“O Allah, relieve me from whatever I fear, save me from whatever I dread, protect my soul and religion, take care of me in my travels, make me blessed with my family and properties, bless my livelihood, make me low before myself and honored before people, make me safe from the evils of the jinn and people, do not shame me with my sins, do not make me ashamed by disclosing my secrets, do not try me with my living affairs, do not deprive me of Your blessings and do not leave me to other than You!” Imam as-Sajjad prays God by saying: وَلا تَكلْنِي إلَی خَلْقِكَ، بَلْ تَفَرَّدْ بِحاجَتِي،وَتَوَلَّ كِفايَتِي وَانْظُرْ إلَيَّ وَانْظُرْ لي فِي جَمِيعِ أُمورِي.
“O my Lord, do not make me rely on Your creatures. Be the only one, Who fulfill my needs! Suffice me with all what I want! Look at me and look after all my affairs!” One day, Imam as-Sajjad was told in Mecca that his garden in Medina had been confiscated. They told him that al-Waleed Ibn Abdul Melik, the Umayyad caliph, had come from Damascus to Mecca to offer the hajj and he might have asked for his help.
Imam as-Sajjad (s) said: “Woe to you, should I ask, for help, other than God in God's House?” إنّي آنَفُ أنْ أَسْألَ الدُّنْيا خالِقَها، فَكيْفَ أسْألُها مَخْلوقاً مِثْلي؟ “I even avoid asking the Creator of the world for worldly desires, then how shall I ask a creature like me for that?”[^2] The Second Stage At this stage, a supplicant knows that the Almighty God likes His servants to practice supplication: ادْعُونِي أَسْتَجِبْ لَكُمْ. “Call upon Me, I will answer you.
40:60” Thus, a supplicant practices supplication just to carry out God's commands and he is to be always content with his God and he is not to care if his wishes are answered or not. Hafiz, the Iranian poet says: “Hafiz, it is your duty to engage in supplication, You should not worry if it is answered or not.” If one's wishes are answered, it shows that God has more favors towards that one. If they are not answered, God sees that they are not appropriate for that one.
Thus, an obedient servant of God obeys the command “call upon Me, I will answer you” and wishes not to be among those who are meant by the following verse: إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَسْتَكْبِرُونَ عَنْ عِبَادَتِي سَيَدْخُلُونَ جَهَنَّمَ دَاخِرِينَ. “Surely those, who are too proud for My service, shall soon enter hell abased. 40:60” Imam As-Sajjad (s) says: فَأَمَرْتَنا بِذِكْرِكَ، وَها نَحْنُ ذاكِروكَ كَما أَمَرْتَنا.