Muslim Prayers

Prayers inspired by those who practice Islam and its tradition.

Thanks and Gratitude

Bismillah Al-Rahman Al-Raheem
In the name of God the most Mericful the Beneficent.
Oh Nourisher and Provider of all things.
We offer our thanks and gratitude for this food, and for those who prepared it.
In a world where so many are hungry, may we eat this food with humble hearts.
We offer our thanks and gratitude for each member of our community and the opportunity that we all have to come together to do good.
Dear God, may you bless our efforts and help us sit present with one another, mindful of our purpose.
Bismillahi'wa' ala Barakatillah
In the name of God and with the blessings of God, Let us begin.

- Tamara Mahmoud , Xavier Graduate '17 offered at Xavier Board of Trustees and student dinner, Feb. 16, 2017

Surat al-Fatiha

In the Name of God, the Infinitely Good, the All-Merciful.
Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds.
The Infinitely Good, the All-Merciful.
Master of the day of judgment.
Thee we worship, and in Thee we seek help.
Guide us upon the straight path.
The path of those on whom Thy grace is,
not those on whom Thine anger is,
nor those who are astray.

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His Supplication in Repentance

O God,
O He whom the depiction of the describers
fails to describe!

O He beyond whom passes not
the hope of the hopers!

O He with whom is not lost
the wage of the good-doers!

O He who is the ultimate object
of the fear of the worshipers!

O He who is the utmost limit
of the dread of the god-fearing!

This is the station of him
whom sins have passed from hand to hand.
Offenses' reins have led him on,
and Satan has gained mastery over him.
He fell short of what Thou hast commanded
through neglect
and he pursued what Thou hast prohibited
in delusion,

like one ignorant of Thy power over him
or one who denies the bounty of Thy beneficence toward him,
until, when the eye of guidance was opened for him
and the clouds of blindness were dispelled,
he reckoned that through which he had wronged himself
and reflected upon that in which he had opposed his Lord.
He saw his vast disobedience as vast
and his great opposition as great.

So turned to Thee,
hoping in Thee
and ashamed before Thee,
and he directed his beseeching toward Thee,
having trust in Thee.
He repaired to Thee in his longing
with certitude
and he went straight to Thee in fear
with sincerity.
His longing was devoid of every object of longing but Thee,
and his fright departed from every object of fear but Thee.

So he stood before Thee pleading,
his eyes turned toward the ground in humbleness,
his head bowed before Thy might in lowliness;
he revealed to Thee in meekness
those secrets of his which Thou knowest better than he;
he numbered for Thee in humility
those sins of his which Thou countest better than he;
he sought help from Thee
before the dreadful into which he has fallen
in Thy knowledge
and the ugly which has disgraced him
in Thy judgment:
the sins
whose pleasures have turned their backs
and gone
and whose evil consequences have stayed
and stuck fast.

He will not deny Thy justice, my God,
if Thou punishest him,
nor will he consider Thy pardon great
if Thou pardonest him and hast mercy upon him,
for Thou art the Generous Lord
for whom the forgiveness of great sins
is nothing great!

O God,
so here I am:
I have come to Thee
obeying Thy command
(for Thou hast commanded supplication)
and asking the fulfillment of Thy promise,
(for Thou hast promised to respond)
Thou hast said,
Supplicate Me and I will respond to you.

O God,
so bless Muhammad and his Household,
meet me with Thy forgiveness
just as I have met Thee with my confession,
lift me up from the fatal infirmities of sins
just as I have let myself down before Thee,
and cover me with Thy covering
just as Thou hast shown no haste to take vengeance on me!

O God,
make firm my intention to obey Thee,
strengthen my insight in worshipping Thee,
give me the success of works
which will wash away the defilement of offenses,
and take me when Thou takest me
in the creed of Thy prophet Muhammad
(upon him be peace).

O God,
I repent to Thee in this my station from
my sins,
great and small,
my evil deeds,
inward and outward,
my lapses,
past and recent,
with the repentance of one who does not
tell himself that he might disobey
or secretly think that he might return to an offense.

Thou hast said, my God,
in the firm text of Thy Book,
that Thou acceptest repentance from Thy servants,
pardonest evil deeds,
and lovest the repenters,
so accept my repentance
as Thou hast promised,
pardon my evil deeds
as thou hast guaranteed,
and make obligatory toward me Thy love
as Thou hast stipulated!

To Thee, my Lord, belongs
my stipulation
that I will not return
to what is disliked by Thee,
my guarantee
that I will not go back
to what Thou blamest,
and my covenant
that I will stay away
from acts of disobedience to Thee.

O God,
Thou knowest better what I have done,
so forgive me what Thou knowest
and turn me through Thy power to what Thou lovest!

O God,
counted against me are
claims that stay in my memory
and claims that I have forgotten,
while all of them remain in
Thy eye that does not sleep
and Thy knowledge that does not forget!
So compensate their owners,
lighten their load upon me,
lift up their weight from me,
and preserve me from approaching their like!

O God,
but I can not be faithful to my repentance
without Thy preservation,
nor can I refrain from offenses
without Thy strength.
So strengthen me with a sufficient strength
and attend to me with a defending preservation!

O God,
if any servant repents to Thee,
while in Thy knowledge of the Unseen he
will break his repentance
and return to his sin and offense,
I seek refuge in Thee lest I be like that!
So make this my repentance
a repentance
after which I will need no repentance
and a repentance
which will obligate the erasing of what has gone by
and safety in what remains!

O God,
I ask pardon from Thee for my ignorance,
and I ask Thee to disregard my evil acts!
So join me to the shelter of Thy mercy
through graciousness
and cover me with the covering of Thy well-being
through bounteousness!

O God,
I repent to Thee from everything opposed to Thy will
or far from Thy love
- the thoughts of my heart,
the glances of my eye,
the tales of my tongue -
with a repentance through which each bodily part will by itself
stay safe from ill consequences with Thee
and remain secure from Thy painful penalties
feared by transgressors!

O God,
so have mercy on
my being alone before Thee,
the pounding of my heart in dread of Thee,
the trembling of my limbs in awe of Thee!
My sins, my God, have stood me in the station
of degradation in Thy courtyard.
If I remain silent,
none will speak for me;
if I seek an intercessor,
I am not worthy for intercession.

O God,
bless Muhammad and his Household,
make Thy generosity intercede for my offenses,
follow up my evil deeds with Thy pardon,
repay me not with the punishment that is my proper repayment,
spread over me Thy graciousness,
wrap me in Thy covering,
and do with me what is done
by a mighty man,
when a lowly slave pleads to him
and he shows him mercy,
or a rich man,
when a poor slave submits himself
and he raises him to wealth!

O God,
I have no protector against Thee,
so let Thy might be my protector!
I have no intercessor with Thee,
so let Thy bounty be my intercessor!
My offenses have set me quaking,
so let Thy pardon give me security!

Not all that I have said rises up from
my ignorance of my evil footsteps
or forgetfulness of my blameworthy acts in the past,
but in order that Thy heaven and those within it
and Thy earth and those upon it
may hear the remorse which I have professed to Thee
and the repentance through which I have sought asylum with Thee.

Then perhaps one of them, through Thy mercy,
may show mercy upon my evil situation
or be seized by tenderness for my evil state.
There may come from him for my sake
a supplication to which Thou givest ear
more than to my supplication
or an intercession surer with Thee
than my intercession
through which I may be delivered from Thy wrath
and attain to Thy good pleasure!

O God,
if remorse is a repentance toward Thee,
then I am the most remorseful of the remorseful!
If refraining from disobedience is a turning back to Thee,
then I am the first of those who turn back!
If praying for forgiveness alleviates sins,
surely I am one of those who pray for Thy forgiveness!

O God,
as Thou hast commanded repentance
and guaranteed acceptance,
as Thou hast urged supplication,
and promised to respond,
so also bless Muhammad and his Household,
accept my repentance,
and return me not to the returning place
of disappointment in Thy mercy!
Surely Thou art Ever-turning toward the sinners,
All-compassionate toward the offenders who turn back!

O God,
bless Muhammad and his Household
just as Thou hast guided us by him!
Bless Muhammad and his Household
just as Thou hast rescued us through him!
Bless Muhammad and his Household,
with a blessing that will intercede for us
on the Day of Resurrection,
the day of neediness toward Thee!
Thou art powerful over everything,
and that is easy for Thee!

