Some of the most moving prayers are the munajat of Imam Sajjad (`a ). One of them was read on TV this morning while I shared a meal with my family prior to the day's fast. It is called "The Whispered Prayer of the Complainers" (Munajat al-Shakiyyin), and is superbly translated by Wm. Chittick (may God bless him abundantly). Chittick calls the munajat "whispered prayers", which gives something of the feeling of the intimacy assumed between the supplicant and God. In these prayers the supplicant holds nothing back and cries out (or whispers?) from the depths of his soul his needs and longings.
The Whispered Prayer of the Complainers
In the Name of God, the All-merciful,
the All-compassionate
| 1 | My God, to Thee I complain of a soul commanding to evil,308 rushing to offenses, eager to disobey Thee, and exposing itself to Thy anger. It takes me on the roads of disasters, it makes me the easiest of perishers before Thee; many its pretexts, drawn out its expectations; when evil touches it, it is anxious, when good touches it, grudging;309 inclining to sport and diversion, full of heedlessness and inattention, it hurries me to misdeeds and makes me delay repentance. |
| 2 | My God, I complain to Thee of an enemy who misguides me and a satan who leads me astray. He has filled my breast with tempting thoughts, and his suggestions have encompassed my heart. He supports caprice against me, embellishes for me the love of this world, and separates me from obedience and proximity! |
| 3 | My God, to Thee I complain of a heart that is hard, turned this way and that by tempting thoughts, clothed in rust and the seal,310 and of an eye too indifferent to weep in fear of Thee and eagerly seeking that which gladdens it! |
| 4 | My God, there is no force and no strength except in Thy power, and no deliverance for me from the detested things of this world save through Thy preservation. So I ask Thee by Thy far-reaching wisdom and Thy penetrating will not to let me expose myself to other than Thy munificence and not to turn me into a target for trials! Be for me a helper against enemies, a coverer of shameful things and faults, a protector against afflictions, a preserver against acts of disobedience! By Thy clemency and mercy, O Most Merciful of the merciful! |
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