A Prayer That Is Not Mine
سَتُطْوى صَحائِفُنا حينَ نَمْضي
ويَبْقى الذي كانَ فيها رَقيما
Our records will be folded up when we go, and what was written in them stays behind.
فَيا كاتِبًا في سُطورِ الحَياةِ
تَأَنَّ، فَإنَّكَ تَكْتُبُ ديمَا
So you who write in the lines of a life: go slowly — what you set down, you set down for good.
The verses are the author's own; the English below gives their sense in prose.
The pages have ended and the time has not. And that alone is the greatest thing in your hand now: that you are reading this line while you are inside the hall, not outside it. Everything that has passed in this book is worth nothing if it is shut and put on a shelf; it is worth something only if you get up now and write on your paper one line that was not there before you opened it.
I do not close with words of my own making, for I have nothing to add to what revelation closed with. These are prayers from the Book of God and from the way of His Prophet ﷺ, and they gather up everything in this book: soundness in religion and in this world and in the next, a heart that holds firm, a good end, and safety on the day the papers are laid out.
«اللَّهمَّ أصلحْ لي ديني الذي هو عِصمةُ أمري، وأصلحْ لي دنيايَ التي فيها معاشي، وأصلحْ لي آخرتي التي فيها معادي، واجعلِ الحياةَ زيادةً لي في كلِّ خير، واجعلِ الموتَ راحةً لي من كلِّ شرّ»
O God, set right for me my religion, which is the safeguard of my affair; and set right for me my worldly life, in which is my living; and set right for me my life to come, to which I return. Make life an increase for me in every good, and make death a rest for me from every evil.
If there were nothing else in this book but this prayer it would be enough: it holds both halls in two lines, and it makes life an increase and death a rest — and the two do not come together except for a man who has done well on his paper.
«اللَّهمَّ إنّي أسألُك الهدى والتُّقى والعفافَ والغِنى»
O God, I ask You for guidance, God-consciousness, restraint and sufficiency.
«يا مُقلِّبَ القلوبِ ثبِّتْ قلبي على دينك»
O Turner of hearts, hold my heart firm upon Your religion.
And from the Qur'an
This is the asking that joins the two houses together, and it is what the Prophet ﷺ prayed most often:
وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَقُولُ رَبَّنَآ ءَاتِنَا فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةًۭ وَفِى ٱلْءَاخِرَةِ حَسَنَةًۭ وَقِنَا عَذَابَ ٱلنَّارِ
And of them (also) is he who saith: "Our Lord! Give unto us in the world that which is good and in the Hereafter that which is good, and guard us from the doom of Fire."
This is the asking for firmness, and you are in a hall where hearts are turned about:
رَبَّنَا لَا تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ رَحْمَةً ۚ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلْوَهَّابُ
Our Lord! Cause not our hearts to stray after Thou hast guided us, and bestow upon us mercy from Thy Presence. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Bestower.
This is the asking for work that is accepted, now that you know the scale weighs quality and not number:
رَبِّ ٱجْعَلْنِى مُقِيمَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةِ وَمِن ذُرِّيَّتِى ۚ رَبَّنَا وَتَقَبَّلْ دُعَآءِ رَبَّنَا ٱغْفِرْ لِى وَلِوَٰلِدَىَّ وَلِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ يَوْمَ يَقُومُ ٱلْحِسَابُ
My Lord! Make me to establish proper worship, and some of my posterity (also); our Lord! and accept my prayer. Our Lord! Forgive me and my parents and believers on the day when the account is cast.
This is the asking of a man who knows that his paper holds what he forgot and what he meant:
لَا يُكَلِّفُ ٱللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا ۚ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا ٱكْتَسَبَتْ ۗ رَبَّنَا لَا تُؤَاخِذْنَآ إِن نَّسِينَآ أَوْ أَخْطَأْنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْنَآ إِصْرًۭا كَمَا حَمَلْتَهُۥ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تُحَمِّلْنَا مَا لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا بِهِۦ ۖ وَٱعْفُ عَنَّا وَٱغْفِرْ لَنَا وَٱرْحَمْنَآ ۚ أَنتَ مَوْلَىٰنَا فَٱنصُرْنَا عَلَى ٱلْقَوْمِ ٱلْكَٰفِرِينَ
Allah tasketh not a soul beyond its scope. For it (is only) that which it hath earned, and against it (only) that which it hath deserved. Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget, or miss the mark! Our Lord! Lay not on us such a burden as thou didst lay on those before us! Our Lord! Impose not on us that which we have not the strength to bear! Pardon us, absolve us and have mercy on us, Thou, our Protector, and give us victory over the disbelieving folk.
This is the asking of a man who saw the Fire at the end of the road and sought refuge, and saw the Garden and asked for it:
ٱلَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَآ إِنَّنَآ ءَامَنَّا فَٱغْفِرْ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَقِنَا عَذَابَ ٱلنَّارِ
Those who say: Our Lord! Lo! we believe. So forgive us our sins and guard us from the punishment of Fire;
And this is what God closed with, in the prayer of those servants of His who walk gently upon the earth:
وَٱلَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا هَبْ لَنَا مِنْ أَزْوَٰجِنَا وَذُرِّيَّٰتِنَا قُرَّةَ أَعْيُنٍۢ وَٱجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا
And who say: Our Lord! Vouchsafe us comfort of our wives and of our offspring, and make us patterns for (all) those who ward off (evil).