1. Ali ibn Ibrahim has narrated from his father from Ibn Abi ‘Umayr from Hisham ibn Salim who has said the following: “Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.) once asked, ‘Can you tell if a misfortune is of a lengthy duration or a shorter one?’ We said, ‘No, we do not know.’ The Imam said, ‘Whenever any of you is inspired to pray then you should know that the misfortune is of a shorter duration.’”

Translation: Muhammad Sarwar — attributed by Thaqalayn·The Arabic above is the original.

2. Muhammad ibn Yahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ‘Isa from ibn Mahbub from abu Wallad who has said the following: “Once abu al-Hassan Musa (a.s.) said, ‘Whenever a misfortune is about to arrive upon a believing servant (of Allah), if Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, inspires him to pray and plead before Allah for help, the diversion of misfortune from him will take place very shortly. Whenever a misfortune is to arrive upon a believing servant (of Allah) and he is held back from praying, that misfortune will be upon him for a lengthier period of time. Whenever a misfortune befalls you, you must pray and plead before Allah for help and appeal to Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, to move it away.’”

Translation: Muhammad Sarwar — attributed by Thaqalayn·The Arabic above is the original.