BB00327: Sahifiy-i-Mu’tamid (ad-Dawlah)

In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate

O Thou Who possessest might and oneness and majesty and grandeur! Glorified and exalted art Thou! As I know there is no way for me to describe Thee, I beseech Thee by Thy right to bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, the manifestations of the essences of divinity and the signs of sovereignty and omnipotence and the verses of the manifestations of dominion and kingdom, and what God hath ordained in the Book for Thy servants.

Glorified art Thou! Thou art He Who hath made Thyself known to me in every condition through the manifestation of the signs of Thy creation and the modes of the stations of Thy invention, lest I become heedless in any state of the nearness of the presence of Thy countenance. And I behold Thee manifest and existing alone with no partner unto Thee.

Glorified art Thou, O my God! Thou art He Who hath never ceased to be beyond description by the attributes of Thy servants or characterization by the qualities of Thy creation, for Thy essence cutteth off all substances from the station of knowledge, and Thy being separateth all material things from the realm of expression.

Glorified art Thou! If I say “Thou art Thou,” the similitude hath been likened to majesty, and Thou hast never ceased to be unknowable thereby. And if I say “Thou art He,” unity hath indicated the station of Thy creation and oneness the station of Thy invention. Thou art more glorious than that I should mention for Thee a description in the station of vision or a remembrance in the depths of contingent existence.

Glorified art Thou! Thou knowest my judgment and art aware of my secret, and Thy book hath encompassed my transgressions. Nothing escapeth Thy knowledge in the heavens or on earth. Yet after this Thou hast favored me with concealment and pardon, as if Thou hadst never become aware in any condition of a sin from myself or a transgression from my outward being.

Glorified art Thou! How exalted is Thy station and how great is Thy bounty! Thou didst create me before any deserving and nurture me in the stations of the Command and the ultimate ends with what Thou dost merit at the time of giving. By Thy might and Thy majesty! If Thou shouldst punish me in every condition with all Thy assaults—the assaults of Thy power and the signs of Thy omnipotence—Thou wouldst be praiseworthy in Thy deed and obeyed in Thy judgment. And verily I would have deserved that as recompense for a good deed from myself.

Alas, alas! If the judgment in that station be like what I have uttered before Thy grandeur, how can my inner being find rest in the presence of the city of the might of Thy mercifulness, and how can I not cry out before Thy countenance when I know not how Thy dealings with me shall be and Thy judgment concerning me?

Glorified art Thou, O my God! Here am I, turning to Thee with all my being that my heart may be emptied. I know not, O my God, how I can be patient in separation from Thee after Thy knowledge of my station, and how can I not cry out before Thee after the vastness of Thy mercy in my inner and outer being? Thou knowest my secret and my manifest condition in every state. I have wished to love only as Thou lovest and to will only as Thou willest. Therefore forgive me, for Thou art the Generous, the Forgiving.

Glorified art Thou, O my God! My mention before the presence of Thy court—I know it is a sin, but by Thy might and Thy majesty, were I able to annihilate myself I would love to, but I cannot do so, for the mention of negation is itself an aspect of affirmation, and that is sin with Thee like unto existence itself.

Glorified art Thou, O my God! How can I call upon Thee when the effects of Thy wrath for what my hands have wrought have encompassed me from every direction? And how can I not call upon Thee when the manifestations of Thy grandeur have occupied me with Thy favors, as if Thy knowledge had never encompassed any evil from me?

Verily I ask forgiveness of Thee and turn unto Thee in hope of Thy pardon and bounty and in reliance upon Thy mercy and generosity. Thou art the Strong, the Most High. I beseech Thee, O God, by Thy generosity and the Manifestations of Thy holiness and the signs of Thy revelation, that Thou grant me complete detachment unto Thee until all my conditions before Thee become as one condition and all my deeds in Thy book become as one remembrance. Join me to the source of good-pleasure with what Thou lovest and approvest, until I love not the hastening of what Thou hast delayed for me through Thy grace, nor the delay of what Thou hast hastened for me through Thy favor. Verily Thou knowest all things in the heavens and earth, and nothing escapeth Thee in the kingdom of Command and Creation. None can reverse Thy judgment or repel Thy decree. Thou art God, the Generous, the Bestower.