BB00049: Ziyarat Jami’atu’l-Kabira

Part 1: “Praise be to God, the Lord of all…”

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

Praise be to God, the Lord of all worlds. Blessings be upon Muhammad, the Messenger of God and the Seal of the Prophets. And peace be upon the family of God and the people of God, according to His will and desire. There is no God but He, the Truth, the Manifest Truth.

And furthermore, when thou desirest to visit the Beloved of God or any of the Imams of the Faith, purify thy body from all that thy heart abhorreth. Then perform ablutions with seven handfuls of water upon the head, then four handfuls upon the right side, then three handfuls upon the left side. When thou hast finished, don thy finest garments, face the Qiblih and seek God’s forgiveness two hundred and two times. Then walk with dignity and tranquility, magnifying God along thy path until thou reachest the gate of the sanctuary. There pause and magnify thy Lord two hundred and two times. Then enter without uttering a word and walk in tranquility until thou reachest seven paces beneath the feet.

There pause and say: “I bear witness before God in this my station to the throne of the Lord, even as God hath testified to His own Self, that there is none other God but He, the Mighty, the Wise.” Then turn toward Him Who is established upon His throne, seated upon His seat, and say: “O Essence of the hidden mystery that hath shone forth, then appeared and gleamed from the precincts of the Divine Eternity! Upon you be the splendors of revelation, the dawning-places of wisdom, the mines of command, the seats of remembrance, the pillars of unity, and the signs of oneness and the verses of sanctification, according to what God hath willed and desired in the might of eternity, the majesty of perpetuity, the beauty of grandeur, the awe of ancientness, the appearance of glorification, the glory of identity, and the grace of unity, in such wise that none besides God, the Creator of all beings, can comprehend.

By my father and mother and all that my Lord knoweth! How can I describe an essence among the essences of your detachment, a light among the lights of your sanctification, an embroidery among the embroideries of your will, a mystery among the mysteries of your creation, a remembrance among the remembrances of your manifestation, a decree among the decrees of your servitude, and a leaf among the leaves of the tree of your sovereignty, after God hath made known to me that all paths are barred from your holy precincts and God hath shown me that all ways are cut off from the station of your remembrance? Nay, by your glory! Neither I nor anyone else hath any mention before you, for all existing things, in the camphor-like essence of their realities, are as nothing beneath the splendor of your countenance, and all contingent things, in the pure abstraction of their being, are utterly non-existent before the manifestation of a remembrance from your hearts.

By my father and mother and all that my Lord knoweth! Through your mention is God’s unity established, minds bear witness to His knowledge, souls prove His justice and bounty, bodies bow down before His grandeur, voices become humble before His majesty, and all things glorify the exaltation of His remembrance. Were it not for you, nothing would know God; were it not for you, nothing would worship God; were it not for you, nothing would sanctify God; were it not for you, nothing would remember God; were it not for you, nothing would describe God; were it not for you, nothing would praise God; were it not for you, nothing would characterize God.

By my father and mother and all that my Lord knoweth! Through your essential realities, all existing things are cut off from the precincts of their proximity, through your beings all things are rendered non-existent from the station of their praise, through your essential natures all things prostrate themselves before God in their realities, through your signs minds and souls bear witness to God’s greatness and to annihilation in the precincts of His nearness, through your servitude is found the lordship of all else besides you, through the rays of your forms are created the realities of all beneath you, and through the effects of the lights of your glory are embroidered the essential natures of all beings before you.

By my father and mother and all that my Lord knoweth! How can I mention you with this my tongue, being aware of my knowledge and my knowledge of the existence of my self in that Beauty? Verily, I know with certainty that my very existence is a sin in your kingdom and evidence of my impotence in your dominion, for that which proceedeth from sin and indicateth weakness, how can it be worthy of such a station?

How dare I venture to praise you or utter words of adulation in your presence? Nay, by your glory, I hold you above every description save your own self-description, and deem you sanctified beyond every attribute save those of your own essence. What am I and what right have I to stand before your glory? What am I and what station have I before your majesty? What am I and what position have I before your grandeur? What am I and what praise can I offer before your holy might?

