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Glorified be Thy name, O Lord my God! Thou beholdest my dwelling-place, |
and the prison into which I am cast, and the woes I suffer. By Thy might! |
No pen can recount them, nor can any tongue describe or number them. I |
know not, O my God, for what purpose Thou hast abandoned me to Thine |
adversaries. Thy glory beareth me witness! I sorrow not for the vexations |
I endure for love of Thee, nor feel perturbed by the calamities that |
overtake me in Thy path. My grief is rather because Thou delayest to |
fulfill what Thou hast determined in the Tablets of Thy Revelation, and |
ordained in the books of Thy decree and judgment. |
My blood, at all times, addresseth me saying: "O Thou Who art the Image of |
the Most Merciful! How long will it be ere Thou riddest me of the |
captivity of this world, and deliverest me from the bondage of this life? |
Didst Thou not promise me that Thou shalt dye the earth with me, and |
sprinkle me on the faces of the inmates of Thy Paradise?" To this I make |
reply: "Be thou patient and quiet thyself. The things thou desirest can |
last but an hour. As to me, however, I quaff continually in the path of |
God the cup of His decree, and wish not that the ruling of His will should |
cease to operate, or that the woes I suffer for the sake of my Lord, the |
Most Exalted, the All-Glorious, should be ended. Seek thou my wish and |
forsake thine own. Thy bondage is not for my protection, but to enable me |
to sustain successive tribulations, and to prepare me for the trials that |
must needs repeatedly assail me. Perish that lover who discerneth between |
the pleasant and the poisonous in his love for his beloved! Be thou |
satisfied with what God hath destined for thee. He, verily, ruleth over |
thee as He willeth and pleaseth. No God is there but Him, the |
Inaccessible, the Most High." |
Magnified be Thy name, O Lord my God! I know not what the water is with |
which Thou hast created me, or what the fire Thou hast kindled within me, |
or the clay wherewith Thou hast kneaded me. The restlessness of every sea |
hath been stilled, but not the restlessness of this Ocean which moveth at |
the bidding of the winds of Thy will. The flame of every fire hath been |
extinguished except the Flame which the hands of Thine omnipotence have |
kindled, and whose radiance Thou hast, by the power of Thy name, shed |
abroad before all that are in Thy heaven and all that are on Thy earth. As |
the tribulations deepen, it waxeth hotter and hotter. |
Behold, then, O my God, how Thy Light hath been compassed with the |
onrushing winds of Thy decree, how the tempests that blow and beat upon it |
from every side have added to its brightness and increased its splendor. |
For all this let Thee be praised. |
I implore Thee, by Thy Most Great Name, and Thy most ancient sovereignty, |
to look upon Thy loved ones whose hearts have been sorely shaken by reason |
of the troubles that have touched Him Who is the Manifestation of Thine |
own Self. Powerful art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee. Thou art, verily, |
the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. |
O Thou Whose face is the object of the adoration of all that yearn after |
Thee, Whose presence is the hope of such as are wholly devoted to Thy |
will, Whose nearness is the desire of all that have drawn nigh unto Thy |
court, Whose countenance is the companion of those who have recognized Thy |
truth, Whose name is the mover of the souls that long to behold Thy face, |
Whose voice is the true life of Thy lovers, the words of Whose mouth are |
as the waters of life unto all who are in heaven and on earth! |
I beseech Thee, by the wrong Thou hast suffered and the ills inflicted |
upon Thee by the hosts of wrongful doers, to send down upon me from the |
clouds of Thy mercy that which will purify me of all that is not of Thee, |
that I may be worthy to praise Thee and fit to love Thee. |
Withhold not from me, O my Lord, the things Thou didst ordain for such of |
Thy handmaidens as circle around Thee, and on whom are poured continually |
the splendors of the sun of Thy beauty and the beams of the brightness of |
Thy face. Thou art He Who from everlasting hath succored whosoever hath |
sought Thee, and bountifully favored him who hath asked Thee. |
No God is there beside Thee, the Mighty, the Ever-Abiding, the |
All-Bounteous, the Most Generous. |
Lauded be Thy name, O Lord my God! Darkness hath fallen upon every land, |
and the forces of mischief have encompassed all the nations. Through them, |
however, I perceive the splendors of Thy wisdom, and discern the |