Abu-Hamed Al-Ghazali

ابو حامد الغزالى
  • Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali (450-505 AH, 1058-1111 AD) was one of the greatest Islamic Jurists, theologians and mystical thinkers. He was the reformer of the 5th Hijri century (مجدد القرن الخامس as it was believed that at the top of every hundred years there will come a scholar who revives the knowledges of religion), and was known as "The Proof of Islam" (Huggat Al-Islam) and "The Ornament of Religion", and is one of the most renowned Sunni religious scholars in all times.
  • Al-Ghazali was born in 450 AH (1058 AD) in the village of "Ghazala" near Tus, in Khorasan province of Persia. His father, a traditional sufi, died when he was still young, and entrusted one of his friends to take care of his sons. The friend took care of educating the boys, and later in 1070, Al-Ghazali enrolled in a madrassah where he studied fiqh (jurisprudence).

  • He later moved to Naissabur where became a student of the famous Muslim scholar Al-Juwayni. He was a very clever student, and shortly became one of the best scholars of his time.
  • After the death of Al-Juwayni in 1085, Al-Ghazali was invited to the court of Nizamul Mulk, the powerful vizier of the Seljuq sultans. The vizier was so impressed by Al-Ghazali's scholarship that in 484 AH (1091 AD) he appointed him as chief professor in the Nizamiyya school of Baghdad.
  • His participations in religious debates and discussions made him popular over all Islamic territories. He became the Imam of Iraq after being the Imam of Khorasan, and was elevated in status above princes, viziers, and the celebrities of Baghdad
  • In 1095 he passed through a spiritual crisis seeking the path to the truth, and explored different schools of thought, as he explained in his autobiography in his book The Rescuer From Error (Al-munqidh min al-dalaal):
    "I found that the seekers were limited to four groups: and told myself: the truth should be in one of these four types, for these are the seekers on the path of the quest for the truth, and if it is not in one of them, then there would be no hope of finding the truth. I attempted to take these paths, and explore what these groups had, starting with "Ilm al-kalaam" then the path of the "falsafa" then by learning the "batiniyya" and then Sufism."
  • He joined the "Mutakallimoon" [or those adopting ʿIlm al-Kalaam (‎literally the study of "speech" or "words") or the Islamic philosophical discipline of seeking theological knowledge through debate and argument], but did not find his objective with them. Al-Ghazali found that "ilm al-kalaam" did not fulfill his quest, and kept seeking the truth. He moved to the second group of those seeking the truth: the "falasifa".
  • The "falasifa" (philosophers): He studied philosophy intensively while in Baghdad, and wrote his book Maqasid al falasifa (The Intentions of the Philosophers), which is an accurate summary of philosophy (it is said to be an Arabic version of Ibn Sina’s Persian Danashnamah-yi ala'i (Book of Scientific Knowledge)). He also did not find his objective here, and found that philosophy did not merit the trust people placed in it, and became very critical of the science, and wrote criticizing and refuting their opinions, specially in his Tahafut al falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers). In the medieval West, however, the content of the Maqasid was believed to be Al-Ghazali’s own thought, due to defects in the Latin manuscripts. As a result, Al-Ghazali was assumed to be a great philosopher supporting the Greek schools of philosophy, and the image of the ‘Philosopher Algazel’ was created. It was only in the middle of the nineteenth century that this mistake was corrected.
  • He then moved to the third group of the seekers of the truth: Al-Batiniyya.
  • The "batiniyya" School of Islamic thought interpreted religious texts exclusively on the basis of hidden rather than literal meanings. Such interpretation was popular around the 8th century among the Isma'iliyyah, who believed that beneath every obvious meaning lay a hidden true meaning, which only the Imam was empowered to interpret.
    Al-Ghazali did not find what he was seeking here also, and he finally arrived at Sufism.