Should I say “Thou art as Thou art,” the earth has already spoken to its beloved ones that its Imams cannot be thus described, and that all existence, both seen and unseen, is but a mention among the mentions that have been stripped of essence through the essence of its manifestation, neither appearing from a self before it, nor manifesting from it to itself. It is like a tree that exists by itself and indicates the eternality of its Lord’s craftsmanship, and speaks of the loftiness of glory concerning its Creator, without any limit being known except its own limit, or any mention being made except of itself.

Glory be to God, its Creator! What standing have I before the sanctuary of your holiness? By your glory, when I return to myself and witness my position before you, my spirit nearly departs from my being due to the greatness of your souls and the majesty of your forms. For I, in my poverty, inadequacy, distress, and neediness—though God created me from the lights of one of your near followers—dared to praise you and presumed to laud you.

Glory be to your Lord from my grave misfortunes, my great transgressions, and my ultimate sins before the lights of your might! Were you to judge me with justice, I would become as nothing, like the day when I was naught. Yet I know that in my station before you, I am like the day when I was nothing, hoping that creation might be originated anew at every moment and invention might be invented in every condition.

Your Lord and your Creator is in your dominion, never changing you throughout ancient times nor altering you at the dawn of manifestation. For through you are established the signs of God’s knowledge, the tokens of His Identity, the proofs of His Oneness in His grandeur, the manifestations of His Self-Sufficiency in His glory, the revelations of His All-Mercifulness in His holiness, and the stations of His eternity in His exalted remembrance. Were that which befalls others to befall you, Divine Unity would be nullified, the signs of abstraction would cease to exist, the tokens of uniqueness would vanish, and the manifestations of praise would be altered.

Glory be to Him and exalted is He Who has established you upon His throne, made you the speakers from His presence, the bestowers to every rightful one their right, the conveyors to every one of wisdom their wisdom, the witnesses over all things through His knowledge, and the comprehenders of all things through His craftsmanship by His manifestation.

How exalted is your station—by my father and mother and by what is in my Lord’s knowledge! How sublime is your mention—by my father and mother and by what is in my Lord’s knowledge! How lofty is your right—by my father and mother and by what is in my Lord’s knowledge! How manifest are your melodies and bounties—by my father and mother and by what is in my Lord’s knowledge! How hidden is your mystery—by my father and mother and by what is in my Lord’s knowledge! How resplendent is your glory—by my father and mother and by what is in my Lord’s knowledge! How enduring is your sovereignty—by my father and mother and by what is in my Lord’s knowledge!

Whosoever God, your Creator, wills, descends to your court; whosoever God, your Originator, desires, journeys to your presence; whosoever knows God, your Lord, drinks the sweetness of your nearness; whosoever finds God, your Creator, knows the right of your remembrance; whosoever sanctifies God, your Reckoner, severs himself unto the lights of your manifestation; whosoever praises God, your Provider, fulfills the right of your glorification; and whosoever prostrates to God, your Answerer, becomes humble and submissive at your presence.

By my father and mother and by what is in my Lord’s knowledge, names have been cut off from knowing attributes in the sanctuary of your holiness, signs in the kingdoms of earth and heaven have vanished from arriving at the carpet of your glory, the essences of contingent beings have ceased to exist through the recognition of the lowest sign of your mighty signs, and the essences of the resplendent ones have vanished at the rising of a light from your lights.

By the beauty of Your countenance have I known You from all else, and through You have I declared You sanctified from all others. Were it not for You, I would not exist, nor would anything else exist that could know You as You deserve, or thank You for Your bounties, or praise You with fitting tribute, or reach the heights of gratitude to You, or ascend to the heaven of Your remembrance, or rise to the atmosphere of Your grace, or be detached unto the King of Your realm, or find delight in nearness to You, or find rest through Your leave, or yearn to behold You, or forget all mention save Your mention, or be established upon the throne of its heart through gazing upon Your countenance, or become independent through Your bestowal. By my father and mother and all within my Lord’s knowledge!

