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In
the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Praise belongs to God who guided us to His praise
and
placed us among the people of praise,
that we
might be among the thankful for His beneficence
and that He
might recompense us for that
with
the recompense of the good-doers!
And praise belongs to God who
showed
favour to us through His religion,
singled
us out for His creed,
and
directed us onto the roads of His beneficence,
in
order that through His kindness we might travel upon them
to
His good pleasure,
a praise
which He will accept from us
and
through which He will be pleased with us!
And praise belongs to God who appointed among those roads His month,
the month of
Ramadan,
the month of
fasting,
the month of
submission,
the month of
purity,
the month of
putting to test,
the month of
standing in prayer,
in which
the Qur'an was sent down as guidance to the people,
and as clear
signs of the Guidance and the Separator! [2:185]
He clarified its excellence over other months
by the many
sacred things and well-known excellencies
which
He placed therein,
for He made
unlawful in it what He declared lawful in others
to
magnify it,
He
prohibited foods and drinks in it
to
honour it,
and He
appointed for it a clear time which He
(majestic
and mighty is He)
allows
not to be set forward
and
accepts not to be placed behind.
Then He made one of its nights surpass the nights
of
a thousand months
and named it
the Night of Decree;
in
it the angels and the Spirit descend
by
the leave of their Lord upon every command,
a
peace [97:4-5] constant in blessings
until
the rising of the dawn
upon
whomsoever He will of His servants
according
to the decision He has made firm.
O God,
bless
Muhammad and his Household,
inspire us with
knowledge of its excellence,
veneration
of its inviolability,
and
caution against what Thou hast forbidden within it,
and help us
to fast in it
by
our restraining our limbs
from
acts of disobedience toward Thee
and
our employing them
in
that which pleases Thee,
so that we
lend not our ears to idle talk
and
hurry not with our eyes to diversion,
we
stretch not our hands toward the forbidden
and
stride not with our feet toward the prohibited,
our
bellies hold only what Thou hast made lawful
and
our tongues speak only what Thou hast
exemplified,
we
undertake nothing but what brings close to Thy
reward
and
pursue nothing but what protects from Thy
punishment!
Then rid all
of that from the false show of the false showers
and
the fame seeking of the fame seekers,
lest
we associate therein anything with Thee
or
seek therein any object of desire but Thee!
O God,
bless
Muhammad and his Household,
in it make
us attend
to
the appointed moments of the five prayers within
the
bounds Thou hast set,
the
obligations Thou hast decreed,
the
duties Thou hast assigned, and
the times Thou hast specified;
and in the
prayers make us alight in the station of
the
keepers of their stations,
the
guardians of their pillars,
their
performers in their times,
as
Thy servant and Thy messenger set down in his Sunna
(Thy
blessings be upon him and his Household)
in
their bowings, their prostrations, and all their
excellent
acts,
with
the most complete and ample ritual purity
and
the most evident and intense humility!
Give us
success in this month to
tighten
our bonds of kin with devotion and gifts,
attend
to our neighbours with bestowal and giving,
rid
our possessions from claims,
purify
them through paying the alms,
go
back to him who has gone far from us,
treat
justly him who has wronged us,
make
peace with him who shows enmity toward us
(except
him who is regarded as an enemy
in
Thee and for Thee,
for
he is the enemy whom we will not befriend,
the
party whom we will not hold dear),
and
seek nearness to Thee through blameless works
which
will purify us from sins
and
preserve us from renewing faults,
so
that none of Thy angels will bring for Thee
the
kinds of obedience and sorts of
nearness-seeking
unless
they be less than what we bring!
O God,
I ask Thee
by the right of this month
and by the
right of him who worships Thee within it
from
its beginning to the time of its passing,
whether
angel Thou hast brought nigh to Thee,
prophet
Thou hast sent,
or
righteous servant Thou hast singled out,
that Thou
bless Muhammad and his Household,
make us
worthy of the generosity Thou hast promised Thy
friends,
make
incumbent for us
what
Thou hast made incumbent
for
those who go to great lengths in obeying Thee,
and place us
in the ranks of those
who
deserve through Thy mercy the highest elevation!
O God,
bless
Muhammad and his Household,
turn us
aside from
deviation
in professing Thy Unity,
falling short in magnifying Thee,
in
Thy religion,
blindness toward Thy path,
heedlessness of Thy inviolability,
and
being deceived by Thy enemy, the accursed Satan!
O God,
bless
Muhammad and his Household,
and when in
every night of this month's nights
Thou
hast necks
which
Thy pardon will release
and
Thy forgiveness disregard,
place
our necks among those necks
and
place us among the best folk and companions
of
this our month!
O God,
bless
Muhammad and his Household,
efface our
sins
along
with the effacing of its crescent moon,
and make us
pass forth from the ill effects of our acts
with
the passing of its days,
until it
leaves us behind,
while
within it Thou hast purified us of offenses
and
rid us of evil deeds!
O God,
bless
Muhammad and his Household,
and should
we go off to one side in this month,
set us aright;
should we
swerve,
point us straight;
and should
Thy enemy Satan enwrap us,
rescue us from him!
O God,
fill this
month with our worship of Thee,
adorn its
times with our obedience toward Thee,
help us
during its daytime with its fast,
and in its night with prayer and pleading toward Thee,
humility toward Thee,
and lowliness before Thee,
so that its
daytime may not bear witness
against our heedlessness,
nor
its night against our neglect!
O God,
make us like
this in the other months and days
as
long as Thou givest us life,
and place us
among Thy righteous servants,
those
who shall inherit Paradise,
therein
dwelling forever, [23:11]
those
who give what they give,
while
their hearts quake,
that
they are returning to their Lord, [23:60]
those
who vie in good works,
outracing
to them! [23:61]
O God,
bless
Muhammad and his Household
in
every time, in all moments, and in every state,
to the
number that Thou hast blessed whomsoever
Thou hast blessed
and
to multiples of all that, through multiples
which none can count but Thee!
Surely Thou
art Accomplisher of what Thou desirest.
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