BB00167: Prayer for Ahmad

Glorified art Thou, O my God! I testify, and all things testify, that Thou art God, and that there is no God but Thee, alone without peer. Thine is the sovereignty and Thine is the praise. Thou givest life and Thou causest death, then Thou causest death and givest life. Verily, Thou art the Ever-Living Who dieth not. Within Thy grasp is the kingdom of all things. Thou createst whatsoever Thou willest by Thy command. Thou art, verily, powerful over all things.

How can I ascend unto the heaven of Thine eternal holiness, or soar into the atmosphere of Thy transcendent Self-Subsistence through praise before Thee and glorification of Thee? Verily that which is possible in creation or conceivable in invention befitteth not the sublime holiness of the King of Thy unity, nor can the glances of nearness to the Sovereign of Thy Self-Subsistence comprehend it.

I glorify Thee, O my God, above all that hath glorified Thee or shall glorify Thee, for Thou hast ever been, and wilt ever be, glorifying Thine Essence through the essence of Thine Essence. I sanctify Thee above all that hath praised Thee or shall praise Thee, for Thou, O my God, dost ever sanctify Thy pure Self-hood through Thy Self-hood. I unite Thee above all that hath united Thee or shall unite Thee, for that which appeareth of Thy unity in the kingdom of Thy creation and is concealed in the dawning-places of Thine invention befitteth not the sublimity of Thy holy exaltation and the loftiness of Thine inaccessible might.

For at the mention of aught else but Thee, how can Thy unity be established, and in the presence of Thy creation, how can Thy singleness be veiled? Glorified art Thou, O my God! I beseech Thee by that whereby the essential nature of Thy Self is united through Thy Self, and the reality of Thine Identity is magnified through Thine Identity, and the essence of Thine Eternity is glorified through Thine Eternity, that Thou write for me that wherewith Thou hast glorified Thyself, and sanctified Thy Being, and united Thine Essence, and magnified Thy Self-hood, and exalted Thy Self-Subsistence.

For this is what shall profit me with Thee, not what is conceived among all contingent beings, nor what is realized by all existent things. For that unto which the hearts of them that are detached and glory in their severance ascend, and that whereby the realities of them that are possessed of majesty and elevation are uplifted, is that which Thou hast created by Thy Will, not from anything, and brought into being by Thy Creation, not through anything.

Thou hast ever been one God, Single, Alone, Self-Subsisting, Ever-Living, Self-Subsisting, All-Wise, Just, Holy, Eternal, Self-Dependent. Thou hast taken unto Thyself neither consort nor son, and Thou hast no partner in what Thou hast fashioned, nor any helper in what Thou hast decreed. Thou hast ordained the measures of all things by Thy power with true ordainment, and formed the principles of all things by Thy will with true formation.

O my God! Thy Will hath ever been dominant over all contingent things, and Thy Purpose manifest over all that dwell in the kingdoms of earth and heaven. Thy Power is exalted above all created things, and Thy Decree transcendent over all that hath been brought into being, and Thy Permission supreme over all who dwell in the kingdoms of names and attributes.

When wast Thou hidden that none of Thy creation might behold Thee? And when wast Thou absent that any should seek guidance through other than Thee? Glorified art Thou! There is no God but Thee. Thou wast the First before all things, and the Last after all things, and the Manifest above all things, and the Hidden beyond all things, and powerful over whatsoever Thou hast willed or shalt will, and mighty over whatsoever Thou hast desired or shalt desire.

The glances of the lights of Thy countenance have ever drawn them that love Thee to the horizon of Thy grandeur, and will never cease to draw Thy chosen ones to the summit of Thy Self-Subsistent glory. Thou hast ever been, before all things, through the Essential Being of Thine Essential Nature, and Thou wilt ever be, after all things, through the Essential Being of Thine Essential Nature.

I beseech Thee, O my God, by Thyself—for there is none like Thee, nor any equal to Thee, nor any similitude, nor any companion, nor any likeness of Thee—and then by the first of Thy Names unto the depths of Thine examples, that Thou write down for whosoever hath desired to attain Thy presence on this Day of Resurrection, and hath prostrated himself before Thee, every good which Thou hast encompassed within Thy knowledge. For there is no glory, O my God, except in belief in You and following Your Cause, and there is no fire more severe with You than one who does not prostrate to You and sees an equal to You.

I beseech Thee, O God, by the Point of the Bayan, which Thou created from nothing by itself, and Thou manifested to it through its essence, and taught it Thy verses, and sent down upon it Thine attributes, and made it the mirror of Thy Self wherein nothing is seen except Thee, and through it Thou didst establish the Resurrection and raise up all Your creation, then gathered and dispersed and presented before Thee all things. Whosoever faces the mirror of Thy countenance wherein nothing is seen except Thee, Thou teachest his heart from Thyself that the verses which Thou hast sent down from that Tree are from Thee and not from any other, else all the worlds would be powerless before them, and through them Thou didst create the essences of those near to Thee.

