| 1 |
O God,
O He who desires no repayment!
|
| 2 |
O
He who shows no remorse at bestowal! |
| 3 |
O He who rewards not His servant tit for tat! |
| 4 |
Thy
kindness is a new beginning,
Thy
pardon gratuitous bounty,181
Thy
punishment justice,
Thy
decree a choice for the best! |
| 5 |
If
Thou bestowest,
Thou
stainest not Thy bestowal with obligation,
and
if Thou withholdest,
Thou
withholdest not in transgression. |
| 6 |
Thou
showest gratitude to him who thanks Thee,
while
Thou hast inspired him to thank Thee. |
| 7 |
Thou
rewardest him who praises Thee,
while
though Thou hast taught him Thy praise. |
| 8 |
Thou
coverest him whom,
if
Thou willed,
Thou
wouldst expose,
and Thou art generous toward
him from whom,
if
Thou willed,
Thou
wouldst withhold.
Both are worthy of Thy
exposure and withholding,
but
Thou hast
founded
Thy acts upon gratuitous bounty,
channelled
Thy power into forbearance, |
| 9 |
received
him who disobeyed Thee with clemency,
and
disregarded him who intended wrongdoing against himself.
Thou awaitest their turning
back without haste
and
refrainest from rushing them toward repentance,
so that the perisher among
them may not perish
because
of Thee
and
the wretched may not be wretched through
Thy
favour,
but
only after Thy prolonged excusing him
and
successive arguments against him,
as an act of generosity
through Thy pardon, O Generous,
and
an act of kindliness through Thy tenderness, O Clement! |
| 10 |
It is Thou who hast opened for Thy servants
a
door to Thy pardon,
which
Thou hast named 'repentance'.
Thou hast placed upon that
door
a
pointer from Thy revelation,
lest
they stray from it:
Thou hast said (blessed are
Thy names),
Repent
toward God with unswerving repentance!
It
may be that Thy Lord will acquit of your evil deeds
and
will admit you into gardens
beneath which rivers flow, |
| 11 |
upon
the day when God will not degrade the Prophet
and those who have faith along with him,
their light running before them
and on their right hands,
and they say:
'Our Lord, complete for us our light, and forgive us!
Surely
Thou art powerful over everything.'182
What is the excuse
of
him who remains heedless of entering that house
after the opening of the door
and
the setting up of the pointer? |
| 12 |
It is Thou who hast raised the price against
Thyself
to
the advantage of Thy servants,
desiring their profit in their
trade with Thee,
their
triumph through reaching Thee,
and
their increase on account of Thee,
for Thou hast said
(blessed
is Thy Name and high art Thou exalted),
Whoso
brings a good deed
shall
have ten the like of it,
and
whoso brings an evil deed
shall
only be recompensed the like of it.183 |
| 13 |
Thou
hast said,
The likeness of those who expend their wealth
in
the way of God
is
as the likeness of a grain of corn
that
sprouts seven ears,
in
every ear a hundred grains;
so God multiplies unto whom He wills.184
Thou hast said,
Who
is he that will lend to God a good loan,
and
He will multiply it for him manifold?185
And Thou hast sent down in the
Qur'an
similar verses on the multiplying of good deeds. |
| 14 |
It is Thou who hast pointed them
through
Thy speech from Thy Unseen
and
Thy encouragement in which lies their good fortune
toward that which
-
hadst Thou covered it from them -
their eyes would not have
perceived,
their ears would not have
heard,
and
their imaginations would not have grasped,
for Thou hast said,
Remember
Me
and I will remember you
be thankful to Me,
and be you not thankless towards Me!186
Thou hast said,
If you are thankful,
surely
I will increase you,
but if you are thankless,
My chastisement is surely terrible;187 |
| 15 |
And
Thou hast said,
Supplicate
Me
and I will respond to you,
surely those who wax too proud to worship Me
shall enter Gehenna utterly abject.188
Hence Thou hast named
supplicating Thee 'worship'
and
refraining from it 'waxing proud',
and Thou hast threatened that
the refraining from it
would
yield entrance into Gehenna in utter abjection. |
| 16 |
So
they remember Thee for Thy kindness,
they
thank Thee for Thy bounty,
they
supplicate Thee by Thy command,
and
they donate for Thee
in
order to seek Thy increase;
in all this lies their
deliverance from Thy wrath
and
their triumph through Thy good pleasure. |
| 17 |
Were
any creature himself to direct another creature
to
the like of that to which
Thou
Thyself hast directed Thy servants,
he would be described by
beneficence,
qualified
by kindness,
and
praised by every tongue.
