The Birth of Al-Husayn (a.s.)

The 3rd of Sha’ban is the birthday of Imam Husayn ibn ‘Ali, who was martyred at Karbala along with much of his family, and is known as Shah-e-Shuhada, the king of the martyrs.  He is the younger brother of Imam Hasan ibn ‘Ali, and together they are the grandsons of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima Az-Zahra and Imam ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, may peace and blessings be upon them and their progeny.  Collectively these five individuals are also known as the Ahl al-Kisa, the people of the cloak.

On the occasion of the Imam’s birth I have decided to link Du’a al-Husayn, which is a bit out of place, since it was the last thing he recited before his noble martyrdom. Nevertheless, I hope it may come as some benefit to whosoever reads this.

Du’a al-Husayn:

اللّهُمَّ أَنْتَ مُتَعَالي الْمَكَان

عَظِيمُ الْجَبَرُوتِ

شَدِيدُ الْمِحَالِ

غَنِيٌّ عَنِ الْخَلائِقِ

عَرِيضُ الْكِبْرِيَاءِ

قَادِرٌ عَلَى مَا تَشَاءُ

قَرِيبُ الرَّحْمَةِ

صَادِقُ الْوَعْدِ

سَابِغُ النِّعْمَةِ

حَسَنُ الْبَلاءِ

قَرِيبٌ إذَا دُعِيتَ

مُحِيطٌ بِمَا خَلَقْتَ

قَابِلُ التَّوْبَةِ لِمَنْ تَابَ إلَيْكَ

قَادِرٌ عَلَى مَا أَرَدْتَ

وَمُدْرِكٌ مَا طَلَبْتَ

وَشَكُورٌ إذَا شُكِرْتَ

وَذَكُورٌ إذَا ذُكِرْتَ

أَدْعُوكَ مُحْتَاجاً

وَأَرْغَبُ إلَيْكَ فَقِيراً

وَأَفْزَعُ إلَيْكَ خَائِفاً

وَأَبْكِي إلَيْكَ مَكْرُوباً

وَأَسْتَعِينُ بِكَ ضَعِيفاً

وَأَتَوَكَّلُ عَلَيْكَ كَافِياً

احْكُمْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ قَوْمِنَا بِالْحَقِّ

فَإنَّهُمْ غَرُّونَا وَخَدَعُونَا

وَخَذَلُونَا وَغَدَرُوَا بِنَا وَقَتَلُونَا

وَنَحْنُ عِتْرَةُ نَبِيِّكَ

وَوَلَدُ حَبِيبِكَ

مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ عَبْدِاللّهِ

الَّذِي اصْطَفَيْتَهُ بِالرِّسَالَةِ

وَائْتَمَنْتَهُ عَلَى وَحْيِكَ

فَاجْعَلْ لَنَا مِنْ أَمْرِنَا فَرَجاً وَمَخْرَجاً

بِرَحْمَتِكَ يَا أَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِمِينَ.

Translation:

O Allah: You are verily the Elevated in position,
the Magnificent in omnipotence,
the Mighty in prowess,
the Self-Sufficient from the creatures,
the Ample in pride,
the Powerful over all that which You want,
the Close in mercy,
the Truthful in promise,
the Opulent in favors,
the Sympathetic in ordeals,
the Nigh when Your are prayed,
the All-encompassing of all that which You have created,
the Accepter of the repentance of him who repents to You,
the Powerful to do whatever You want,
the Taker in all that which You decide,
the Thankful for those who thank You,
the Rememberer of those who mention You.
I pray You for I need You;
and I desire for You for I am in want of You;
and I resort to You for I am terrified;
and I weep before You for I am distressed;
and I seek Your aid for I am weak;
and I depend upon You for I trust in none save You;
(please do) decide between our people and us with the truth,
for they have deceived us, cheated us,
disappointed us, betrayed us, and killed us.
We are verily the progeny of Your Prophet,
and the sons of Your beloved one,
namely Muhammad ibn `Abdullah,
whom You have chosen for the Divine Mission
and for keeping Your Revelation.
So, (please so) prepare a way out and a relief for us,
out of Your mercy; O the most Merciful of all those who show mercy.

Renaissance

An extract from A Return to the Spirit by Martin Lings (p. 14), containing a quote from Frithjof Schuon, a magnificent and prolific spiritual writer of the 20th century, on the European Renaissance period:

This transition from objectivism to subjectivism reflects and repeats in its own way the fall of Adam and the loss of Paradise; in losing a symbolist and contemplative perspective, founded both on impersonal intelligence and on the metaphysical transparency of things, man has gained the fallacious riches for the ego; the world of divine images has become a world of words.  In all cases of this kind, heaven- or a heaven- is shut off from above us without our noticing the fact, and we discover in compensation an earth long unappreciated, or so it seems to us, a homeland which opens its arms to welcome its children and wants to make us forget all lost Paradises; it is the embrace of Maya, the siren’s song; Maya, instead of guiding us, imprisons us.  The Renaissance thought that it had discovered man, whose pathetic convulsions it admired; from the point of view of laicism in all its forms, man as such had become, to all intents and purposes, good, and the earth too had become good and looked immensely rich and unexplored; instead of living only “by halves” one could at last live fully, be fully man and fully on earth; one was no longer a kind of half-angel, fallen and exiled; one had come a whole being, but by the downward path.”

Qadiri Dhikr

A stunning exposition of Islamic devotional music, performed in Iraq.