Another responsibility which the believers have is to ask Allah for a thorough ma’rifah of Imam al-Zaman (ajtf) and one must be sincere in praying for this.
Just as was previously stated, after attaining the ma’rifah of Allah and His Messenger (S), the next most important action for the believers is to have ma’rifah of Waliul ‘Amr, Imam al-Zaman (ajtf).
Only Allah can grant this level of ma’rifah to his servants for this is something which is out of the power of human beings to acquire without the help of Allah. Thus, this ma’rifah cannot be achieved through a person’s own struggles as this is a nur (Divine celestial light) which Allah places in the heart of those whom He wishes. Therefore, we must request the recognition of our Imam from the Almighty through supplications.
It has been narrated that Muhammad b. Hakim said to Abu ‘Abdillah, Ja’far b. Muhammad as-Sadiq (as):
أَلْمَعْرِفَةُ مِنْ صُنْعِ مَنْ هِيَ؟ قَالَ مِنْ صُنْعِ اللٌّهِ لَيْسَ لِلْعِبَادِ فِيهَا صُنْعٌ
“Who is responsible for granting this ma’rifah (of the Imam)?” He replied: “It is the doing of Allah and the servants have no role in it (on their own – without the intervention of Allah).”1
In order to arrive at the recognition of the Imam, the following supplication is very effective:
أَللّٰهُمَّ عَرِّفْـنِـي نَفْسَكَ…
“O’ Allah! Grant me ma’rifah of Your Self…”2
- 1.al-Kafi, vol. 1, pg. 163, sec. on the “Necessity of Having a Hujjah”, no. 2
- 2.The full text of this supplication will be mentioned in the next responsibility.