BB00188: Prayer for Siyyid Husayn

In the Name of God, the Most Inaccessible, the Most Holy

Glorified art Thou, O my God! I bear witness—yea, and all things bear witness—that Thou art God: there is none other God but Thee, One, without peer or partner. Thine is the kingdom and the dominion; Thine the might and the power; Thine the strength and the divinity; Thine the sovereignty and the realm of creation; Thine the glory and the unapproachableness; Thine the sway and exaltation; Thine the splendor and rejoicing; Thine the bounty and detachment; Thine the grandeur and majesty; Thine are the similitudes and the Names; Thine the might and the glory; Thine the Countenance and the beauty; Thine the orientation and perfection; Thine the power and the act; Thine the potency and independence; Thine the awe and justice; Thine the mercy and bounty; Thine the similitude and exemplars; Thine the design and the deeds; Thine the sovereignty and the reverence; and Thine whatsoever Thou hast loved from the treasuries of Thy command.

Thou hast ever been a God one, single, peerless, self-subsisting, everlasting, eternal, self-reliant—Who hast taken unto Thyself neither consort nor child. Thou givest life and causest to die and givest life again; and Thou, verily, art the Living Who dieth not, the King Who passeth not away, the Sovereign Who is not displaced, the Single Who is not outstripped, the Just … In Thy grasp is the malakut of all things, and in Thy right hand the reins of all things. By Thy command Thou bringest into being whatsoever Thou willest; verily, Thou hast ever been powerful over all things.

Glorified art Thou, O my God! We have ever loved that Thou shouldst cause the Concourse on high to bear witness unto Thy creatures to the loftiness of Thy love and good-pleasure, to the sublimity of Thy … and Thy comeliness, to the elevation of Thy bounty and Thy highness, to the inviolability of Thy favour and Thy abiding, to the rapture of Thy Manifestation and the meeting with Thee. And I—hedged about by the bounds of my poverty and the limitations of my soul—desire that none be made present before Thy face save such as have followed me in Thy command and obeyed me in Thy love. Short of this, let there appear … repentance for what hath been committed, and seeking forgiveness for what hath been veiled.

Never would I don the vesture of pardon and forgiveness save after I behold, as I have rehearsed before Thee, their tokens. And if the Tree of Negation should stand before me, it must needs ask forgiveness of Thee—then … And if I seek Thy forgiveness on its behalf, then indeed have I clothed myself in the robe of Thy All-Forgivingness; and if I turn in repentance for it, then verily am I invested with Thy All-Returning grace. But if the Tree of Affirmation be made present before me, then do I array myself in the garment of Thy Munificence and am clothed in the mantle of Thy Bountiful Bestowal; for all that I have acquired is beneath Thy love and Thy good-pleasure, and I am ashamed to utter, in the presence of Thy Countenance, the word of repentance and of seeking pardon. Yet of necessity there must be repentance for what I have wrought and seeking forgiveness for what hath been concealed.

Thus, if I implore Thy pardon for it, I am indeed robed in Thy forgiveness—or else in the garment of Thy justice and Thy retribution. And if I repent for it, I am verily clothed in Thy clemency—or else invested with the raiment of Thy taking and Thy severity. Glorified, glorified art Thou! Were this but the limit of my own self within the bounds of mine identity—when I would fain be clothed in naught but the garment of Thy bounty and in what beseemeth the loftiness of Thy attributes and Thy names—how then, when Thy independent majesty and Thy pre-eternal beingness will that Thou Thyself shouldst bear witness concerning a servant apart from Thy love, that there may be manifested from Thee the modes of Thy All-Forgivingness, Thy All-Returning mercy, Thy clemency and Thy decree? For all this would follow … after the veils of the veiled ones—things Thou lovest not to be manifested … Nay rather, Thou hast ever loved to bear witness, for all things, to the elevation of Thy love and good-pleasure, to the sublimity of Thy obedience and Thy comeliness, that there may shine forth from Thee the modes that befit the loftiness of Thy holiness—of Thy good-pleasure, Thy exaltation, Thy self-subsistence and Thy beauty.

