A Supplication Which Occurred to Me in Persian
This supplication occurred to my heart in Persian and was therefore written as such. It was first included in my published work, Hubab.
O my Sustainer! Heedlessly not trusting in You but in my own power and will, I cast an eye over ‘the six aspects’ searching for a cure for my ills. Alas, I could find no cure for them, and I understood I was being told: “Are your ills not sufficient as cure for you?”
In heedlessness I looked to the past on my right to find solace, but I saw that yesterday appeared as my father’s grave and past time as the vast tomb of all my forbears. It filled me with horror rather than consolation.
Then I looked to the future on the left, but again could find no cure. For tomorrow appeared as my grave and the future as the vast tomb of my contemporaries and the forthcoming generations; it afforded a feeling not of familiarity, but of fright.
Since no good appeared from the left either, I looked at the present day and I saw that it resembled a bier; it was bearing my desperately struggling corpse.
Thus, I could find no cure from this aspect either, so I raised my head and looked at the top of the tree of my life. But I saw that its single fruit was my corpse; it was looking down on me from the tree‑top.
Despairing of that aspect too, I lowered my head. I looked and saw that the dust of my bones underfoot had mixed with the dust of my first creation. It afforded no cure, but added further pain to my ills.
I turned away from that too and looked behind me, where I saw a transient world without foundation revolving and departing in the valleys of nothingness and darkness of non‑existence. It was no salve for my ills, it rather added the poison of horror and fright.
Since I could see no good in that either, I switched my gaze to before me. I saw that the door of the grave stood open at the end of my road. The highway leading to eternity beyond it, struck my gaze from afar.
Thus, rather than receiving consolation and a feeling of familiarity, I felt only horror and fear at these six aspects. Apart from the faculty of will I had nothing to withstand them with and act in the face of them.
But the human weapon called the faculty of will both lacks power and its range is short. And it is inaccurate. It cannot create, and apart from ‘acquiring,’ can do nothing.
It can neither penetrate the past nor discern the future and was without benefit in the face of my hopes and fears concerning these.
The arena of the faculty of will is brief present time and the passing instant.
Thus, despite all my needs and weakness, want and poverty, and my wretched state induced by the horrors and terrors arising from the six aspects, desires stretching to eternity and hopes spreading through infinity were clearly written on the page of my being by the pen of power, and included in my nature.
Indeed, there are samples in my being of whatever is present in the world. I am connected to everything; it is for them that I am caused to work.
Needs extend as far as the eye can see.
In fact, however far the imagination stretches, needs extend that far. There is need there too. Whatever man lacks, he is in need of. What he does not have, he needs. And what he lacks is endless.
But then his power extends only as far as his short arm reaches.
This means my want and needs are as great as the world,
whereas my capital is as infinitesimal as an indivisible particle.
اِينْ جُزْء كُدَامْ وَ اِينْ كَائِنَاتِ حَاجَاتْ كُدَامَسْت
So, what use is the faculty of will, worth nothing in relation to my needs which encompass the world and can only be obtained for millions of liras? They cannot be bought with it and cannot be gained by it. In which case, one has to search for another solution.
The solution is this: to forego one’s own will and leave matters to the divine will; to give up one’s own power and strength, and seeking refuge in the power and strength of Allah the Most High, to adhere to true reliance on Him. “O my Sustainer! Since the way to be saved is this, I forego my own will on Your way and I give up my egotism.
Then Your grace may take me by the hand out of compassion for my impotence and weakness, and Your mercy may take pity on my need and indigence and be a support for me, and open its door for me.”
Yes, whoever finds the boundless sea of mercy, surely does not rely on his own mirage‑like will and choice; he does not abandon mercy and have recourse to his own will.
Alas! We were deceived. We supposed the life of this world to be permanent so have lost everything. Yes, this passing life is but a sleep; it passes like a dream. This frail life flies like the wind, and departs.
Arrogant man, who relies on himself and supposes he will live for ever, is doomed to die. He passes swiftly. The world, too, man’s house, tumbles into the darkness of non‑existence. Hopes do not last, while pains endure in the spirit.
Since the reality is this, come, my wretched soul, yearning for life, enamoured of the world, and afflicted with endless hopes and pains! Awake and come to your senses! The firefly relies on its own miniscule light and remains in the boundless darkness of the night, while the honey‑bee does not rely on itself so finds the sun of daytime and gazes on its friends, the flowers, gilded with the sunlight; if you rely on yourself and your own being and your ego, you will resemble the firefly. Whereas if you sacrifice your transient being in the way of the Creator Who gave it to you, you will become like the honey-bee and find an unending light of existence. So sacrifice it! For your being is a trust given to you for safekeeping.
Moreover, it is His property, it is He Who bestowed it. So asking no favours, annihilate it, sacrifice it unhesitatingly so that it will be made permanent. For negation of a negation is an affirmation. That is, if non‑being is not, there is being. If non-being is negated, existence comes into being.
The All‑Generous Creator buys His own property from you and gives you the high price of Paradise in return. Also, He guards the property well for you and increases its value. Then He will return it to you in enduring and perfect form. O my soul! Don’t delay! Do this trade which is profitable in five respects and be saved from five losses; make a fivefold profit all at once!