O Lord! Thou art the one through whose mercy the erring pray for redress; the one in the remembrance of whose grace the afflicted take refuge; the one in dread of whom the guilty bitterly
weep! O solace of every sad stranger,
1 and O delight of every broken-hearted sufferer, and 0 redresser of the forsaken and lonely and 0 helper of the needy and far exiled, who hast surrounded everything with mercy and
knowledge!
It is Thou who hast allotted every creature a share in Thy blessings; and it is Thou whose forgiveness is superior to his chastisement; and it is Thou whose mercy walks in front of his
wrath; and it is Thou whose generosity is more frequent than his refusal; 1. i.e. one who happens to be among strangers; and has no kith or kin near him.
17
and it is Thou whose power and prosperity embrace all creatures; it is Thou who doth not desire recompense from him, whom Thou didst bless; it is Thou who doth not commit excess in
punishing him, who disobeyed. Thee:
And I O Lord am Thy servant whom Thou hast commanded to pray and who has answered: Here I am ready to obey Thee! Here I am at Thy call! Behold O Lord, here I am prostrate in Thy
presence!
It is I whose back overloaded with guilt, it is I whose life has been dissipated by sins; it is I who go ignorantly disobeyed Thee, though Thou didst not deserve it 2 from me.
Wilt Thou O Lord pity him who prayeth unto Thee? So that I may make excellent petitions unto Thee; Or, wilt Thou forgive him who cries unto Thee: So that I may make haste of
cry:
2. i.e. disobedience.
18
Or, wilt Thou pardon him who puts his face on the dust, before Thee, in token of submission?
Or, wilt Thou prosper him who in confidence complained unto Thee of his poverty?
O Lord do not disappoint one who finds no giver except Thee; and do not disgrace one who finds none to whom he can turn for help besides Thee.
O Lord, therefore, bless Mohammad and his ?l (family) and do not turn away from me, whilst I have turned towards Thee; and do not disappoint me, whilst I have inclined towards Thee; and do
not smite my face with reprobation, whilst I stand before Thee.
It is Thou who hast given to Thyself the attribute of Mercy therefore, bless Mohammad and his ?l (family) and have pity on me; and it is Thou who hast named Thyself Forgiveness, therefore
forgive me. Verily, Thou seest O Lord the flow of my tears on account
19
of fear of Thee, and the palpitation of my heart through dread of Thee, and the trembling of my limbs, because of the awe Thou dolt inspire in me: All this proceeds from the shame I feel on
account of my evil deeds; and for this reason my voice has become too subdued to cry unto Thee and my tongue too dumb to pray to Thee.
Therefore, all praise is due to Thee O Lord; for, many a defect in me didst Thou conceal, and didst not disgrace me; and many a sin which I committed, didst Thou hide, and didst not make me
notorious; and many a wrong which I was guilty of,
didst Thou cover, and didst not put round my neck the evil consequences of their mischief, and didst not discover their evil to such of my neighbours as were looking for my blemishes, and
to those who envy Thy blessings which I posses. And all this favour did not restrain me from proceeding towards the worst which Thou didst threaten me with.
Therefore, who is more ignorant than I, O Lord,
20
of his own benefit, and who is more careless than I of his share of good? And who is farther removed than I from self- reformation, when I spend the sustenance which Thou hast allotted me
in those sins which Thou hast forbidden me to commit? And who is deeper plunged in wrong-doing and more forward in vice than I,
when I stand between Thy call and the call of Satan, and follow his call with-out blindness and having full knowledge of him; and without any forgetfulness in my memory concerning him and
am at the same time convinced that Thy call leads towards Paradise, and that his call leads towards Hell?
Holiness to Thee! How wonderful it is that I bear witness against my own soul, and reckon it a secret affair of mine; and more wonderful than this is Thy forbearance towards me in casting
me (into perdition) ! And this is not because I possess any grace in Thy sight, but because of Thy gracious delay and Thy loving kindness to me;
in order that I may keep away from Thy wrath incurred by disobedience, and refrain from my degrading sins; and because Thy forgiving
21
me is more agreeable to Thee than punishing me. Nay my God, I am too abundant, in respect of sin, too corrupt in manners, too wicked in deeds, too rashly bold in wrongdoing and too weak in
point of vigilance in serving Thee, and give too little heed to the warning and caution of Thy threat to enumerate to Thee my blemishes, or to be able to remember all my guilts;
And verily I reproach my soul with this, by way of longing for Thy kindness wherein lies the prosperity 1 of sinners, and hoping for Thy mercy wherein lies the release of the guilty. O
Lord, behold this is my neck overburdened 2 by sins, therefore, bless Mohammad and his ?l (family) and liberate it with Thy forgiveness.
And this is my back weighed down with guilt, therefore,
1. Forgiveness.
2. Lit thinned.
22
bless Mohammad and his ?l (family) and lighten it with Thy favour.
O Lord, if I were to cry unto Thee, till my eye-lashes should fall off, and wail loudly till my voice should cease and stand to serve Thee till my feet should swell and bend down to adore
Thee till the bones of my spine should stick out and put my head on the ground to adore Thee till my eyeballs should come out of their sockets; and eat the dust of the earth throughout my
life,
drink water of ashes 3 to the end of my days, and remember Thee in the meantime till my tongue should become dumb, and then never raise my glance to the horizon of the sky feeling shame
before Thee; I could not deserve, thereby, the obliteration of a single sin out of all my sins!
And if Thou wert to forgive me, when I should deserve Thy forgiveness; and pardon me when I should merit Thy pardon: For, verily it is not due to me on account of merit, 3. i.e. water mixed
with ashes.
23
not do I deserve it on account of worth while my recompense from Thee, for the first wherein I disobeyed Thee, was Hell fire; So if Thou chastise me Thou wouldst not be unjust to
me.
My Lord, since Thou hast covered my sins, and didst not disgrace me; and hast been graciously patient with me, and didst not hasten to punish me, and hast kindly borne with me and didst not
elter Thy blessings (that Thou didst) bestow upon me, nor render Thy favour to me disagreeable;
therefore, pity the length of my supplication and the intensity of my need and the evil of my situation, O Lord bless Mohammad and his ?l (family) and guard me from sins, and employ me in
virtue, and grant me a handsome conversion and purify me with repentance and help me with chastity, and reform me peacefully, 4 and make me taste the sweetness of salvation, and let me be the 4.
i.e. reform without any affliction and punishment.
24
freeman of Thy pardon and the emancipated man of Thy mercy, and grant to me impunity from Thy wrath, and thereby, let me have good news 5 in this world besides the next-good news which I
may recognise, and let me have in it a sign which may perceive:
Verily, this is not difficult to Thee in Thy might, and is not hard upon Thee in Thy power. Verily Thou hast power over everything.
