English
A Prayer to the One Who Answers Every Need
An interpretation of the blessed verse: 'We have honored the children of Adam, carried them over land and sea, given them good things to eat, and favored them above much of creation, a clear preference.'
Now the hour before dawn draws near, the time for the soothing call of the kettle drum has come.
That sweet-voiced messenger arrives, crying out; how welcome his melody falls upon the ear.
The soul-reviving herald of the Beloved has come, the good news of the Beloved reaches the soul's own ear.
He said: at the door of the gentle Beloved, night is the hour of longing for those who love.
For now, stop your idle storytelling; the time for secrets has come, so close the door of this house.
The lover seeks union with the Beloved by night; this is the time, my heart, so go and seek Him.
Prepare your gift for that King's doorstep: humility, poverty, want, lowliness, and need.
Cry out sweetly from your weakness, and before Him stretch out your empty hands in helpless pleading.
A weeping eye suits a true lover, and bears witness to the sincere lover's heart.
Tears are the magnet that draws His grace, and the sign that this rival has been checkmated by Him.
The defeat is ours, but the checkmating is His; the gift of grace, too, comes from His kindness.
Even weeping is the fruit of His help; the state of striving and seeking is His gift as well.
Whatever exists comes from His boundless grace; both the asking and the answering belong to Him.
'The prayer is from You, the answer from You; the safety from You, the awe from You as well.'
O generous Lord, owner of all blessings, bringer of all things forth from the hidden void of nothing.
From Your being comes all our appearing; our whole existence stands upright through You.
From You the honor of 'We have honored you' arrived, the noble robe of 'We have favored you' was given.
The rank of grace, also from that Bestower, is the meaning of 'He taught man what he did not know.'
This being honored springs from knowledge and reason; the soul of the unbeliever has no such distinction.
Flesh and blood take their nobility from the spirit; the unbeliever holds no such pearl within his shell.
He has a spirit, but it is a worthless bead; he has no share of the spirit's true pearl.
Though from His generosity even unbelievers have been given a share of judgment, creation, and speech,
His table of bounty and blessing is spread wide; each one has taken a share fit for himself.
He too has drawn from the food of the earthly body, but he knows nothing of the food of the soul.
The good things of nourishment are knowledge and learning; through these the soul sits on the throne of being honored.
All things but man are bent face downward; for this reason man has been granted his distinction.
Man's form was made upright, my friend, upright both in body and in inner meaning.
Of all forms before the Lord, my trusted one, the human form is the most honored.
Unbelievers too possess this outer form, but their inner meaning is not worthy of it.
Let this moment pass, for night is ending; turn toward the threshold of Truth in seeking.
Walk the path of His servitude; cry sweetly, and in your prayer to Him say:
O God, my life has ended in disobedience; alas if You make my home in hell.
O God, even if I could endure the fire, and patiently bear its burning heat,
how could I shut my eyes to Your ancient kindness and grace, O generous Lord?
Even if I bore Your punishment with patience, how could I surrender my heart to the pain of being far from You?
If You drive me from Your door, then woe to me; and if I am cast far from You, then woe to me.
Woe to me if my place is the blaze of hell, woe if my drink is boiling water.
Though my whole life is wasted in disobedience, and my record is filled with the writing of sin,
still I hope for forgiveness from You, that You will pardon my faults and stumbling.
I held a good opinion of Your grace; I trusted in Your pardon and forgiveness.
So many kindnesses You showed from the start; You brought me from nothing into being.
Out of generosity You let a handful of dark dust drink a sip from the cup of eternity.
You led me from the mineral state into growth, and guided me onward to the animal stage.
Then You let me pass beyond the animal stage, and dressed me in the robe of being human.
Out of generosity You set a helpless drop, with neither hands nor feet, free in the courtyard of existence.
From Your kindness You placed love in our mothers, so that through their love You granted our desires.
You showed such kindness to my soul, O Loving One; Your kindness became the very weave of my being.
Now that twenty years of my life have passed, I have seen so much grace and bounty from Your favor.
I have seen a hundred thousand blessings from You; when have I ever turned my eyes from Your grace?
Today, again, do not drive me from Your door; in Your generosity, call me into Your presence.
Take my soul by the hand, for this is the last stage; lifting my load from this stage is hard.
The road is long, the load is heavy, the body frail; how can this weak one reach his destination?
Lord, hold me firm upon the upright way, and guide me toward the straight path.
Make this bewildered one wholly lost and absorbed in You; increase his self-loss and wonder still more.
This heart, stained with the pride of 'me' and 'mine,' finds no safety until its self is gone.
Take away my selfhood and leave me free of self; release me from desire and let my heart be wounded with longing.
On the field of desire, O Victorious One, I have become a captive to my own self, so give me victory.
Dawn has risen; cut your words short, and begin the story of that lion.