Farewell to Ramadan: Du`a of Imam Zeyn al-Abidin
Excerpts from Du’a attributed to Imam Zeyn-al–Abidin, Ali bin Hussein bin Ali (r.a)
O (Allah!) He who shows Himself praiseworthy to His servants through beneficence and bounty, flooding them with kindness and graciousness!
How much (O Allah!) Thy favour has been spread among us, and thy goodness singled out for us!
Thou has guided to
Thy religion which Thou has chosen,
Thy creed with which Thou art pleased,
And Thy path which Thou hast made smooth,
and Thou hast shown us proximity to Thee and arrival at Thy generosity!
O Allah! Among the choicest of those duties and the most special of these obligations Thou have appointed the month of Ramadhan, which Thou hast singled out from other months, chosen from all period and eras, and preferred over all times of the year,
through the Quran and the Light which Thou has sent down within it,
the fasting which Thou obligated therein,
the standing in prayer which Thou encouraged at its times,
and the Night of Decree (Laylatul Qadr) which Thou magnified therein,
the night which is better than a thousand months.
Through it Thou hast preferred us over other communities, and through its excellence Thou hast chosen us to the exclusion of the people of the creeds.
We fasted by thy command in its daylight,
We stood in prayer with thy help in its night,
presenting ourselves by its fasting and standing to the mercy,
which Thou have held up before us, and we found through it, means to Thy reward.
And Thou art full of what is sought from Thee,
munificent which which is asked of thy bounty,
and near to him who strives for Thy nearness.
This month stood among us in a standing place of praise,
accompanied us with companionship of one approved,
and profited us with the most excellent profit of the world’s creatures.
Then it parted from us at the completion of its time, the end of its term,
and the fulfilment of its number.
So we bid farewell to it with the farewell of one –
whose parting pains us,
whose leaving fills us with gloom and loneliness,
and to whom we have come to owe
a safeguarded claim,
an observed inviolability,
and a discharged right.
We say:
Peace be upon you,
O greatest month of Allah!
O festival of His friends!
Peace be upon you,
O most noble of accompanying times!
O best of months in days and hours!
Peace be upon you,
Month in which expectations come near
and good works are scattered about!
Peace be upon you,
comrade who is great in worth when found
and who torments through absence when lost,
anticipated friend whose parting gives pain!
Peace be upon you,
familiar one
who brought comfort in coming, thus making happy,
who left behind loneliness in going, thus giving anguish!
Peace be upon you,
helper who aided us against Satan,
companion who made easy the paths of good deeds!
Peace be upon you,
How many became freedman of Allah within thee!
How happy those who observed the respects due to thee!
Peace be upon you,
How many the sins you erased!
How many the kinds of fault you covered over
Peace be upon you,
How drawn out were you for the sinners!
How awesome were you in the hearts of the faithful!
Peace be upon you,
month in which no days can compete!
Peace be upon you,
month which is peace in all affairs!
Peace be upon you,
you whose companionship is not disliked,
you whose friendly mixing is not blamed!
Peace be upon you,
Just as you have entered upon us with blessings
and cleansed us of the defilement of offences!
Peace be upon you,
You are not bid farewell to in annoyance nor do thy fasting leave us
in weariness!
Peace be upon you,
object which is sought before your time,
object of sorrow before your passing!
Peace be upon you,
How much evil was turned away from us through you!
How much good flowed from us because of you!
Peace be upon you,
And upon the Night of Decree (Laylatul-Qadar)
which is better than a thousand months!
Peace be upon you,
How much we craved for thee yesterday!
How immensely we will yearn for thee tomorrow!
Peace be upon you,
and upon thy bounty which has now been made unlawful for us
and upon thy blessings gone by which have now been stripped away from us!
O Allah!
We are the people of this month. Through it You have ennobled us and given us success because of Your Kindness, while the wretched are ignorant of its time.
Made unlawful to them is its bounty because of their wretchedness.
You are the patron of the knowledge of it
by which You have preferred us,
And its prescribed practices to which you have guided us.