  • Then Al-Ghazali moved to Sufism, and started learning their knowledges through their books and writings as: Qut Al-Qulub fi Mu'amalat Al-Mahboob (Nourishment of the hearts in dealing with The Loved One) by Abu Taleb Al-Mikki; and the writings of Al-Hareth Al-Muhasaby, and the transmitted quotes of Al-Gunaid, Al-Shibli, and Abu Yazeed Al-Bastamy.
  • He found that their path was based on both knowledge and deeds, and on severing the desires of the self [nafs] and elevating above its evil traits to empty the heart from everything other than The Lord Almighty, and beautifying it by His [zikr]. He also came to the conclusion that their most specific particulars cannot be reached through learning, but have to be experienced and tasted. He says in his autobiography: "I knew that they definitely are people of statuses and not people of talk, and that what can be accomplished by learning I have already achieved, and what remained was what could not be reached through hearing and learning, but had to be experienced and tasted".
  • After four years of teaching (1091-1095), Al-Ghazali had a spiritual crisis. As he states in his autobiography (Munqidh min al-dalal, The Deliverer from Error), he realized that the main hidden motive of his self [nafs] in teaching and writing was to achieve worldly success, reputation and fame, and not for a genuine spiritual reason or for merely pleasing The Lord. What he wanted was direct experience of the truths that he was merely writing about.
  • Al-Ghazali's crisis led him to seek the Sufi path, in which direct experience, described as [zawq] (taste), is the aim. Al-Ghazali applied for a leave of absence from his prestigious job on the pretext of going on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Making arrangements for his family, he disposed of his wealth and adopted the life of a poor Sufi.
  • He moved to "Al-Sham" and remained for two years doing nothing other than solitude and seclusion, and refining character, and purifying his heart to [zikr] of The Lord Almighty, as he learned from the Sufi books. He used to go into solitude in the mosque of Damascus, locking himself in the minaret during the day. He then moved to Jerusalem, locking himself in "The Rock" every day. In the end he spent eleven years training to be a Sufi in Damascus, Jerusalem, Hebron, Mecca, and Medina.
  • In his autobiography, he says: "I reached the conclusion that the Sufis were definitely on the Path to The Lord Almighty, and that their stature was the best stature, and their manners the best manners. If all the wisdom of all the wise and all the knowledge of those who know the secrets were combined to change and improve their statures and morals to the better, they could not. For all their acts are adapted from the lantern of prophethood, and there is no light on earth more luminous than the light of prophethood".
  • After adopting Sufism, Al-Ghazali's approach was characterized by moderation, and he stood up against religious fanaticism and extremism. He saw the cause for people's distancing from religion to be due to the method of "daawa" (preaching) adopted by some who distanced religion from what suits people's innate character, which is what characterized "daawa" since the beginning of Islam. He wrote in the "Ihyaa'": "half the responsibility for the spread of atheism is borne by religious people who made people hate religion by their offensive acts and their offensive talk". This summarized a then common practice of some religious fanatics distorting the Islamic "daawa" and distorting the basis of [al-amr bil-maarouf wal-nahey an al-monkar] (calling for what is right and forbidding what is wrong) till people hated them and hated the religion that they represented, or they hated religion because of them.
  • Al-Ghazali played a very major role in integrating Sufism with Shariah. He combined the concepts of Sufism very well with the Shariah laws. He was also the first to present a formal description of Sufism in his works. His works also strengthened the status of Sunnite Islam against other schools.
  • Al-Ghazali wrote numerous books and published many teachings on Islamic sciences, Philosophy and Sufism. His contribution to human thought and the relevance of his ideas hundreds of years later remain unquestioned.
  • The Revival of Religious Sciences [Ihya' Ulum al-Deen]
  • Ghazali's major work is Ihya' Ulum al-Deen (The Revival of Religious Sciences). It covers almost all fields of Islamic sciences: fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), kalaam (theology) and sufism. Of the many admirable comments made commending this book: "If all Islamic sciences disappeared, they could be taken back from IIhya' Ulum al-Deen." It is said to be the most read book in Islamic sciences after The Quran and the books of Hadith. He wrote a brief version of this book in Persian under The Alchemy of Happiness (Kimiya-yi sa'ādat).
