The author of the first supplication is Imam Husayn...

The author of the first supplication is Imam Husayn, the Third Imam, who was martyred at Karbala and is probably the most important Imam in popular Shi'ite devotion. Certainly the days of mourning for him (in particular tasu'a and 'ashura , the ninth and tenth of Muharram), are still the most solemn and carefully observed holidays in the Shi'ite calendar.

Imam Husayn made his supplication-one of the most famous in Shi'ite annals, one year during the pilgrimage to Mecca on the Day Of Arafah (the ninth of Dhu-l-hijjah), and it has been recited by pious Shi'ites ever since. On that day pilgrims pass the time at Mount Arafat occupying themselves with canonical prayer, reciting the Quran, litanies, invocations and supplications.

The spirit of the day is well represented in the Imam's prayer.[^2] The second and third prayers are taken from the Fourth Imam's al-Sahifat al-Sajjadiyyah , referred to in the introduction. As for the fourth and final prayer, it was given by the Twelfth Imam to his second "deputy" ( na'ib ), Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Uthman ibn Said, who acted as the Imam's spokesman for many years until his death in 304/916-7 or 305/917-8.

Here it is important for those not familiar with Shi'ite doctrines to understand that after the Twelfth Imam went into "occultation" at a young age in the year 260/873-4 and thus disappeared from the eyes of men, he maintained contact with four persons in succession until the last of them died in the year 329/940-1. Then his "greater occultation" ( al-ghaybat al-kubra ) began. He will not reveal himself again until the end of time. A.

al-Husayn, the Third Imam Prayer for the Day of Arafah Praise belongs to God whose decree none may avert, and whose gift none may prevent. No fashioner's fashioning is like His fashioning, and He is the Generous, the All-embracing. He brought forth the varieties of unprecedented creatures and perfected through His wisdom all He had fashioned.

Hidden not from Him are harbingers, nor lost with Him are deposits.[^3] He repays every fashioner, feathers the nest of all who are content and has mercy upon all who humble themselves. He sends down benefits and the all-encompassing Book in radiant light. He hears supplications, averts afflictions, raises up in degrees, and knocks down tyrants.

For there is no god other than He, nothing is equal to Him, "Like Him there is naught, and He is the Hearing, the Seeing" (43 : 11), the subtle, the Aware, and "He is powerful over all things" (5 : 120 etc.).