A day to be celebrated with supplications to Allah-azwj, praise and remembrance of the Masomeen-aswss’ contributions and sacrifices for the purpose of establishing Allah-azwj’s recognition and saving the entire universe from destruction.
A specially prepared feast is also offered to brethren in Eman on the 22nd of the month of Rajab, along with denouncing the enemies of Ahlul Bait-asws.
A centuries’ old tradition, regularly commemorated by the followers of Ahlul Bait-asws, and is referred to as the ‘Niaz’ of Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq-asws. We have briefly described, below, preparation and offering of this feast.
In order to prepare Niaz, it is suggested that followers of Ahlul Bait-asws should get up early in the morning of 22 Rajab, and should clean the house, and purify themselves by taking Ghusal (bath/shower), and put on fragrance (ittar), and light an incense (aghar batti)/use air freshener in their home, and spread a clean (‘tahir’) sheet in a clean room. One should make sure all the utensils to be used in the preparation of Niaz are clean and Pak.
Procedure For Preparing Niaz
Make dough of approximately one kilogram and a quarter of flour (‘mayda’) and prepare 14 pieces of bread (‘pooriyan’) and ‘tikiyan’ (which are a type of sweet bread, which are small in size, like pan cakes) and fry them in oil. Prepare some semolina (‘halwa’) as well.
For khaas Niaz take out 7 pooriyan and 7 tikiyan and some halwa in clean, pure pots, and place the pots containing Niaz facing Qibla.
After praying Fajar prayers, read the following mojiza of Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq-asws‘s, offer niaz, and make prayers.
One should take extra care in consuming and finishing the khaas Niaz, and it is better not to allow anyone to take the khaas Niaz (i.e. the selected portion), out of the house as it is considered disrespectful. The other food to be prepared may be given out to take away by momineen.
The Niaz is also part of a celebration, a day on which Allah-azwj relieved momineen from one of the worst Muslim rulers, who was trying to kill and eliminated shia-e-Alisws.
Mojiza of Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq -asws
Recite Salawat 3 times prior to reciting the following:
A very poor woodcutter used to live in a city and cut woods every day in a jungle, and sell tree branches to earn a living for his family. Upon finding it difficult to make both ends meet, one day he decided to go abroad to earn better wages for them. They prayed to God for blessings and for mercy on them.
He left in the search of work and a better job, but unfortunately his fate was not in his favour. He intended to return home, but time slowly slipped away and he could not save enough from the little savings he managed to secure from his few odd jobs. He remained in uncertainty for twelve years thinking of gathering money – but during all that time, he could neither send any money to his family nor go back to see them.
On the other hand, his wife initially waited for a few days, with the hope that her husband will soon start supporting them. However, when she did not hear from him for a long time – in order to support her starving family – she found herself a job, as a cleaner in the local minister’s palace, to bring home some food for survival.
One day, she saw a dream that she was cleaning the minister’s palace, when, all of a sudden, the Master of both worlds, Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq-asws, came into the courtyard with his companions.
He enquired from his companions: ‘Do you know which date it is today and which month it is?’
They replied, ‘Ya Mola, -asws tonight is 22nd Rajab-ul-mujarab.’
The Imam -asws replied from his Divine tongue that if some one is engulfed into troubles, no matter how severe or bad they are, they should prepare ‘pooriyan’ of 1 and 1/4 kg of flour, and give a Nazar on the morning of 22nd Rajab, and pray to Allah-azwj and ask for Our-asws sake. Allah-azwj will, for sure, listen to their requests and relieve them from their hardships.
When the woodcutter’s wife woke up, she decided to perform this Nazar. And, on the morning of 22nd Rajab, after praying Fajar, she did the Nazar exactly in the way as prescribed by the Imamsws in her dream.
Salawat!
Now listen to the situation of the woodcutter himself: When his wife was offering Niaz on the morning of 22nd Rajab, her husband was cutting woods in a jungle, after having climbed up a tree, when all of a sudden his axe fell out of his hand on the ground below. When he pulled it out of the soft ground, he felt something buried there, like a hidden treasure.
On digging in the ground, he found an enormous treasure, hidden in a box. At this instance, he covered it again and went back. He then retuned to the place and started extracting jewels and gold from the box little by little. Upon recovering all of it, he started to prepare for his journey back home, now with plenty of wealth and self-esteem.
