Could you give examples of prayers and supplications?
Examples of the Prophet�s prayers and
supplications
On going to bed:
O God! I have, in hope (of Your Mercy) and fear (of Your wrath),
submitted myself to You, referred my affairs to You, and taken refuge in
You. There is no refuge, nor source of safety from Your wrath, except You. I
have believed in the Book You sent down, and the Prophet you raised.
To be saved from sins and ask for God�s forgiveness:
O God! Put between me and errors a distance as great as that which you
put between east and west! O God! Clean me of my errors as a white garment
is cleaned of dirt!
Prayers and supplications comprehensive in meaning:
- God! I ask You for the whole of good, including what is at hand and
what is deferred; what I already know and what I do not know. I take
refuge in You from every evil, including what is at hand and what is
deferred; what I already know and what I do not know.
- God! There is nothing to hinder what You will grant, nor anything to
grant what You hinder! No wealthy one can do us good, as wealth belongs to
You.
- God! I have not told everything, nor have I taken an oath, nor have I
made a vow, nor have I done anything, which You did not previously will.
Whatever You willed, it is, and whatever You did not will, it is not.
There is no strength nor power save with You, and You are indeed
All-Powerful over everything. O God! Whatever prayer I have said, let it
be for whomever You have mercy for, and whatever curse I have called down,
let it be for whomever You have called down curses upon. Surely You are my
Guardian in this world and the Hereafter. Make me die as a Muslim and
include me among the righteous.
- God! I ask You for content after misfortune, a peaceful life after
death, the pleasure of observing Your Face, and a desire to meet You. I
take refuge in You from wronging others and from being wronged, from
showing animosity and being subject to animosity, and from erring or
committing unforgivable sins. If You leave me to myself, then you have left me to weakness,
neediness, sinfulness and erring. I do not depend but on Your Mercy, so
forgive all of my sins, for none but You can forgive sins; accept my
repentance, for You are the Oft-Relenting and the All-Compassionate.
- God! You deserve most to be mentioned and none but You deserve to be
worshipped. You are more helpful than anyone whose help may be sought, and
more affectionate than every ruler, more generous than anyone who may be
asked for something, and more generous than anyone else who gives. You
are the Monarch, having no partners, and the Unique One having no like.
Everything is perishable except You. You are never obeyed but by Your
leave, and never disobeyed but within Your knowledge. When somebody obeys
You, You reward him; but when someone disobeys You, You forgive him. You
witness everything, nearer to it than any other witness; and protect
everything, nearer to it than any other protector. You ordained the acts
of men and determined their time of death. You know what is in every mind,
and secrets are manifest to You. The lawful is what You have made lawful,
and the forbidden is what You have forbidden. The religion is what You
have laid down, and the commandment is what You have decreed. The
creation is Your creation, and the servants are Your servants. You are
God, the All-Clement, the All-Compassionate, I ask You, for the sake of
the light of Your Face, by which the heavens and earth were illuminated,
and for the sake of every right belonging to You, and for the sake of
those who ask of You, to forgive me just in this morning and just in this
evening, and to protect me, by Your Power, from Hellfire.
- God! I seek refuge in You from any knowledge which gives no benefit,
and from a heart that fears You not, and from a soul not satisfied, and
from prayer that cannot be answered.
- God! I ask You for steadfastness in my affairs; I ask you for
resolution in guidance; I ask You for gratitude for Your bounties and
acceptable service to You; I ask You for a truthful tongue and a sound
heart; and I seek refuge in You from the evil of what You know, and I ask
You for the good of what You know, and I ask for Your forgiveness for what
You already know. Surely You are the Knower of the Unseen.
- God! I ask You to enable me to do good and refrain from vices, and to
love the poor, and to forgive me and have mercy on me, and, when You will
people�s deviation and dissensions and disorder in public life, make me
die before taking part in that disorder. I also ask You for Your love and
the love of whom You love, and the love of the acts which will make me
nearer to Your love.
- God! I ask You for the good in the beginning and in the end, and in
its most comprehensive form with its beginning and result, and its
manifest and secret kinds, and for the highest rank in Paradise.
- God! Help me remember You, thank You, and worship You most properly.
- God! I ask You for guidance, fear of You, chastity and independence of
others.
- God! Bring all of our affairs to a good conclusion, and protect us
from disgrace and ignominy in the world and from being tormented in the
Hereafter!
- God! We ask You for the whole of good for which Your Prophet Muhammad,
upon him be peace and blessings, asked You, and we seek refuge in You from
every evil from which Your Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and
blessings, sought refuge in You.
