salaam,
It is very good to recite this supplication in the month of Ramadan,
preferably before dawn. It is very long so most would probably not read
it in one sitting.
It is better to read it in small pieces in several sittings than to read
it in one without understanding.
It is narrated from 'Ali Zayn al-'Aabideen the son of al-Imam al-Husayn
son of al-Imam 'Ali (as).
Arabic recitation is at http://209.1.163.20/html/ara/sout/doaa.php
Arabic text is at
http://www.alseraj.net/maktaba/kotob/duaa/mafateh/maktabat/doaa/book1/mafatih10.htm
In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficient, the Most Merciful.
O' my Lord! Do not discipline me by Your punishment, And do not plot
against me in Your stategum (wa la tamkur bi fi heelatik). From where do
I obtain the bounties , O' Lord, while none can be found except with
You, And how can I seek salvation while it can be granted by none but
You, Neither can the good-doer do without Your help and mercy, nor can
the sinful one who offended You (when sinning), and displeased You,
bypass the realm of Your power and capacity.
O' my Lord, O' my Lord, O' my Lord...( repeat until out of breath) I
knew of You by You, and You directed me to You and called me to You, and
without You I would not have known what You are. All Praise is for Allah
whom I call upon with my needs then He answers me, even though I was
slow when He calls upon me. All Praise is for Allah whom I supplicate
and He grants me (what I plead for) even though I was stingy when He
sought a loan from me. All Praise is for Allah whom I call upon with my
needs whenever I wish, and I entrust Him with my secrets without an
intercessor, and He grants me my wishes. All Praise is for Allah whom I
do not plead to anyone but Him, for if I pleaded to others, they would
not grant me. All Praise is for Allah who dignified me by becoming the
Disposer of my affairs, instead of making me rely on others who then
would humiliate me. All Praise is for Allah who endeared me even though
He is not in need of me. All Praise is for Allah who treats me with
clemency, just as if I have no sin. So my Lord is the most praised by me
of all, and most worthy of my praise. O' Allah! I find the roads of
wishes to You wide open, And the rivers of hope to You vast and running,
And counting on Your bountifulness (in times of need) for those who
wished You freely accessible , And the gates of prayer to those who are
disparate, wide ajar, And I know that You are for those who ask You in
the position of answer, And for those who are distressed, You are in a
posture of rescue. And in disparately seeking Your generosity and being
content with Your judgment, I find it compensating from the rejection of
the misers, and more satisfying than the handouts of the selfish. And
truly traveling to You is short in duration, and You do not veil
Yourself from Your creatures unless their own misdeeds would block them
from You. And I have sought You for my wish, and directed my need to
You, and I depend on You for my rescue, and I assign my pleading to You
by praying to You, doing this while knowing that I am not worthy of Your
listening to me nor do I have a right on You to pardon me, but I do so
because I trust in Your generosity, and I submit to Your true promise
(to answer our prayers) and I take refuge through believing in Your
unity, and through my certainty of knowledge about You, that indeed I
have no other god or lord but You, only You; there is no partner for You.
O' my Lord! You did say and all of what You say is true and what You
promise is unconditional that "
O' (believers) ask Allah of His bounty, for Allah is Merciful towards
you", And it is not from Your features, O' my Master, to order me to ask
and prevent the answer, and You are the Grantor of all bounties on all
residents of Your kingdom and the Giver of Your consoling tenderness.
O' my Lord! You have brought me up in Your gifts, and bounties since I
was youthful, and elevated my designation as I grew older, So , O' the
One who brought me up in this life with His benevolence , bountifulness
and blessings, and indicated to me His forgiveness and generosity in the
hereafter. My knowledge, O' my Master, is that which guides me to You
and my love is my intercessor to You, and I am trusting of my evidence
with Your guidance and comfortable of my intercessor with Your
intercession. I pray to You, O' my master, with a tongue that has been
paralyzed by its sin, O' my Lord, I confide to You with a heart that has
been doomed by its mischief; I pray to You , O' my Lord, frightened but
wishful, hopeful but fearful If I contemplate my sins, O' my Lord, I
become scared, but when I remember Your generosity I yearn, So, if You
forgive, You are the most merciful and if You punish, You have not
unjustly judged. My excuse, O' Allah in my daring to ask You, even
though I have committed what You hate, is Your benevolence and
generosity, and my preparation for my adversity, given that I lack
shyness (in committing sin), is Your forbearance and mercy. And I am
wishful that my hope will not be disappointed, so fulfill my ambition
and accept my prayer, O' The Best who was ever prayed to!
