The Ninth Word



* A page from The Ninth Word of the original manuscript of The Words

THE NINTH WORD

[The meanings and secrets inherent in الصلاه  (the Prayer)

 and in each prayer time]

بِسْمِ اللّٰهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّح۪يمِ

فَسُبْحَانَ اللّٰهِ ح۪ينَ تُمْسُونَ وَح۪ينَ تُصْبِحُونَ

وَلَهُ الْحَمْدُ فِي السَّمٰوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَعَشِيًّا وَح۪ينَ تُظْهِرُونَ (a)

My dear brother - you ask me about the wisdom behind the designation of the Prayer within the five particular times. We will allude to just one of the very many wisdoms underlying this. Yes - the time particular to every prayer is the beginning of an important transformation, a mirror of sublime Divine activity, and a reflector of the universal Divine benefactions at the heart of that activity. For that reason, prayer is made obligatory, for prayer is one’s increasing in the glorification and exaltation of the Almighty, the Possessor of Majesty, in those particular times,



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a. So celebrate Allāh’s glory in the evening and in the morning - praise is due to Him in the heavens and the earth - in the late afternoon, and at midday (Qur’ān: al-Rūm 30:17-18) 

and thanking and praising him for all of His endless blessings, that gather together between any two of these times. In order to understand some of the dimensions of this profound and subtle meaning, it is necessary that one listen along with my lower self to five points.

The First Point

[The Three Kernels of the Prayer - subḥānallāh, Allāhu akbar, and alḥamdulillāh]

The meaning of the prayer is the glorification and exaltation of, and gratitude to, Allāh (Exalted is He). This means the hallowing of His majesty (1) through سبحان الله  both as something said and as something acted upon. It further entails the exaltation of His perfection through الله اکبر  both verbally and in practise. Moreover, prayer means thanking His beauty through الحمد لله  in one’s heart, and upon one’s tongue, and through one’s physical body.

Tasbīḥ, (2) and takbīr (3) and ḥamd, (4) then, are like the kernels of the Prayer. As such, these three are to be found in every single ritual movement and every invocation of the Prayer. That is why these blessed phrases are also repeated thirty-three times after it - to affirm and reinforce the meaning of the Prayer. It is by way of these pithy compendia that its meaning is affirmed.

The Second Point

[The Sublimity of Allāh and the weakness of man - The nature of the relation between Creator and created entails that creation must worship Him]

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1. الجلال  (al-jalāl) Majesty - As an attribute, that which is related to wrath and the overpowering of others.

2. التسبیح  (at-tasbīḥ) ‘Glorification' - saying subḥānallāh سبحان الله  'Glory be to Allāh'

3. التکبیر  (at-takbīr) 'Exaltation' - saying Allāhu akbar الله اکبر  'Allāh is the Greatest'

4. الحمد  (al-ḥamd) 'Praise' - saying alhamdulillāh الحمد لله  'Praise be to Allāh' 

The meaning of worship is the servant of Allāh’s prostration, (1) in recognition of the faultiness of his own self, and of his powerlessness and poverty; in bewildered love, in the Divine Presence, the servant prostrates before the perfection of Lordship, the power of the Independent and Eternally Besought, and the Divine mercy. That is, just as the kingdom of Lordship demands servanthood and obedience, so too does the holiness and purity of Lordship demand that the servant - asking forgiveness upon realising his own shortcomings - affirm that his Lord is Transcendent and exempt from all deficiencies. He proclaims that his Lord is Transcendent and Exalted above the false notions of the people of misguidance, Holy and Transcendent above all the deficiencies associated with created things, whilst glorifying Him, with سبحان الله  ‘Glory be to Allāh’!

The absolute power of Lordship likewise demands that the servant take refuge in his Lord and trust in Him, and that he bows (2) down in humility, before the immensity of the effects (3) of the power of the One Who is Independent and Eternally Besought; faced with all this, and after recognising his own weakness and powerlessness, and that of the rest of creation, the servant says الله اکبر ‘Allāh is the Greatest!’ in approval and amazement.

In the same way, Lordship’s endless treasury of mercy demands that the servant manifest his need and the poverty and needs of all creation with the tongue of request and supplication, and that he proclaim the beneficence and bestowal of blessings of his Lord through gratitude and extolment, saying الحمد لله ‘All praise is due to Allāh!’

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1. السجده  (as-sajdah) Prostration - the element of the Prayer in which one places one's head on the floor in humble, devotional prostration.