So to Thee belongs praise
as
long as there is found a way to praise Thee
and
as long as there remains for praising
words
by which Thou may be praised
and
meanings which may be spent in praise! |
| 18 |
O He who shows Himself praiseworthy to His servants
through
beneficence and bounty,
flooding them with kindness
and graciousness!
How much Thy favour has been
spread about among us,
Thy
kindness lavished upon us,
and
Thy goodness singled out for us! |
| 19 |
Thou
hast guided us to
Thy
religion which Thou hast chosen,
Thy
creed with which Thou art pleased,
and
Thy path which Thou hast made smooth,
and Thou hast shown us
proximity to Thee
and
arrival at Thy generosity! |
| 20 |
O God,
among the choicest of those
duties
and
the most special of those obligations
Thou hast appointed the month
of Ramadan,
which
Thou hast singled out from other months,
chosen
from among all periods and eras,
and
preferred over all times of the year
through
the Qur'an and the Light
which
Thou sent down within it,
the
faith
which
Thou multiplied by means of it,
the
fasting
which
Thou obligated therein,
the
standing in prayer
which
Thou encouraged at its time,
and
the Night of Decree
which
Thou magnified therein,
the
night which is better than a thousand months.189
|
| 21 |
Through
it Thou hast preferred us
over
the other communities
and
through its excellence Thou hast chosen us
to
the exclusion of the people of the creeds.
We fasted by Thy command in
its daylight,
we
stood in prayer with Thy help in its night,
presenting
ourselves by its fasting and its standing
to
the mercy which Thou hast held up before us,
and
we found through it the means to Thy reward.
And Thou art full of what is
sought from Thee,
munificent
with what is asked of Thy bounty,
and
near to him who strives for Thy nearness. |
| 22 |
This month stood among us
in
a standing place of praise,
accompanied us
with
the companionship of one approved,
and profited us
with
the most excellent profit of the world's creatures.
Then it parted from us at the
completion of its time,
the
end of its term,
and
the fulfilment of its number. |
| 23 |
So we bid farewell to it with the farewell of one
whose parting pains us,
whose leaving fills us with
gloom and loneliness,
and to whom we have come to
owe
a
safeguarded claim,
an observed inviolability,
and a discharged right.
We say:
Peace be upon thee,
O
greatest month of God!
O festival of His friends! |
| 24 |
Peace be upon thee,
O
most noble of accompanying times!
O
best of months in days and hours! |
| 25 |
Peace
be upon thee,
month
in which
expectations
come near
and
good works are scattered about! |
| 26 |
Peace be upon thee,
comrade
who is great in worth when found
and who torments through absence when lost,
anticipated friend
whose parting gives pain! |
| 27 |
Peace
be upon thee,
familiar
who brought comfort in coming,
thus
making happy,
who left loneliness in going,
thus
giving anguish! |
| 28 |
Peace be upon thee,
neighbour
in whom
hearts became tender
and sins became few! |
| 29 |
Peace
be upon thee,
helper
who
aided against Satan,
companion
who
made easy the paths of good-doing! |
| 30 |
Peace be upon thee -
How many became freedmen of God within thee!
How happy those who observed the respect due to thee! |
| 31 |
Peace be upon thee -
How many the sins thou erased!
How many the kinds of faults thou covered over! |
| 32 |
Peace be upon thee -
How drawn out wert thou for the sinners!
How awesome wert thou in the hearts of the faithful! |
| 33 |
Peace be upon thee,
month with which no days compete! |
| 34 |
Peace be upon thee,
month which is peace in all affairs! |
| 35 |
Peace be upon thee,
thou whose companionship is not disliked,
thou whose friendly mixing is not blamed! |
| 36 |
Peace be upon thee,
just
as thou hast entered upon us with blessings
and cleansed us of the defilement of offenses! |
| 37 |
Peace be upon thee -
Thou art not bid farewell in annoyance
nor is thy fasting left in weariness! |
| 38 |
Peace
be upon thee,
object
of seeking before thy time,
object
of sorrow before thy passing! |
| 39 |
Peace be upon thee -
How much evil was turned away from us through thee!
How
much good flowed upon us because of thee! |
| 40 |
Peace be upon thee
and upon the Night of Decree
which is better than a thousand months!190
|
| 41 |
Peace be upon thee -
How much we craved thee yesterday!
How intensely we shall yearn for thee tomorrow! |
| 42 |
Peace be upon thee
and upon thy bounty
which has now been made unlawful to us
and upon thy blessings gone by
which
have now been stripped away from us! |
| 43 |
O God,
we are the people of this
month.
Through it Thou hast ennobled us
and given us success
because of Thy kindness,
while the wretched are ignorant of its time.
