What is Attributed to Sayyidina ‘Ali

The narration of al Kaf’ami in al Misbah[1]

It is reported from ‘Ali that he said:

اللهم صل على محمد وآل محمد والعن صنمي قريش وجبتيها وطاغوتيها وإفكيها وابنتيهما اللذين خالفا أمرك وأنكرا وحيك وجحدا إنعامك وعصيا رسولك وقلبا دينك وحرفا كتابك وأحبا أعداءك وجحدا آلاءك وعطلا أحكامك وأبطلا فرائضك وألحدا في آياتك وعاديا أولياءك وواليا أعداءك وخرّبا بلادك وأفسدا عبادك اللهم العنهما وأتباعهما وأولياءهما وأشياعهما ومحبيهما وعهد نفضوه وحلال حرّموه وحرام أحلّوه وبطن فتقوه وجنين أسقطوه وضلع دَرَقوه وصَرْك مَرْزقوه وشمل بَرْدوه وعزيز أذلّوه وذليل أعزّوه

O Allah, send blessings upon Muhammad and the family of Muhammad. Curse the two idols of Quraysh, their two impostors, their two tyrants, and their two fabricators who opposed Your command, denied Your revelation, rejected Your favours, disobeyed Your Messenger, altered Your religion, violated Your Book, supported Your enemies, denied Your blessings, neglected Your rulings, and invalidated Your obligations. They deviated from Your verses, harassed Your allies, and allied with Your enemies, destroyed Your lands, and corrupted Your servants. O Allah, curse them, their followers, their allies, their supporters, and their lovers… and the covenant they violated, the lawful they made unlawful, the unlawful they allowed, the womb they ruptured, the foetus they aborted, the rib they broke, the sustenance they seized, the shawl they covered, the honoured they humiliated, and the humiliated they honoured…^[2]

Study of the Isnad

This text is part of Du’a’ Sanamay Quraysh, the supplication attributed to ‘Ali, but it has no chain of transmission.

The Opinion of Imamiyyah Scholars on the Isnad

Asif Muhsini ruled that the narration is unreliable in his book Mashra’at Bihar al Anwar.^[3]

Al Marja’ Kamal al Haydari said regarding Du’a’ Sanamay Quraysh:

لا أصل ولا سند ولا مستند ولا مرجع ولا يقرأه إلا الجهلة والعوام

There is no basis, no chain of transmission, no evidence, or reference for it. It is only read by the ignorant and the common people.^[4]

Kamal al Haydari also answered a question regarding Du’a’ Sanamay Quraysh:

دعاء باطل ولا أصل له ولا قيمة له ونحن نربأ بأئمتنا عن مثل هذه الكلمات

It is a false supplication, with no basis or value. We distance our Imams from such words.^[5]

When Haydar Hubb Allah, a professor in the Hawzah of Qom, was asked about the authenticity of Du’a’ Sanamay Quraysh, he replied:

لا يوجد أي سند إطلاقا لهذا الدعاء ولا ذكر أي مصدر ترجع إليه وتنتهي إلى ابن عباس عن علي عليه السلام فلا نعرف كيف وصل هذا الدعاء إلى الكفعمي والحرَوي والإصفهاني ويفصلهم عن زمن صدوره حوالي 600 سنة الإصفهاني أو 800 سنة الحرَوي والكفعمي في أحسن التقديرات وإن فاصل ست قرون أو ثماني قرون يتطلب الكثير من الجهد لردمها على مستوى الإثبات التاريخي والحديثي والكلام العاطفي أو التسامحي أو الجدلي لا ينفع هنا بل الأمر بحاجة إلى معطيات ووثائق وقرائن علمية

There is absolutely no chain of narration for this supplication, nor is there any reference to a source that can be traced back to Ibn ‘Abbas from ‘Ali. We do not know how this supplication reached al Kaf’ami, al Harawi, and al Isfahani, and they are separated from its supposed time of issuance by approximately 600 years (al Isfahani) or 800 years (al Harawi and al Kaf’ami) in the best estimations. A gap of six or eight centuries requires significant effort to bridge it, especially in terms of historical and hadith evidence. Emotional rhetoric, leniency, or polemics will not suffice here; rather, this matter requires tangible data, documents, and academic evidence.^[6]