2. الرکوع  (ar-rukū‘) Bowing - the stage of the Prayer in which one bows in devotion to Allāh.

3. الاثار  (al-āthār) Effects - the states, circumstances or beings which result from the created manifestations of Allāh's attributes and Names. 

That is, the actions and utterances of the Prayer contain these meanings. Indeed, it is for the sake of these meanings that Allāh instituted the Prayer.

The Third Point

[The Prayer includes the meanings of all of the forms of worship of all of creation]

Just as the human being is an encapsulating image of this immense world, and the noble Fātiḥah (1) is an illumined image of the Sublimely Glorious Qur’ān, so too is the Prayer a full and luminous index of every variety of worship. It is a holy map that indicates the colours of the worship of every sort of creature.

The Fourth Point

[The Evocations and Indications of the Times of the Five Prayers]

The hand of a week’s clock counts its seconds, minutes, hours, and days, and each supervises and corresponds to the other - and each is similar to the other, and the like of the other. With respect to this world of ours, which is itself one of Allāh’s great clocks, the succession of night and day resembles a mere second. The years count its minutes, the stages of a human lifetime count its hours, and the epochs of the world’s own lifespan count its days. Likewise, these also supervise and correspond to the other, are similar to each other, and each is the like the other. Each reminds one of the other. (2)

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1. The Fātiḥah or ‘The Opening’ is the first sura of the Qur’ān. It is a powerful summary of creed and supplication, and is recited by Muslims in every one of the daily Prayers.

2. Translators note: This passage evokes the interrelationships and intermeshing between the apparently discrete divisions of time. The whole cannot exist without the aggregate of these divisions, just as a man's final reality at the end of his life cannot become realised without every single moment of his youth having already taken place. 

[The time corresponding to each of the Five Prayers manifests a particular meaning related to the stages of the lives of man and the world]

By way of illustration: The time of the Dawn Prayer, fajr, which extends up until sunrise, resembles and recalls the beginning of spring, the occasion of the human being’s conception in his mothers’ womb, and the first day of the Six Days of the creation of the heavens and the earth. It evokes the significance of the Divine actions contained within these events.

The time of the Noon Prayer, ẓuhr, resembles and indicates high summer, as well as the heyday of youth, and the period of the creation of man within the lifetime of the world. It causes one to recognise the manifestations of Divine Compassion and the spiritual emanations of blessings in these events.

The time of the Late-afternoon Prayer, ‘aṣr is like autumn. It bears resemblance to the days of old age, and to the Age of Bliss (1) of the Prophet of the End of Time, upon whom be blessings and peace.

It reminds one of the Divine activity, and of the bestowals of the Merciful inherent in these matters.

The time of the Sunset Prayer, maghrib, causes man to understand the Divine manifestations of majesty, in its evocation of the ‘setting’ of a great number of creatures at the end of autumn, and of the death of man and the ruination of the world at the onset of Doomsday. It wakens him from and warns him against the sleep of heedlessness.

The time of the Evening Prayer, ‘ishā’, declares the majestic actions of the Majestic Subduer, (2) in evoking the world

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1. عصر السعاده (‘aṣru’s-sa‘ādah) The Age of Bliss - the blessed, happy time in which our Prophet Muḥammad was in this world, blessings and peace be upon him.

2. القهار  (al-Qahhār) The Subduer - a name of Allāh - He Who subdues and defeats all of His enemies. 

of darkness’ veiling of the remnants of the world of the day with its black shroud, and winter’s concealment of the face of the dead earth with its white shroud. It does so in evoking the death of the remnants of a dead man’s influence, and its falling under the veil of oblivion - and the closing down of this world of examination, once and for all.

Night time, in its explanation of winter, and the grave, and the Isthmus, reminds man of the true extent to which the spirit of each human being is in need of the mercy of the Merciful.

The Night prayer, tahajjud, instructs and warns one of how vital a light it proves, in the night of the grave and the darkness of the Isthmus. During such revolutions as these, it declares the vast extent to which the True Benefactor (1) is entitled to praise and extolment, by reminding one of His endless blessings.

The following morning reminds one of the morning of the Resurrection. Yes - that the morning following this night and the spring of this winter should both occur is logical, necessary and definite. The morning of the Resurrection and the spring of the Isthmus-world are of the same degree of certainty. That is to say, just as each of these five times is itself the beginning of an important change, and reminds one of tremendous revolutions, each furthermore reminds one of the annual, epochal and millennial miracles of power and gifts of mercy, by means of the indications given through the daily great works of the power of the Independent, Eternally Besought One.