O' The Most bountiful who was ever wished!
My hope, my Master is ever great, but my deeds have worsened, so grant
me from Your pardon by as much as I had hoped, and please, do not judge
me by my worst mischief, for Your generosity is greater than punishing
the sinners, and Your forbearance and patience is higher than
recompensing the inadequates. I am, my Master, seeking refuge through
Your bountifulness, I am escaping from You to You, while anticipating
Your promise to forgive those who possessed good convictions toward You.
Who am I, my Lord, and what is my danger! Provide me with Your bounties
and grant me charity with Your pardon, O' my Lord, cover me with Your
protection and pardon me of my punishment by the honor of you face. For
if any one today other than You would have known of my sin, I would not
have sinned, And if I feared that You may hasten my punishment, I would
have avoided sinning, Not because You are not an important watcher, nor
an unworthy onlooker, but because You, my Lord, are the best secret
keeper, and the Wisest of all rulers, and Most generous of all generous.
O' Protector of secrets!
O' Oft-forgiver of sins!
O' Knower of all that is hidden! You protect the secretive sin with Your
generosity and You delay my punishment with Your patience, So to You
extends all the Praise for having known and yet been patient, and for
having pardoned even though You are capable (of punishing). And what
motivates and dares me to disobey You is Your patience with me, and what
invites me to the lack of shyness (from You) is Your protection of my
(concealed) sins. And what rushes me towards Your forbidden actions is
my awareness of the vastness of Your mercy and the greatness of Your
forgiveness.
O' Forbearer!
O' Generous!
O' One who is living and self-subsisting!
O' Forgiver of sin!
O' Accepter of repentance!
O' Greatest giver of all good!
O' Ancient in bountifulness!
I call upon Your beautiful protection of secrets, I call upon Your
abundant pardon, I call upon Your neighboring relief, I call upon Your
quick rescue, I call upon Your vast mercy and compassion, I call upon
Your bountiful gifts, I call upon Your blessed awards, I call upon Your
splendid favors, I call upon Your immense bountifulness, I call upon
Your enormous endowments, I call upon Your ancient benefaction, I call
upon Your benevolence, O' Most Generous,. By it (what I mentioned of
Your features ) I seek Your rescue, and by Your compassion, please
relieve me.
O' Benevolent!
O' Creator of beauty!
O' Benefactor!
O' Bountiful!
I do not depend on our (good) deeds to achieve salvation from Your
punishment, rather I trust it to Your bountifulness toward us, for You
are the Lord of righteousness and the Lord of forgiveness You initiate
Your giving through Your graciousness and You pardon sin with Your
generosity, and we do not know what we should praise more, is it the
beauties that You distribute or the sins whose secretiveness You
protect, or the greatness of what You have granted and fulfilled or the
many misfortunes You have averted and ills You have cured.
O' The lover of whomever endeared You!
O' The delight of the eye of who sought You for refuge and dedicated
himself to You! You are the well doer and we are the sinners, So pardon,
O' my Lord, the ugly that we have with the beauties that You have, And
what ignorance, O' my Lord, can not be accommodated by Your benevolence?
And what era is longer than Your patience? And what significance is our
deeds compared with Your awards? And how can we hail our good deeds when
we observe Your generosity? Yet how can sinners despair when they are
encompassed by Your vast mercy?
O' Vast Forgiver!
O' Extender of both hands with mercy!
I swear with Your exalted might, O' Master, that if You rebuked me , I
would not depart from Your door, and I won't cease to compliment You
since I have indeed come to grasp the knowledge of Your generosity and
benevolence, And You are the doer of whatever You desire, You punish
whomever You wish, with whatever You wish, and however You wish, and You
bestow Your mercy on whomever You wish, with whatever You wish, and
however You wish, You are never questioned about Your doings, neither is
there any struggle in Your kingdom, nor is there any partnership in Your
command, or conflict in Your judgment, and no one can oppose You in Your
disposition of affairs, To You belongs all of the creation and command,
Indeed Allah, the Most Glorious, is the Cherisher and Sustainer of the
worlds.
