Doa Nasiri
The Prayer of the Oppressed
1. O You,
whose mercy is a refuge for all
those
In dire need
who flee to You to lose their woes,
2. O master of reprieve, whose pardon is so
near,
You answer
all in need; they know that You do hear!
3. We beg for
Your relief, redeemer of the weak;
You are
enough for us, both humbled and so meek.
4. No
strength can ever match Your awesome
majesty,
No might can
ever breach Your just authority.
5. The kings
all bow like us to Your great
sovereignty,
You choose
whom to abase or raise decisively.
6. Calamities
we face are only stopped by You;
It’s in Your
Hands: they are dissolved within Your view.
7. For solace
in these states, we turn to You alone,
Complaining
that we cannot make it on our own.
8. Be
merciful with us—You know our frailty.
O You whose
mercy falls like rain unceasingly,
9. Please
look upon us now in all our misery,
Our state as
souls oppressed displayed so openly:
10. Our
numbers are reduced, our former wealth effaced,
Our once
exalted rank and high repute abased;
11. They
think us without strength, and deem us without power,
Our numbers
in their eyes seem easy to devour.
12. O You
whose mighty kingdom never becomes less,
We hope to
take asylum in divine largesse;
13. Haven of
the helpless, upon You we depend;
Helper of the
hapless, we trust in Your godsend!
14. You are
the one we call: relieve our heavy loads,
Repel our
life’s travails, abolish what corrodes!
15. Your
protection only, Your providence that’s true,
The door is
Yours alone that everything comes through.
16. You are the only one whose
bounteous door we seek,
Most generous
of givers, O Lord, You are unique.
17. You bring
us to the path should we all go astray
And overlook
our slips when we lose our way;
18. All
created things You hold in Your embrace,
With mercy
and with light, the compass of Your grace.
19. Nothing
in existence is able to compare
With just how
base we are in mortality’s affair.
20. O infinite
in beauty, whose endless good befalls
The creatures
You have made, so answer all our calls!
21. You alone save drowning souls, so gracious
with our states,
Rescuing the
doomed, relieving our dire straits:
22. Constriction
is increasing, there is no cure in sight,
So hasten to
our needs, respond to set them right!
23. Our hands
are raised to You, our palms are open wide:
We seek
sincerely endless grace You do provide.
24. Be gentle
with our souls in all You have decreed,
Bestow on us
what pleases You in what we need.
25. Replace
our state of hardship with Your gentle ease,
And guide us
with Your power’s prevailing breeze,
26. And place
our status over those who took our lands,
Constrain
their evil now, and tightly bind their hands;
27. Overcome
our foes with Your subduing might,
Unravel all
their hopes, and force them to take flight;
28. Deter
their evil aims, and dash their unjust plan;
Repel them
from our gates, and mystify each man.
29. Be swift
in justice, Lord, in this our anxious hour,
For they
cannot remove an atom of Your power.
30. O Lord,
by holding on to Your most gracious rope,
We bind it to
our faith, and knot it to our hope.
31. So stand for us today, don’t counter what we
try,
Forsake us
not, O Lord, the blinking of an eye.
32. We’re
powerless to stop this onslaught of their force,
Or strategize
to benefit our country’s course.
33. We seek
no good except what flows from Your wide door
And yearn for
grace that comes from Your unending more.
34. All
thoughts within our hearts will find serenity
Through God
who fashions all by only saying: “Be!”
35. O Lord,
by You alone, we will achieve our end,
By
You, through You, Your means to You—our only friend.
36. Sustainer
of us all, O towering support,
Our
Lord who grants us all defense within His fort,
37. Secure
our hearts within Your glorious defense,
In restless
journeys far or in our residence;
38. Protect
our herds, preserve our crops, increase our gains,
And give and
bless our commerce with approving rains;
39. Fill our
land with good prosperity,
Release our
citizens from dire poverty;
40. Establish
righteous rule while granting noble station,
With high
respect and dignity in every nation;
41. Hide its
natural strength in guarded secret trust,
And veil its
protection in a graceful, gracious mist.
42. By the
sacred sounds of |ad and q¥f, and holy n‰n,
A thousand
veils enfolding to protect our land from ruin,
43. By the
rank of all the light from this Your Noble Face
And sacred
estimation of Your vast dominion’s space,
44. By the
elevated rank of “There is no god but God”
And Your
beloved chosen one who lived in purity, awed,
45. By the
rank of every prophet, who ever called on You,
By the rank
of every saint, who ever sought from You,
46. By the
rank of humanity’s blessèd Pole and Pillars too,
All solitary
saints and inspired words
from You,
47. By the
rank of those select and pious overseers,
Chosen
spiritual substitutes for those departing here,
48. By the
rank of faithful devotees who live in dignity,
Who praise
their God in gratitude for His decree,
49. By the
rank of everyone You raise to noble heights,
Among those
You conceal or those You bring to light,
1 Al-jaras (or here, for the meter, al-jars)
is the totality of divine expression that comes
with unrelenting force. It is the divine
reverberation of God’s words penetrating the
consciousness of the Prophet s. The Prophet s
describes the most powerful form of
revelation he experienced as the reverberation of a
bell (jaras), and God knows best.
50. By the
rank of every sign in Your Book’s revelation
And the
greatest name concealed in veiled occultation,
51. Lord, we
stand before You now, bereft without You, lost,
Without
design or strategy, by every tempest tossed;
52. We call
on You with prayers of those who are infused
With
knowledge that their Lord is One who won’t refuse;
53. Accept
this prayer, O Lord: with nothing but Your grace,
Remove all
just deserts and show us mercy’s face;
54. Reveal to
us Your gifts, bestow on us Your favor
With
kindness that befits a gentle, clement savior;
55. Envelop
us, O Lord, within Your mercy’s sea,
And rain on
us Your grace that falls abundantly;
56. From all
our words and deeds, choose those that remain
The highest
and the best, so heaven is our gain;
57. O
Plenitude, fill our lives and hearts with pure devotion,
In perfect
harmony with Your Prophet’s generous
ocean,
58. And bring
to focus all our aims into a single goal:
Complete and
blissful knowledge of You within our soul!
59. Let us
always act, Lord, in accord with A^mad’s way,
Directing all
our hopes to a joyful Judgment Day;
60. Always
lead us, Lord, to what is right and true,
The path real
martyrs take and those who gaze on You;
61. Raise our children up as brave and pious
scholars
Who base
their days on Your sweet light as true exemplars;
62. And
unify the hearts of family and of friends,
Facilitate for us in making our amends;
63. O Lord,
bestow a clear decisive victory
On all who
aid this way and restore its dignity;
64. Possessor
of great might, aid him and those who serve,
And fill their
hearts with aspirations they deserve;
65. Aid us in
the light of this Mu^ammad’s way,
And make its
glorious end as bright as its first day;
66. Protect
it through the works of its faithful and true scholars
And
elevate its lights to its rightful radiant colors;
67. Pardon
and forgive us, and keep us safe from ill,
And all
submitted ones who seek to know Your will;
68. Bestow
Your lordly solace on the perfect Chosen One,
Your plenitudinous
grace upon his dazzling sun;
69. Bestow on
him a peace that befits his holy stature
In accordance
with the pure nobility of his nature,
70. And on
his noble family down the ages, everyone,
Companions,
followers, every daughter, every son.
71. Praise belongs to God alone, with a praise so
direct
All praising
seekers find their goal among the elect.
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