O God, O He who desires no repayment!

O He who shows no remorse at bestowal!

O He who rewards not His servant tit for tat!



Thy kindness is a new beginning,

Thy pardon gratuitous bounty,181

Thy punishment justice,

Thy decree a choice for the best!



If Thou bestowest,

Thou stainest not Thy bestowal with obligation,

and if Thou withholdest,

Thou withholdest not in transgression.



Thou showest gratitude to him who thanks Thee,

while Thou hast inspired him to thank Thee.



Thou rewardest him who praises Thee,

while though Thou hast taught him Thy praise.



Thou coverest him whom,

if Thou willed,

Thou wouldst expose,

and Thou art generous toward him from whom,

if Thou willed,

Thou wouldst withhold.

Both are worthy of Thy exposure and withholding,

but Thou hast

founded Thy acts upon gratuitous bounty,

channelled Thy power into forbearance,

received him who disobeyed Thee with clemency,

and disregarded him who intended wrongdoing against himself.

Thou awaitest their turning back without haste

and refrainest from rushing them toward repentance,

so that the perisher among them may not perish

because of Thee

and the wretched may not be wretched through

Thy favour,

but only after Thy prolonged excusing him

and successive arguments against him,

as an act of generosity through Thy pardon, O Generous,

and an act of kindliness through Thy tenderness, O Clement!



It is Thou who hast opened for Thy servants

a door to Thy pardon,

which Thou hast named 'repentance'.

Thou hast placed upon that door

a pointer from Thy revelation,

lest they stray from it:

Thou hast said (blessed are Thy names),

Repent toward God with unswerving repentance!

It may be that Thy Lord will acquit of your evil deeds

and will admit you into gardens

beneath which rivers flow,

upon the day when God will not degrade the Prophet

and those who have faith along with him,

their light running before them

and on their right hands,

and they say:

'Our Lord, complete for us our light, and forgive us!

Surely Thou art powerful over everything.'182

What is the excuse

of him who remains heedless of entering that house

after the opening of the door

and the setting up of the pointer?



It is Thou who hast raised the price against Thyself

to the advantage of Thy servants,

desiring their profit in their trade with Thee,

their triumph through reaching Thee,

and their increase on account of Thee,

for Thou hast said

(blessed is Thy Name and high art Thou exalted),

Whoso brings a good deed

shall have ten the like of it,

and whoso brings an evil deed

shall only be recompensed the like of it.183



Thou hast said,

The likeness of those who expend their wealth

in the way of God

is as the likeness of a grain of corn

that sprouts seven ears,

in every ear a hundred grains;

so God multiplies unto whom He wills.184

Thou hast said,

Who is he that will lend to God a good loan,

and He will multiply it for him manifold?185

And Thou hast sent down in the Qur'an

similar verses on the multiplying of good deeds.



It is Thou who hast pointed them

through Thy speech from Thy Unseen

and Thy encouragement in which lies their good fortune

toward that which

- hadst Thou covered it from them -

their eyes would not have perceived,

their ears would not have heard,

and their imaginations would not have grasped,

for Thou hast said,

Remember Me

and I will remember you

be thankful to Me,

and be you not thankless towards Me!186

Thou hast said,

If you are thankful,

surely I will increase you,

but if you are thankless,

My chastisement is surely terrible;187



And Thou hast said,

Supplicate Me

and I will respond to you,

surely those who wax too proud to worship Me

shall enter Gehenna utterly abject.188

Hence Thou hast named supplicating Thee 'worship'

and refraining from it 'waxing proud',

and Thou hast threatened that the refraining from it

would yield entrance into Gehenna in utter abjection.



So they remember Thee for Thy kindness,

they thank Thee for Thy bounty,

they supplicate Thee by Thy command,

and they donate for Thee

in order to seek Thy increase;

in all this lies their deliverance from Thy wrath

and their triumph through Thy good pleasure.



Were any creature himself to direct another creature

to the like of that to which

Thou Thyself hast directed Thy servants,

he would be described by beneficence,

qualified by kindness,

and praised by every tongue.

So to Thee belongs praise

as long as there is found a way to praise Thee

and as long as there remains for praising

words by which Thou may be praised

and meanings which may be spent in praise!