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1. المنعم (al-Mun‘im) The Benefactor - Allāh, He Who bestows blessings upon His creation. 

That is to say, the obligatory prayers, that are a vocation of man’s original, innately sound disposition, (1) the foundation of worship and an absolute debt, are thus clearly actions due within these times, and deeply befitting to them.

The Fifth Point

[Weak, needy man benefits in a new and different way from each of the unique attributes inherent in each prayer time]

Man is by his innate nature very weak, quite apart from the fact that all things bother him, affect him, and hurt him. He is deeply powerless, quite apart from the fact that he has a very great number of tribulations and enemies. He is very poor, quite apart from the fact that he has such a huge number of needs, and he is lazy and incapable, although the burdens of his life are heavy indeed. His humanness has given him a bond to the universe, despite the fact that the evanescence of the things that he loves and finds friendship in and his inevitable separation from them continually hurts and troubles him. Intellect shows him high ambitions and lasting fruits. Yet his reach is short, his lifespan is short, his capacities are slight, and he is of short patience.

It should then be understood self-evidently how very important it is for a spirit of such a character to present its state at the court of the Almighty, Possessor of Majesty, the Compassionate, Possessor of Beauty, knocking on His door through humble entreaty and the Prayer, at the time of the Dawn Prayer, requesting success and assistance from Him. Further understood from this is that in order for one to be able to bear everything that befalls one, and carry

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1. الفطره  (al-fiṭrah) Innately sound disposition. This Qur’ānic term is key to understanding Islam's vision of human nature. The word refers to the inclination in man that makes it possible for him to accept religion. 

the burdens of the commitments and duties of the world of the day upon one’s shoulders, this point of support is absolutely necessary.

The time of the Noon Prayer, ẓuhr, is that of the ripeness of the day and the beginnings of its cessation - these are the moments in which one’s daily commitments are completed. It is the time for a temporary rest from the difficulty and discomfort of one’s commitments. It is the time in which the spirit most needs to take a rest and a breath from the heedlessness and perplexity left by the transient world and its fleeting, yet heavy and oppressive concerns. It is the time of the manifestations of the Divine benefactions.

It is man’s spirit’s seeking of help, its praise and gratitude for all of the benefactions of the True Bestower, the Self-subsistent Sustainer, the Ever-Abiding, hands bound, seeking refuge at His court after having rid itself of that difficulty and discomfort, and its being stripped of that heedlessness, and its exiting from those fleeting, trivial matters.

It is its revealing its powerlessness through bowing to His majesty and sublimity. It is its proclaiming its wonderment, love and annihilation in Him by prostrating in front of His perfection that will never pass, and His incomparable beauty. He is not a human being, he who is unable to perceive - through the meanings we have just mentioned - how very beautiful and subtle, necessary and appropriate is the performance of the Noon Prayer, ẓuhr.

The time of the Late-afternoon Prayer, ‘aṣr, reveals the melancholy season of autumn. It recalls and evokes 

the grievous state of old age, and the painful season of the end of time. It is the time of the termination of one’s daily commitments, and the time of the materialisation of all the Divine blessings that man has been granted in that day, such as good health, security, and good deeds.

It is the time that proclaims, through the indication of the vast sun’s inclining towards the horizon, that man is a guest, with duties and assignments, and that all things are temporary and unstable.

Hence, man’s spirit, that seeks eternity, and that was created for eternity, and that loves good treatment almost to the degree that it worships it; and that is pained by separation - gets up at this time and performs its ritual ablutions to perform the Late-afternoon prayer. It does this presenting its secret supplications to the eternal court of the Beginninglessly Ever-abiding, the Self-subsisting Eternal One, (1) praising and thanking Him for His incalculable blessings, taking refuge in the instances of solicitude of His Mercy which never passes away, and has no end.

Man’s spirit descends to bow, humbled before the might of His Lordship, prostrating in annihilation before His eternal Divinity, and finds true consolation and comfort of the spirit through its standing hands clasped together, in obedient readiness to serve in the presence of His grandeur.

True human beings then, will understand from the performance of the Late-afternoon prayer that contains all of these meanings, how lofty a vocation and how appropriate a service and how in-its-place a task it is for the paying back

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1. القدیم  (al-Qadīm) The Beginningless - An attribute of Allāh - He Whose existence was not preceded by nothingness (unlike all other beings); He has no beginning, as His existence is identical with His Essence.

of the debt of the innately pure disposition - and indeed that it means winning a surpassingly beautiful happiness.

