Sahifa Sajjadia - Dua 42 - Completion of reading of Quran

O God, You have helped me complete Your Book,

which You sent down as a light and appointed as a guardian

over every book You have sent down,

preferring it over every narrative which You have recounted,

a separator, through which You have separated Your lawful from Your unlawful,

a Qur'an, through which You have made plain the approaches to Your ordinances,

a book, which You have distinguished very distinctly for Your servants,

a revelation, which You have sent down, a sending down, upon Your prophet Muhammad (Your blessings be upon him and his Household).

You appointed it a light through following which we may be guided from the shadows of error and ignorance,

a healing for him who turns ear toward hearing it with the understanding of attestation,

a just balance whose tongue does not incline away from truth,

a light of guidance whose proof is not extinguished before the witnesses,

and a guidepost of deliverance, so that he who repairs straightway to its prescription will not go astray

and he who clings to its preservation's handhold will not be touched by the hands of disasters.

O God, since You have given us help to recite it

and made smooth the roughness of our tongues through the beauty of its expression,

place us among those who observe it as it should be observed,

serve You by adhering in submission to the firm text of its verses,

and seek refuge in admitting both its ambiguous parts and the elucidations of its clear signs!

O God, You sent it down upon Your prophet

Muhammad (God bless him and his household) in summary form,

You inspired him with the science of its wonders to complement it,

You made us the heirs of its knowledge as interpreters,

You made us to surpass him who is ignorant of its knowledge,

and You gave us strength over it to raise us above those not able to carry it.

O God, just as You have appointed our hearts as its carriers

and made known to us through Your mercy its nobility and excellence,

so also bless Muhammad, its preacher,

and his Household, its guardians,

and place us among those who confess that it has come from You,

lest doubt about attesting to it assail us,

or deviation from its straightforward path shake us!

O God, bless Muhammad and his Household

and make us one of those who hold fast to its cord,

seek haven from its ambiguities in its fortified stronghold,

rest in the shadow of its wing,

find guidance in the brightness of its morning,

follow the shining of its disclosure,

acquire light from its lamp,

and beg not guidance from any other!

O God, just as through it You have set up Muhammad as a guidepost to point to You

and through his Household You have made clear Your good pleasure's roads to You,

so also bless Muhammad and his Household

and make the Qur'an our mediation to the noblest stations of Your honour,

a ladder by which we may climb to the place of safety,

a cause for our being repaid with deliverance at the Plain of Resurrection,

and a means whereby we may reach the bliss of the House of Permanence!

O God, bless Muhammad and his Household,

lessen for us through the Qur'an the weight of heavy sins,

give to us the excellent qualities of the pious,

and make us follow the tracks of those who stood before You

in the watches of the night and the ends of the day,

such that You purify us from every defilement through its purification

and make us to follow the tracks of those who have taken illumination from its light

and whom expectation has not distracted from works, cutting them off through its delusions' deceptions!

O God, bless Muhammad and his Household

and appoint the Qur'an for us an intimate in the shadows of nights

and a guardian against the instigations of Satan and confusing thoughts,

for our feet an obstruction from passing to acts of disobedience,

for our tongues a silencer without blight preventing a plunge into falsehood,

for our limbs a restrainer from committing sins,

and for the scrutiny of heedfulness rolled up in heedlessness an unroller,

such that You attach to our hearts the understanding of the Qur'an's wonders

and its restraining similitudes which immovable mountains in all their solidity

were too weak to carry!

O God, bless Muhammad and his Household

and through the Qur'an make permanent the rightness of our outward selves,

veil the ideas of confusing thoughts from the soundness of our innermost minds,

wash away the dirt of our hearts and the ties of our heavy sins,

gather our scattered affairs,

quench the thirst of our burning heat in the standing place of the presentation to You,

and clothe us in the robes of security on the Day of the Greatest Terror at our uprising!

God, bless Muhammad and his Household

and through the Qur'an redress our lack - our destitution in poverty

drive toward us the comforts of life and an abundance of plentiful provisions,

turn aside blameworthy character traits and base moral qualities,

and preserve us from the pit of unbelief and the motives for hypocrisy,

such that the Qur'an may be for us at the resurrection a leader to Your good pleasure and Your gardens,

for us in this world a protector against Your displeasure and transgressing Your bounds

and for what is with You a witness by its declaring lawful the lawful and its declaring unlawful the unlawful!

O God, bless Muhammad and his Household

and through the Qur'an make easy for our souls at death the distress of the driving,

the effort of the moaning, and the succession of the rattling,

'when souls reach the throats' (ref.75:26) "and it is said, 'Where is the enchanter"? (75:27)';

when the angel of death discloses himself to seize them from behind the veils of unseen things,

letting loose at them from the bow of destinies the arrows of the terror of lonesome separation,

and mixing for them from sudden death a cup poisoned to the taste;

and when departure and release for the hereafter come close to us,

works become collars around the necks,

and the graves become the haven until the appointed time of the Day of Encounter!

O God, bless Muhammad and his Household,

make blessed for us the arrival at the house of decay

and the drawn out residence between the layers of the earth,

appoint the graves, after separation from this world, the best of our waystations,

make roomy for us through Your mercy the narrowness of our tombs,

and disgrace us not among those present at the Resurrection through our ruinous sins!

Through the Qur'an have mercy upon the lowliness of our station at the standing place of presentation to You,

make firm the slips of our feet during the shaking of the bridge across hell

on the day of passage over it,

illuminate the darkness of our graves before the Uprising,

and deliver us from every distress on the Day of Resurrection

and from the hardships of terrors on the Day of Disaster!

Whiten our faces on the day when the faces of wrongdoers are blackened

during the Day of Regret and Remorse,

appoint love for us in the breasts of the faithful,

and make not life for us troublesome!

O God, bless Muhammad, Your servant and Your messenger,

just as He delivered Your message, executed Your command, and counselled Your servants!

O God, make our Prophet (Your blessings be upon him

and his Household) on the Day of Resurrection the nearest of the prophets to You in seat,

the ablest of them before You with intercession, the greatest of them with You in measure,

and the most eminent of them with You in rank!

O God, bless Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad, ennoble his edifice,

magnify his proof, make weighty his balance,

accept his intercession, bring near his mediation,

whiten his face, complete his light,

and raise his degree! Make us live according to his Sunna

make us die in his creed, take us on his road,

make us travel his path, place us among the people who obey him,

muster us in his band,

lead us to up his pool, and give us to drink of his cup!

And bless Muhammad and his Household,

with a blessing through which You will take him to the most excellent

of what He hopes of Your good, Your bounty, and Your generosity!

You are Possessor of boundless mercy and generous bounty.

O God, repay him for Your messages which he delivered,

Your signs which he passed on, the good counsel he gave to Your servants,

and the struggle he undertook in Your way, with the best You have repaid

any of Your angels brought nigh and Your prophets sent out and chosen!

And upon him and his Household, the good, the pure, be peace,

God's mercy, and His blessings!