O He who shows Himself praiseworthy to His servants

through beneficence and bounty,

flooding them with kindness and graciousness!

How much Thy favour has been spread about among us,

Thy kindness lavished upon us,

and Thy goodness singled out for us!



Thou hast guided us to

Thy religion which Thou hast chosen,

Thy creed with which Thou art pleased,

and Thy path which Thou hast made smooth,

and Thou hast shown us proximity to Thee

and arrival at Thy generosity!



O God, among the choicest of those duties

and the most special of those obligations

Thou hast appointed the month of Ramadan,

which Thou hast singled out from other months,

chosen from among all periods and eras,

and preferred over all times of the year

through the Qur'an and the Light

which Thou sent down within it,

the faith

which Thou multiplied by means of it,

the fasting

which Thou obligated therein,

the standing in prayer

which Thou encouraged at its time,

and the Night of Decree

which Thou magnified therein,

the night which is better than a thousand months.189



Through it Thou hast preferred us

over the other communities

and through its excellence Thou hast chosen us

to the exclusion of the people of the creeds.

We fasted by Thy command in its daylight,

we stood in prayer with Thy help in its night,

presenting ourselves by its fasting and its standing

to the mercy which Thou hast held up before us,

and we found through it the means to Thy reward.

And Thou art full of what is sought from Thee,

munificent with what is asked of Thy bounty,

and near to him who strives for Thy nearness.



This month stood among us

in a standing place of praise,

accompanied us

with the companionship of one approved,

and profited us

with the most excellent profit of the world's creatures.

Then it parted from us at the completion of its time,

the end of its term,

and the fulfilment of its number.



So we bid farewell to it with the farewell of one

whose parting pains us,

whose leaving fills us with gloom and loneliness,

and to whom we have come to owe

a safeguarded claim,

an observed inviolability,

and a discharged right.

We say:

Peace be upon thee,

O greatest month of God!

O festival of His friends!



Peace be upon thee,

O most noble of accompanying times!

O best of months in days and hours!



Peace be upon thee,

month in which

expectations come near

and good works are scattered about!



Peace be upon thee,

comrade

who is great in worth when found

and who torments through absence when lost,

anticipated friend

whose parting gives pain!



Peace be upon thee,

familiar

who brought comfort in coming,

thus making happy,

who left loneliness in going,

thus giving anguish!



Peace be upon thee,

neighbour in whom

hearts became tender

and sins became few!



Peace be upon thee,

helper who aided against Satan,

companion who made easy the paths of good-doing!



Peace be upon thee -

How many became freedmen of God within thee!

How happy those who observed the respect due to thee!



Peace be upon thee -

How many the sins thou erased!

How many the kinds of faults thou covered over!



Peace be upon thee -

How drawn out wert thou for the sinners!

How awesome wert thou in the hearts of the faithful!



Peace be upon thee,

month with which no days compete!



Peace be upon thee,

month which is peace in all affairs!



Peace be upon thee,

thou whose companionship is not disliked,

thou whose friendly mixing is not blamed!



Peace be upon thee,

just as thou hast entered upon us with blessings

and cleansed us of the defilement of offenses!



Peace be upon thee -

Thou art not bid farewell in annoyance

nor is thy fasting left in weariness!



Peace be upon thee,

object of seeking before thy time,

object of sorrow before thy passing!



Peace be upon thee -

How much evil was turned away from us through thee!

How much good flowed upon us because of thee!



Peace be upon thee

and upon the Night of Decree

which is better than a thousand months!190



Peace be upon thee -

How much we craved thee yesterday!

How intensely we shall yearn for thee tomorrow!



Peace be upon thee

and upon thy bounty

which has now been made unlawful to us

and upon thy blessings gone by

which have now been stripped away from us!



O God,

we are the people of this month.

Through it Thou hast ennobled us

and given us success

because of Thy kindness,

while the wretched are ignorant of its time.

Made unlawful to them is its bounty

because of their wretchedness.



Thou art the patron

of the knowledge of it by which Thou hast preferred us,

and its prescribed practices to which Thou hast guided us.