  • Incoherence of the Philosophers [Tahaful Al-Falasifa]
    His 11th century book titled The Incoherence of the Philosophers [Tahaful Al-Falasifa] marks a major turning point in Islamic philosophy in its vehement rejections of Aristotle and Plato. The book attacked the "falasifa", a loosely defined group of Islamic philosophers from the 8th through the 11th centuries (most notable among them Avicenna and Al-Farabi) who drew intellectually upon the Ancient Greeks. Ghazali bitterly denounced Aristotle, Socrates and other Greek writers as non-believers and labeled those who employed their methods and ideas as corrupters of the Islamic faith.
    In the next century, Averroes [Ibn Rushd] drafted a lengthy rebuttal of Ghazali's Incoherence entitled "the Incoherence of the Incoherence" [Tahafut al-Tahafut]; however, the course of Islamic thought had already been set.
  • The Rescuer From Error (Al-munqidh min al-dalaal): his autobiography
    The autobiography Al-Ghazali wrote towards the end of his life, The Rescuer From Error (Al-munqidh min al-dalaal) is considered a work of major importance. In it, Al-Ghazali recounts how, once a crisis of skepticism was resolved by
    "a light which God Most High cast into my breast...the key to most knowledge" he studied and mastered the arguments of kalaam, Islamic philosophy, and Ismailism. Though appreciating what was valid in the first two of these, at least, he determined that all three approaches were inadequate and found ultimate value only in the mystical experience and insight he attained as a result of following Sufi practices.
  • Sufism
    • Ihya' ulum al-deen, "Revival of Religious Sciences", Ghazali's most important work
    • Kimiya-yi sa'ādat (The Alchemy of Happiness) [a résumé of al-Ihya' in Persian]
    • Mizan al-'amal (Criterion of Action)
    • Nasihat al-muluk (Counseling Kings)
    • al-Munqidh min al-dalal (Rescuer from Error)
    • Ay farzand (O loving son!) is a short book of counsel that Ghazali wrote for one of his students. The book was early translated to Arabic entitled ayyuhal walad al-muhibb.
  • Theology
    • al-Iqtisad fil-i`tiqad (Median in Belief)
    • al-maqsad al-asna fi sharah asma' Allahu al-husna (The best means in explaining Allah's Beautiful Names)
    • Jawahir al-Qur'an wa duraruh (Jewels of the Qur'an and its Pearls)
    • Mishkat al-Anwar (The Niche of Lights)
  • Philosophy
    • Tahafut al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers), [in this book he refutes the Greek Philosophy aiming at Avicenna and Al-Farabi; and of which Ibn Rushd wrote his famous refutation Tahafut al-tahafut (The Incoherence of the Incoherence)]
    • Maqasid al falasifa (Aims of Philosophers) [written in the beginning of his life, in favour of philosophy and presenting the basic theories in Philosophy, mostly influenced by Avicenna's works]
  • Al-Ghazali died in 1111 AD (505 AH) in Tus. Companions asked him for his last words before he died, and he said: "abide by faithfulness", and kept repeating it till he died.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Selections from: "O Loving Son" (Ayyuha Al-Walad)
مختارات من كتاب أيها الولد المحب
  • "Ay Farzand" (O loving son!) is a short book of counsel that Ghazali wrote for one of his students. The book was written in Persian, and was translated to Arabic early on, entitled "ayyuha al-walad al-muhibb". (Walad can be translated to "son", "boy", "youth", "young man", and we chose "son" for this translation).
  • A student of Imam Al-Ghazali, who spent many years studying different branches of religious knowledge, wrote to ask him what would be of real help to him and would illuminate his grave, and what would not be of benefit to him on the Day of Judgment, so that he could refrain from as Sayyidina Mohammed (Sallallahu 'alaihi wa Sallam) said in the Hadith: "I seek Allah's refuge from a knowledge which is of no benefit".
