Dawud ibn Zurbi’s Recovery after Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq’s Written Guidance

Dawud ibn Zurbi relates that he became seriously ill while he was in Medina. News of his condition reached Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq, peace be upon him. Al-Kafi presents the episode as written guidance: after learning of Dawud’s illness, the Imam wrote to him and told him what to do.

The instruction combined supplication with charity. Dawud was told to obtain one sa‘ of wheat, lie on his back, and scatter the wheat over his chest. He was then instructed to recite the following supplication:

Arabic supplication:
اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ بِاسْمِكَ الَّذِي إِذَا سَأَلَكَ بِهِ الْمُضْطَرُّ كَشَفْتَ مَا بِهِ مِنْ ضُرٍّ، وَمَكَّنْتَ لَهُ فِي الْأَرْضِ، وَجَعَلْتَهُ خَلِيفَتَكَ عَلَى خَلْقِكَ، أَنْ تُصَلِّيَ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَآلِ مُحَمَّدٍ، وَأَنْ تُعَافِيَنِي مِنْ عِلَّتِي.

English translation:
“O Allah, I ask You by Your Name by which, when the distressed person asks You, You remove the harm afflicting him, establish him in the earth, and make him Your vicegerent over Your creation, that You bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad and grant me well-being from my illness.”

The report then says that Dawud was to sit up, gather the wheat from around him, repeat the same supplication, and distribute the wheat measure by measure to poor people while repeating the supplication. In this way the transmitted practice joined a direct appeal to Allah with charity to people in need.

Dawud says that he carried out what had been written to him. He describes the change in his condition with the words that it was as though he had been released from a binding. The report also states that more than one other person later performed the same practice and benefited from it. These statements are part of the transmitted wording of the report itself.

The source also preserves the role of Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq clearly: the Imam learned of Dawud’s illness and sent the written instruction, while Dawud himself recited the supplication and distributed the wheat. The critical al-Kafi apparatus supports the reading “Dawud ibn Zurbi” and explains the form of the chain, while noting older textual variants in the narrator’s name.

Al-Majlisi, in Mir’at al-‘Uqul, grades the second hadith of this chapter sahih. Thus the complete source picture is a severe illness in Medina, written devotional guidance from Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq, the preserved Arabic supplication, charity with wheat, and Dawud’s own report of marked relief after carrying it out.