IMAM 'ALI - SUPPLICATIONS

In the Name of Allah, the most Beneficent, the most Merciful Oh God, Oh He who extended the morning's tongue in the speech of its dawning, dispatched the fragments of the dark night into the gloom of its stammering, made firm the structure of the turning spheres in the measures of its display and beamed forth the brightness of the sun through the light of its blazing! Oh He who demonstrates His Essence by His Essence, transcends congeneity with His creatures and is exalted beyond conformity with His qualities!

 

Oh He who is near to the passing thoughts of opinions, far from the regards of eyes and knows what will be before it comes to be! Oh He who has put me at ease in the cradle of His security and sanctuary, awakened me to the favors and kindness that He has bestowed upon me and held from the claws of evil with His hand and His force!

Bless, oh God, the guide to Thee in the darkest night, him who, of Thy ropes, clings to the cord of the longest nobility, him whose glory is evident at the summit of stout shoulders and whose feet were entrenched in spite of slippery places in ancient time; and [bless] his household, the good, the chosen, the pious.

And open for us, oh God, the leaves of morning's door with the keys of mercy and prosperity! Clothe me, oh God, with the most excellent robes of guidance and righteousness!

Plant, oh God, through Thy tremendousness, the springs of humility in the watering place of my heart! Cause to flow, oh God, because of Thy awesomeness, tears of moaning from the corner of my eyes! And chastise, oh God, the recklessness of my clumsiness with the reins of contentment! My God, if mercy from Thee does not begin with fair success for me, then who can take me to Thee upon the evident path?

If Thy deliberateness would turn me over to the guide of hope and wishes, then who will annul my slips from the stumbles of caprice? If Thy deliberateness should turn me over to the guide of hope and wishes, then who will annul my slips from the stumbles of caprice? If Thy help should forsake me in the battle with the soul and Satan, then Thy forsaking will have entrusted me to where there is hardship and deprivation. My God, dost Thou see that I have only come to Thee from the direction of hopes or clung to the ends of Thy cords when my sins have driven me from the house of union? 

So what an evil mount upon which my soul has mounted - its caprice! Woe upon it for being seduced by its own opinions and wishes! And destruction be upon it for its audacity toward its Master and Protector! My God, I have knocked upon the door of Thy mercy with the hand of my hope, fled to Thee seeking refuge from my excessive caprice and fixed the fingers of my love to the ends of Thy cords. 

So pardon, oh God, the slips and errors I have committed and release me from the foot-tangling of my robe. For Thou art my Master, my Protector, my Support and my Hope and Thou art the object of my search and my desire in my ultimate end and stable abode. My God, how couldst Thou drive away a poor beggar who seeks refuge in Thee from sins, fleeing? Or how couldst Thou disappoint one seeking guidance who repairs to Thy threshold, running? 

Never! For Thy pools are full in the hardship of drought, Thy door is open for seeking and penetration and Thou art the goal of requests and the object of hopes. My God, these are the reins of my soul I have bound them with the ties of Thy will. These are the burdens of my sins I have averted them with Thy pardon and mercy. And these are my caprices that lead astray - I have entrusted them to the threshold of Thy gentleness and kindliness.
 

So make this morning of mine, oh God, descend upon me with the radiance of guidance, and with safety in religion and this world! And [make] my evening a shield against the deception of enemies and a protection against the destructive blows of caprice!