O God, unto You do I complain of my frailty, lack of resources and lack
of significance before those people. O Most Merciful of the merciful, You
are the Lord of the oppressed and You are my Lord. To whom do You abandon
me? To that alien who looks askance and makes grimaces at me? Or to that
enemy to whom You have given mastery over me? If, however, Your indignation
is not against me, I have no worry. But Your grace is much greater for me to
wish for. I seek refuge in the light of Your Countenance, which illumines
all darkness and by which the affairs of this life and the Hereafter have
been rightly ordered, lest Your wrath alight upon me, or Your indignation
descend upon me. I expect Your forgiveness until You are pleased, and there
is no other resource nor any power but in You.
O God! You are my Lord; I am a slave.
You are the Creator; I am the one created.
You are the Provider; I am the one provided.
You are the Owner; I am the one owned.
You are the Mighty and Glorious; I am the one abased and wretched.
Your are the Absolutely Rich One; I am the one absolutely poor.
You are the All-Living; I am the one dead,
You are the All-Permanent; I am the one mortal.
You are the All-Munificent; I am the one miserly.
You are the All-Benevolent; I am the one doing ill.
You are the All-Forgiving; I am the one sinful.
You are the Grand One; I am the one despicable.
You are the All-Strong; I am the one weak.
You are the Giver; I am the one begging.
You are the One Giving Security; I am the one in fear.
You are the All-Generous; I am the one in utmost need.
You are the One Answering pleas; I am the one pleading.
You are the All-Healing One; I am the one sick.
So forgive me my sins and spare me and heal my ills, O God! O
All-Sufficing One! O Lord! O Faithful One! O Most Compassionate One! O
Healer! O Munificent One! O Restorer to Health! Pardon all my sins, and
restore me to health from all illnesses, and be pleased with me for all
eternity! Through Your Mercy, O Most Merciful of the Merciful!
A beloved who disappears by declining or setting is not beautiful, for
one that is doomed to de-cline cannot be truly beautiful. It is not�it
should not be�loved in the heart for the heart is created for eternal love
and is the mirror of the Eternally-Besought-of-All.
A desired one who is doomed to disappear below the horizon is not worthy
of the heart�s attachment or the mind�s preoccupation. It cannot be the
object of desires, and is not worthy of being regretted after. So why should
the heart adore such a one and be attached to it?
I neither seek nor desire anything mortal. For I am myself mortal, and I
do not desire one who is mortal. What have I do with any such?
A worshipped one buried in decay�I do not invoke such a one, nor seek
refuge with it. For I am infinitely needy and impotent. One that is itself
powerless can offer no cure for my endless pains, nor can it solve my
infinitely deep wounds. How can one who cannot save himself from decay be an
object of worship?
The mind that is obsessed with appearances wails despairingly on seeing
the decay of the things it adores in this universe of upheavals, while the
spirit, which seeks an eternal beloved, also wails, saying: �I love not the
things that set.�
I do not want, I do not desire, separation, and I cannot endure it.
Meetings followed immediately by separation are not worth troubling
about; they are not worthy of being longed for especially. For just as the
disappearance of pleasures is pain, imagining it is pain also. The works of
the lovers, that is, the works of poetry on metaphorical love�love for the
opposite sex�are all lamentations caused by the pain arising from imagining
this disappearance. If you were to condense the spirit of all the works of
such poetry, from each would flow this lament.
It is because of the pain and tribulations coming from those meetings
doomed to end and those painful metaphorical loves, that my heart cries out
and, like Abraham, says: �I love not the things that set!�
If you desire permanence in this transient world, permanence is born out
of transience. Annihilate yourself with regard to your evil-commanding soul,
so that you may gain permanence.
Free yourself of bad morals, which are the basis of worldly adoration,
and realize self-annihilation. Sacrifice the goods and property that are in
your disposal in the way of the True Be-loved. See the end of beings, which
marks extinction. The way leading from this world to permanence passes
through self-annihilation.
The human mind, which is absorbed in causality, laments despairingly in
bewilderment over the upheavals caused by the decay of the world. The
conscience, which desires true existence, like Abraham, wails, �I love not
the things that set.� It severs the connection with metaphorical beloveds
and decaying beings, and is attached to the Truly Existent One, the Eternal
Beloved.
O my mean soul! Know that the world and all beings are certainly mortal,
but you may find a way leading to the Permanent Being in each mortal thing,
and may discern two gleams, two mysteries, of the manifestations of the
Undying Beloved�s Grace, on condition that you succeed in sacrificing your
mortal being.
In each bounty the act of bestowing is discerned and the favor of the
Most Merciful perceived. If you succeed in discerning the act of bestowing
through the thing bestowed, you will find the Bestower. Also, each work of
the Eternally-Besought-of-All points out the All-Majestic Maker�s Names like
a missive. If you succeed in understanding the meaning through the
inscription, you will find by means of the Names the One called by those
Names. Since you can find out the kernel, the essence, of these transient
things, obtain it. You can throw away without pity their meaningless
shells, their outer coverings, into the flood of mortality.