Glorified art Thou, O God! I beseech Thee to protect me from every fire that does not accept that Mirror, for it is with Thee the letter of negation gathered in the shadow of “There is no God”, and that Thou causest me to enter beneath the shadow of whoever faces that [Mirror], for it is among the letters of Your affirmation “but God”. I beseech Thee, O God, to [fulfill] the right of the fire for those who love Thee not, and the right of paradise for those who love Thee, for Thou hast distinguished on the Day of Resurrection through these words “There is no God but Thee”. Whosoever enters beneath the shadow of “There is no God”, verily they are fire which Thou hast forbidden to the sincere ones.

Whoso entereth beneath the shadow of “but Thee”—that, verily, is a paradise which Thou hast created for those brought nigh. And whatsoever appeareth upon the earth unto every soul is of that which Thou hast promised it; and unto Thee is its inception in the first life. Wherefore do I bear witness, O my God, that I have yearned to confess Thy oneness to the utmost of my power. Yet Thy decree—what Thou hast ordained for me of those journeys from Thee—[…]; the ones brought nigh have been established upon the Most Exalted Horizon and have attained unto meeting Thee in the Highest Paradise. They have made their very selves, and whatsoever is ascribed unto them, as trees at the rising of Thy proof, and as pillars at the exaltation of Thy holiness and Thy majesty.

Unto Thee, O my God, belong the supreme decrees in their very essences, and unto Thee, O my Beloved, the most grievous tribulations in their inmost realities. No honor is there save in Thy love and Thy good-pleasure, and no abasement save for him who knoweth Thee not and followeth his own desire. For the affairs of this world—its wealth and poverty, its honor and humiliation—do perish; naught endureth with Thee save faith in Thee and in Thy signs, and naught bringeth the servant nigh unto Thee short of this.

Therefore do I beseech Thee, O my God, to ordain for me, in the life to come and in this first life, through Thy bounty and Thy mercy, then through Thy generosity and Thy munificence, that which shall admit me beneath the shadow of the Tree of Thy Affirmation; that the letters of negation, one and all, may know that I—[…]—Thou hast graciously favored, in that Thou hast delivered me from […], and admitted me into Thy good-pleasure, […], thereby [exalting me] above those in the kingdom of earth and heaven.

Cause me to behold, O Lord, nigh at hand and right swiftly, that whereby my heart shall find repose in the path of Thy love—until I witness those who have not confessed Thy unity sunk in the most extreme annihilation, and those who have affirmed Thy oneness abiding in the loftiest honor of the sanctity of eternity. For naught escapeth Thy knowledge, neither in the kingdom of earth nor of heaven; nor is aught able to frustrate Thee, whether in the Realm of Command or of creation, or beneath the two, or in whatsoever hath been brought into being by origination. Thine is the creation and the command, before all things and after all things. Verily, over whatsoever Thou willest Thou art All-Powerful, and whatsoever Thou desirest Thou dost effect with exalted swiftness.

O God, O God! Thy followers desire to observe Thy statutes—[…]—that which Thou didst command aforetime, that there may be appointed for him, and for all Thy creatures, from Thy presence, a relief near at hand; and that what Thou hast decreed for Thy loved ones, from Thy presence, may be measured according to a fixed and destined measure. And inspire him in matters of religion concerning those who have fulfilled their vows and those who came after them who await their return to their former life, save on the Day when Thou returnest me to my former life and willest to establish the Resurrection and to gather together all Thy creatures, and to exalt what Thou pleasest and abase what Thou willest, for that Day is nigh, nearer than all things, as Thou art powerful over all things. There is no power nor strength except through Thee, and Thou art indeed the Inaccessible, the Most High.

Therefore inspire him, O my God, in what he hath ordained and desired in the path of Thy good-pleasure, that he may guard himself against those who believe not in Thee, and that Thou mayest protect him and suffice him against all that he desireth, for Thou art sufficient against all things and nothing sufficeth against Thee, neither in the heavens nor on earth. Set right, O my God, all that pertaineth unto him of the decrees of his beginning and his end, his worldly affairs and his hereafter, for none hath power over aught except Thee and none can accomplish aught besides Thee. Set right, O my God, what hath been altered for him in the path of Thy love through Thy grace and bounty, for verily Thou art the All-Bountiful, the Most Generous.

There is no power nor strength except through Thee, and Thou art indeed the Best of those who show mercy.