BB00235: Prayer for Friday

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

Glorified art Thou, O my God, O my Beloved! Far be it from me to make mention of Thee through my remembrance of Thee, or to praise Thee within Thy dominion, for I recognize the limitations of my being, which is as nothingness before Thee, and I bear witness that my essence is severed from Thy creation. How can one who knows the bounds of their own self and bears witness to the station of their own identity ascend beyond the limits of their mortality and describe Thee through what they know of the traces of their own evanescence?

Glorified, glorified art Thou! Who am I to make mention of Thee or praise Thee? While all seek to draw nigh unto Thee through Thy unity, I draw nigh unto Thee through my confession of my polytheism before Thee, for none but Thee can truly proclaim Thy unity. The mere mention of another is the highest proof of impossibility, and the existence of duality is the strongest witness to severance.

Glorified, glorified art Thou! While all seek to draw nigh unto Thee through their praise of Thee, I draw nigh unto Thee through sanctifying Thee above the description of aught else and exalting Thee beyond the attributes of all others. For the existence of description indicates separation from the described, and the mention of attributes testifies that they are but effects that cannot be mentioned alongside the Attributed One.

Glorified, glorified art Thou! While all draw nigh unto Thee through their love for Thee, I draw nigh unto Thee through my acknowledgment that I do not truly love Thee, for this is impossible for anyone. Had I found the way and discovered the proof, by Thy glory, I would have been the first of interpreters. But after recognizing my limitations and observing the nothingness of my existence, how can I clothe falsehood in truth or vest the contingent with the Absolute?

Nay, by Thy glory! I have not known Thee, nor can I know Thee. I have not unified Thee, nor can I unify Thee. I have not loved Thee, nor can I love Thee. I have not remembered Thee, nor can I remember Thee. And I feel no sorrow in this, for all are like me. Should anyone claim otherwise, their very claim would belie them, requiring no other proof. For the existence of one who unifies is the greatest proof of their polytheism, and the mention of another by itself is the strongest evidence of severance from the path of love.

Glorified, glorified art Thou! I have no glory save in acknowledging the fire of my limitations, in recognizing the nothingness of my being, in confessing the ultimate bounds of my selfhood, and in accepting the supreme parameters of my identity. I call Thee to witness, O my Beloved—and I call none other to witness, for the testimony of another would not benefit me, as all are like me: poor before Thee and in need of Thee. The attestation of the needy is proof of their ignorance of both themselves and Thee, unless they see naught in the mention of another save Thy countenance, and in the testimony of the servant save Thy testimony. Only then may they speak of divine attributes and make allusion to spiritual signs.

Glorified, glorified art Thou! I know no greater sin than for a servant to call upon any witness other than Thee or seek assistance from aught beside Thee. Glorified, glorified art Thou! Thou art sufficient as a witness over me that I do not—and cannot—unify Thee, nor praise Thee, nor am I capable of Thy praise. I know that those who proclaim Thy unity do so by saying “There is no god but Thee.” Nay, by Thy glory, I do not unify Thee through such words, for I see them as but a sign in Thy kingdom and an attribute among the names of Thy sovereign will. How can I make the portion of servants Thy unification, O Lord of creation? How can I praise Thee with the praise of Thy creation when Thou art exalted above being described by opposites?

Glorified, glorified art Thou! I burn my soul with the fire of my inability to unify Thee, yet I do not transgress the bounds of my heart, nor do I claim what is impossible. Glorified, glorified art Thou! After these blocked paths and these opposing ways, I see no means of reaching Thee whereby I might console myself with its promise, nor do I know the day of meeting Thee whereby I might calm my soul with its covenant.

Glorified art Thou, glorified art Thou! No grief have I, for the contingent being hath ever been and will ever remain in the fire of its own self and the sorrow of its own essence. Glorified art Thou, glorified art Thou! What fire is greater than the mention of my existence, and what punishment more severe than the praise of my being before Thee, and what torment more intense than my unity with Thee—if I be not like the heedless ones who associate partners with Thee in their unity, who claim they unify yet falsify through their praise, who suppose they are describing yet burn with the fire of possibility in their hearts while imagining themselves to be blessed.

Glorified art Thou, glorified art Thou! Naught is there for the fire but fire, nor in the realm of others can there be an abiding place. Unto Thee do I turn, O my Sovereign, and by Thee do I swear, O mighty King, hoping for Thy bounties and favors, O Concealer, trusting in Thy gifts and care, O Forgiver! For in Thy hand is the sovereignty of destiny in the spheres of the heaven of mysteries, in Thy grasp is the kingdom of providence in the depths of the manifestations of the chosen ones.

This is indeed a night wherein voices are raised unto Thee, and Thou art He from Whom the mention of what is hidden escapeth not, and in Thy hand is the giving of life to bones after their decay. O God! I bear witness that our hearts, through what our hands have wrought, are decayed and perishable, associated with the mention of otherness in the depths of love. Send down, therefore, from the heaven of Thy love upon us the water of bounties, and bestow upon us the signs of majesty, for Thou art abundant in favors, mighty in power, possessed of strength and might, the Lord of bounty and beauty.

Quicken, then, these mouldering bones through Thy grace, O Lord of names and attributes, and illumine these darknesses through Thy favor, O Lord of earth and heaven. Remove these veils from the intimations recorded in the written scrolls through what Thou hast sent down in the places of verses and psalms. O Lord! Thy servant, perishing before Thee, beseeching Thee, coming unto Thee as a sacrifice, hoping in Thee, yearning for Thee, seeking Thee, descending unto Thee—grant me, O God, on this Friday night, from the bounties Thou didst bestow upon Muhammad and Ali and their infallible family. Bless what Thou hast ordained for me and draw nigh the days of my meeting with Thee, for Thou knowest my secret and that to which my soul inclineth.

Deliver me from among Thy servants and bring me to the court of nearness and assistance. Remove from mine eyes the decree of opposites and rivals, that I may reach the summit of names and the lowest point of the height of hope. O Lord! I am utter nothingness, pure poverty, sheer powerlessness, and complete helplessness. I see no refuge save casting myself before Thee, O Lord of Power, for Thou art the All-Seeing and doest what Thou willest through Thy grace. Verily, Thou art the All-Bountiful, the Omnipotent.

Therefore, O God, deal with me and with those who love Thee—who are in Thy knowledge—as befitteth Thee. Verily, Thou art God, the Sovereign, the Exalted, the Peerless, the Mighty, the Bountiful, the All-Giving, the Most High. Glorified be thy Lord, the Lord of Glory, from what they describe. And peace be upon the Messengers, and praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds.