PRAYER OF SHAIKH RUBDAR
When Abu Ali Rubdar was at the point of death,
he pronounced these words:
‘My soul is on my lips in expectation of eternal welfare. The doors of heaven are open, and they have placed a throne for me in paradise.
The saints who dwell in the palace of immortality cry with the voices of nightingales:
“Enter, O true lover. Be thankful and walk
with Joy, for no one on earth has ever seen this place.”
God, if I obtain your grace and favour, my soul will not slip from the hand of certainty. I shall not bow my head as in the world of men,
for my soul has been formed through your love, and thus I know neither heaven nor hell.
‘If I am reduced to ashes there will not be found in me another being than You. I know You but I know not religion or unbelief. I am You, You are I. I desire You , my soul is in You. You alone are necessary to me.
You are for me this world and the world to come.
Satisfy, ever so little, the need of my wounded heart. Show, even a 1ittle, Your love for me, for I breathe only by You.
PRAYER OF RAB’ IAH
‘O God, you who know the secret of all things,
bring to pass the worldly desires of my enemies,
and grant my friends the eternity of the future life.
But as for me, I am free of both.
Even if I possessed this present world
or the world of the future, I should esteem them little
in comparison with being near to you. I need only you.
If I should turn my eyes to-wards the two worlds,
or desire anything but you,
I should be no more than an unbeliever.’
|