Thy might beareth me witness, O my Well-Beloved! The entire creation hath
been called into being to exalt Thy triumph and to establish Thine
ascendancy, and all the bounds that have been set by Thee are but the
signs of Thy sovereignty, and proclaim the power of Thy might. How great,
how very great, are the revelations of Thy wondrous power in all things!
They are such that the lowliest among Thy creatures hath been made by Thee
a manifestation of Thy most august attribute, and the most contemptible
token of Thy handiwork hath been chosen as a recipient of Thy most mighty
name. Poverty, as decreed by Thee, hath been made the means for the
revelation of Thy riches, and abasement a path leading to Thy glory, and
sinfulness a cause for the exercise of Thy forgiveness. By them Thou hast
demonstrated that to Thee belong Thy most excellent titles, and unto Thee
pertain the wonders of Thy most exalted attributes.
Since Thou hast purposed, O my God, to cause all created things to enter
into the tabernacle of Thy transcendent grace and favor, and to waft over
the entire creation the fragrances of the raiment of Thy glorious unity,
and to look upon all things with the eyes of Thy bounty and Thy oneness, I
beseech Thee, therefore, by Thy love, which Thou hast made to be the
mainspring of the revelations of Thine eternal holiness, and the flame
that gloweth within the hearts of such of Thy creatures as yearn towards
Thee, to create, this very moment, for those of Thy people who are wholly
devoted to Thee, and for such of Thy loved ones as love Thee, out of the
essence of Thy bounty and Thy generosity, and from the inmost spirit of
Thy grace and Thy glory, Thy Paradise of transcendent holiness, and to
exalt it above everything except Thee, and to sanctify it from aught else
save Thyself. Create, moreover, within it, O my God, out of the lights
shed by Thy throne, handmaidens who will intone the melodies of Thy
wondrous and most sweet invention, that they may magnify Thy name with
such words as have not been heard by any of Thy creatures, be they the
inmates of Thy heaven or the dwellers of Thine earth, nor been
comprehended by any of Thy people. Unlock, then, the gates of this
Paradise to the faces of Thy loved ones, that haply they may enter them in
Thy name, and by the power of Thy sovereignty, that thereby the sovereign
bounties vouchsafed by Thee unto Thy chosen ones and the transcendent
gifts granted unto Thy trusted ones be perfected, that they may extol Thy
virtues with such melodies as none can either intone or describe, and that
none of Thy people may conceive the design of appearing in the guise of
any of Thy chosen ones, or of emulating the example of Thy loved ones, and
that none may fail to discern between Thy friends and Thine enemies, or to
distinguish them that are devoted to Thee from such as stubbornly oppose
Thee. Potent art Thou to do what Thou willest, and powerful and supreme
art Thou over all things.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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