T
he Supplication of Abi Hamza al-Thumali is narrated from Imam Sajjad (as) and is one of the most precious and well-known of prayers, enjoying a high status amongst great scholars. Abi Hamza al-Thumali, the narrator of this beautiful du'a, was one of the prominent students of Imam Zayn al-'Abidin (a) and this du'a has been named after him.-‘Misbah al-Mutahajjid’
إO Allah, do not discipline me by means of Your punishment
and do not subject me to Your planned strategy
How can I attain welfare, O Lord
while it is not found elsewhere save with You
How can I find redemption
while it cannot be attained save through You
Neither he who has done righteous deeds can dispense with Your aid and mercy
nor can he who did evildoings, dare to challenge you
and did not arrive at Your pleasure find an exit out of Your power
Repeat this phrase as many times as possible in one breath
يَا رَبِّ …
ya rabbi
O Lord…
Through You have I known You
You showed me the way to You
and invited me to come towards You
Had it been not for You, I would have never known who You are
All praise be to Allah alone Who gives answer to me whenever I pray Him
although I am slow whenever He invites me
All praise be to Allah alone Who gives me whenever I ask Him
although I become close-fisted when He asks me
All praise be to Allah alone Whom I call whenever I need something
and Whom I secretly converse whenever I want without need for an intercessor
He thus grants my need
All praise be to Allah alone other than Whom I never pray
and even if I pray anyone else, he shall never be able to respond to my prayer
All praise be to Allah alone for other than Whom I do not hope
and even if I hope for anyone else, he shall certainly disappoint me
All praise be to Allah alone Who has accepted me to depend upon Him and, thus, bestowed favors upon me
He has not left me to people who will thus definitely humiliate me
All praise be to Allah alone Who has sought my friendship
while He can dispense with me
All praise be to Allah alone Who showed Himself gentle and considerate towards me
as if I have not sinned
Accordingly, my Lord is the only One Whom I should thank
and He is the worthiest of being thanked by me
O Allah, I find the courses to asking from You wide open
the springs to hoping for You overflowing
seeking the help of Your favors reachable for them who have hopefully looked forward to You
and the doors of praying You vulnerable for them who cry to You
I know for sure that You give favorable reply to the petitioners
and relentlessly succor the aggrieve
and to long for Your beneficence
and to accept Your will and judgment
are well compensations for that which the close-fisted misers deny
and alternative to that which is possessed by the stingy
He who travels towards You will easily reach his destination
You do not conceal Yourself against Your creatures
unless their evildoings stand between them and You
I am thus turning to You carrying my appeals
and directing towards You carrying my needs
I have sought the help of You alone
and begging You through my prayer
although I do not deserve to be observed by You
or to be pardoned by You
Rather, I have full confidence in Your generosit
I have relied upon the truthfulness of Your promise
I have sought shelter with my faith in Your Oneness
and my certitude in the fact -which you know
that I have no Lord other than You
and there is no god save You
alone, without having any partner
O Allah, It is You Who have said, and Your sayings are always true
and Your promise is always valid
“Ask Allah of His bounty
Verily Allah is ever Merciful to you
It is not Your habit, O my Chief
that You instruct us to implore You and then You stop giving us
while You are the All-benefactor Who confers upon the people of Your Kingdom with (innumerable) donations
and You are the All-generous Who meets them with the kindness of Your compassion
O my God, You brought me up amid Your bounties and favors when I was little
and You have mentioned me when I have grown up
So, O He Who brought me up in this world with His bounties
and, in the Hereafter, will have referred to me with His amnesty and generosity
My acquaintance with You, O my Lord, is the path taking me to You
and my love for You is the intermediary between You and me
I am sure of the path to which You have lead me
and I rely upon my intermediary’s success before You
I pray You, O my Chief, with a tongue muted by its sins
O Lord! I confidentially speak to You with a heart degraded by its offenses
I pray You, O Lord, with terror, desire
hope, and fear
Whenever I think of my sins, O my Master, I panic
but when I think of Your generosity, I feel desirous (for Your pardon)
Therefore, if You forgive me, You are already the best of those who show mercy
and If You punish me, You are then not wronging me
Yet, it is Your munificence and Your generosity, O Allah, that gave me the courage to pray You
despite that I have committed things that You dislike
It is Your kindness and mercy that I use as my means during misfortunes inflicting me despite my shamelessness
I thus hope that my expectation will not be disappointed amid these two matters
