By Omid Ghaemmaghami
Editor’s Note: The Baha’i Faith holds Islam, and indeed all divine religions, in the highest esteem and considers them all to be “the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future.” Towards contributing to a more positive Islamic-Baha’i dialogue, Iran Press Watch is pleased to share a translation of the following prayer of Baha’u’llah contributed by one of our readers.
He is God – Exalted be He, the Lord of Majesty and Power!
I plead my grief and sorrow unto God, the Lord of all humankind. The affairs of men have been shaken, the nations have become perturbed and Islam has been weakened thereby. The enemies have afflicted it from all sides and it remains encompassed by them. Thus it behooveth the people of God to invoke Him in the morning and the night-season, to beseech Him to graciously aid the Muslims, one and all, to do that which is pleasing and seemly, to exalt them by His Command and through the power of His Sovereign Might, to make them aware of that which will exalt their stations, to change their abasement into might, their poverty into wealth, their destruction into advancement, their distress into peace of mind and their fear into security and tranquility.
Verily, He is the All-Merciful. There is none other God but Him, the Compassionate, All-Bountiful.
[Provisional translation of a prayer revealed by Baha’u’llah. The original Arabic of this prayer was published by the Baha’i International Community in a short compilation of Baha’i Writings on the station of the Prophet Muhammad. This compilation is available for download at the following site: http://reference.bahai.org/download/mra-ar-pdf.zip. The prayer is found on pp. 8-9.]
January 8, 2009 1:28 pm
According to the link you provided, this prayer was written on August 18, 1882 and I can’t help but wonder if it was not the bombardment of Alexandria by the British weeks earlier that prompted it. Or perhaps it was the broader indignity that majority Muslim societies in the Middle East had been subjected to at the hands of European imperialism. Whatever may have prompted it, there is no doubting the fact that these words of longing remain as relevant today in 2009 as they were in 1882. I am deeply moved to read that Baha’is, who continue to face deplorable abuses and limitations in Iran and Egypt are praying for Muslims and other oppressed peoples.
January 12, 2009 11:53 am
Dear Omid, could you kindly point out where in the document from the Baha’i Library this particular prayer appears. I could not find it. Not even sure if it was Arabic or Persian.. Thanks!
January 12, 2009 11:55 am
Sorry, I see you said it is in Arabic. But still if you could point out the page # or passage #.
January 12, 2009 11:59 am
Sorry again! You even gave the page number! I must have been blind. Feel free to delete my posts :)