We have undertaken, through Thy giving success,

its fasting and its standing in prayer,

but with shortcomings,

and we have performed little of much.



O God, so to Thee belongs praise,

in admission of evil doing

and confession of negligence,

and to Thee belongs

remorse firmly knitted in our hearts

and seeking of pardon sincerely uttered by our tongues.

Reward us,

in spite of the neglect that befell us in this month,

with a reward through which

we may reach the bounty desired from it

and win the varieties of its craved stores!



Make incumbent upon us Thy pardon

for our falling short of Thy right in this month

and make our lives which lie before us

reach the coming month of Ramadan!

Once Thou hast made us reach it,

help us perform the worship of which Thou art worthy,

cause us to undertake the obedience which Thou deservest,

and grant us righteous works

that we may fulfil Thy right

in these two months of the months of time.191



O God, as for the small and large sins

which we have committed in this our month,

the misdeeds into which we have fallen,

and the offenses which we have earned

purposefully or in forgetfulness,

wronging ourselves thereby

or violating the respect due to others,

bless Muhammad and his Household,

cover us over with Thy covering,

pardon us through Thy pardoning,

place us not before the eyes of the gloaters because of that,

stretch not toward us the tongues of the defamers,

and employ us in that which will alleviate and expiate

whatever Thou disapprovest from us within it

through Thy clemency which does not run out,

and Thy bounty which does not diminish!



O God, bless Muhammad and his Household,

redress our being afflicted by our month,192

bless us in this day of our festival and our fast-breaking,

make it one of the best of days that have passed over us,

the greatest in attracting Thy pardon,

and the most effacing toward sins,

and forgive us our sins, both the concealed and the public!



O God, with the passing of this month

make us pass forth from our offenses,

with its departure

make us depart from our evil deeds,

and appoint us thereby among its most felicitous people,

the most plentiful of them in portion,

and the fullest of them in share!



O God, when any person observes this month as it should be observed,

safeguards its inviolability as it should be safeguarded,

attends to its bounds as they should be attended to,

fears its misdeeds as they should be feared,

or seeks nearness to Thee with any act of nearness-seeking

which

makes incumbent upon him Thy good pleasure

and bends toward him Thy mercy,

give to us the like [of that]193 from Thy wealth

and bestow it upon us in multiples through Thy bounty,

for Thy bounty does not diminish,

Thy treasuries do not decrease but overflow,

the mines of Thy beneficence are not exhausted,

and Thy bestowal is the bestowal full of delight!



O God, bless Muhammad and his Household

and write for us the like of the wages

of him who fasted in it

or worshipped Thee within it

until the Day of Resurrection!



O God, we repent to Thee in our day of fast-breaking,

which Thou hast appointed

for the faithful

a festival and a joy

and for the people of Thy creed

a time of assembly and gathering,

from every misdeed we did,

ill work we sent ahead,

or evil thought we secretly conceived,

the repentance of one who does not harbour a return to sin

and who afterwards will not go back to offense,

an unswerving repentance rid of doubt and wavering.

So accept it from us,

be pleased with us,

and fix us within it!



O God,

provide us with fear of the threatened punishment

and yearning for the promised reward,

so that we may find

the pleasure of that for which we supplicate Thee

and the sorrow of that from which we seek sanctuary in Thee!



And place us with Thee among the repenters,

those upon whom Thou hast made Thy love obligatory

and from whom Thou hast accepted

the return to obeying Thee!194

O Most Just of the just!



O God,

show forbearance toward our fathers and our mothers

and all the people of our religion,

those who have gone and those who will pass by,

until the Day of Resurrection!



O God,

bless our prophet Muhammad and his Household,

as Thou hast blessed Thy angels brought nigh,

bless him and his Household,

as Thou hast blessed Thy prophets sent out,

bless him and his Household,

as Thou hast blessed Thy righteous servants

- and better than that, O Lord of the worlds! -

a blessing whose benediction will reach us,

whose benefit will attain to us,

and through which our supplication may be granted!

Thou art the most generous of those who are beseeched,

the most sufficient of those in whom confidence is had,

the most bestowing of those from whom bounty is asked,

and Thou art powerful over everything!