Made unlawful to them is its bounty
because of their wretchedness. |
| 44 |
Thou art the patron
of
the knowledge of it by which Thou hast preferred us,
and
its prescribed practices to which Thou hast guided us.
We have undertaken, through
Thy giving success,
its
fasting and its standing in prayer,
but with shortcomings,
and we have performed little of much. |
| 45 |
O God,
so to Thee belongs praise,
in
admission of evil doing
and
confession of negligence,
and to Thee belongs
remorse
firmly knitted in our hearts
and
seeking of pardon sincerely uttered by our tongues.
Reward us,
in spite of the neglect that befell us in this month,
with a reward through which
we may reach the bounty desired from it
and win the varieties of its craved stores! |
| 46 |
Make incumbent upon us Thy pardon
for our falling short of Thy right in this month
and make our lives which lie
before us
reach the coming month of Ramadan!
Once Thou hast made us reach
it,
help us perform the worship of which Thou art worthy,
cause us to undertake the obedience which Thou deservest,
and grant us righteous works
that we may fulfil Thy right
in
these two months of the months of time.191
|
| 47 |
O God,
as for the small and large
sins
which
we have committed in this our month,
the misdeeds into which we
have fallen,
and the offenses which we
have earned
purposefully or in forgetfulness,
wronging ourselves thereby
or violating the respect due to others,
bless Muhammad and his
Household,
cover us over with Thy
covering,
pardon us through Thy
pardoning,
place us not before the eyes
of the gloaters because of that,
stretch not toward us the
tongues of the defamers,
and employ us in that which
will alleviate and expiate
whatever Thou disapprovest from us within it
through
Thy clemency which does not run out,
and
Thy bounty which does not diminish! |
| 48 |
O God,
bless Muhammad and his
Household,
redress our being afflicted
by our month,192
bless us in this day of our
festival and our fast-breaking,
make it one of the best of
days that have passed over us,
the greatest in attracting Thy pardon,
and the most effacing toward sins,
and forgive us our sins, both
the concealed and the public! |
| 49 |
O God,
with the passing of this month
make us pass forth from our offenses,
with its departure
make
us depart from our evil deeds,
and appoint us thereby among
its most felicitous people,
the most plentiful of them in portion,
and the fullest of them in share! |
| 50 |
O God,
when any person observes this
month as it should be observed,
safeguards its inviolability
as it should be safeguarded,
attends to its bounds as they
should be attended to,
fears its misdeeds as they
should be feared,
or seeks nearness to Thee
with any act of nearness-seeking
which
makes incumbent upon him Thy good pleasure
and bends toward him Thy mercy,
give to us the like [of that]193 from Thy wealth
and bestow it upon us in multiples through Thy bounty,
for Thy bounty does not
diminish,
Thy treasuries do not decrease but overflow,
the mines of Thy beneficence are not exhausted,
and Thy bestowal is the bestowal full of delight! |
| 51 |
O God,
bless Muhammad and his
Household
and write for us the like of
the wages
of him who fasted in it
or worshipped Thee within it
until the Day of Resurrection! |
| 52 |
O God,
we repent to Thee in our day
of fast-breaking,
which Thou hast appointed
for
the faithful
a festival and a joy
and for the people of Thy creed
a time of assembly and gathering,
from every misdeed we did,
ill work we sent ahead,
or evil thought we secretly conceived,
the repentance of one who
does not harbour a return to sin
and who afterwards will not go back to offense,
an unswerving repentance rid
of doubt and wavering.
So accept it from us,
be pleased with us,
and fix us within it! |
| 53 |
O God,
provide us with fear of the
threatened punishment
and yearning for the promised reward,
so that we may find
the pleasure of that for which we supplicate Thee
and the sorrow of that from which we seek sanctuary in Thee! |
| 54 |
And
place us with Thee among the repenters,
those upon whom Thou hast made Thy love obligatory
and from whom Thou hast accepted
the
return to obeying Thee!194
O
Most Just of the just! |
| 55 |
O God,
show forbearance toward our
fathers and our mothers
and all the people of our religion,
those who have gone and those who will pass by,
until the Day of Resurrection! |
| 56 |
O God,
bless our prophet Muhammad
and his Household,
as
Thou hast blessed Thy angels brought nigh,
bless him and his Household,
as Thou hast blessed Thy prophets sent out,
bless him and his Household,
as Thou hast blessed Thy righteous servants
- and better than that, O Lord of the worlds! -
a blessing whose benediction
will reach us,
whose benefit will attain to us,
and through which our supplication may be granted!
Thou art the most generous of
those who are beseeched,
the most sufficient of those in whom confidence is had,
the most bestowing of those from whom bounty is asked,
and Thou art powerful over everything!195
|