AAMAL AT THE SEVENTH COLUMN (SUTOON)

The seventh column is the place where Almighty Allah guided Prophet Adam to ask for repentance. Hence, you may walk to this place, stop there, face the kiblah direction, and say the following words:

At the same place, you may offer a four unit prayer reciting in the first unit Surah al-Fatihah and Surah al-Qadr and reciting in the second unit Surah al-Fatihah and Surah al-Tawhid and repeat the same in the third and fourth units. When you finish this prayer and say the Tasbih statements, you may then say the following supplicatory words:

You may then prostrate yourself and say (while prostrating) the following supplicatory prayer:

You may then repeat the following statement seventy times:

You may then raise your head from the state of prostration and say the following supplicatory prayer:

In the book of al-Mazar al-Qadim, it is mentioned that the following supplication may be said immediately after the abovementioned supplication that ends with ya karimu ya karimu ya karimu:

This supplication, which has been mentioned in the first section of this book under the title of du’a’ al-amn (Supplication for Security), is one of the supplications of al-Sahifah al-Sajjadiyyah.

The writer of al-Mazar al-Qadim has added that the following supplication may be said:

Be it known to you that the narrations carrying the merits of the seventh column in Masjid al-Kufah are numerous. For instance, al-Kulayni has reported through an authoritative chain of authority that Imam ‘Ali Amir al-Mu’minin (‘a) used to offer prayers next to the seventh column and the distance between him and this column was so close that one could hardly pass from there.

According to another validly reported narration, each night sixty thousand angels descend from the heavens to offer prayer at the seventh column and none of them returns until the Resurrection Day.

According to another validly reported tradition, Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) has said, “The seventh column is the standing-place of Prophet Abraham (‘a).”

In his book of al-Kafi, Shaykh al-Kulayni has also narrated that Abu-Isma’il al-Sarraj reported that Mu’awiyah ibn Wahab took him from the arm to the seventh column and said that Abu-Hamzah al-Thumali had taken him from the arm to this seventh column and said that al-Asbagh ibn Nubatah had taken him from the arm to this seventh column and said, “This is the place where Imam ‘Ali Amir al-Mu’minin (‘a) used to be. Imam al-Hasan (‘a) used to offer prayers at the fifth column, but when Imam ‘Ali (‘a) would be absent, al-Hasan (‘a) would take his place at the seventh column, which is at bab kindah (the Gate of Kindah).”

In conclusion, the narrations reporting the merits of the seventh column at Masjid al-Kufah are numerous; but because my course in this book is to sum up as much as possible, I will mention no more.