  • He wrote a letter to Al-Ghazali with the view of getting an answer to his questions. Furthermore, he asked him in his letter to teach him a supplication that he could always recite. He wrote in his letter that although Imam Al-Ghazali has written numerous books on this issue such as Ihya' Ulum al-Din (The Revival of Religious Sciences), "Kimiya as-Sa'ada" (Alchemy of Happiness), "Jawahir ul-Quran" (Gems of the Quran), etc., he was still in need of a short manuscript that he could always study and carry around, and that would accompany him to his grave. In reply to his letter, Imam Al-Ghazali wrote him a letter starting with "O loving son" of which we selected the following:
  • In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

  • Praise and gratitude be to Allah, The Lord of all worlds, and the best end is for the pious, and prayers and peace and blessings upon His prophet Mohammed and all his family.
  • The Importance of Deeds

  • O beloving son, may The Lord prolog your life in His obedience, and take you along the path of His loved ones. Know well that advice should come from the essence of Sallallahu 'alaihi wa Sallam's Message.
  • If my advice has already reached you, what do you need new advice for? And if it did not, then tell me: what have you been learning these past years?
  • From among all that Rasulullah, Sallallahu 'alaihi wa Sallam advised his nation, is his saying: "A sign that The Lord ignores His slave [abd] is that he busies himself in what does not concern him; and if a man wastes an hour of his life in doing other than what he was created for, he definitely deserves that his grief be prolonged, and whoever has passed forty without his good surpassing his evil should start preparing for hellfire". This advice should suffice whoever is knowledgeable.
  • O son, advice is easy, but what is difficult is accepting it. Those following whim find advise bitter tasting, because their hearts love what is prohibited; specially the one who seeks acquiring formal knowledge, and is busy satisfying his self [nafs] and exploiting the world, thinking that pure knowledge is his path to salvation, and that he can dispense with deeds and acts. This arrogant one does not know that when he acquires knowledge, if he does not act in accordance to it, the proof and evidence against him is more definite, as Rasulullah, Sallallahu 'alaihi wa Sallam said "The person most severely punished on the day of resurrection is the knowledgeable whom The Lord Almighty does not allow the benefit of his knowledge."
  • Abul-Qasim Al-Junayd, may The Lord sanctify him, appeared in a dream after his death, and was asked "What is the news, O Abul-Qasim?" He replied, "All our statements and signals perished and vanished to nothing, and nothing benefited us except some prayers we made in the middle of the night."
  • O son, do not be without deeds; and be assured that knowledge alone will not help you.
  • (the following verse emphsizes that it is the action and the deed and not the preparedness that counts)
    If you measure two thousand ounces of wine,
    you will not be elated and ecstatic if you did not drink.
  • If you studied a hundred years and collected a thousand books, you would not be ready for The Lord Almighty's mercy except by your acts and deeds, as The Lord Almighty said: "and that man shall have only what he [himself] strives for [53:39]" and "...So whoever hopes to encounter his Lord, let him do righteous work ... [18:110]" and "whereas those who repent and believe and act righteously - such shall enter Paradise and shall not be wronged in any way [19:60]"
  • Faith is statement by the tongue and belief in the heart and acts and deeds of the body. The value of a good deed is beyond counting. Although the slave [abd] enters heaven by The Lord Almighty's favor and generosity, this is after he readies by obedience and worship; "surely the mercy of God is near to the virtuous [7:56]" Al-Hasan Al-Basri said: The Lord Almighty tells his slaves [abd] on resurrection day "My slaves [abd], enter into heaven by my mercy and share if according to your deeds."
  • O son, if you do not work, you will not find reward.
  • O son, how many sleepless nights have you passed acquiring knowledge and reading books? If your motive was reaching worldly aims and boasting over your peers, then woe to you. But if your motive was following the path of the prophet, Sallallahu 'alaihi wa Sallam, and breaking your self [nafs] that commands to evil, then bless you. And the poet was truthful who said:
  • Sleeplessness of the eyes for other than Your Face is a waste
    And their weeping for other than Your loss is in vain
  • O son, live as long you please, you will definitely die.