His family welcomed him and he built a beautiful house, near the little old cottage and started living happily with his family.
One day his wife told him about the Mojza and how she offered the Nazar. When she told him about the date and timing, they were exactly the same date and timing when he got that treasure.
Salawat!
He fully believed in it and became a devout momin. One day, the local minister’s wife was standing at the top of her palace and enjoying sunshine and fresh air when she noticed a very attractive and newly built house in the proximity of their grand palace. She asked her slave girls about the owner of that house.
They told her that the house belongs to the family of the lady who used to clean the palace. On hearing this, she sent for the woodcutter’s wife and quizzed the legitimacy of her newly acquired wealth. The woodcutter’s wife told her the saga in detail, but the minister’s wife did not believe her and thought that her husband must have stolen or robbed to get the described treasures.
While the minister’s wife had this suspicion, her husband met his bad fate in the court of the king.
One of the officials in the king’s court was against this minister. Upon finding a suitable time, he made fraudulent allegations against him to the King. The ruler immediately asked him to present before him all the accounts.
The prime minister could not balance the accounts in that short notice and was humiliated and suspended from his position.
The king ordered for confiscation of all of the minister’s property and asked them to leave their palace and leave his kingdom.
Both the husband and wife left their house and were walking on foot, which they were not used to, and felt exhausted with hunger and thirst. Soon they found a field full of melons in front of them. The former minister took 2 dirham from his wife, which were, by chance, left in her pocket, and bought a melon and wrapped it in a cloth, to eat it later under a tree shade across the farm.
Coincidentally, the day when the former minister got into trouble, the prince had also gone out hunting, but did not manage to return home before the night fell.
The King was worried and distressed so he consulted all his ministers and discussed the matter with them. The same official who was always backbiting about the former minister said, ‘I think the prince has been taken away and killed by the grieved former minister.’
On hearing this king ordered to arrest the former local minister. The police found him near the melon field and arrested the former minister and his wife. They had not eaten the melon by that time and it was still wrapped up in the cloth at the time of their arrest.
They were brought in front of the king who noticed blood seeping out from the cloth in which the melon was wrapped. On removing the cloth, the prince’s decapitated head was seen.
The king started crying and ordered for them to be put in jail that night, and to behead both of them early in the morning.
The former minister and his wife were sent to the royal jail. In the jail, the former minister asked his wife ‘I cannot understand why we are in so much trouble? What kind of sin have we committed for which we are getting punished?’
His wife told him about the woodcutter’s wife’s story, word by word, and said that she did not believe in this spiritual ‘Nazar’ and about Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq-asws‘s instructions in her dream.
Upon hearing this, the former minister told his wife that there can be no sin graver than doubting Imam Jafar-e-Sadiq-asws ‘s Divine powers and means of communications to help and assist his followers in desperation.
They then decided to repent and ask for forgiveness as Mola-asws’s miracles are always true and just. Thereafter, they cried all night and asked for absolution and pledged to offer the Niaz if released from the prison without charge.
Allah-azwj accepted their apologies and, early in the morning, the prince came back from hunting and greeted his father, the king.
Salawat!
On the prince’s return, the king asked him,’ O my beloved son! Where have you been for so long?’
He replied that he decided to stay over night in one of their royal gardens due to his hunting endeavour being unsuccessful.
The king asked him to go and take some rest and then called for the former minister and his wife, who were about to be hanged. The king also asked for the cloth in which he had seen the head of his son. This time when he opened it, he saw a melon there instead. He was surprised and asked the former minister about the whole matter.
The minister told him the whole event as it was. On listening to the entire story, the king sent for the woodcutter and his wife and asked them about the events.
They told the king what they had gone through, which was in line with what the minister had told him earlier.
Upon gathering this information the king believed in it whole-heartedly and became a devout momin and reinstated the minister to his former position, and expelled the official who lied about him.
Salawat!
Ya parwardigar!
Just as you have turned the wrong days of this minister and woodcutter into better ones, please fulfil all prayers and wishes of all momineen and mominaat, and save us from the troubles and hardships, become our protector and give us the best sustenance, with ease, closer to my home, from ‘halal and pak’ resources and means.Aamin suma Aamin.
Then stand up and recite Salawat 5 times, sura Fateha once, sura Ikhlas three times, sura Qadar once and five times Salawat and serve niaz to the participants, as described above.