Dua’ : When All Doors are Closed

In the tradition we began a few years ago with translating Sh. Jebril’s famous Ramadan du`a’ (supplication), we present the audio recording of a beautiful du`a’ by Shaykh Abu Bakr al-Shatri for this year, with accompanying translation.

May Allah accept our supplications, fasts and prayers in this blessed month.

O Allah, to You is due all praise (hamd); and to You is all dominion (mulk); and in Your Hands is all good. To You returns all affairs, the open of them and the secret. Most worthy are You of being praised; most worthy are You of being worshiped; and most worthy are You of being obeyed.

O Allah, praise is due to You for You have created us, have provided for us, and have taught us. You have guided us, and relieved us and dispelled us of our worries.

Praise is due to You for [the blessing of] faith (iman); praise is due to You for Islam; praise is due to You for the Quran; praise is due to You for [the blessings of] family and wealth and good health.

You have seized our enemies, and made manifest our safety; and from all that we have asked You, Our Lord, You have [responded to us] and given to us.

Praise is due to You for this, praise that is generous and abundant.

Praise is due to You for every blessing You have bestowed upon us, whether old or new, specific or general, living or dead, apparent or hidden.

Praise is due to You until You are pleased, and praise is due to You after You are pleased. Praise is due to You in the beginning and the end. La ilaha illa Allah… we worship none but [You], sincere in faith and devotion, though the disbelievers dislike it.

O Allah, we seek Your help and we seek Your forgiveness. We attribute all goodness to You. We are grateful to You and refuse to be ungrateful to You; we abandon and forsake all those who reject You. O Allah, You alone we worship, to You alone we pray; to You alone we prostrate, and for You alone we strive; and to You alone we flee for refuge. We hope in Your mercy and we fear Your retribution. Verily, Your punishment is bound to catch up with those who reject the truth.

Glory be to [Allah,] the One Who is donned with glory and proclaims with it.

Glory be to He Who dressed Himself in honor (majd) and bestows it graciously.

Glory be to He besides Whom there is no other worthy of glorifying.

Glory be to the Possessor of Grace (fadl) and Munificence (jood).

Glory be to the Possessor of Generosity (karam) and Munificence (jood).

Glory be to He Whose knowledge encompasses all things.

O Allah, guide us along with those whom You have guided aright; and grant us well-being along with those whom You have granted well-being; and protect us with those whom You have protected. Bless for us all that You have given us; and save us and keep away from us, by Your mercy, any evil that You have decreed. Verily You decree and none can decree over You. And none is abased whom You befriend, and none is honored whom You oppose. Blessed are You, our Lord, Exalted. To You, O Allah, all praise is due for what You have decreed, and to You, O Allah, is due all thanks for Your blessings and bounty. We seek forgiveness from (You) Allah for all of our sins and mistakes, and we repent to You.

O Allah, apportion to us such fear (khashya) of You as should serve as a barrier between us and acts of disobedience; and such obedience as will take us to Your Paradise; and apportion for us a share of certainty (yaqeen) that will make it easy for us to bear the hardships and tribulations of this world. Allow us, O Allah, to enjoy our hearing, our sight and our strength as long as You keep us alive, until we pass away; grant us retribution, but only from those who have wronged us, and do not put over us, due to our sins, an authority that does not fear You in regards to us nor shows us compassion.

O Allah, do not let worldly affairs (dunya) be our principal concern nor the ultimate limit of our knowledge; do not make the Fire our abode, and make, O Allah, Paradise our home and final dwelling place, by Your Mercy, O Most Merciful of those who show mercy.

O Allah, we ask You for guidance (huda) and piety (tuqaa), virtue (`afafah) and richness (ghinaa).

O Allah, we ask You [to grant us] the performance of good deeds, and restraint from the forbidden, and love for the poor. [We ask] that You forgive us and have mercy on us, and that if you will for a people to be tried by tribulation (fitna), that You grasp us to You, and prevent us from being from among them.

O Allah, we ask you for Your love, and the love of those who love You, and the love of those deeds that draw us close to Your love, O Lord of Majesty and Honor (Dhul Jalali wal-Ikram).

