BB00260: Du’a’-i-Manuchihr Khan

O my God! Thy bounty hath been commensurate with my abject poverty, and Thy forgiveness proportionate to my disobedience. Thou knowest, O my God, the bounds thereof. And I, with certitude, confess that wert Thou to make all that Thy knowledge hath encompassed, other than me, a fire of iron, and to stretch its pavilion, within a circumscribed station, to embrace the heavens and the earth in their entirety; wert Thou then to magnify my frame to such wise that it should fill every abode of that fire, and to chastise me therein at every instant with all the vehemence of Thy wrath and every form of Thy vengeance—according to what Thou art able to inflict at the moment of Thy seizure, unto the perpetuity of Thine ancient and everlasting majesty—verily, by that alone I should be deserving of the recompense merited by my mere mention of Thee before Thy Face, apart from the requital due for my evil deeds and works which Thou hast never enjoined.

Glorified art Thou! Thou alone art cognizant of this; none other hath knowledge thereof. Never did I think of Thee aught but what beseemeth Thy grace; for naught in the heavens or on the earth hath strength to endure the pure rule of Thy justice. For, shouldst Thou resolve to judge by justice alone, in that very instant wouldst Thou chastise all who are in the heavens and on the earth by the force thereof. Glorified, glorified art Thou, O my God! My expectation from Thee hath ever been Thy favor, and Thy dealing with any soul hath ever been in beneficence and bounty.

Glorified art Thou, glorified art Thou! If I implore Thy forgiveness, I fall thereby into a sin for which, though I should seek Thy pardon throughout everlasting eternity, there would be, of itself, no claim to absolution; for that word testifieth to my existence before Thee and bespeaketh my boldness in the presence of the majesty of Thy compelling might. Far, far be it from me—what have I to do with seeking forgiveness before Thee? Were it not for Thy grace and Thy mercy, I should assuredly be of the forgotten.

Glory be unto Thee, O my God! If I make mention of Thee, that, of a certainty, is sin, for my very existence is sin. How then if to sin I add another sin? And if I keep silence before Thee, the judgment is as the former; for whatsoever pertaineth to creation is but sin upon sin, unworthy to ascend unto Thee or to draw nigh unto the carpet of Thy glory. For the loftiest essences of contingent being have been individualized through the impress of origination; the highest summits of existent things have trembled at the revelation of creation. In their very reality they are cut off from Thee, in need of Thee, proclaiming by their severance their incapacity to attain Thy countenance, confessing interdiction before the workings of Thy oneness, avowing impotence in praising Thee, and prostrating themselves before the grandeur of Thy Face. There is none other God but Thee.

O God! Thou knowest that I have held, concerning Thy Reality, only that which Thou hast sent down in Thy Book, where Thou hast said—and Thy word is the truth—“Vision comprehendeth Him not, but He comprehendeth all vision; He is the Subtle, the All-Informed.”

O God! Thou art aware that certain of the sages have inclined to the doctrine of the oneness of existence between the existent and the non-existent. Glorified, glorified art Thou! Exalted and sanctified art Thou above what the anthropomorphizers ascribe unto Thyself. I find no word more abased than their saying; for Thou hast ever been without the mention of aught, and Thou remainest, even now, as Thou hast ever been, without the existence of anything beside Thee. The existence of creation hath come to be, in itself, through origination, without its being touched by a ray from Thy Essence or an indication from Thy Being; rather didst Thou reveal Thyself unto it—not from aught preceding it—and didst establish the truth through it, as a grace and favor.

Were the matter as they allege, whence would they infer Thy unity? Verily, the very existence of duality witnesseth to separation and proclaimeth severance. Thou art the One described within the realm of creation, whilst created things possess no description before the existence of Thy Essence; for Thy Being hath ever been, and there was none with Thee, whereas the existence of creation is coupled with origination and heraldeth non-existence. When Thou didst reveal Thyself unto them by means of themselves, in the loftiest dawning of Thy Will, they discerned neither separation from that revelation nor union with Thy court; hence have they asserted a linkage between Thee and Thy creation—like startled asses fleeing from the decree of a mighty lion.

If that linkage be Thy very Essence, then were concomitance imposed—far exalted art Thou above that! And if it be Thy creation, the claim of the anthropomorphizers is thereby annulled. Thou art the True, and whatsoever is other than Thee is creation. Between Thee and any one of Thy creatures there is no bond save Thy creative act. And though some among the gnostics of the Sadrian school—delving unduly into the rule of linkage—have uttered a word at which the heavens well-nigh burst, the earth is rent, and the mountains fall down in ruins, yet, hallowed be Thy mention! Their souls have beguiled them with what Satan casteth into their hearts, whilst they imagine themselves guided aright.

Thou art, in truth, the Originator, the Peerless. By Thy Will didst Thou bring creation forth, not from aught before it; and Thou hast made its cause to be itself and none other. They have advanced in their knowledge that which Thou lovest not, nor approvest. Some have falsely asserted that the cause of all things is Thy very Essence—as though they knew not the word of justice from Thy chosen ones, perceived not the implications of concomitance before Thy beauty, nor grasped that, unless cause and effect share a rank of manifestation, the effect could neither come to be nor subsist.

It is but Thy test:

“He leaveth whom He will to stray and guideth whom He will.”

Thus standeth it recorded in my rescript. And to this hour I have never named my name in any of my verses; for the Imam—upon him be peace—hath indicated, in the decree of the inmost of the inmost, that none pronounceth the name of the Lord of this Cause but an infidel; and that the mention of the personal name in outward traces is the concern of the jurists—children in the matters of the inner mysteries and hidden realities.