Reflection of Quran’s Monotheistic System in Supplications
This is according to Shahid Motahhari University scholar Seyed Abolqassem Naqibi, speaking at a forum on semiotics of semantic system in texts related to Islamic supplications. Following are excerpts from his speech:
There is an important spiritual heritage that is in the form of texts. These texts have signs in the form of words and meaning. These signs are attached and have created a semantic system. So we can seek to discover this semantic system in these texts.
The main text is the Holy Quran. All later texts have used the concepts of the Quran. The key sign in the main text is the blessed word Allah. According to the Quran, “The Word of Allah is Ulya (the highest)” (Verse 40 of Surah At-Tawbah). Based on the concept of Ulya, other concepts, such as faith, Kufr, and hundreds of others, get their meaning.
The semantic systems formed after the revelation of the Quran, especially the texts about Supplications and Ziyarats, were influenced by the Quran’s monotheistic semantic system.
The supplications that have reached us from the Infallibles (AS) have signs that synchronize Muslims’ spiritual behavioral culture with the original semantic system (the Quran) and reveals how they are influenced by the Quran.
An example is the emphasis on the word Allah in supplications.
In the Ziyarat of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), we read: “I bear witness that there is no deity (none truly to be worshipped) but Allah, He is alone without any partner.” You see that a main part of the supplication begins with monotheistic teachings in order to prevent Shirk.
We also read in Imam Ali’s (AS) Ziyarat Ameenallah: “Peace be upon you O trustee of Allah on His lands.”
These are meaningful and point to the fact that during pilgrimage, the pilgrim should pay attention to the monotheistic center, namely the word Ulya.
You can see that the central word, namely Allah, is maintained in supplications, and other words such as Aminallah, Hujatullah, etc form a circle around it.
