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Thy glory beareth me witness! I delight in mine own afflictions and in the
afflictions which they who love me suffer in Thy path. Neither I nor they,
however, are able to bear such affronts and reproaches as are uttered by
Thine enemies against Thy Self, the Unrestrained. How long shalt Thou
remain seated, O my God, on the throne of Thy forbearance and patience?
Speak Thou Thy word of wrath, O Thou Whom no eyes can see! Well-beloved is
Thy mercy unto the sincere among Thy servants, and well-beseeming Thy
chastisement of the infidels among Thine enemies. Send down upon them,
therefore, O my Lord, that which will unmistakably reveal unto them the
fury of Thy wrath and the ascendancy of Thy power, and will enable them to
recognize the weight of Thy might and the greatness of Thy strength. If
Thou refusest, O my God, to aid them that love Thee, assist Thou, then,
Thine own Self and Him Who is Thy Remembrance.
I entreat Thee by Thy name, that hath caused the ocean of Thy wrath to
surge, to chastise them who have repudiated Thy truth and disowned Thine
utterances. Abase them, then, by Thy might and power, and exalt such as
have, wholly for Thy sake, set their faces towards Thee, that through them
the ensigns of Thy glorification may be unfurled among all nations, and
Thy tokens be spread abroad among all peoples, and that all may testify
that Thou art God, that there is none other God beside Thee, the God of
power, of majesty and glory.
Magnified art Thou, O Lord my God! I ask Thee by Thy Name which Thou hast
set up above all other names, through which the veil of heaven hath been
split asunder and the Day-Star of Thy beauty hath risen above the horizon,
shining with the brightness of Thy Name, the Exalted, the Most High, to
succor me with Thy wondrous help and to preserve me in the shelter of Thy
care and protection.
I am one of Thy handmaidens, O my Lord! Unto Thee have I turned, and in
Thee have I placed my trust. Grant that I may be so confirmed in my love
for Thee, and in fulfilling that which is well-pleasing unto Thee, that
neither the defection of the infidels among Thy people, nor the clamor of
the hypocrites among Thy creatures, may avail to keep me back from Thee.
Purge Thou mine ear, O my Lord, that I may hearken unto the verses sent
down unto Thee, and illuminate my heart with the light of Thy knowledge,
and loose my tongue that it may make mention of Thee and sing Thy praise.
By Thy might, O my God! My soul is wedded to none beside Thee, and my
heart seeketh none except Thine own Self.
No God is there beside Thee, the All-Glorious, the Great Giver, the
Forgiving, the Compassionate.
These are, O my God, the days whereon Thou didst enjoin Thy servants to
observe the fast. With it Thou didst adorn the preamble of the Book of Thy
Laws revealed unto Thy creatures, and didst deck forth the Repositories of
Thy commandments in the sight of all who are in Thy heaven and all who are
on Thy earth. Thou hast endowed every hour of these days with a special
virtue, inscrutable to all except Thee, Whose knowledge embraceth all
created things. Thou hast, also, assigned unto every soul a portion of
this virtue in accordance with the Tablet of Thy decree and the Scriptures
of Thine irrevocable judgment. Every leaf of these Books and Scriptures
Thou hast, moreover, allotted to each one of the peoples and kindreds of
the earth.
For Thine ardent lovers Thou hast, according to Thy decree, reserved, at
each daybreak, the cup of Thy remembrance, O Thou Who art the Ruler of
rulers! These are they who have been so inebriated with the wine of Thy
manifold wisdom that they forsake their couches in their longing to
celebrate Thy praise and extol Thy virtues, and flee from sleep in their
eagerness to approach Thy presence and partake of Thy bounty. Their eyes
have, at all times, been bent upon the Day-Spring of Thy loving-kindness,
and their faces set towards the Fountain-Head of Thine inspiration. Rain
down, then, upon us and upon them from the clouds of Thy mercy what
beseemeth the heaven of Thy bounteousness and grace.
Lauded be Thy name, O my God! This is the hour when Thou hast unlocked the
doors of Thy bounty before the faces of Thy creatures, and opened wide the
portals of Thy tender mercy unto all the dwellers of Thine earth. I
beseech Thee, by all them whose blood was shed in Thy path, who, in their
yearning over Thee, rid themselves from all attachment to any of Thy
creatures, and who were so carried away by the sweet savors of Thine
inspiration that every single member of their bodies intoned Thy praise
and vibrated to Thy remembrance, not to withhold from us the things Thou
hast irrevocably ordained in this Revelation--a Revelation the potency of
which hath caused every tree to cry out what the Burning Bush had
aforetime proclaimed unto Moses, Who conversed with Thee, a Revelation
that hath enabled every least pebble to resound again with Thy praise, as
the stones glorified Thee in the days of Muhammad, Thy Friend.
These are the ones, O my God, whom Thou hast graciously enabled to have
fellowship with Thee and to commune with Him Who is the Revealer of
Thyself. The winds of Thy will have scattered them abroad until Thou didst
gather them together beneath Thy shadow, and didst cause them to enter
into the precincts of Thy court. Now that Thou hast made them to abide
under the shade of the canopy of Thy mercy, do Thou assist them to attain
what must befit so august a station. Suffer them not, O my Lord, to be