We have undertaken, through Your giving success, its fasting and its standing in prayer,
But with shortcomings, and we have performed little of much.
O Allah! So to You belongs praise,
in admission of (our) evil doing and confession of (our) negligence,
and to You belongs remorse tightly knitted in our hearts
and seeking of pardon sincerely uttered by our tongues.
Reward us (O Allah!),
in spite of our neglect that befell us in this month,
with a reward through which we may reach bounty desired from it,
and win the varieties of the craved stores!
Make incumbent upon us Your pardon for our falling short of Your right in this month and make our (remaining lives) which lie before us reach the coming month of Ramadhan!
Once You have made us reach it, help us perform the worship, of which You are worthy,
cause us to take obedience to which You deserve,
and grant us righteous works that we may fulfil Your right in these two months of the time.
O Allah!
as for the minor and major sins which we had committed in this our month,
the misdeed into which we have fallen,
and the offences which we have earned,
purposefully or in forgetfulness,
wronging ourselves thereby or violating the respect due to others,
bless Muhammad and his household, cover us over with Your covering,
Pardon us through Your pardoning,
Place us not before the eyes of the gloaters because of that,
Stretch not towards us the tongue of the defamers,
And employ us in that which will alleviate and expiate whatever You
disapprove from us within it through Your clemency, which does not run out,
and your bounty, which does not diminish!
O Allah!
bless Muhammad as and his household, redress our being afflicted by our month,
bless us in this day of our festival and our fast-breaking,
make it one of the bast days that have passed over us,
the greatest in attracting Your pardon,
and the most effacing towards sins,
and forgive us our sins, both concealed and the apparent!
O Allah!
with the passing of this month make us pass forth from our offences,
with its departure make us depart from our evil deeds,
and appoint thereby among it s most felicitous people,
the most plentiful of them in portion and the fullest of them in share!
O Allah!
when any person observes this month as it should be observed,
safeguards its inviolability as it should be safeguarded,
attends to its bounds as they should be attended to,
fears its misdeeds as they should be feared,
or seek nearness to You with any act of nearness-seeking which
makes incumbent upon him Your pleasure and bend towards him Your mercy,
give to us the like (of that) from Thy wealth
and bestow it upon us in multiples through Thy bounty,
for Thy bounty does not diminish, Thy treasuries do not decrease but overflow,
the mines of Thy beneficence are not exhausted,
and Thy bestowal is the bestowal full of delight!
O Allah!
bless Muhammad and his household and write for us the wages
of him who fasted in it
or worshipped Thee within it until the Day of Resurrection!
O Allah!
we repent to you in our day of fast-breaking,
which You have appointed for the faithful,
a festival of joy and for the people of Thy creed,
a time of assembly and gathering,
from every misdeed we did, ill work we sent ahead
or evil though we secretly conceived,
the repentance of one who does not harbour a return to sin
and who afterwards will not go back to offence,
an unswerving repentance rid of doubt and wavering,
So accept it from us,
be pleased with us,
and fix us within it!
O Allah!
provide us with fear of the threatened punishment
and a yearning for promised reward,
so that we may find
the pleasure of that for which we supplicate Thee
and the sorrow of that from which we seek sanctuary in Thee!
And place us with Thee among the repenters,
those upon whom You have made Your love obligatory
and from whom You have accepted the return to obeying You!
O most Just of the just!
O Allah!
show forbearance toward our fathers and mothers
and all the people of our religion,
those who have gone and those who will pass by,
until the Day of Resurrection!
O Allah!
bless our prophet Muhammad and his household
as You have blessed Your angels brought nigh,
bless him and his household,
as You have blessed your prophets sent out,
bless him and his household
as You have blessed Your righteous servants,
– and better than that O Lord of the Worlds! –
a blessing whose benediction will reach us,
whose benefit will attain to us,
and through which our supplication may be granted!
You (O Allah!) are the most generous of those who are beseeched,
the most sufficient of those in whom confidence is had,
the most bestowing of those from whom bounty is asked,
and Thou art powerful over everything!