  • And love whatever you wish, you will definitely part with it.
  • And do whatever you will, you will definitely be rewarded for it!
  • O son, knowledge without action is pure insanity and actions without knowledge is impossible.
  • And know that knowledge which today does not prohibit and prevent you from sin, and does not impel you to be obedient, will not distance you tomorrow from hellfire. If your knowledge does not result in your performing your duties and good deeds of today, and your fulfilling what was missed of your duties of the past, you will definitely say tomorrow on resurrection day: "...‘Our Lord! We have seen and heard. So send us back so that we may act righteously, .... [32:12]" where you will be told: O stupid: this is where you just came from.
  • The value of night prayer:

  • O son, if pure knowledge was enough for you and you did not need other deeds, then His call (in the later part of each night): "Is there anyone asking (for Me to give)? Is there anyone asking forgiveness (for Me to forgive)? Is there anyone who repents (for Me to Pardon)?" would have been without value. It is related that some the companions of Rasulullah, Sallallahu 'alaihi wa Sallam, mentioned `Abdullah Ibn Omar before him, and he said, "An excellent man is he if he would pray at night". And he said, Sallallahu 'alaihi wa Sallam, to a man from his companions, "do not sleep a lot at night, for a lot of night sleep leaves the person poor in the day of resurrection."
  • O son; "And for a part of the night, keep vigil therewith as a supererogatory [devotion] for you [17:79]" is an order; "and at dawns they used to seek forgiveness, [51:18]" is a praise; "and the imploring God's pardon at daybreak. [3:17] " is a [zikr]. Sallallahu 'alaihi wa Sallam, said: "Three voices The Lord Almighty loves: the voice of the rooster and the voice of the one reading the Qur'an, and the voice of those seeking forgiveness at daybreak."
  • Sufyan Al-Thawri said "The Lord Almighty created a breeze which blows at daybreak, to carry the [zikr] and the [istighfar] (asking for forgiveness) to the Mighty King". And he also said "At the beginning of each night, a caller calls from beneath the Throne: may the worshipers wake up and rise! and they rise and pray for as long as The Lord Almighty wills; then a caller calls at midnight, may the obedient wake up and rise arise! and they rise and pray till dawn; and at dawn, a caller calls, may those asking forgiveness wake up and rise! and they rise and seek forgiveness; and then when day breaks, a caller calls, may the negligent and inattentive wake up and rise! and they rise from their beds as the dead resurrected from their graves."
  • O son, Luqman the Wise in his advice to his son said, "O son, let not the rooster be smarter than you - he cries at dawn while you sleep!"
  • Al-Shibli, may The Lord's mercy be upon him, served four hundred professors and said: "I read four thousand Hadiths; of which I selected a single Hadith by which I live; for I examined it and found in it my salvation and safety, and that it included all the knowledge of the first and the last. It is that Rasulullah, Sallallahu 'alaihi wa Sallam, said to one of his-companions, "Work for your world according to how much you will live in it, and work for your afterlife according to how long you will stay in it; and work for The Lord Almighty according to how much you need Him, and work for hellfire according to how much you will endure it."
  • About Sufism

  • O son: know that Sufism entails two characteristics:
  • Honesty with The Lord Almighty, and tranquility with the people;
  • Whoever is honest, and improves his character with the people, and treats them with tolerance, is a Sufi. And honesty is that he sacrifices his self's [nafs] fortune to follow The Lord Almighty's orders; and proper character with people is that you do not oblige them to follow your self's ([nafs]'s) desire, but you oblige your self ([nafs]) to their desires as long as they are compliant with [shariaa].
  • You asked me about slavery: it is three things: the first, compliance with the orders of [shariaa]; the second, accepting destiny and The Lord Almighty's decisions; the third, giving up your self [nafs] desires to seek pleasing The Lord Almighty.