O' my Lord! This is the posture of the one who sought refuge through You
and allied himself with Your generosity, and became accustomed to Your
forbearance and favors, And You are the benevolent whose forgiveness is
never strained, neither are Your bounties ever decreasing, nor is Your
mercy ever lacking, And we have known with certainty of Your ancient
pardon, great bountifulness and vast mercy, Would You, O' Allah, ever
disappoint our thoughts or let down our hopes? No never, O' Most
Generous! for it is not what we expect of You, nor is it what we aspire
for, O' Allah, we have a greater and ever lasting hope in You, We
anticipate prolonged and immense prospect in You, We anticipate great
desire in You, We disobeyed You and now we wish that You protect our
secret (sins), And we prayed to You and we hope You would answer us, So
fulfill our aspiration, O' our Master, for otherwise, we realize (the
punishment) we deserve as a result of our bad deeds, But Your awareness
of our conduct and our knowledge that You indeed won't send us away from
You, has motivated us to seek You, and even though we are not worthy of
Your mercy, You are worthy of bestowing Your generosity on us and on all
the sinners due to Your vast compassion, So, award us with what You are
worthy of, and grant us for we are in need of Your bounty.
O' Most Forgiving! With Your light we were guided and with Your bounties
we became richer, and with Your favors we are encountered mornings and
evenings, Our sins are before You and we ask You, O' Master, for
forgiveness and we hereby repent, You befriend us with Your gifts but we
reward You by sins, Your bounty to us is ever descending, but our
mischief to You is (ever) ascending. And from before and until now ,
Your honored angel still brings You the news of our ugly deeds but that
does not prevent You from continuing to surround us with Your grace, and
kindly provide us with Your holy features. So, I glorify and praise You
for the extent of Your patience, greatness and generosity as a Beginner
( of creation ) and eventual Claimer of this world. Holiest are Your
names, And glorified is Your praise, And honored are Your favors and
good deeds. You, my Lord, are more vast in bounty and greater in
patience and clemency than to judge me according to my wrong doing and
fault, So I beg You : Forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness, O' my
Master, O' my Master, O' my Master.
O' Lord! Occupy our time with Your remembrance, And guard us from Your
wrath, And protect us from Your punishment, And grant us from Your
rewards, And award us from Your bounties, And provides us the means to
conduct pilgrimage to Your house (Ka'ba), and to visit the tomb of Your
Prophet, may Your peace, mercy, forgiveness and graciousness be bestowed
upon him and his family, Indeed, You are close and forthcoming with Your
answer (to our prayers). And assist us in abiding by Your obedience, and
claim our souls while we are in Your (righteous) congregation and
followers of the tradition of Your Prophet, may peace of Allah be upon
him and his family.
O' Lord! Forgive me and my parents and grant them mercy as they have
raised me since I was youthful, reward their good deeds with
bountifulness and (pardon) their sins with forgiveness.
O' Lord! Forgive the believers, be they men or women, living or dead,
and let us follow on their path with good deeds.
O' Lord! Forgive (for) the living or deceased of us, (believers) the
present and the absent, our male and female, our young and old, our free
and our slave, Indeed the antagonists of Allah lied and enormously
wandered astray, and incurred a major loss.
O' Lord! Bestow Your peace on Muhammad and his family, and conclude my
life in virtue, and resolve what worries me from the affairs of this
life and in the hereafter, and do not allow anyone who won't treat me
justly to come in contact with me, and provide me with Your everlasting
protection and do not deprive me of the best of the amenities. You
graced me with, and confer on me from Your bounties, vast awards that
are lawful and good.
O' Lord! Guard me with Your safeguard, And protect me with Your
protection, And ally me with Your alliance, And award me the ability to
conduct pilgrimage to Your sacred house (Ka'ba) in this year and in
every year, and to visit the tomb of Your prophet and the Imams, peace
be upon them, and do not deprive me, Oh Lord, from visiting these
honorable sanctuaries and noble positions.
O' Lord! Accept my repentance so that I may not disobey You, And inspire
me with righteousness and its implementation, And the observance of Your
presence in the night and the day as long as You let me live, O' Allah
and Cherisher of the worlds.
O' Lord! I, whenever I thought I was prepared and ready and rose to
pray, before Your hands, and confided to You, You cast sleep on me when
I prayed, and You prevented me from confiding to You when I confided,
Why is it that whenever I felt content about the goodness of my core,
and my companionships have neared that of the repentants, a sin would
occur and cause my feet to stumble, and deprive me from Your service, O'
my Master, Maybe You have expelled me from Your door, and retired me
from Your service, or maybe You observed my disregard of Your right on
me and thus distanced me, or maybe You saw me headed away from (Your
path) and thus You withdrew me, or maybe You found me to be in the
position of the liars so You rejected me, or maybe You saw that I was
not grateful of Your rewards so You deprived me, or maybe You observed
my absence from the assembly of the scholars and thus put me down, or
maybe You found me to be one of the unheeding so You despaired me from