O Allah, grant our souls (nufus) piety (taqwa), and purify them, for You are the best to purify them, and You alone are their Guardian and Master, O Lord of Majesty and Honor (Dhul Jalali wal-Ikram).

O Allah, accept our repentance, wash away our sins, respond to our supplications, make firm our proof, guide our hearts, straighten our tongues, and remove rancor and ill-feeling from our hearts.

O Allah, enrich us with forbearance (hilm); ornament us with knowledge (`ilm); honor us with piety (taqwa); and beautify us with well-being (`aafiya), O Lord of Majesty and Honor (Dhul Jalali wal-Ikram).

O Allah bless us in our hearing, our sight, and our hearts; [bless for us] our spouses and our children, and accept our repentance, for You are the Oft-Relenting, Most Compassionate (at-Tawwab ar-Raheem).

Make us thankful for Your blessings, declaring our praises and gratitude for them (thana), and expressing that in our speech; and complete and perfect [such blessings] upon us, for You are the Benevolent, the Generous (al-Jawaad al-Kareem).

La ilaha illaAllah… [Praise] proportionate to the amount of creatures who walk on earth and on its steps. All praise is due to Him in Whose Hands are the keys of relief and refuge (faraj).

Our Refuge when all doors are closed… and all means (of escape) are cut… and a barrier lies between us and our families and companions…

O You besides Whom there is no other lord (rabb) to call upon, nor angel to whom one’s request is deferred, nor intercessor that is beseech-ed. O You Who only increases in generosity and munificence with every request … Who only increases in graciousness and benevolence when presented with large amounts of [people’s] needs

Allow us to taste the coolness of Your Pardon.

And the sweetness of intimate discourse with You.

O Allah, we have been tending to the responsibility of fasting and standing in prayer during this month, with so many shortcomings from us, and we have, by this, fulfilled from Your rights only a tiny portion from a lot.

O Allah, have mercy on us, one and all – and grace the evildoers among us for the sake of those who do good.

O Allah, forbid the Fire from [touching] our skin, for it cannot bear [its torment], O Lord of the Worlds (Rabb al-`Alameen)

O Allah, we seek refuge in You from the punishment of Hell-Fire (Jahannam); ‘Its punishment is indeed an affliction grievous; evil indeed is it as an abode and a place to dwell.’ (From the Quran 25:65-66)

O You Whose Forgiveness is Vast and Encompassing… O Our Lord…

Is there, in existence, a lord (rabb) other than You to call upon?

Or in the universe, a god (ilah) other than You in whom one can put their hopes?

Or a judge other than You to whom a complaint can be raised?

Who else can we cry out to in distress, when You are the Most Knowing (al-Aleem), the Powerful (al-Qaadir)? To whom else can we turn, when You are the Most Generous (al-Kareem) and the One Who Conceals (as-Saatir)? Who else can we seek victory from, when You are Our Protector (al-Mawla) and the One Who Grants Victory (an-Naasir)? Who else can we ask for rescue, when You are Our Protector (al-Mawla), The Irresistible (al-Qaahir)? Who else can mend our affairs, when You alone are the One who mends hearts? Who else can forgive our sins when You are the Merciful, the Forgiving (ar-Raheem, al-Ghafir)?

O You who knows every secret and every innermost thought…

O You Who is The First (al-Awwal) and the Last (al-Aakhir), The Apparent (adh-Dhahir) and the Hidden (al-Batin)…

O Refuge of the Seekers… Beloved of the Lovers… Comfort of those who are cut off… O Companion of those who remember you…O You Who is with the hearts of the broken-hearted…O You Who fulfills the needs of those who petition You…O You Who accepts the repentence of the penitent… O You Who relieves the distressed of their hardship…

We ask You, O Allah, to accept our supplication, and raise our ranks [in Your Sight and in Paradise], to forgive our sins, to respond to our yearnings, to conceal our faults and overlook our misdeeds.