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His Supplication in Seeking Needs from God

O God,
O ultimate object of needs!
O He through whom requests are attained!
O He whose favors are not bought by prices!
O He who does not muddy His gifts by the imposition of obligations!
O He along with whom nothing is needed and without whom nothing can be done!
O He toward whom desire is ever directed and never turned away!
O He whose treasuries cannot be exhausted by demands!
O He whose wisdom cannot be altered by any means!
O He from whom the needs of the needy are never cut off!
O He who is not distressed by the supplications of the supplicators!
Thou hast lauded Thyself for having no need for Thy creatures, and it suits Thee to have no need for them,
and Thou hast attributed to them poverty, and it suits them to be poor toward Thee.

So he who strives to remedy his lack through what is with Thee and wishes to turn poverty away from himself through Thee has sought his need in the most likely place and come to his request from the right quarter.

But he who turns in his need toward one of Thy creatures or assigns the cause of its being granted to other than Thee, has exposed himself to deprivation and deserves to miss Thy beneficence.

O God,
I have a need of Thee:
My exertion has fallen short of it and my stratagems have been cut back before reaching it.
My soul induced me to present it to him who presents his needs to Thee and can do nothing without Thee in his requests, but this is one of the slips of the offenders, one of the stumbles of the sinners!

Then through Thy reminding me,
I was aroused from my heedlessness, through Thy giving success, I stood up from my slip, and through Thy pointing the way, I returned and withdrew from my stumble.

I said:
Glory to my Lord!
How can the needy ask from the needy?
How can the destitute beseech the destitute?

So I went straight to Thee, my God, in beseeching, and I sent Thee my hope with trust in Thee.

I came to know that
the many I request from Thee are few before Thy wealth,
the weighty I ask from Thee is vile before Thy plenty;
Thy generosity is not constrained by anyone's asking,
Thy hand is higher in bestowing gifts than every hand!

O God,
so bless Muhammad and his Household,
take me through Thy generosity
to Thy gratuitous bounty
and take me not through Thy justice
to what I deserve!
I am not the first beseecher to beseech Thee
and Thou bestowed upon him
while he deserved withholding,
nor am I the first to ask from Thee
and Thou wast bounteous toward him
while he merited deprivation.

O God,
bless Muhammad and his Household,
respond to my supplication,
come near my call,
have mercy on my pleading,
listen to my voice,

cut not short my hope for Thee,
sever not my thread to Thee,
turn not my face in this my need,
and other needs,
away from Thee,

attend for my sake to
the fulfillment of my request,
the granting of my need,
and the attainment of what I have asked
before I leave this place
through Thy making easy for me the difficult and Thy excellent ordainment for me in all affairs!

Bless Muhammad and his Household with a permanent, ever-growing blessing, whose perpetuity has no cutting off
and whose term knows no limit, and make that a help to me and a cause for the granting of my request!
Thou art Boundless, Generous!

And of my needs, My Lord, are such and such.

(Here you should state your needs, then prostrate yourself, and say in your prostration...)

Thy bounty has comforted me
and Thy beneficence has shown the way,
So I ask Thee by Thee
and by Muhammad and his Household
(Thy blessings be upon them)
that Thou sendest me not back in disappointment!

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Muhammad's Prayer of Light

O God,
give me light in my heart
and light in my tongue
and light in my hearing
and light in my sight
and light in my feeling
and light in all body
and light before me
and light behind me.

Give me, I pray Thee,
Light on my right hand
And light on my left hand
And light above me
And light beneath me,

O Lord,
Increase light within me
And give me light
And illuminate me.

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Prayer for Healing

Get rid of the hardship and heal, O Lord of the People, you are the Healer, and there is no healing of disease like Yours. Let it be healing that is not betrayed by sickness.

- Prophet Muhammad

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Sura 42:40-43

The recompense for an injury is an injury equal thereto (in degree): but if a person forgives and makes reconciliation, his reward is due from Allah: for (Allah) loveth not those who do wrong. But indeed if any do help and defend themselves after a wrong (done) to them, against such there is no cause of blame. The blame is only against those who oppress men and wrong-doing and insolently transgress beyond bound through the land, defying right and justice: for such there will be a penalty grievous. But indeed if any show patience and forgive, that would truly be an exercise of courageous will and resolution.

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Muslim Prayer for Peace

O God! O our master! You are eternal life and everlasting peace by Your essence and attributes. The everlasting peace is from You and it returns to You. O our Sustainer! Grant us the life of true peace and usher us into the abode of peace. O Glorious and Bounteous One! You are blessed and sublime.
Amen.

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Lord, the air smells good today,
straight from the mysteries
within
the garden
of God.
The trees in their prayer,
the birds in praise,
the first blue violets,
kneeling.

- Rumi

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