Through Your lights have the proofs of abstraction appeared in the worlds of divinity, and through Your mysteries have the manifestations of unity been perfected in the throne of might, and through Your decrees have the essences of sanctification been distinguished in the realm of the kingdom, and through Your bounty and Your mysteries have the essential realities of the abstracted contingent beings become enamored in the world of earthly dominion. By my father and mother and all within my Lord’s knowledge!

How great is Your right! How exalted is Your station! How enduring is Your remembrance! How endless is Your praise! How sublime is Your glory! How noble are Your names! How lofty are Your days! By Your might, and by the truth of Your essence, and the substance of Your identity, and the abstraction of Your being, and the purity of Your reality, and the pristine nature of Your manifestations, and the sanctity of Your revelations! Were God to punish me for my praise of You with all that lies within His knowledge, I would be content with it, grateful to Him, lauding His Essence, supplicating before His Presence, submissive before His Glory, humble before His Grandeur, prostrate before His Being, and worshipful before His Reality.

For God created me only for You, and kneaded my nature only for Your love, and fashioned my heart only for Your praise, and made me solely to stand before Your presence, and gave me nothing save to fulfill the right of gratitude to You, and willed nothing for me save annihilation in You and the burning of my blood in Your path.

My father and my mother, and all that is within the knowledge of my Lord, be a ransom for you! Where are the days of your dominion, that I may strive in holy war before your presence? Where are the days of your might, that I may regain a share from the outpouring of your rising splendor? Where are the days of your sovereignty, that I may take your vengeance upon your enemies? Where are the days of your manifestation, that I may be independent of all save you? Where are the days when men shall behold the traces of your lordship, that I may say, by your leave, unto whatsoever I will: “Be!” and it shall become—existing before your eyes? Where are the days which God hath promised His servants in your return—days wherein God shall enrich each from His bounty, and render unto every one his due, and bring the contingent being to the utmost reach of its effusion, and cause hearts to branch forth from the fields of His oneness; wherein minds shall be firmly established upon the places of His wisdom, and souls be stilled from the promptings of His mystery?

Part 2: “My father and my mother, and all…”

My father and my mother, and all that is within the knowledge of my Lord, be a ransom for you! I know that my remembrance in your sight is a fire that consumeth my heart and effaceth all my traces. Yet, by your might, I would be content with that fire; for it is the pardon of the Almighty within me, the veiling of the All-Protecting over me, the bounty of the Most Generous within my soul, the justice of the Overpowering in my abasement, and the grace of the All-Forgiving in my very being.

My father and my mother, and all that is within the knowledge of my Lord, be a ransom for you! For whenever I ascend unto the station of the summit of your knowledge, and rise unto the furthest limit of the effulgence of your revelation, I behold naught save the least of what the ant hath recognized of the right of its Lord, and I witness the speck of dust in the ordinance of its Creator. And how could it be otherwise? For the paths of severance, in their very essence, shine with the lights of holiness; the realities of impossibility, in their pure abstraction, blaze with the splendors of revelations; and while they remain even as they are, they are cut off from the camphor-whiteness of your remembrance, and the names are sundered from the simple purity of your Name.

My father and my mother, and all that is within the knowledge of my Lord, be a ransom for you! How shall I describe you, when description itself is confounded before your Countenance? How shall I set forth your praises, when praise is abashed in the presence of your court? Alas, alas! I am he who hath dared to commit against you by my laudation, after I had known the bounds of mine own self, and the bounds of my Lord’s decree within my heart. I am he who hath not been ashamed before you to remember you, though I knew that remembrance is cut off from the station of your Gate, and that praise is forbidden in the seats of your holiness.

I am he who hath confronted you with the essence of commendations, though I knew the loftiness of your majesty and the sublimity of your rank. I am he who loveth to be annihilated in you, yet I utter the word of life before your rising splendor. I am he who was not mentioned in your presence, and yet now I would draw near to the throne of your station. My portion, which God hath allotted me, is helplessness, and my share is poverty before the manifestations of your knowledges; and yet now have I ventured upon your praise, and desired to yield myself unto you, to salute you, and to be effaced in you.