Indeed, in the universe there is not a single thing which is not a word
of embodied meaning and does not show many of the All-Majestic Maker�s
Names. Since beings are words, words of Divine Power, understand their
meanings and place them in your heart. Fearlessly cast the letters left
without meaning into the wind of transience. After they are gone, do not
concern and occupy yourself with them any more.
The worldly mind, which is preoccupied in appearances and whose capital
consists of only the knowledge of the material world, cries out despairingly
in bewilderment and frustration, as its chains of thought finally end in
nothingness and non-existence. It seeks a true way leading to truth. Since
the heart has withdrawn from those that set and are mortal, since the heart
has abandoned the deceiving beloveds, and since the conscience has turned
away from transitory beings, you too, my wretched soul, seek help in �I love
not the things that set,� and be saved.
- Lord! Heedlessly not trusting in You, but in reliance on my own power
and will, I looked around in all six directions, searching for a cure for
my pains. Alas, I could find no cure for them. However, it occurred to me:
�Isn�t it enough for you that you have pains as cure?�
- In heedlessness I looked to past time on my right to find solace, but
yesterday appeared to me in the form of my father�s grave and past time as
the huge tomb of my forefathers. It filled me with horror rather than
consolation.(*)
(*)Belief shows that huge, terrifying tomb to be a familiar and
illuminated meeting place for the gathering of friends.
- Then, I looked to the future on the left. I could find no cure.
Rather, tomorrow appeared to me in the form of my grave and the future as
the large tomb of my contemporaries and the forthcoming generations; it
gave me no feeling of familiarity but of fright.(*)
(*)Belief and the peace provided by belief show that frightful large tomb
to be a feast of the Most Merciful in delightful palaces of bliss.
- Since no good appeared from the left either, I looked at the present
day, and I saw it like a coffin, carrying my desperately struggling
corpse.(*)
(*)Belief shows that coffin to be a place of business and a glittering
guest-house.
- As I could find no cure from that direction either, I raised my head
and looked at the top of the tree of my life. I saw that its single fruit
was my corpse; it was looking down at me from the top.(*)
(*)Belief shows the fruit of that tree not to be a corpse, but rather that
the spirit, which is to be favoured with eternal happiness in an eternal
life, has left its worn-out home to travel among the stars.
- Despairing of that direction too, I lowered my head. I looked and saw
that the dust of my bones underfoot had mixed with the dust of my first
creation. Giving no cure, it rather in-creased my pains.(*)
(*)Belief shows that dust to be the door to Mercy and the curtain over the
windows of the hall of Paradise.
- Turning away from that direction too, I looked behind and saw a
temporary world with no foundation revolving in valleys of nothingness and
darkness of non-existence. Not relieving my pains, it rather added to
them the poison of more gloom and terror.(*)
(*)Belief shows that world revolving in darkness to be the missives of the
Eternally-Besought-of-All and sheets of Divine inscriptions which, having
completed their duties and expressed their meanings, have left their
results for a new existence in place of themselves.
- Since I saw no good from that direction either, I cast my eye ahead of
me. I saw that the door of my grave stood open at the end of my way,
behind which the highway leading to eternity caught my eyes from afar.(*)
(*)Since belief shows the door of the grave to be the portal to the world
of light, and that way to lead to eternal happiness, it provides a salve,
a cure, for my pains.
- Thus, rather than consolation and a feeling of familiarity, I received
only horror and a feeling of desolation from these six directions.
Further, apart from an insignificant free will, I have nothing with which
to resist or oppose them.(*)
(*)Belief provides a document for relying on an Infinite Power in place of
the will-power, which is like the smallest indivisible part of matter;
indeed, belief itself is such a document.
- � That human weapon which we call free will lacks power, its range is
short, and it is inaccurate. Apart from serving as a tool in the
achievement of a man�s deeds [which God creates], it cannot do anything,
it cannot create.(*)
- (*)Belief causes the will-power to be employed in the name of God, and
makes it sufficient against everything it may face, as in the case of a
soldier who, employing his insignificant power on behalf of the state, can
perform deeds thousands of times greater than his own power.
- It can neither penetrate the past nor discern the future, and with
regard to my pains and ambitions�concerning these, it is of no benefit.(*)
(*)Since belief gives its reins not into the hand of the animal body but
to the heart and the spirit, it can penetrate the past and the future. For
the sphere of life of the heart and spirit is broad.
- The arena where the will-power is active is brief present time and the
passing present instant. Despite all my needs and innate weakness,
destitution and helplessness, and while being in a wretched state due to
the terrors and loneliness coming from the six directions, I have infinite
desires and ambitions extending to eternity, and inscribed on the page of
my being by the Pen of Power and embedded in my nature.