So, make my hopes become real
and answer my prayers
O Greatest Besought One that has been ever besought
and the Most Favorable Hoped One
My expectation, O my Chief, has been great but my deed has been bad
So, grant me Your pardon as much as my expectation
and do not punish me for the worst of my deed
Verily, Your generosity is too great to be compared to the penalty of the guilty
and Your tolerance is too immense to be compared to the punishment of the negligent
, O my Chief, am seeking refuge with Your benevolence
fleeing from You towards You
hoping for the amnesty that You have promised to confer upon one who keeps good idea about You
What am I? O Lord! What importance do I have
Do me a favor out of Your benevolence
and be charitable to me by means of pardoning me
O my Lord! Cover me with Your protective covering
and overlook reproaching me out of the generosity of Your Face
In fact, if anyone other than You has watched me while committing these sins, I may not commit them
Had I anticipated immediateness of punishment, I might have avoided doing them
Yet, this does not mean that You are the least important of those who watch over me
or You are the least weighty of those who observe me
Rather, this is because You, O my Lord, are the best of those who cover up (one’s defects)
the wisest of those who judge
the most generous of those who act generously
the concealer of defects
the Forgiver of sins
and the Knower of the unseen
You conceal the defects out of Your liberality
and put off punishment because of Your forbearance
Hence, all praise be to You, for You act tolerably although You have full knowledge
and for Your pardon even though You have the absolute authority
It is Your forbearance with me that gives me latitude and makes me dare to break Your laws
It is Your concealing my faults that makes me act shamelessly before You
It is my acquaintance with the broadness of Your mercy and the magnitude of Your pardon that make me hurry to violate that which You have deemed forbidden
O Indulgent! O Compassionate
O Ever-living! O Self-subsistent
O Forgiver of sins
O Accepter of repentance
O Owner of matchless bounties
O He who has been doing favors since eternity
Where is Your magnificent concealment (of one’s faults)
Where is Your irreversible pardon
Where is Your abrupt relief
Where is Your immediate aid
Where is Your boundless mercy
Where is Your overflowing gifts
Where are Your pleasant endowments
Where are Your beautiful benefits
Where is Your outstanding grace
Where are Your giant bounties
Where are Your eternal favors
Where is Your generous liberality? O Generous Giver
In Your name and in the name of Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad, save me
In the name of Your mercy, deliver me
O All-benevolent
O All-beneficent
O All-gracious! O All-compassionate
In my salvation from Your punishment, I do not rely upon my deeds
rather, I depend on Your liberal generosity to us
because You are verily the Lord of righteousness and the Lord of forgiveness
You take the initiative in doing good out of Your graciousness
and overlook the sins out of Your generosity.
We thus do not know which of Your graces we should thank
should it be the handsome elegance that you spread over us, or our offensive deeds that you conceal
Or should it be the fabulous favor that You grant and present
or the numerous misfortunes from which You have saved and relieved
O Beloved of those who endear themselves to Him
O delight of the eyes of those who resort to Him and communicate Him incessantly
You are the All-benevolent and we are the malevolent
So, overlook, O Lord, the offensive that we hold by means of the good that You hold
There is not definitely any foolishness that can be uncovered by Your liberality
There is no period that may be longer than Your tolerance
What value remains for our deeds if compared to Your favors
How can we ever deem much any deeds if compared to Your generosity
Moreover, how may Your broad mercy be narrow for the guilty
O Extensive Forgiver
O He Who extends both hands with mercy
By Your Majesty I swear, O my Lord
even if you chide me, I shall never leave Your Door
and I shall never stop flattering You
This is because I have full acquaintance with Your (indescribable) generosity and bount
You punish whomsoever You want however You want by whatever means You want
You have mercy upon whomsoever You want however You want by whatever means You want
None is supposed to interrogate You for whatever You do
non can ever contend with You about Your authority
none can ever have a share in that which You hold
none can ever object to Your decisions
and none can ever protest against that which You administer
To You alone are creation and determination
Blessed be Allah, the Lord of the worlds
O my Lord, this is the manner of one who seeks Your shelter
resorts to Your liberality
and has been accustomed to be included with Your benevolence and graciousness
You are certainly the All-munificent Whose amnesty never shrinks
Whose favor never reduces
and Whose mercy never diminishes.
