It is recommended to seek the forgiveness of God Almighty seventy times in the last part of every night, and that is the most complete form of seeking forgiveness. This is narrated from Ali (AS). (Misbah al-Kaf'ami, vol. 1, p. 58)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Seeking forgiveness in the hours before dawn is pleasing to the Lord, and the complete and perfect seeking of forgiveness in the pre-dawn hours is seventy times.
And from him (AS) likewise: an amulet for every pain in the body, which is: I seek refuge in the might of God and His power over all things. I place myself in the protection of the Compeller of the heavens and the earth. I place myself in the protection of Him with whose name nothing of any disease can do harm. I place myself in the protection of Him whose name is blessing and healing. Whoever says it, no pain will harm him. (Misbah al-Kaf'ami, vol. 1, p. 153)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) would seek protection from every pain in this manner: I seek refuge in the might of God and His power over all things. I place myself in the protection of the Compeller of the heavens and the earth. I place myself in the protection of Him with whose name nothing of any disease can do harm. I place myself in the protection of Him whose name is blessing and healing.
In the Muhaj [al-Da'awat] of Ibn Tawus (may God have mercy on him), from Ali (AS): Whoever finds his sustenance withheld from him and the ways [doors] of what he seeks in his livelihood closed against him, and then writes these words on a gazelle's parchment or on a piece of leather and hangs it upon himself, or places it in the clothes he wears and does not part with it, God Almighty will widen his sustenance for him and open to him the doors of what he seeks in his livelihood from whence he does not reckon. And it is: O God, so-and-so son of so-and-so has no strength for toil, no patience under affliction, and no power to bear poverty and want. O God, bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, and do not withhold Your sustenance from so-and-so son of so-and-so, nor stint him the abundance of what is with You, nor deprive him of Your bounty, nor cut him off from Your ample portion, nor entrust him to Your creatures nor to himself, so that he prove too weak for it and unable to undertake what would set him and his affairs right. Rather take upon Yourself alone the mending of his disarray, undertake his sufficiency, and watch over him in all his affairs. For if You entrust him to Your creatures they will not profit him; if You cast him upon his relatives they will deny him; if they give him, they give but little and grudgingly; if they withhold, they withhold much; and if they are miserly, they are fit people for miserliness. O God, enrich so-and-so son of so-and-so from Your bounty and do not leave him bereft of it, for he is in dire need of You and poor toward what is in Your hands, while You are free of need of him, and You are aware of him and knowing. 'And whoever puts his trust in God, He is sufficient for him; indeed God accomplishes His purpose; God has set a measure for everything.' 'Indeed, with hardship comes ease; indeed, with hardship comes ease.' 'And whoever fears God, He will make for him a way out and will provide for him from whence he does not reckon.' (Misbah al-Kaf'ami, vol. 1, p. 169)
It is narrated from the Commander of the Faithful (AS) that whoever finds his sustenance straitened and the doors of livelihood closed against him should write these words on a gazelle's hide or a piece of leather and keep it with him for a time, not parting with it. God will open to him the doors of sustenance from where he does not expect: O God, so-and-so son of so-and-so has no strength for toil and no patience under affliction .....
And I have seen in another copy, from Ali (AS), for bringing back one who is absent or a runaway: O God, the heaven is Your heaven and the earth is Your earth, the land is Your land and the sea is Your sea, and whatever is between them, in this world and the next, is Yours. [O God,] make the earth, for all its breadth, narrower for so-and-so son of so-and-so than the hide of a camel; and take hold of his hearing, his sight and his heart — 'or like darknesses in a deep sea covered by a wave, above which is a wave, above which is a cloud: darknesses one above another. When he puts out his hand he can scarcely see it. And he for whom God has appointed no light has no light.' And write around it the Verse of the Throne, and hang it up in the air for three days, then place it where he used to dwell — and he will return, if God Almighty wills. (Misbah al-Kaf'ami, vol. 1, p. 181)
For bringing back a runaway, or the return of someone, or the finding of something lost, this instruction has come down from the Commander of the Faithful (AS):
You write: O God, the heaven is Your heaven and the earth is Your earth, the land is Your land and the sea is Your sea, and whatever is between them, in this world and the next, is Yours. O God, make the earth, for all its breadth, narrower for (the person's name, in the form so-and-so son of so-and-so) than the hide of a camel; and take hold of his hearing, his sight and his heart — 'or like darknesses in a deep sea covered by a wave, above which is a wave, above which is a cloud: darknesses one above another. When he puts out his hand he can scarcely see it. And he for whom God has appointed no light has no light.' Then around this whole text you write the Verse of the Throne, in such a way that the Verse of the Throne encloses the entire text. Then you hang the paper up in the air somewhere for three days, and afterwards you place it in his usual dwelling place. God willing, he will return to that very place.
And from Ali (AS): Whoever has lost something, let him recite Surat Ya-Sin in two rak'ahs after al-Hamd, and say after them: O God, O Guide [Restorer] of what is lost, restore to me what I have lost. (Misbah al-Kaf'ami, vol. 1, p. 182)
It is narrated from the Commander of the Faithful (AS) that whoever has lost something should pray two rak'ahs, reciting in each rak'ah, after al-Hamd, a Surat Ya-Sin. After the prayer let him say: O God, O Guide, O Restorer of what is lost, restore to me what I have lost.
And from Ali (AS): Whoever fears drowning or burning, let him recite: 'Indeed, my protector is God, who sent down the Book, and He protects the righteous.' 'And they have not esteemed God as He deserves to be esteemed, while the whole earth will be His handful on the Day of Resurrection, and the heavens folded up in His right hand. Glory be to Him and exalted is He above what they associate with Him.' (Misbah al-Kaf'ami, vol. 1, p. 203)
It is narrated from the Commander of the Faithful (AS) that for safety from drowning or from burning one should recite: 'Indeed, my protector is God, who sent down the Book, and He protects the righteous.' 'And they have not esteemed God as He deserves to be esteemed, while the whole earth will be His handful on the Day of Resurrection, and the heavens folded up in His right hand. Glory be to Him and exalted is He above what they associate with Him.'
Al-Nu'mani mentioned in the book Daf' al-Humum wa'l-Ahzan, from Ali (AS): Whoever is wronged and whose wrongdoer does not desist from him, let him pour water over himself, perform the ablution fully, and pray two rak'ahs; then let him say: O God, so-and-so son of so-and-so has wronged me, transgressed against me, set himself in enmity against me, caused me pain, burned me with grief, humiliated me and worn me out. O God, entrust him to himself, demolish his support, hasten his ruin, strip from him the blessing You have granted him, cut off his sustenance, cut short his life, wipe out his trace, set his enemy over him, and seize him in his very place of safety — even as he wronged me, transgressed against me, set himself in enmity against me, caused pain, burned with grief, humiliated and wore out. O God, I call upon You for aid against so-and-so son of so-and-so, so aid me, for You are mightier in force and severer in punishment. Then truly he will be granted no respite, if God Almighty wills. Let him do this three times. (Misbah al-Kaf'ami, vol. 1, p. 205)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever has been wronged and whose wrongdoer will not desist should first pour water over himself, then perform the ablution, pray two rak'ahs, then raise his hands in supplication and say: O God, so-and-so son of so-and-so has wronged me, transgressed against me, set himself in enmity against me, caused me pain, burned me with grief, humiliated me and worn me out. O God, entrust him to himself, demolish his support, hasten his ruin, strip from him the blessing You have granted him, cut off his sustenance, cut short his life, wipe out his trace, set his enemy over him, and seize him in his very place of safety — even as he wronged me, transgressed against me, set himself in enmity against me, caused pain, burned with grief, humiliated and wore out. O God, I call upon You for aid against so-and-so son of so-and-so, so aid me, for You are mightier in force and severer in punishment. This act may be performed up to three times, and if God wills, the wrongdoer will be given no further respite.
(We say: the statement at the beginning of the narration that he should pour water over himself may be an allusion to a full ritual washing (ghusl). But that he should pour water over his own breast is likewise not far-fetched, since the occasion is one of imprecation, and pouring water on the breast helps to reduce the promptings of the lower self and to attain a purely godly intention.)
And from the Commander of the Faithful (AS): Whoever is wronged, let him perform the ablution and pray two rak'ahs, prolonging their bowing and their prostration; and when he has given the salutation, let him say a thousand times: O God, I am overcome, so grant victory. Then help will be hastened to him. (Misbah al-Kaf'ami, vol. 1, p. 206)
The Commander of the Faithful (AS) said: Whoever has been wronged should perform the ablution and pray two rak'ahs, prolonging the bowing and the prostration. After he has given the salutation, let him say a thousand times: O God, I am overcome, so grant victory. Help will come to him swiftly.
From Ali (AS), for the undoing of sorcery: it is written on a gazelle's parchment and hung up — In the name of God and by God; in the name of God, what God wills; in the name of God, and there is no power and no strength save in God, the Exalted, the Mighty. 'Moses said: What you have brought is sorcery; God will surely bring it to nothing. Indeed God does not set right the work of the corrupters. And God confirms the truth by His words, though the sinners be averse. So the truth came to pass, and what they were doing was proved vain. Thus were they vanquished there and turned back humiliated.' (Misbah al-Kaf'ami, vol. 1, p. 228)
For the undoing of sorcery it is narrated from the Commander of the Faithful (AS) that one should write on a gazelle's hide and keep it with him: In the name of God and by God; in the name of God, what God wills; in the name of God, and there is no power and no strength save in God, the Exalted, the Mighty. 'Moses said: What you have brought is sorcery; God will surely bring it to nothing. Indeed God does not set right the work of the corrupters. And God confirms the truth by His words, though the sinners be averse. So the truth came to pass, and what they were doing was proved vain. Thus were they vanquished there and turned back humiliated.'
(We say: this amulet may either be hung upon oneself, or hung up in a place where sorcery is suspected; the expression yu'allaq in the narrations bears both senses.)
And among them is what al-Sayyid Ibn Baqi (may God have mercy on him) mentioned in his Ikhtiyar, narrated from the Commander of the Faithful (AS): What God wills comes to be. O God, I seek from You the best choice — the choice granted to one who has committed his affair to You, surrendered himself to You, submitted to You in his affair, turned his face wholly to You, and relied upon You in what has befallen him. O God, choose for me and do not choose against me; be for me and not against me; grant me victory and do not grant victory over me; help me and do not help against me; give me power and do not give power over me; guide me to the good and do not let me stray; make me content with Your decree and bless me in Your measuring out, for You do what You will and judge as You desire, and You have power over all things. O God, if the better choice for me in this affair of mine lies in my religion, my worldly life and the outcome of my affair, then make it easy for me; and if it be otherwise, then turn it away from me, O Most Merciful of the merciful. Indeed You have power over all things, and God is sufficient for us and an excellent Guardian. (Misbah al-Kaf'ami, vol. 1, p. 395)
This too is another prayer of seeking guidance (istikhara) from the Commander of the Faithful (AS).
'Ta'wil al-Ayat', or Ta'wil al-Ayat al-Zahira fi Fada'il al-Itra al-Tahira, is a book on the interpretation of the verses revealed concerning the Ahl al-Bayt (AS), composed by Sayyid Sharaf al-Din al-Astarabadi, a Shi'i scholar of the tenth century AH. In this book the author proceeds in the order of the suras of the Qur'an and interprets the verses in question by means of the narrations of the Ahl al-Bayt that have come down concerning them. Little information is available about the author, except that we know he was a student of al-Muhaqqiq al-Karaki. The book in question is among the finest compositions on this subject.