  • You asked me about entrusting: it is enforcing your faith in what The Lord Almighty has promised, and believing that what He has destined for you will definitely reach you, even if everyone in the world tries to prevent it; and that what He has not destined will not reach you, even if all the whole world helps you.
  • You asked me about sincerity: it is that all your deeds be done for the sake of The Lord Almighty, your heart not finding solace to praise from people, and not caring for their insults. And know that the origin of hypocrisy is in glorifying people, and its remedy is regarding them as being enslaved to The Power, and to be sure that they unable of delivering any benefit or harm. If you assume that they have any power or might, hypocrisy will not part with you.
  • O son,..., freely give your soul, for the epic of this path is in freely giving and donating the soul; as Dhul-Nun al-Misri, may The Lord have mercy on him, told one of the students, "If you are able to freely give your soul, then come (join us); otherwise then do not waste your time in Sufism ."
  • Don't Boast Your Knowledge

  • O son: ..... as much as you can do not dispute an issue, for this entails many afflictions, and brings more sin than benefit, for it is the origin of every ugly trait: as hypocrisy and envy and grandiosity and hate and animosity and pride and others.....If your intention is that the truth appears and not be lost, a dispute can be permissible but with two conditions: the first is that it makes no difference for you whether the truth is revealed through you or through the other party; and the second is that you prefer dispute in private over disputing in public.
  • And know that questioning and disputing is an ailment of the heart, and answering is an attempt to cure it; and the ignorant are sick in the heart, and the scholars are their doctors; and a deficient scholar will not heal well; and the real scholar will not treat everyone, but treats who is hoped to benefit and to be cured; and if the ailment is incurable, the smart scholar would say that this person is hopeless and does not waste his time in attempting to cure him. Then know that ... of the incurable ailments is that of the person whose question or objection comes from his envy and hate. Whenever you give him the best answers to his questions, he only increases in hate and hostility and envy. The solution is to ignore him, as was said:
  • Every animosity can be hoped to be removed
    except the animosity arising out of envy
  • So you ought to ignore him and leave him with his sickness. The Lord Almighty said, "Withdraw from whoever turns away from our warning and desires nothing except the present life." And the envious, with everything he says and does is lighting a fire into his good deeds, as the Prophet, Sallallahu 'alaihi wa Sallam said: "Envy devours good deeds as fire devours wood."
  • O son: heed this and contemplate it so that you may find salvation: If you are told that the Sultan would come visit you in a week, I know that during this time you would only busy yourself by fixing what the Sultan would see, of clothing and body and house and furniture and others. And now contemplate what I refer to, for you are smart, and a short phrase suffices the shrewd. Rasulullah, Sallallahu 'alaihi wa Sallam, said: "The Lord Almighty does not regard your shapes or your acts, but He regards your hearts and your intentions."
  • Duaa

    And pray using this Duaa (supplication) in all times, specially at the end of your prayers:
O Lord, I beg You to grant me graces that are complete
and chastity that is permanent
and mercy that is comprehensive
and health that is attainable
and a living that is most affluent
and a life that is most pleasant
and benevolence that is most conclusive
and blessing that is most sweet
and gentleness that is most beneficial.
O Lord, please be for us and do not be against us.
O Lord, please conclude with happiness our term,
and fulfill more than our hopes,
and grant us good health for our days and nights,
and meet our destiny and fate with Your mercy,
and pour Your utmost forgiveness over our sins,
and grace us by fixing our flaws,
and make piety our provision,
and allow us striving in Your religion,
and make us trust in You and depend upon You.
