The Secret of the Single Chain: Why the Greatest Du‘ās Came Through One Narrator

If you have ever recited Du‘ā’ Kumayl on a Thursday night or Du‘ā’ Abū Ḥamza al-Thumālī in the pre-dawn hours of Ramaḍān, you may have noticed something curious. These supplications, almost always trace back to a single companion of the Imāms. Du‘ā’ Kumayl was taught by Imām ‘Alī (a) to one man: Kumayl ibn Ziyād. Du‘ā’ Abū Ḥamza was entrusted solely to Abū Ḥamza al-Thumālī by Imām Zayn al-‘Ābidīn (a). Al-Ziyārah al-Jāmi‘a al-Kabīra came to us through a single narrator, Mūsā ibn ‘Abd Allāh al-Nakha‘ī, from Imām ‘Alī al-Hādī (a). The same pattern repeats for many of our most treasured texts.