Glorified, glorified art Thou! For the veiled ones, the sun of Thy Name, the All-Forgiving, hath a setting-place; and for the obedient, the sun of Thy Name, the Munificent, shineth resplendent. For Thou art exalted above being described by this or by that—since in both is naught beheld but Thee, and perforce there must be a negation for all beside Thee. For Thou art the Forgiver when Thou art the Manifest; and Thou art the Bestower when Thou art the All-Returning. Thy decree is only that which Thou lovest to witness—and not that Thou shouldst witness aught save what Thou lovest, for therein lieth Thy good-pleasure.

And as for me, within the bounds of my low estate, when I behold one who treadeth the path of Thy good-pleasure, how could I fail to manifest toward him the modes of mercy? For from me he hath acquired naught that would call forth My judgment upon him, but rather pardon from My presence. And when I behold one bereft of the modes of Thy love and good-pleasure, needs must I robe myself in the garment of decree and of forgiveness—albeit this proceedeth from the repugnance of my heart and from what Thy beingness would fain not witness concerning him.

How then—when the sovereignty of Thy self-subsistence and the kingship of Thy sanctity prevail? By Thy might! The Manifestation of Thy Self—which is the Point—and whoso is invested with Its attributes would not desire to bear witness save for those who obey Thee and voyage upon the ocean of Thy good-pleasure, nor to testify against any save those who obey Thee not and turn aside from the sea of Thy acceptance. If they draw near, no doubt will they be clothed with Thy severity, Thy taking, Thy long-suffering and Thy dominion; and no created being in the heavens or on earth or between them hath any strength before this.

Wherefore, O my God, I verily intercede with Thee by Thyself unto Thyself. For if all should acquire what they cannot bear of what is not their right … by interceding one with another—and if they should renounce intercession and turn with their whole beings unto whom they wish—Thou wouldst accept on their behalf. But how could any be accepted as a mediator before the sovereignty of Thy self-subsistence? There is no doubt that Thou Thyself art the Intercessor above every intercessor. Through Thee am I made independent of all besides Thee, and by Thee do I seek intercession with Thee. There is no power nor strength save in Thee.

My course, O my God, hath ever been—and shall remain—in the ocean of Thy love and Thy good-pleasure, that none among Thy witnesses may testify concerning Thy servants save to the exaltation of their love and the perfection of their comeliness—around me and upon me, before me and behind me, above me and beneath me, on my right hand and on my left. And if Thou cause me to move in aught short of the ocean of Thy love and Thy good-pleasure, then do Thou take me by the hand, that I may return unto Thee; I will seek Thy forgiveness, then turn repentant unto Thee—for Thou hast named Thyself the All-Forgiving, and hast numbered among Thy Names the All-Returning; Thou hast sent down Thy pardon in the Book and enjoined forbearance upon him who oversteppeth the bounds, in the Bayan. Thou hast appointed unto all things their measures.

If anyone come unto Thee, then—when a single leaf from the Tree of Thy Affirmation turneth toward Thee—doth it not bear witness against whatsoever is beneath it? How, then, couldst Thou be pleased …? And if Thou art well-pleased with whom …, what should hinder Thee? For Thou art verily independent of all things and exalted above all things: the obedience of the obedient profiteth Thee not, nor doth the disobedience of the rebellious harm Thee. Yet the sign of Thy Self, in every Manifestation, is this: Thou art pleased with him who rendereth due obedience, and art averse from him who withholdeth it—although Thou art, indeed, independent of … and beyond need of whatsoever beareth the name of a thing.

O my God, permit me, in every age, the courtesies that are known among its people—for Thou art the Most High, the Most Lofty, the Inaccessible—so that, when the Manifestation of Thy Self appeareth, none shall bear witness concerning it save at that time. And verily Thou dost raise the Pen from whom Thou wilt, and Thou wilt assuredly raise it; none can hinder Thy bounty. Thou hast aforetime sent down that whereby Thy Paradise is entered; but how shall he enter who believeth not, though Thou shouldst give him leave? For when a thing is Negation, Thou dost not judge it by the decree of Paradise, albeit Thou art able so to judge; and when a thing is Affirmation, Thou dost not judge it by the decree of Fire, albeit Thou art powerful so to command—since their measures are, by Thy command, whensoever Thou wilt, whether from the Resurrection unto … and what lieth between them. Thus is fire changed into light, and light into fire—so that he who aforetime was in the loftiest height of Paradise may come to the lowest nearness of the Fire.

And Thou hast lifted the Pen from him who writeth the verses before Thy presence—for Thou hast ever been the All-Bountiful, the All-Generous.