وَارْفَعْ دَرَجَتَهُ فِي الْمَهْدِيِّينَ،…
(O Allah, forgive -here the name of the deceased is mentioned- and raise his rank among the rightly guided, and be a successor to whom he has left behind, and forgive us and him O Lord of the worlds. Make spacious his grave and illuminate it for him.)(A successor: one who succeeds another due to the latter’s absence or death. This is the correct meaning of the word khaleefah; thus, it is incorrect to believe that Adam is the khaleefah (vicegerent, as is commonly translated) of Allah on earth because Allah is never absent, and will never die. This supplication proves the correct understanding of this term and shows that Allah succeeds us and guards whom we leave behind when we die or are absent (also refer to supplication #198).)