اللّهُمَّ إنِى أسْألُكَ منَ النّعمَةِ تَمامَها
ومنَ العِصمَةِ دوامَهَا
ومنَ الرَحمَةِ شُمُولَهَا
ومنَ العَافِيَةِ حُصُولَها
ومنَ العَيشِ أرْغَدَه
ومنَ العُمرِ أسْعَدَه
ومنَ الإِحسَانِ أتَّمَّه
ومنَ الإِنعَامِ أعّمَّه
ومنَ الفَضْلِ أعذَبَه
ومنَ اللُطْفِ أنْفَعَه
أللَّهُمَّ كُنْ لَنا ولا تكُنْ علينَا
الَّلهُمَّ إخْتِم بالسَعَادَةِ آجَالَنَا
وحقِّقْ بالزِيادَةِ آمَالَنا
واقْرنْ بالعَافيَةِ غُدوَّنَا وآصَالَنا
واجعَلْ إلىَ رحْمَتِكَ مَصِيرَنَا ومَآلنَا
واصْبُبْ سِجَالَ عَفْوِكَ علىَ ذُنُوبِِنَا
ومِنَّ علينَا بِإصْلاحِ عُيوبِِنا
واجْعَل التَقوىَ زادَنا
وفى دينِكَ إجْتِهَادَنا
وعليكَ توَّكُلِنَا وإعْتِمَادَنَا
O Lord, please establish us on the path of correctness and integrity,
and shield us in this world from all that beget regret on resurrection day,
and decrease the burden of our sins,
and grant us the life of the pious,
and alleviate all our concerns in this home (this world) and that home (the afterlife),
and divert the evil of the wicked and the scheming of the immoral from upon us,
and emancipate us and our fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters from hellfire,
with your mercy, O Mighty [Azeez], O Forgiving [Ghaffar]
اللَّهُمَّ ثَبَِتْنَا علىَ نَهجِ الإسْتِقَامَةِ
وأَعِذْنَا فىِ الدُّنْيَا مِن مُوجِبَاتِ النَّدَامَةِ يَومَ القِيامَةِ
وخَفِّفْ عنَّا ثِقَلَ الأوزَارِ
وارْزُقْنَا عَيشَةَ الأبرَارِ
واكْفِنَا مَا أهَمَّنَا فىِ هذِهِ الدَارِ وفىِ تِلْكَ الدَارِ
واصْرِفْ عنَّا شَرَّ الأشْرَارِ
وكَيدَ الفُّجَّارِ
واعتَقْ رِقَابَنَا ورِقَابَ آبَائَِنا وأمِّهَاتِنا وإخْوَانِنا وأخَوَاتِنَا منَ النَّارِ
برَحْمَتِكَ يا عَزِيزُ يا غَفَّار
O Generous [Kareem],
O Concealer of Flaws [Sattar].
O Creator of day and night,
please free us of the concerns about this world and form the torture of the grave and from hellfire,
O Knower [Aleem] O Compeller [Jabbar].
O Allah, O Allah, O Allah;
يا كَرِيمُ يا سَتَّار
يا خَالِقَ اللَّيلِ والنَّهَار
خَلِصّنَا مِن هَمِّ الدُّنْيَا وعَذَابِ القَبْرِ والنَّارِ
يا عَليمُ يا جَبّْار
يا الله، يا الله، يا الله
With Your Mercy O Most Merciful of the merciful,
O First of the firsts,
O Last of the lasts,
O Most Powerful, O Steadfast;
O Merciful to the miserable,
O Most Merciful of the merciful.
بِرَحمَتِكَ يا أرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمين
يا أوَّلَ الأوَّلِين
ويا آخِرَ الآخِرِين
ويا ذَا القُّوَةِ المَتِين
ويا رَاحِمَ المَسَاكِين
ويا أرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمين
There is No God save You, [Subhanaka] (glory to Thee) I have been among the unjust.
لا إلَهَ إلا أنْتَ سُبْحَانَكَ إنِّىِ كُنْتُ مِنَ الظَّالِمِين
And may the lord send prayers upon Sayyidina Mohammed, and upon all his family and companions; and thanks and praise to Allah, The Lord of both worlds.
و صَلِّى اللَّهُمَّ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وآلِهِ وصَحْبِهِ أجْمَعِين
والحَمْدُ للهِ ربِّ العَالَمِين