Alas, alas! How great is my sin, how immense my portion of desire, how great the crime of mine injustice! By your glory, when I look at my waywardness and witness what I have earned before you, my life is cut off, my innermost being is troubled, my pillars shake and I shudder. For I, despite my knowledge that you are witnesses to what I have earned through my own hands—with what tongue shall I confess my sin and with what gaze shall I look upon my deeds? By your glory, if others were to see what I have earned, they would not look upon me and would flee from the severity of God’s justice against me. But you, despite your great station, your lofty rank, your glorious splendor and your conclusive proof, have pardoned me and covered me as though I had committed no sin, done no wrong, and approached no distance. Never have I seen one like you who has power over such a base servant, nor have I seen generous ones like you who pardon such a servant as I, nor do I witness your justice despite your knowledge of my sin.

Alas, alas! Were I to weep blood with the waters of the seas, cover my head with all the earth’s dust forever, sit in ashes and upon firm mountains, fall unconscious and cry out from what you have witnessed of my crimes and seen of my destructive acts, my heart would not be calmed, nor my inner being or outer self find peace, nor my body find rest. Alas, alas! I have no refuge except in you, no dwelling place except with you. Through you I seek intercession with you, in your presence I take refuge with you, from your justice I flee to you, and through your forbearance I ask God for your generosity and grace. By your glory, if you were to drive me from your door, in whom could I take refuge? And if you were to turn me away from your threshold, to whom could I return?

By your glory, all paths except your grace are blocked, and all ways except your generosity are barred, for all good descends from the clouds of your mercy and all things are established by your decree. And verily every thing is made firm through your ordinance; while whoso turneth away from the One Who remembereth you, and waxeth proud against your followers, and maketh war upon your well-beloved, and loveth your adversaries—unto you do I flee, to your Presence, seeking refuge from that which God loveth not for any of the people of thy love. I ask, moreover, of His bounty every good encompassed by His knowledge—such as He hath ordained for you, and loved for them that follow you. Through you doth the loyal walk in the path of good-pleasure; through you doth the hostile descend to the depths of fire. Through you doth he who knoweth your remembrance ascend to the summit of the most exalted utterance; and through you is he chastened—though he deem it not—who doth not curse the sun and the moon for the wrong done unto you.

Through you did I set forth unto the pearls of the seas of Divine unity; through you are the boughs of the Tree of detachment made steadfast in the billowing deeps of singleness. No soul that hath affirmed the oneness of God your Lord but hath drunk of the cup of the outpouring of your grace; no seeker that hath wholly detached himself unto His Presence but hath journeyed by your annihilation; no being that hath prostrated itself sincerely before Him, cleansed from the taint of remembering aught besides Him, but standeth before your mercy; no thing that magnifieth God with the gift bestowed upon it but sanctifieth your Presence from the descriptions of all beneath you.

My father and my mother, and all that is within the knowledge of my Lord, be a ransom for you! Ye are too glorious to be described by “lights,” too exalted to be named by the word “the Overpowering,” too noble to have ascribed unto you the mention of “the Veiler.” For through you have the Names of God been made manifest in the Kingdom of Command; and the creation is but the unfolding of His attributes in the worlds of His making.

The witnesses bear witness by virtue of your lofty origin; those who remember gain remembrance through your glory; by your grace the seekers are emboldened to inquire about your Creator; and through your love those who are detached become detached unto God through annihilation around your hearts. None has any portion save in knowing you, no honor save in praising you, no glory save in humility before your countenance, no majesty save in powerlessness before your might. Through you is manifested what appears in the inmost essence, and through you is concealed what is hidden in the Protected Name. Were it not for you, nothing would exist besides you, and were it not for you, nothing could describe your own selves.

Through the manifestation of your Will are all realities established; through the lights of your Purpose are all things that seek attained; through the design of your Measure is the measure of all that are in the Kingdom of Names and Attributes determined. By your decree doth the Overpowering decree for contingent things; by your leave doth the Almighty grant leave unto existences. Through the shining glory and the radiant light of the revelation of your sovereignty God causeth every atom to die; and by the verses of your Book the Preserved Tablet counteth all beings. There is none possessed of lofty might and impregnable power, nor any endowed with exalted honor, but that he is more abased than a speck of dust before you, and humbler than the least of the severed dust at your threshold. Ye are the Most High, and by your exaltation do all infer; ye are the Victorious, and by your hosts do all gain victory.

