And they who say: O our Lord!

And they who say: O our Lord! grant us in our wives and our offspring the joy of our eyes, and make us guides to those who guard (against evil). (Surah Furqan 25:74) The Imam said: This verse is in our praise and Ali Ibne Ibrahim has narrated that when this verse was recited before Imam Sadiq (a.s.), he said: If it is only like this then a strange thing is being asked from Allah that Allah should make them the leader of the pious people. He was asked: Then how was this verse revealed?

He said: and make for us guides (Imams) from those who guard (against evil). In another tradition Imam says: We are the Leader of the Pious people and according to another tradition ‘wives’ refers to Khadijah and ‘offspring’ refers to Fatima (s.a.) and ‘joy of the eyes’ refers to Hasan (a.s.) and Husain (a.s.) and ‘guides’ refers to Ali Ibne Abi Talib (a.s.).

Ibne Mahyar has narrated from Ibne Abbas that the Imam recited all the verses and then said: Make us from the guiding people so that people can acquire guidance from us, and this verse was revealed in the praise of Aale Muhammad (a.s.). Abu Saeed Khudri has also narrated that the Holy Prophet (S) asked Jibraeel to whom does ‘wives’ refer? Jibraeel said: Khadijah (a.s.). Then he said: To whom does ‘offspring’ refer? He replied: Fatima (s.a.).

Then he asked: Who are the ‘joy of the eyes’, that is the light of my eyes? He said: Hasan and Husain (a.s.). Then he asked: To whom does ‘make us guides for those who guard’ refer? He said: Ali Ibne Abi Talib (a.s.). Ibne Shahr Aashob has narrated from Saeed Ibne Jubair on the explanation of this verse: ‘O our Lord! grant us’ that by Allah this verse was revealed in praise of Amirul Momineen and the Hazrat usually supplicated in the same manner. That is: ‘O our Lord!

Grant us in our wives’, which means give me Fatima and ‘our offspring’ means Hasan and Husain (a.s.) and ‘the joy of our eyes’ that is the purified Imams should be in the progeny of Husain. Amirul Momineen (a.s.) said: By Allah I found my sons obedient to Allah so my eyes illuminated and I become happy. Then he said: ‘and make us guides to those who guard’. It means we follow the pious ones who were before us and people who came after us should follow us.