The Sunset Prayer, maghrib, is a time evoking the time of the setting of the delicate and beautiful creatures of the two worlds of summer and autumn, in their melancholy farewell at the beginning of winter. It evokes further the moment that man enters his grave at death, and his painful separation from all of his loved ones.

It evokes the time of the departing of all of the inhabitants of this world to other worlds at the death of this world, in the tremors of its death throes. It evokes the time in which the lamp of this world of examination will be put out. It is a time that forcefully awakens those who love, to the point of worship, such much-loved things as each day set at sunset.

The human spirit is a mirror longing, by its original nature, for ever-abiding beauty. It orients itself for the Sunset Prayer in this time, and turns its face to the Throne of the sublimity of the Beginningless Who continues to be, and the Ever-Abiding, Who endures as He is, the One who carries out these great matters, directing and changing these gigantic worlds, saying الله اکبر  ‘Allāh is the Greatest’, far above these transient beings!

The spirit withdraws from continuing to deal with such things, and clasps its hands together in order to serve the Master, and stand in the presence of the Unceasing, Ever-Abiding.

The spirit praises and glorifies Him in its saying الحمد لله ‘Praise be to Allāh’ at His faultless perfection, incomparable beauty, 

and endless mercy. It offers its servanthood and seeks help from Him in its saying إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ  (1) before His Lordship that has no deputy, His Divinity that is without partner, and His dominion that allows for no vizier. The spirit bows, faced with His limitless grandeur, endless power, and might without deficiency. There, saying ‘glory be to my Sublime Lord’, (2) it reveals, along with the entirety of created beings, its own weakness, its powerlessness, its poverty and its abasement. And so it glorifies its Sublime Lord. (3)

Likewise, before the beauty of His Essence that faces no extinction, and His holy attributes in which are no change, and the perfection of His endlessness in which no shift can take place, it prostrates. In leaving all that is other than Him, in its wonderment and annihilation, it declares its love and servanthood. It finds, instead of the entirety of transient beings, one Ever-abidingly Beautiful, and Eternally Compassionate.

In saying سبحان ربی الاعلی  ‘glory be to my Lord, the Highest’ (4) the spirit hallows its Lord, the Highest, transcendent beyond having an end, utterly free from imperfections.

It then sits for the witnessing, (5) and gifts the blessed prayers on the Noble Prophet, (6) blessings and peace be upon him, and pure blessings of all creatures, in its own name and on its own account, to the Beautiful who continues to be, and the Majestic who endures as he is.

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1. You alone do we worship; to You alone do we pray for help. (Qur’ān: al-Fātihah 1:5)

2. سبحان ربی العظیم  (subḥāna rabbīyal-‘aẓīm) the main Prophetic devotion repeated in the bowing stage of the prayer.

3. العظیم  (al-‘aẓīm) The Sublime - a name of Allāh, He Who is so immense, magnificent and sublime that none can comprehend the fullness of His nature.

4. سبحان ربی الاعلی  (subḥāna Rabbīyal-A‘lā) This is the primary devotion repeated in the prostrations of the prayer.

5. التشهد  (at-tashahhud) [lit. witnessing], the stationary, seated stage of the prayer, in which are recited the following words, constitutes the exchange that took place between Allāh and the Blessed Prophet, upon whom be prayers and peace, on his famous mi‘raj, or 'mystical ascension': All salutations and pure blessings are from Allāh. Peace be upon you O Prophet, and the mercy and blessings of Allāh. Peace be unto us, and unto the righteous servants of Allāh. I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship save Allāh. And I bear witness that Muḥammad is his servant and messenger.

6. الصلوات  (aṣ-ṣalawāt) Salutations - the act of 'sending blessings' upon the Prophet, upon whom be blessings and peace, by reciting a particular formula in which one prays to Allāh to 'send blessings' upon the Prophet, which for Allāh, means raising his noble station even higher. 

It reveals its compliance with his commands, and through praying upon His most noble Prophet, on whom be blessings and peace, it renews its allegiance to him. It witnesses the unity of the Majestic Artful Maker by beholding the wise order of the palace of the universe, with the aim of renewing and illuminating its faith once more. It witnesses the truth of the prophethood of Muḥammad the Arabian, upon whom be blessings and peace, who is a proclaimer of the kingdom of Lordship - he bears the news of the means of His good pleasure; he is an interpreter of the signs of the book of the universe.

