The prayer of the Prophet (pbuh)
How our Prophet (pbuh) went to visit the sick Companion
(The Mathnawí, Book II. no: 2141)
2141 • A notable amongst the Companions (of Mohammad) fell ill, and in that illness of his became (thin) as a thread.
• Mustafá (pbuh) went to visit him, since his (Mustafá’s) nature was all kindness and generosity.
2212 • