A Textual-Critical Analysis of the Sources of the Duʿāʾ Commencing "Yā man arjūhu li-kulli khayr"

Abstract

Amongst the better known duʿāʾs for the month of Rajab is one beginning "You from whom I hope for every good" (yā man arjūhu li-kulli khayr), the text and directions for which are included by Shaykh ʿAbbās Qummī in his Mafātīḥ al-jinān, cited from Raḍī al-Dīn Ibn Ṭāwūs's Iqbāl al-aʿmāl. Ibn Ṭāwūs's text leaves some ambiguity regarding Imam al-Ṣādiq's posture as he recites the duʿāʾ, presenting a first avenue for study. An examination of early Imāmī ḥadīth literature reveals that texts resembling this duʿāʾ may be found in works including al-Kulaynī's al-Kāfī, al-Kashshī's Rijāl and al-Ṭūsī's Miṣbāḥ al-mutahajjid, albeit with divergences in text, vowelling and chains of transmission. A survey of this evidence reveals the version in al-Kashshī as bearing the closest resemblance to that given by Ibn Ṭāwūs. In his Zād al-maʿād, ʿAllāma al-Majlisī combines the versions of al-Kashshī and Iqbāl and gives his own interpretation of the ambiguous passages — and it is this recension that underpins current practice.