Concluding Remarks: We have presented Quranic reference, without going further into details, since this article has been written for twelve Immami Shias, we can derive without hesitation, that help and prayers can be directed to Allah -azwj ’s ‘Selected’ or Divine Prophets as, masomeen -asws and Imams -asws . However, one Verse which we recite regularly and is frequently quoted by our opponents, needs to be briefly discussed, otherwise the essence of this article will be incomplete.
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ (1) الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ (2) الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ (3) مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ (4) إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ (5) اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ (6) صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ (7) The verse number five, إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ Which is usually translated as: You do we worship and You do we call on for help .
The word ‘Abd’ is also used in different meanings in Quran, i.e., وَتِلْكَ نِعْمَةٌ تَمُنُّهَا عَلَيَّ أَنْ عَبَّدْتَ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ (26:22) Is this some favour you have shown me that you have enslaved the Children of Israiel? So, there are two types of ‘Abd’ one as per former Verse ‘Servant’ of Allah -azwj and also referring to the ‘Slave’, as per the later verse from Quran (26:22).
Or in another Verse: وَأَنْكِحُوا الْأَيَامَى مِنْكُمْ وَالصَّالِحِينَ مِنْ عِبَادِكُمْ وَإِمَائِكُمْ إِنْ يَكُونُوا فُقَرَاءَ يُغْنِهِمُ اللَّهُ مِنْ فَضْلِهِ وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ (32) Marry off any single persons among you, as well as your Slaves and Slave-girls. If they are poor, God will enrich them from His bounty. God is Boundless, Aware. Here the word ‘Abd’ has been referred to as ‘Slave’ or ‘Dependent’. So the meanings of the إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُد would be ‘We obey You as our Creator’ .
Therefore, taking ‘Abd’ for reliance can be used for other than Allah -azwj but Worship is only for Him -azwj . We present a tradition of Imam Raza -asws here, which explains the above presentation of the interpretation of the Verse [65] : ‘People are our ‘Abd’ for obeying our commands, and are dependent in taking Deen from us, Thus, it is the responsibility of the present to transfer it to those who are absent.