71. The Whispered Prayer of the Fearful

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

1- My God,
what thinkest Thou?
Wilt Thou chastise me after my faith in Thee,
drive me far away after my love for Thee,
deprive me while I hope for Thy mercy and forgiveness,
forsake me while I seek sanctuary in Thy pardon?
How could Thy generous face disappoint me?!
Would that I knew - Did my mother bear me for wretchedness?
Did she nurture me for suffering?
Would then that she had not borne me
and had not nurtured me!
Would that I had knowledge -
Hast Thou appointed me one of the people of felicity?
Hast Thou singled me out for Thy nearness and neighbourhood?
Then would my eyes be gladdened,
and in that my soul reach serenity.

2- My God,
dost Thou blacken faces which fall down in prostration
before Thy mightiness?
Dost Thou strike dumb tongues which speak in laudation
of Thy glory and majesty?
Dost Thou seal hearts which harbour Thy love?
Dost Thou deafen ears which take pleasure in hearing
Thy remembrance according to Thy will?
Dost Thou manacle hands which expectations have raised to Thee
in hope of Thy clemency?
Dost Thou punish bodies which worked to obey Thee
until they grew thin in struggling for Thee?
Dost Thou chastise legs which ran to worship Thee?

3- My God,
lock not toward those who profess Thy Unity
the doors of Thy mercy,
and veil not those who yearn for Thee
from looking upon the vision of Thy beauty!

4- My God,
a soul which Thou hast exalted by its professing Thy Unity -
how wilt Thou burn it in the heat of Thy fires?

5- My God,
give me sanctuary
from Thy painful wrath
and Thy mighty anger!
O All-loving, O All-kind!
O Compassionate, O Merciful!
O Compeller, O Subduer!
O All-forgiver, O All-covering!
Deliver me through Thy mercy
from the chastisement of the Fire
and the disgrace of shame
when the good are set apart from the evil,
forms are transformed,
terrors terrify,
the good-doers are brought near,
the evildoers taken far,
and every soul is paid in full what it has earned,
and they shall not be wronged!311