We have full confidence in You on account of Your eternal habit of pardons
boundless kindness, and limitless mercy
Is it ever expectable, O Lord, that You may disappoint us or may act on the contrary of our expectations
No, never. O Compassionate! This is neither our idea about You
nor our desire from You
O my Lord, verily we have hope, big and large, in You
Verily, we have great expectation in You
Albeit that we have disobeyed You, we still hope that You will cover our faults
We have prayed You hoping that You will respond to us
So, give success to our hopes, O our Lord
We now know for sure what we deserve in exchange of our deed
Yet, Your knowledge about us and our knowledge that You shall never let us down
have urged us to desire for You
even if we do not deserve Your mercy
However, You are the worthiest of conferring upon us and upon the guilty with the grace of Your broad benevolence
So, confer upon us with that of which You are worthy
and act generously towards us, for we are in need for Your conferral
O Oft-Forgiving, in Your light have we found the right path
due to Your favor have we dispensed with the others
and Your grace have we experienced in morns and eves
Our sins are before You
we beseech You, O Allah, to forgive them and we repent before You
Whilst You show affection to us through Your graces, we take ourselves away from You through our sins
You good descend upon us
while our evildoing ascends to You
Albeit that a noble angel always carries to You our offensive deeds
this has never made you stop encompassing us with Your graces
and conferring upon us your elegances
Glory be to You! How Forbearing, Magnificent
and Generous You are at all times
Sacred be Your Names
Grand be Your praise
Munificent be Your deeds and acts
You, O my God, are too expansive in graciousness and too great in forbearance
to punish me for my evildoings and sins
(Here I am asking for) Amnesty! Amnesty! Amnesty
O my Lord! O my Lord! O my Lord
O Allah, cause us to be engaged with mentioning You
save us from Your wrath
deliver us from Your torture
grant us Your donations
confer upon us with Your grace
and provide us the opportunity to go on pilgrimage to Your House
and to visit the tomb of Your Prophet
may Your blessings, mercy
forgiveness, and pleasure be upon him and his Household
Verily, You are nigh and ready to answer
Bless us with acting upon the obedience to You
and receive us following the rule of You and Your Prophet
blessings of Allah be on him and on his Household
O Allah, forgive me and my parents
and have mercy on them as they cared for me when I was little
Reward them generously for their good deeds
and forgive their sins
O Allah, forgive the faithful men and women
be they alive or dead
and join us together in bliss and happiness
O Allah, forgive our living and dead persons
our present and absent ones
dhakarina wa unthana
our male and female ones
our infants and adults
and our free ones and slaves.
kadhaba al`adiluna billahi
Liars are those who ascribe rivals to Allah
they have wandered far astray
and they will have suffered a manifest loss
O Allah, send blessings to Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad
seal my life with decency
help me overcome all that which aggrieves me in this world as well as the Hereafter
do not let him who does not have mercy upon me prevail on me
always keep on me an everlasting, protective covering
do not divest me of the well-mannered graces that You have conferred upon me
and provide me, out of Your grace, with lawfully gotten, delightful sustenance
O Allah, keep me under Your alert surveillance
protect me with Your support
take care of me with Your comprehensive care
grant me opportunity to go on pilgrimage to Your Holy House
in this year as well as all coming years
grant me to go on pilgrimage to the tombs of Your Prophet and the Imams, peace be upon them
and do not deprive me, O Lord, of such honorable scenes
and noble situations
O Allah, accept my repentance so that I will not disobey you ever again
inspire me with goodness, good-doing
and fear of You all over day and night as long as You keep me alive
O Lord of the worlds
O Allah, each time I decide to prepare and ready myself
for offering prayers before You and conversing confidentially with You
You throw on me slumber whenever I stand for prayer
thus, You deprive me of conversing with You confidentially whenever I try so
What is the wrong with me? Whenever I feel that my inner self has become decent
and that my session has become similar to the sessions of those who turn much to You
a misfortune would inflict me, causing my feet to be shaken, and standing against my showing servitude to You
O my Master, perhaps You have pushed me away from Your door
and You have dismissed me from Your service
Or, perhaps, You have noticed that I belittled the duties that You have made incumbent upon me, and You thus set me aside
Or, perhaps, You have seen me turning away from You and thus You have turned away from me
Or, perhaps, You have found me in the manner of the liars and thus You have rejected me
Or, perhaps, You have observed me showing no gratitude for Your graces and thus You have deprived me of them
Or, perhaps, You have not found me in the meetings of the scholars and thus You have let me down
Or, perhaps, You have seen me among the inattentive ones and thus You have made me despair of Your mercy
Or, perhaps, You have found me fond of the sessions of the wrongdoers and thus You have referred me to them
Or, perhaps, You have not willed to hear my prayers and thus You have kept me away from You
Or, perhaps, You have punished me for my offenses and sins
If You forgive me, O Lord, then You have occasionally forgiven the sinners like me
because Your compassion, O my Lord, is too great to be compared to the punishment of the negligent
I am now seeking refuge with Your generosity and fleeing for You to You
hoping for the promise that You have taken as regards pardoning those who have good idea about You
O my God, You are too expansive in favor
and too great in forbearance to punish me for my deed
or to chastise me for my sin
What am I? O Master! What is my weight
Excuse me out of Your favor, O my Master
act to me charitably our of Your pardon
cover me with Your covering
and let off chiding me out of the liberality of Your Face
