A Ramadan Prayer translated by Hina Khalid
In the name of Allah,
The One to whom all praise and glory is directed,
The infinitely majestic.
Bestow on us, O Lord, a portion of your boundless grace.
We sit here, utterly broken and assailed by shame.
We are but humble seekers of your mercy.
For your beloved Muhammad, O Lord, uphold our trust!
You are the one who gives plenteously,
We lay our pleas at your door,
It is you alone who can fulfil these.
Solve our difficulties for us,
Liberate us from our sorrows.
This is all we request from you.
You are the Creator of the two worlds,
You are acquainted with even the smallest atom.
All praise is for you alone!
You are the Lord of the universe,
You are the Lord of all miracles,
You are forever merciful unto your servants.
O Lord of Muhammad,
O Lord of the Prophets,
O Lord of Ali,
O Lord of the Saints,
You are the Self-effulgent One, to whom no partners can be ascribed.
Your majesty and your glory shine forth eternally,
You are the Truly Generous, the Infinitely Great,
You are the Ever-Merciful, the All-Compassionate.
You taught Adam the names,
You commanded Nuh to build a ship.
You transformed into a rose garden,
The fire into which your friend [Abraham] was thrown.
You sent Yusuf to Egypt,
And made him the emperor thereof!
In the belly of the whale,
You made Yunus read the blessed verse.
Under your direction,
Musa traversed the River Nile.
You granted Isa the miraculous power
To bring the dead back to life.
And in the end,
You summoned my beloved master [Muhammad]
To the heavenly abode of his ascent,
Where he beheld your Face
In the supernal silence
Of its
unutterable
luminosity. *
* This final line (‘in the supernal silence’...) is, strictly speaking, not there in the lyrical ‘letter’ of the song but it is, I suggest, there in its ‘spirit’. The Urdu word I translate here as ‘summoned’ carries the sense of a ‘calling/invitation/sending for’: indeed, in devotional poetry & song, Muhammad is often described as God’s guest on this revelatory night - the guest who was, as the Quran tells us, ‘carried’ or made to travel to his heavenly destination. Much of Islamic mystical literature dwells on the symbolisms and meanings of Muhammad’s ascension - seen by Sufis as the prototype of their own spiritual journey to God, it is also often understood as denoting that ‘station’ of intimate love and witnessing (or unveiling) reserved for humans alone. As many Muslim poets remind us, even Gabriel could not pass beyond the ‘lote tree’ marking the boundary of the highest heaven.