Naught is the firmly-established decree and the pure consummation but the hidden workings round about your Origination. Nothing descendeth from the treasuries of the command of God but that it alighteth upon you and proceedeth from you, as the fulfillment of His bounty upon others besides you.

My father and my mother, and all that is within the knowledge of my Lord, be a ransom for you! The utmost reach of utterance hath fallen short of the glory of your decrees, and all words have failed to encompass your perfections. Through you do the seas of creation flow by your grace; through you do the surging floods of invention billow by your bounty. But for you, naught beneath you would have been, nor would the unity of God have appeared to any save through you. Glorified be God, your Creator, above what I have numbered in your regard and poured forth with my ink from among your attributes! What am I, alone, that I should offer you greeting or praise your Presence? Before you, from the Presence of the Almighty, He alone ceaseth not to be your Witness and your Praiser.

I implore your forgiveness for every remembrance apart from you; and I turn unto you in repentance from every laudation besides you. For nothing befitteth the court of the holiness of the nearness of your being save the mention of the camphor-purity of your remembrance; and nothing is worthy of the dawning-place of the Presence of your essential Reality save the praise of your simple, uncompounded purity. None deserveth the heights of the glory of your inmost majesty save the very essence of the light of the effulgence of the vesture of your Countenance; and none can ascend into the air of the station of nearness to your “I-ness” save the description of the detached lights of the holiness of your Will.

My father and my mother, and all that is within the knowledge of my Lord, be a ransom for you! Through you do the servants describe their Creator by the mention of abasement and everlastingness; through you do the people of the heart extol their Originator by the mention of pre-eternity and grandeur. Glorified be God, my Lord and your Lord, that I should join with you the mention of any thing, or describe you with the attribute of any thing, or praise you with the praise of any thing! For even the loftiest essence of the purest praise that proceedeth from the Presence of origination confesseth utter annihilation before you, and the highest summit of the substance of the Presence of invention acknowledgeth the negation of all claim in your Presence.

My father and my mother, and all that is within the knowledge of my Lord, be a ransom for you! Since the ordinance of negation and affirmation are alike with you, and the mention of light and shadow in your sight are but on the level of creation, I shall describe you according to that which the spirit casteth into my heart, and by the leave of the Spirit of Command within my secret.

My father and my mother, and all that is within the knowledge of my Lord, be a ransom for you! How sweet is your remembrance, which is the remembrance of God; and your praise, which is the praise of God; and your decree, which is the decree of God; and your love, which is the love of God; and the knowledge of you, which is the knowledge of God; and obedience unto you, which is obedience unto God; and disobedience unto you, which is disobedience unto God. Through you is the ordinance of faith made manifest, and the people of utterance distinguished, and the judgment of what is in possibility made clear from what is in the worlds. Through you is what lieth in the inner being brought forth unto outward vision.

Part 3: “I call God to witness—and all…”

I call God to witness—and all that are in His knowledge—that ye are they who act in all things, and bear witness over all things, and convey unto all things the due of all things, and seek forgiveness, before all things, for all things. By your pardon hath he found who hath found; by your secret hath he been succored who is succored. Were it not for your grace whereby all are reached, they would have been as the day of their non-existence; and were it not for your bounty that embraceth all, all would be chastened—each for having looked only unto himself.

My life and my mother and all that my Lord knoweth be a sacrifice unto Thee! Human minds fall short of extolling Thy glory, and intellects are powerless to praise Thy grace. For all that is attributed to you is attributed to God’s glory, and all that is attributed to Him, in His transcendent Being, is attributed to you.

My life and my mother and all that my Lord knoweth be a sacrifice unto Thee! Through Your remembrance are hearts emptied of the remembrance of others, and through Your praise are minds established in Your knowledge, and through service to You do souls bear witness to Your truth. Through You have appeared the comprehensive Words, and through You have been perfected the stations of Command in the kingdoms of Command and Creation.