O Allah, O Lord of Majesty and Honor (Dhul Jalali wal-Ikram)… O Unique One (al-Waahid al-Ahad), O You Who is Singular and Free of Want (al Fard as-Samad), O Supreme and Irresistible Subduer (al-Qahhar), O Oft-Relenting One (at-Tawwab)…

We ask You, O Allah, by every name that belongs to You, by which You have named Yourself, or that You have revealed in Your book, or You have taught to any of Your creation, or that You have preserved with You in Your knowledge of the unseen,

that you make the majestic and noble Quran the blossoming spring of our hearts

and the light of our chests, and the means of removing our sorrows, and dispelling our sadness and grief, and our driver and guide to You and Your Gardens – Gardens of Eternal Bliss.

O Allah, make us among those who care for its ordinances (hudood) and the pronunciation of its words (huroof); do not make us among those who care for the pronounce of its words, but ignore its ordinances.

O Allah, Ramadan has announced its departure; so please make it also a departure of our sins and our deficiencies and shortcomings, O Lord of Majesty and Honor (Dhul Jalali wal-Ikram).

O Allah, bring solace to our hearts upon separating from this month. O Allah, return this month to us again over many years and numerous times, while we are in good health and well being and expansive provision, O Lord of Majesty and Honor (Dhul Jalali wal-Ikram).

O Allah, forgive all the Muslim men and women who have passed away, and all the believing men and believing women; those who bore witness to Your Oneness and to Your messenger with his message; and who died upon that.

Oh Allah, forgive them and grant them Your mercy; pardon them and be generous with them; bless their arrival, and make wide their entrance; comfort their loneliness; and exchange their [earthly] home for a better home, and their [earthly] spouse (ahl) for a better spouse. O Allah, cleanse them of their sins and mistakes just as a white cloth is washed of dirt, and wash them with water and snow and hail.

O Allah, send down upon their graves light, spaciousness and happiness, until they become in the depths of their graves tranquil and content, and on the Day of Judgment among those who are safe [from Your punishment]

O Allah, move them from the narrowness of the grave and dwelling of worms to the eternal gardens; around thornless lote-trees, clustered plantains, and long extended shades.

O Allah, grant us mercy when we reach where they have reached, under casket and soil, alone. O Allah have mercy [and relieve] our feelings of estrangement in this life, and our loneliness in our graves, and our fear on the Day of Judgment. O Allah have mercy upon us when we stand in abject humility before You.

O Allah, please accept our supplication and respond to it; O You whose mercy is vast and expansive, please grant us our request.

O Allah, give us a plentiful share from the good of this world and the hereafter which our knowledge and actions are too deficient to attain, and our supplications have missed.

O Allah, send peace and blessings on Muhammad and the family of Muhammad, as You have sent peace and blessings on the family of Abraham.

O Allah, make us arrive at his Hawd, and bestow on us his intercession, and resurrect us as part of his group (zumrah). O Allah, purify us by our sending prayers upon him. O Allah, please grant him as an intercessor for us. O Allah, please make him one who gives us to drink from the Hawd. O Allah do not prohibit us from his company in the Gardens.

O Allah, we ask you for fear (khashya) of You in secret and in open; and we ask You to help us speak the word of truth whether happy or in anger; we ask you for moderation (qasd) whether in poverty or wealth. We ask you for coolness and comfort to our eyes that does not abate; and we ask You for blessings that are never exhausted; and we ask You for the coolness of life after we have died; and we ask You for the sweetness of looking at Your Noble Countenance, and for longing to meet You without difficulty or trial, O Lord of Majesty and Honor (Dhul Jalali wal-Ikram).

O Allah we ask You for steadfastness in our affairs, and strong resolve in [seeking] right-guidance; we ask You to grant us gratitude for our blessings, and the best and most beautiful of worship.

And we ask You, O Allah, for a sound heart, and a truthful tongue; and we ask You for goodness (khayr) You know, and to protect us from evil (sharr) You know, and we seek Your forgiveness for what You know (of our deeds), for You are the Absolute Knower (al-`Allam) of all that is unseen.

Peace and blessings on Sayyidina Muhammad and his family and companions.