Du'a Nudba (Arabic: دُعَاء ٱلنُّدْبَة) is one of the major Shia supplications about Imam Al-Mahdi and his occultation. Nudba means to cry and Shias read the supplication to ask for help during the occultation. The supplication is recited during Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Eid al-Ghadeer, and every Friday morning.[1] Mazar al-Kabir, Mazar al-Ghadim, and Mesbaho al-Zaer were narrated the supplication. Proponents say these books were written with authentic narrators such as Sayyed Ibn Tawus. Muhammad Baqir Majlisi wrote this prayer in Zaad-ul-Maad from Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq. Also, Albazofari, a person who lived in minor occultation, narrated from The Four Deputies of Imam Mahdi that Imam Mahdi said to read the prayer.[2] However there is a significant school of thought that claims inauthenticity of the Dua.[3]
The Du'a Nudba, referenced in Baháʼu'lláh's Kitáb-i-Íqán, serves as a testament to the unquestionable authority of the Manifestation of God to renew religious laws - abrogate old ones, confirm new ones, and ultimately establish a new religion.
These lines from the Du'a are specified to illustrate this point: "Where is He Who is preserved to renew the ordinances and laws? Where is He who hath the authority to transform the Faith and the followers thereof?"[4] [5]
Baháʼu'lláh comments:
"Behold, how, notwithstanding these and similar traditions, they [who deny the new [[Manifestation of God (Baháʼí Faith)|Manifestation]]] idly contend that the laws formerly revealed must in no wise be altered. And yet, is not the object of every Revelation to effect a transformation in the whole character of mankind, a transformation that shall manifest itself, both outwardly and inwardly, that shall affect both its inner life and external conditions? For if the character of mankind be not changed, the futility of God’s universal Manifestation would be apparent."