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O Thou Who art the Ruler of earth and heaven and the Author of all names! |
Thou hearest the voice of my lamentation which from the fortress-town of |
Akk谩 ascendeth towards Thee, and beholdest how my captive friends have |
fallen into the hands of the workers of iniquity. |
We render Thee thanks, O our Lord, for all the troubles which have touched |
us in Thy path. Oh, that the span of my earthly life could be so extended |
as to embrace the lives of the former and the latter generations, or could |
even be so lengthened that no man on the face of the earth could measure |
it, and be afflicted every day and every moment with a fresh tribulation |
for love of Thee and for Thy pleasure's sake! |
Thou well knowest, however, O my God, that my wish is wholly dissolved in |
Thy wish, and that Thou hast irrevocably decreed that my soul should |
ascend unto the loftiest mansions of Thy Kingdom, and pass into the |
presence of my all-glorious Companion. |
Hasten, by Thy grace and bounty, my passing, O my Lord, and pour forth |
upon all them that are dear to Thee what will preserve them from fear and |
trembling after me. Powerful art Thou to do whatsoever may please Thee. No |
God is there except Thee, the All-Glorious, the All-Wise. |
Thou seest, O my Lord, how Thy servants have left their homes in their |
longing to meet Thee, and how they have been hindered by the ungodly from |
looking upon Thy face, and from circumambulating the sanctuary of Thy |
grandeur. Pour out Thy steadfastness and send down Thy calm upon them, O |
my Lord! Thou art, in truth, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Compassionate. |
Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God! Thou seest my tears and lamentations, |
and hearest my sighing, my cry and bitter wailing. I am the one, O my |
Lord, that hath held fast the cord of Thy mercy which hath surpassed the |
entire creation. I am the one that hath clung to the hem of Thy |
loving-kindness, O Thou in Whose hand is the empire of all names! |
Have mercy upon me and upon all them that are in my company, through the |
wonders of Thy grace and power. Shield us, then, O my God, from the |
mischief of Thine enemies, and assist us to help Thy Faith, and to protect |
Thy Cause, and to celebrate Thy glory. Thou art, verily, He Who from |
everlasting hath inhabited the inaccessible heights of His unity, and will |
continue to remain the same for ever and ever. Nothing whatsoever escapeth |
Thy knowledge, nor is there anything that can frustrate Thee. No God is |
there beside Thee, the Almighty, the Ever-Faithful, the Most Exalted, the |
All-Glorious, the Best-Beloved. |
Lauded and glorified art Thou, in Whose hand is the empire of all things! |
Magnified be Thy name, O God, the Lord of heaven! Attire my head with the |
crown of martyrdom, even as Thou didst attire my body with the ornament of |
tribulation before all that dwell in Thy land. Grant, moreover, that they |
whose hearts yearn over Thee may draw nigh unto the horizon of Thy grace, |
above which the Day-Star of Thy beauty sheddeth its radiance. Ordain, |
also, for them what will make them rich enough to dispense with aught else |
except Thee, and rid them of all attachment to such as have repudiated Thy |
signs. |
There is none other God but Thee, the Guardian, the Self-Subsisting. |
Praised be Thou, O my God! How can I thank Thee for having singled me out |
and chosen me above all Thy servants to reveal Thee, at a time when all |
had turned away from Thy beauty! I testify, O my God, that if I were given |
a thousand lives by Thee, and offered them up all in Thy path, I would |
still have failed to repay the least of the gifts which, by Thy grace, |
Thou hast bestowed upon me. |
I lay asleep on the bed of self when lo, Thou didst waken me with the |
divine accents of Thy voice, and didst unveil to me Thy beauty, and didst |
enable me to listen to Thine utterances, and to recognize Thy Self, and to |
speak forth Thy praise, and to extol Thy virtues, and to be steadfast in |
Thy love. Finally I fell a captive into the hands of the wayward among Thy |
servants. |
Thou beholdest, therefore, the exile which I suffer in Thy days, and art |
aware of my vehement longing to look upon Thy face, and of mine |
irrepressible yearnings to enter the court of Thy glory, and of the |
stirrings of my heart under the influences of the winds of Thy mercy. |
I entreat Thee, O Thou Who art the Ruler of the kingdoms of creation and |