– on the basis of this it is possible that its occurrence...

He (Ibrahim) conveyed this to Lady Sarah. Sarah said: Would I give birth to a child, while I have become an old woman?

Then the Almighty Allah revealed to Ibrahim that: She (Sarah) would give birth to a child and her children would be subject to divine punishment due to her doubt in My statement.” Imam Sadiq (as) said: “When chastisement and calamities increased on Bani Israel, they lamented and supplicated in the court of the Almighty for forty days, then the Almighty Allah sent revelation to Moosa and Haroon to deliver Bani Israel and He advanced this by 170 years.” His Eminence, Sadiq (as) added: “You case is also such that if you do this, the Almighty Allah would deliver you through us; but if not, the matter will reach its destined end.”[^1] There is no doubt that the Holy Imams (as) – due to the demands of their humanness – are subject to fall ill, become aggrieved and sorrowful, for dispelling which there are means and some of those means are created by the people of faith.

And the most important way to dispel trouble and hardships is taking initiative and making effort in supplicating Allah, as is obvious from the traditions, some of which are as follows: In Usool Kafi through an authentic chain of narrators it is reported by Hammad bin Uthman that he said: I heard His Eminence say: “Indeed, supplication postpones destiny and solves its complications just as a twisted thread is untwisted even if it had been twisted very strongly.”[^2] And also in another correct report from Zurarah it is mentioned that he said: His Eminence, Abu Ja’far Baqir (as) said: “Should I not guide you to a thing in which the Messenger of Allah (S) did not make an exception?” I asked: “What is it?” He replied: “Supplication, as it repels the severe complication of death” – and he interlocked his fingers.[^3] Also other traditions quoted at suitable places mention the same point.