- Indeed, whatever there is in the universe, there are samples of it in
my being. I am connected with all of them, I work for them. The sphere of
need is as extensive as the eye reaches.
- In fact, wherever the imaginations goes, the sphere of need extends
that far. Rather, whatever I do not possess, I am in need of it. What I do
not possess is without limits. Whereas the extent of my power is as narrow
as my arm reaches. This means that my wants and needs are of infinite
quantity. Whereas my capital is as little and insignificant as an atom.
So, what does that insignificant will-power signify in the face of these
mountains of needs that can only be obtained with millions? They cannot
be satisfied by it. Therefore, I should search for another solution.
- The solution is this: To give up one�s will-power, and never relying
on one�s own power, to submit oneself to the Divine Will and seek refuge
in His Power in adherence to the reality of trusting in Him. �O Lord!
Since this is the way of salvation, I give up my free will in Your way,
and abandon my ego. So that Your grace may help and support me out of
compassion for my impotence and weakness, and Your Mercy may take pity on
me because of my want and need and be a support for me, and open its door
to me.�
- Whoever finds the boundless sea of Mercy, does not rely on his own
free will any more than on a drop from the water seen in a mirage. Whoever
resorts to Mercy does not resort to his will.
- Alas! We have been deceived. We have thought the worldly life is
constant, and have lost it thoroughly because of this thought. Indeed,
this passing life is but a sleep; it has passed like a dream. This
unbounded life too flies like the wind.
- An arrogant man who relies on himself and supposes he will live for
ever, will certainly die. He advances toward death speedily. The world
too, which is man�s house, falls into the darkness of annihilation.
Ambitions are time-bounded, but pains endure in the spirit.
- Since this is the reality, come, O my wretched soul, which is fond of
living and desirous of a long life, which loves the world deeply and is
afflicted with countless ambitions and pains! Awaken and come to your
senses! Consider that while the firefly relies on its own dim light and
always remains in the boundless darkness of the night, the honey-bee finds
the sun of daytime and observes its friends, the flowers, gilded with the
sunlight because it does not rely on itself. In just the same way, if you
rely on yourself and your being, your own self-confidence, you will be
like the firefly. Whereas if you dedicate yourself, your transient being
and your body in a self-sacrificing way in the way of the Creator Who gave
it to you, then you will find, like the honey-bee, an endless life of
being. Dedicate it, for your being, your body, is a Divine trust to you.
- Also, it is the Creator�s property; He gave it to you. So use it in
His way unhesitatingly and without placing anybody under obligation;
sacrifice it so that it will gain permanence. For a negation negated is
an affirmation. Thus, if our non-being is negated (in favor of Being), our
being finds true existence. The All-Munificent Creator buys His own
property from you. In return, He gives you a high price like Paradise.
Also, he looks after it well for you, and increases its value. He will
return it to you in a form both perfected and made permanent. So, O my
soul! Do not wait! Do this business which is profitable in five respects,
and, as well as being saved from five losses, make a fivefold profit in a
single transaction.
He, the Eternal One
The Absolutely Wise in His decrees, we are under His decree;
He is the All-Wise, the All-Judge; His is the earth and the heavens.
The All-Knowing of the secrets and hidden things in His Kingdom;
He is the All-Powerful, the Self-Subsistent, His is the Throne and the
ground.
The All-Subtle in skills and inscriptions in His artistry;
He is the Creator, the All-Loving; His is the beauty and the splendor.
The All-Majestic in His manifestations and acts in His creation;
He is the All-Sovereign, the Most Pure and Holy; His is the honor and the
grandeur.
The Originator of beings; we are among the inscriptions of His art;
He is the All-Constant, the All-Permanent One; His is the dominion and
permanence.
The Munificent Bestower of favors; we are among the caravans of His
guests;
He is the All-Providing, the All-Sufficer; His is the praise and
laudation.
The All-Beautiful Granter of gifts; we are among the weavings of His
Knowledge;
He is the Creator, the All-Faithful; His is the generosity and the
favoring.
The Hearer of the complaints and prayers from His creatures;
He is the All-Pitying, the All-Healing; His is the thanks and the praise.
The Forgiver of the faults and sins of His servants;
He is the Oft-Forgiving, the All-Compassionate; His is forgiveness and
approval.
O my soul! Like my heart weep, cry and say:
�I am mortal, but I do not want the mortal.
�I am impotent, so I do not desire the impotent.
�I surrendered my spirit to the All-Merciful One, so I desire none else.
�I want only One Who will remain my friend forever.
�I am but an insignificant particle, but I desire an everlasting sun.
�I am nothing in essence, but I wish for the whole of creation.�
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