و علت او را چاره نیست

چون دوم بار آدمی زاده بـزاد

پای خود بر فرق علتها نهاد

In reality, He (God) is the creator of the effects, but followers of the husk (the formalists) see nothing but the (secondary) cause.
The kernel (the intellect) that is not separated from the husks has no means (of escape) from doctor and disease
But when a son of man is born twice, he plants his foot upon the head (of all) causes.24

  • 1. Shaykh Kaf’ami, al-Misbah, verse 41, p. 252
  • 2. In grammatical terms: al-jam’ al-muhalla bi al-lam yufidu al-istighraq (the plural in which lam is inserted confers the meaning of comprehension).
  • 3. According to the well-known Qurʾan lexicographer al-Raghib al-Isfahani (d. 502 AH), the word marad is literally defined as al-khuruj ‘an al-i’tidal al-khas bi al-insan (to exit from the state of equilibrium particular to the human being) [al-Raghib al-Isfahani, Mufradatu alfaz al-Qurʾan, p. 765].
  • 4. The exact wording employed here is Rabb al-baʾs which literally signifies “One who has complete control over the misery.”
  • 5. Shaykh al-Tusi, al-Amali, p. 638.
  • 6. ‘Allamah Majlisi, Bihar al-Anwar, v.92, p. 214.
  • 7. Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Razi, Akhlaq al-tabib, p. 38.
  • 8. Abu ‘Ali Miskawayh, al-Hawamil wa al-shawamil, Q. 161, p. 385.
  • 9. In a beautiful tradition, Imam al-Baqir (‘a) is reported to have said to one of his companions that uttering this litany is from among the treasures of Paradise. (Al-Barqi, al-Mahasin, v.1, p. 9).
  • 10. Mulla Sadra, Tafsir al-Qurʾan al-Karim, v.4, p. 20.
  • 11. Toshihiko Izutsu, Creation and the Timeless Order of Things, p. 167
  • 12. R. A. Nicholson, English Translation of Mathnawi, Book I, verses 1144- 1148
  • 13. Whinfield, English Translation of Gulshan-e Raz of al-Shabistari, verses 640-650.
  • 14. Ibn al-’Arabi, al-Futuhat al-Makkiyyah, v.2, p. 677
  • 15. ‘Allamah Tabatabaʾi, al-Mizan fi tafsir al-Qurʾan, v.2, p. 333.
  • 16. Mulla Sadra, Tafsir al-Qurʾan al-Karim, v.1, p. 85.
  • 17. Ayatullah Sayyid ‘Abd al-Husayn Dastghaib Shirazi, Isti'adha: Seeking Allah's Protection from Satan, session no. 21.
  • 18. We have mentioned a part of the tradition at the end of this treatise in the Appendices.
  • 19. Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Razi, Akhlaq al-tabib, pp. 38-39. Unless al-Razi has drawn this direction from the authentic hadiths that promise such a result, it would have been more accurate of al-Razi to say ‘Allah can deprive him from affecting cure’ instead of saying ‘Allah will deprive him from affecting cure’ (Author).
  • 20. Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi, The Mathnawi, English translation by R. A. Nicholson, v. I & II, pp. 6-9 (lines 35-).
  • 21. Those who are interested to know the entire anecdote can refer to the translation and commentary of The Mathnawi by R. A. Nicholson
  • 22. In the end, the king and the handmaiden marry with mutual love.
  • 23. Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi, The Mathnawi, English translation by R. A. Nicholson, v.V, p. 94.
  • 24. Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi, The Mathnawi, v.III & IV, pp. 200-201.