How can I mention before You what hath befallen me when You know it better than I? Were it not for my hope in You, and my patience through God and through You, and my fear of Your justice, and my yearning toward You, I would have been destroyed by the conditions that befell me. But now what is decreed has come to pass. I praise You for all that hath befallen me and I remember You for what will be decreed hereafter by Your Command.

No decree is established save by Your Command, and no love is negated save by Your permission. The measures of all things flow from the treasuries of Your Command, and the dawning-places of revelation have descended upon You, and from Your holy precincts are they accepted by all else beneath You.

My life and my mother and all that my Lord knoweth be a sacrifice unto Thee! If good is mentioned, You are its source, and if evil is mentioned by God, You are its reality, for from the heaven of creation nothing descendeth but that it boweth in adoration at your right hand and is thunderstruck beneath your shadow; nor doth aught come down from the heaven of Invention but it standeth recorded among your perfections and gathered into the folds of the enclosures wherein the reflections of your lights are mirrored. By your bounty were all the gardens made one, and their pavilions were brought nigh; the seas flowed, through your favor, across the emerald meads of Rafraf—may my father and mother be a ransom for you! And, as is in my Lord’s knowledge, by your justice were the fires united and the reckoning fulfilled—for verily “the sun and the moon move by a fixed reckoning.” May my father and mother be a sacrifice for you!

All good riseth from your houses; all justice beareth witness in your deeds; every description is guided by your Names; every attribute is made ready in your lights. May my father and mother be a ransom for you! And, as is in my Lord’s knowledge, I bear witness that your Will is the very Will of God within the realms of His creation and His command—free, as He is, from aught beside Him: it is conjoined with nothing of His creatures; from it nothing goeth forth, nor into it doth anything enter. He is the One, the Single, the Ever-Abiding; none comprehend Him.

And I bear witness that your desire is the very Desire of God in the worlds of His command and His essence. Should the Ancient of Days appear in His entirety, He would be made manifest at your command, and, at your revelation, would originate all things out of nothing. May my father and mother be a ransom for you! And, as is in my Lord’s knowledge, by your Name were the heavens upheld without pillar; by your command was the Throne established upon the water; the kaf was joined to the nun for the mention of your tribulations; and the measure was fixed by geometry in remembrance of the epiphanies of your splendors.

May my father and mother be a sacrifice for you! Naught hath the Pen inscribed save your praise; naught doth the Tablet enumerate but your commendation. In all that exists there is but your description, and in all that is unseen there is but your knowledge. May my father and mother be a ransom for you! And, as is in my Lord’s knowledge, the briefest testimonies have confessed to equity, and the decrees have been made to speak of free choice. All this is but a favor from you, a bounty from the court of your sanctity, a generosity from the heaven of your Will, and a beneficence from the overflowings of your bestowal.

May my father and mother be a sacrifice for you! How shall I declare the hiddenness of your secret, point to the treasure of your knowledge, or give tongue to the guarded praise of your wisdom? For even as He is—by reason of His exaltation, which is exalted by your exaltation, and His nearness, which is brought nigh by your nearness—the Names are cut off from the court of His mention, and the attributes fade away in the station of His recognition. I am but a servant in your dominion, a bondman within your sovereignty. Whatever praise the Book proclaimeth, whatever the Cloud of Unknowing indicateth of splendor, is but a remembrance of your generosity toward him and a token of your grace in his regard.

By my father and mother and all within my Lord’s knowledge! While the earth has constricted its expanse upon me and the mountains have settled their surroundings upon the middle, I complain to you of what has befallen me in this earthly life, that my heart may find relief before the Midian of your might, my heart may soften at the station of manifesting your majesty, and my eyes may shed tears before your mercy. Perchance thereby the signs of my servitude may point to the manifestations of your servitude, and the stations of my tribulation may recount the tales of your tribulations, that thereby the upright religion may be established by your command and mention of the All-Wise may be realized by your leave.

By my father and mother and all within my Lord’s knowledge! I have manifested detachment within the essences of my heart only that your bounty and your revealed Lordship, proceeding from your Fashioner, might be made manifest. I have been satisfied with the traces of abasement and solitude only because I desired the effulgence of your radiant servitude, which beameth forth from the grace of your Lord. For I was a thing unmentioned, incapable of choosing for myself an affair. God created me through the superabundant light of your splendor, set me encircling your Throne, moving about your court, and proclaiming your sanctity.

