70. The Whispered Prayer of the Complainers

In the Name of God, the All-merciful, the All-compassionate

1- My God,
to Thee I complain of a soul
commanding to evil,
rushing to offenses,
eager to disobey Thee,
and exposing itself to Thy anger.
It takes me on the roads of disasters,
it makes me the easiest of perishers before Thee;
many its pretexts,
drawn out its expectations;
when evil touches it,
it is anxious,
when good touches it,
grudging;309
inclining to sport and diversion,
full of heedlessness and inattention,
it hurries me to misdeeds
and makes me delay repentance.

2- My God,
I complain to Thee
of an enemy who misguides me
and a satan who leads me astray.
He has filled my breast with tempting thoughts,
and his suggestions have encompassed my heart.
He supports caprice against me,
embellishes for me the love of this world,
and separates me from obedience and proximity!

3- My God,
to Thee I complain
of a heart that is hard,
turned this way and that by tempting thoughts,
clothed in rust and the seal,310
and of an eye
too indifferent to weep in fear of Thee
and eagerly seeking that which gladdens it!

4- My God,
there is no force and no strength
except in Thy power,
and no deliverance for me from the detested things of this world
save through Thy preservation.
So I ask Thee
by Thy far-reaching wisdom
and Thy penetrating will
not to let me expose myself to other than Thy munificence
and not to turn me into a target for trials!
Be for me
a helper against enemies,
a coverer of shameful things and faults,
a protector against afflictions,
a preserver against acts of disobedience!
By Thy clemency and mercy,
O Most Merciful of the merciful!