Additionally, Hubb Allah comments on the attempt to validate the supplication due to its presence in the book al Misbah by al Kaf’ami:

دعوى أنَّ ما في كتاب مصباح الكفعمي صحيح لأنَّه نقله عن كتب معتمدة غير صحيحة رجاليًّا وقد فنَّدها الباحث الرجالي الشيخ مسلم الداوري في كتابه أصول علم الرجال بين النظرية والتطبيق 217 220 والمعروف بين علماء الرجال والحديث الشيعة عدم ثبوت هذه الدعوى فالكفعمي من المتأخرين جدًا من حيث الزمان وإفاداته التوثيقية أو التصحيحية في مقدمة كتبه غير ملزمة لسائر العلماء لا سيما بعد انكشاف مصادره للمحققين والتي أخذ منها مروياته ومنها مصادر فقهية متأخرة وليست حديثية أصلًا وكثير منها مراسيل

The claim that what is in the book Misbah al Kaf’ami is authentic because he transmitted it from reliable sources is not valid from a Rijal perspective. This claim was refuted by the Rijal scholar Sheikh Muslim al Dawari in his book Usul ‘Ilm al Rijal bayna al Nazariyyah wa al Tatbiq (217-220). Among Shia scholars of Rijal and Hadith, it is well-known that this claim is not established. Al Kaf’ami is considered very late in terms of time and his attestations to the authenticity or reliability of sources in the introductions of his books are not binding on other scholars, especially after investigators uncovered his sources from which he took his narrations. These sources include late fiqh works, which are not originally Hadith-based, and many of them are mursal.^[7]

Regarding al Majlisi’s claim of the popularity of the supplication, Haydar Hubb Allah said:

كما أن شهرة هذا الدعاء بين الشيعة كما يقول العلّامة المجلسي لا تعني شهرته بين القدماء إذ لعلّه ناظر إلى زمنه وما هو قريب منه وإلا فلماذا لا نجد هذا الدعاء في كتب المتقدّمين من علماء الشيعة حتى القرن السابع الهجري بل حتى بعد القرن السابع الهجري قلما وجدناه إلى زمن الكفعمي وأين الدليل على شهرته بين الشيعة وهو لا عين له ولا أثر في كتبهم القديمة المتوفرة

Moreover, the popularity of this supplication among the Shia, as al ‘Allamah al Majlisi states, does not necessarily mean it was well-known among the earlier scholars. Perhaps he was referring to his own time or a period close to it. Otherwise, why do we not find this supplication in the works of the early Shia scholars up to the 7th century AH? Even after the 7th century AH, it was rarely found until the time of al Kaf’ami. Where is the evidence for its popularity among the Shia, when it has no mention or trace in their earlier abundant books?^[8]

Haydar Hubb Allah considered that:

ما يخفف من إمكان الوثوق بصدور هذا الدعاء وهذا عبارة عن قرينة تستحق التوقف عندها هو عدم وجود عين ولا أثر ولا حتى إشارة لهذا الدعاء في كتب الشيعة بمذاهبها في القرون الستة الهجرية الأولى إطلاقًا وفقًا لما وصلنا منها رغم جهود ضخمة بذلت للوصول إلى معلومات قديمة من طرف مناصري هذا الدعاء فلم يُذكر في الكتب الأربعة ولا في كتب الصدوق ولا المفيد ولا المرتضى ولا الطوسي ولا الطبري الإمامي ولا غيرهم بل حتى الطوسي لم يذكره في كتاب المصباح المخصص للمندوبات والأدعية والسنن رغم أن في هذه الكتب الكثير من الطعن في الخلفاء الثلاثة الأوائل كما لم يذكره المشهدي في مزاره إطلاقًا بل لعله من الغريب أن السيد ابن طاووس رغم أن أستاذه وأستاذ نصير الدين الطوسي الشيخ أسعد بن عبد القاهر الإصفهاني هو شارح هذا الدعاء كما تقدم وقد أخذ عنه ابن طاووس وتلمذ على يديه ورغم أن السيد ابن طاووس كتب كثيرًا في الأدعية والمستحبات وربما لم يترك شاردة ولا واردة إلا أشار إليها في هذا المجال ورغم روايته خبر الإمام الرضا عليه السلام الذي يشترك مع هذا الدعاء في بعض فقراته مع ذلك كله لم يذكر هذا الدعاء إطلاقًا ولم ينقل عنه قول فيه أبدًا مما يضع علامات استفهام كبيرة

What undermines the possibility of trusting the authenticity of this supplication is the complete absence of any trace or indication of it in Shia texts across all sects in the first six centuries of the Hijrah, according to what has reached us. Despite significant efforts made by proponents of this supplication to find classical information, it was not mentioned in the four main books of Hadith, nor in the works of al Saduq, al Mufid, al Murtada, al Tusi, or al Tabari al Imami, or others. Moreover, al Tusi did not mention it in his al Misbah, which is dedicated to recommended acts, supplications, and traditions, despite containing numerous criticisms of the first three khalifas. He further added that al Mashhadi did not mention it at all in his al Mazar. It is strange that even Sayed Ibn Tawus, despite the fact that his teacher (and the teacher of Nasir al Din al Tusi), Sheikh As’ad ibn ‘Abdul Qahir al Isfahani, is considered to be the commentator on this supplication, did not mention it at all. Although Sayed Ibn Tawus wrote extensively on supplications and recommended acts, and perhaps did not leave any detail or mention unaddressed in this regard, even though he narrated the narration of al Rida, peace be upon him, which shares some phrases with this supplication, he nevertheless did not mention this supplication at all, nor did he convey any words about it, which raises significant questions.^[9]

If this is clear, then there is no value in the statements of those who disagree and lean towards relying on this supplication among the Imami scholars,^[10] as they have no academic basis to authenticate this narration.

NEXT⇒ What is Attributed to Sayyidah Fatimah

^[1] The full title of al Ka’fami’s book is Jannat al Aman al Waqiyah wa Jannat al Iman al Baqiyah, and it is commonly known as Misbah al Kaf’ami. Its author is Ibrahim ibn ‘Ali al Kaf’ami, and he completed its writing in the year 895 AH. See Mir’at al Kutub by al Tabrizi, vol. 5, pg. 76.

^[2] Al Misbah by al Kaf’ami, pg. 735-737: It was also narrated by Hassan ibn Sulaiman al Hilli in al Muhtadar, pg. 111-112 and mentioned before them by As’ad ibn ‘Abdul Qahir in Rashh al Wala’ fi Sharh al Du’a’, pg. 126.

^[3] Mashra’at Bihar al Anwar, vol. 2, pg. 37 and vol. 2, pg. 423.

^[4] Official Website of al Marja’ Kamal al Haydari: http://alhaydari.com/ar/2013/07/48794/

From a session of Mutarahat fi al ‘Aqidah (Part Three), broadcasted on Al Kawthar TV on 14/07/2013.

^[5] Official Website of al Marja’ Kamal al Haydari: http://alhaydari.com/ar/2013/04/47258/, from a session of the program: The Legitimacy of Seeking Intercession Through the Prophet During His Life and After His Death (Episode Nine), broadcasted on Al Kawthar TV on 25/04/2013.

^[6] Ida’at fi al Fikr wa al Din wa al Ijtima’, vol. 5, pg. 169.

^[7] Ida’at fi al Fikr wa al Din wa al Ijtima’, vol. 5, pg. 170 – 171.

^[8] Ida’at fi al Fikr wa al Din wa al Ijtima’, vol. 5, pg. 171 – 172.

^[9] Ida’at fi al Fikr wa al Din wa al Ijtima’, vol. 5, pg. 175 – 176.

^[10] Like al Majlisi in Bihar al Anwar, vol. 30, pg. 394, and al Mar’ashi in Sharh Ihqaq al Haqq, vol. 1, pg. 337.