Naught doth God cause to flow through me save what He hath appointed as my portion, that your station might be disclosed, your Word exalted, your mention uplifted, your rank established, your might made plain, the scene of your Theophany unveiled, and your generosity verified—may my father and mother be a sacrifice for you! And—as my Lord knoweth—were it not for the earth, the light of the sun would not appear, nor would the ordinance of heaven be made manifest in its presence. I was nothing, until I made mention of myself before you; yet I know that your mention is not disclosed save through my mention, your Cause is not established save through my act, your religion is not made plain save through my decree, and your Word is not raised aloft save through my lowliness. Therefore did I commit, before your faces, the deadly deeds of my soul and the grievous offences of my self.

May my father and mother be a ransom for you! I bear witness that whoso turneth toward you is not rejected; whoso arriveth at your Gate is not repulsed; whoso gazeth upon the dawning of your Countenance is not left in despair; whoso asketh from your bounty is not withheld; whoso severeth himself unto you is not cut off; whoso spendeth in your path suffereth no diminution; and whoso speaketh of your grace is not belied. For this cause have I made the fire in my heart to shine as light, and have accepted sorrow in my being as gladness—for ye are witnesses over me, in secret and in bounty; ye are the guides to the station of my ascent unto God, both in concealment and in open proclamation.

By Thy might! Were all the hosts of earth to advance against me, yet relying upon Thee I should know neither fear nor distress. Though every dweller upon the earth should plot against me, I, holding fast to thy Cord, would neither care nor shrink.

May my father and mother be a sacrifice for Thee! I have no fear, for nothing is known from your knowledge but that it remaineth within your sovereignty; naught goeth forth from your dominion; naught is harmed outside your kingdom. Verily, when the believer—at the very moment of his turning—draweth near to you, it is by your favor upon him; and when the disbeliever denieth, yet even in his denial he shall in the end return toward you, for all draw their effusion from the splendor of your majesty.

By my Lord’s knowledge: I lie humbled upon the earth before the seat of your sovereignty, for your Will is compelling and effective, and your decree abateth and exalteth. None possesseth the power to withhold save by your leave, nor to bestow save by your permission. The wrongdoer wrongeth only by what ye judge against him in justice, and the wronged shall find succor only by what ye have promised in your bounty. Yours is the beauty—sublime above every beauty—and the sweetest praise—exalted above every praise. Nothing that descendeth upon me escapeth your knowledge, nor doth the judgment of what hath passed me by elude you. Naught in the heavens or on earth can frustrate you; for by your Name every light is set aright, every Manifestation is revealed, every hidden mystery is proclaimed, and every symbol is concealed.

By my father and mother and by all that is within my Lord’s knowledge, I have no fear of those who have wronged me, for you are witnesses over me and avengers against them. They have no greater torment with you than their denial of your right, their rejection of your Cause, their transgression in your days, and their pride against the weak ones among your followers. I beseech you by your generosity, O witnesses of creation and guides of truth, that you look upon me with a near glance whereby all affairs may be set right, all sorrows transformed to joy, all anguish relieved, and the path of the Beloved made easy. For from the heaven of your will descends relief, and from the seat of your desire appears permission for deliverance. I have none to petition but you, none to trust but you, none to flee to but you, and none before whom to supplicate but you.

By your right I implore you to send down upon me all the good that your knowledge encompasses, and to ward off from me the decree of evil that your Book enumerates. For you are honored servants who precede not God, your Lord, in judgment and who act by His command. I seek your forgiveness for all that God has recorded from me, and I turn in repentance to you for all that God knows concerning me, for existence is beyond sin and that which is attributed to sin. Here I am at the corners of your pardon.

I seal my praise of you with what God has revealed in His Book, where He says—and His Word is the Truth for those who have recognized your right in the kingdom of Command and Creation—“Glorified be the Lord of Might from what they attribute,” and “Peace be upon the Messengers,” and “All praise belongs to God, the Lord of the Worlds.”