Look thus at how performing the Sunset Prayer - that contains all of the meanings just mentioned - is an elegantly subtle and pure vocation. Look at how sweet and distinguished a service it is, at how deeply good and beautiful an act of worship it is, at how very serious a reality it is. It is a conversation befitting eternity, and indeed a happiness suited to perpetuity, within this passing abode in which we are guests. How could man be man without being able to perceive this?

The Evening Prayer, ‘ishā’, is the time in which disappear those remnants, lingering on the horizons, of the traces of the day. The world of the night covers the earth. It is the time that reminds one of the Divine activity of the Almighty, Possessor of Majesty, مقلب اللیل والنهار ‘Alternator of the night and day’, in His turning that white page to this black page. 

It evokes the Divine operations of the Wise, Possessor of Perfection, Who is the مسخر الشمس والقمر  ‘Subjugator of the Sun and the Moon’, in His turning the green, ornamented page of summer to the cold, white page of winter.

It reveals the Divine activity of the Creator of death and life as, with the passing of time, people’s last remains in their graves transition totally to another world, through their final severance from this world.

It is a time that reveals and evokes the majestic activity, and the manifestations of beauty of the Creator of the earth and the heavens, in His revealing the vast, everlasting world of the Hereafter, subsequent to the awesome death throes of this limited, transient, and worthless world - and then its total destruction. The True Owner and Actor, and the True Object of Worship and Beloved of this universe must be a being that turns night into day, winter into summer, and this world into the Hereafter, with the same ease by which one turns the pages of a book. He writes, erases and replaces them. This is a state of affairs proving that He is Absolutely Almighty, and rules over all of these things.

Consider then the human spirit, in its state of endless powerlessness and weakness and in its limitless poverty and need, as it dives into limitless future darknesses. It becomes anxious and its state fluctuates during endless mishaps. When, in accordance with this meaning, the spirit performs the Evening Prayer within its time, it says, as Ibrāhim on whom be peace said لَآ أُحِبُّ ٱلْـَٔافِلِينَ (a) through the Prayer, it flees

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a. I do not love such things as set. (Qur’ān: al-An‘ām, 6:76) 

to the court of an Object of Worship who continues to be, of a Beloved who endures as He is.

In this transient world and transient lifespan, in this dark world, in this obscure future, it calls on the Ever-Abiding, the Eternal, and both beholds and requests the bounties of mercy and the light of guidance of the Merciful, the Compassionate. The Merciful and Compassionate Who disperses the light in its world via a small portion of everlasting conversation, a few minutes of an everlasting life. He it is Who illuminates the spirit’s future, and heals its wounds, that have come about from its separation from its friends and all existent beings, as well as the passing of its friends and all existent beings. Man’s spirit forgets the world, just as the world temporarily forgets it, and hides from it. Through the crying of its heart, at the court of mercy, it pours out concerning its sorrow.

Just in case the worst should occur, the spirit fulfils its duty of servanthood before it enters into its sleep - sleep that resembles death. It therefore undertakes to perform the Prayer, in order to close, with a beautiful seal, the record of the day’s deeds. That is, standing before One eternally Worshipped and Beloved, rather than all of its transient beloveds - before One both Almighty and Generous, rather than all the powerless beings to whom it begs. Before One who is both Protector and Compassionate, in order that the spirit be able to free itself of the iniquities of those harmful beings before which it trembles.

The spirit begins with the Fātihah, that is, it praises and glorifies the Lord of the Worlds, the Absolutely Perfect and 

Absolutely Rich, rather than praising and expressing indebtedness to deficient, destitute creatures - for that would be most futile and unbecoming. The spirit then ascends to the Divine address إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ (a) that is, despite its insignificance, worthlessness and desolation, it enters the station of an honoured guest in this universe, and of an important official, through becoming affiliated with the Owner of the Day of Judgement, the King of beginningless and endless eternity. In the name of all creatures, it offers the acts of worship and the seeking of help of the greater community of the entire universe and its supreme assembly, and approaches Him, saying إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ. (b) Then, it requests guidance to the ‘Straight Path’, that is, the illumined road within the darkness of the future, that leads to everlasting happiness, saying ٱهْدِنَا ٱلصِّرَٰطَ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمَ. (c) Saying الله اکبر ‘Allāh is the Greatest’, the spirit then descends into the bowing, contemplating the grandeur of the Essence of the Possessor of Majesty, to whom all plants and animals, drowned in their sleep, are soldier-like subjects, obedient to His command. As too are all of the hidden suns, and the vigilant stars, all of which are His lamps and His servants in this guest house of the world.

It then contemplates the greater prostration of all created beings. That is, every species of existent being, in each year, and in each age - think even of those creatures that are sleeping this night - all beings, even the earth and this world

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a. You alone do we worship (Qur’ān: al-Fātihah, 1:5)

b. You alone do we worship, and to you alone do we pray for help (Qur’ān: al-Fātihah, 1:5)

c. Guide us to the Straight Path. (Qur’ān: al-Fātihah, 1:6) 

itself, prostrate like a regular army. Indeed, they prostrate just as perfectly obedient soldiers would do so.

They say الله اکبر ‘Allāh is the Greatest’ and prostrate, in perfect order, upon the prayer carpet of the sunset, at the time of its setting, when the Divine Command, کن فیکون (a) releases them from their duty of servanthood within this world. That is, when all creatures are sent to the world of the unseen, some exactly as they were, and some with a likeness of what went before, and are again resurrected in the spring and rise up, through the trumpet-blast of life-giving and awakening that originates from the order کن فیکون ‘Be and it is’, hands clasped together, in obedient readiness to serve the Master. Just so, following them, the tiny human prostrates, saying الله کبر ‘Allāh is the Greatest’ in the court of the presence of the Merciful, Possessor of Perfection, and the Compassionate, Possessor of Beauty, in love overflowing with wonderment, and in annihilation overflowing with eternity, and in self-abasement overflowing with honour.

You have now doubtlessly understood how delicate and beautiful, how sweet and lofty, how venerable and pleasurable an action the Evening Prayer is - it is indeed a type of ascension (1) - and that it is a duty, a service, an act of worship and a serious reality the performance of which is both rational and deeply appropriate.

That is to say, every one of these five times is an indication of great revolutions, a sign of tremendous Divine operations, and an indication of the universal Divine bestowals. It is then clearly with the utmost wisdom that the obligatory prayers,

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a. Be, and it is! (Qur’ān: al-Baqarah, 2:117)

1. المعراج  (al-mi‘rāj) The Ascension - Our Prophet Muḥammad's celebrated ascension through the Seven Heavens unto the holy presence of his Lord. In this momentous event of spiritual history, he attained closer proximity to Allāh than any other being in creation ever has, or will.

that are truly a debt and a responsibility, are designated to their particular times.

 سُبْحَـٰنَكَ لَا عِلْمَ لَنَآ إِلَّا مَا عَلَّمْتَنَآ ۖ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ ٱلْعَلِيمُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ (a)

اَللّٰهُمَّ صَلِّ وَ سَلِّمْ عَلٰي مَنْ اَرْسَلْتَهُ مُعَلِّمًا لِعِبَادِكَ لِيُعَلِّمَهُمْ كَيْفِيَّةَ مَعْرِفَتِكَ وَ الْعُبُودِيَّةِ لَكَ وَ مُعَرِّفًا لِكُنُوزِ اَسْمَٓائِكَ وَ تَرْجُمَانًا لِاٰيَاتِ كِتَابِ كَٓائِنَاتِكَ وَ مِرْاٰةً بِعُبُودِيَّتِه۪ لِجَمَالِ رُبُوبِيَّتِكَ وَ عَلٰٓي اٰلِه۪ وَ صَحْبِه۪ٓ اَجْمَع۪ينَ وَ ارْحَمْنَا وَ ارْحَمِ الْمُؤْمِن۪ينَ وَ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ اٰم۪ينَ بِرَحْمَتِكَ يَآ اَرْحَمَ الرَّاحِم۪ينَ

O Allāh! Send prayers and blessings upon the one you sent as a teacher of the way in which we should worship you, in order that he instruct us in how to know you and serve you, and as definer of the treasures of your names, and as interpreter of the verses of the book of your creation, and as a mirror, through his servanthood, of the beauty of your Lordship; and upon all of his family and companions.

Have mercy on us, as well as on all of the believers, both men and women. Amīn... through Your mercy, O Most Merciful of the Merciful!

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a. Glory be to You! We have no knowledge except that which You have taught us. Surely You are the All-Knowing, the Wise. (Qur’ān: al-Baqarah, 2:32)