Want your prayer answered? Many people swear by the simple “salt vow” , a humble act of giving salt in the name of Lady Fatimah, and claim it brought them relief; read how it’s done.
Since ancient times, making vows to have one’s needs fulfilled has been a practice. Anyone who seeks fulfillment of a wish may make a vow; one of the vows you can perform is the salt vow. Some people make a salt vow to resolve problems and request needs.
Salt holds a special sanctity in Islamic and Iranian culture and occupies a particular place of respect. A vow as a means to achieve a need is a way of asking God to grant your request. The salt vow dedicated to Lady Fatimah Zahra is, in essence, a form of seeking her intercession to obtain one’s request. According to our elders and from past generations until now, the salt vow to Lady Fatimah (peace be upon her) has been considered one of the best and most recommended vows for fulfilling needs and requests.
Many people make vows to obtain their needs, and if their difficulty is resolved and their knot is untied they fulfill their vow. Such a vow can be spiritual — for example, sending blessings (salawat) or doing a charitable act on behalf of others — or it can be material, for instance promising that if the wish is granted one will donate a certain sum to needy people. One of the vows that has existed since old times is the salt vow to Lady Fatimah Zahra (peace be upon her), through which many have obtained their needs.
What does the salt vow to Lady Fatimah (peace be upon her) look like? The salt vow made with the intention of Lady Fatimah (peace be upon her) is this: first one makes the intention that if a particular need is fulfilled or a specific problem is resolved, they will package salt into small portions and distribute it among a certain number of people. The people who receive the salt also make a vow at the moment they accept the salt that, if their own need is fulfilled, they will package some salt and distribute it among others. To obtain a need through the intercession of Lady Fatimah (peace be upon her), in addition to the salt vow you can also perform the Prayer of Lady Fatimah and the special salawat (blessings) dedicated to her.
Therefore, when you distribute the salt you should explain to those who receive it how the process works so they understand the procedure. If you want this chain to be preserved, explain it to others so they can continue it.
The salt vow to Lady Fatimah is an old practice and grandmothers consider salt vows specially associated with Lady Fatimah. It is said that the story of the salt vow began when people used to travel to imamzadehs — particularly Imamzadeh Saleh, which is often in difficult, mountainous routes — and in winter they had to cross large stretches of ice and snow. Therefore people would vow to scatter salt along the route so that the ice would melt. The salt vow has been common among people since that time, although we cannot say for certain that this is the exact origin. The salt vow to Imamzadeh Saleh is also considered very efficacious.
The salt vow to Lady Fatimah Zahra is a simple and spiritual vow; if you perform it with sincere intention you will feel spiritually uplifted and, God willing, your need will be fulfilled.
Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi’s response about the authority of the salt vow to Lady Fatimah Zahra (peace be upon her) is as follows:
“Such types of vows generally do not have reliable proof and acting on them is not obligatory; you may instead spend the equivalent on any charitable good works.”
Therefore, one can conclude that there is no authoritative documentation attesting to the salt vow to Lady Fatimah (peace be upon her). However, it is also important to note that making vows and beseeching is a kind of spiritual connection with God and the Imams, and because turning to the Imams for obtaining needs is frequently mentioned in our religious teachings, one may perform the salt vow to Lady Fatimah with a heartfelt intention.
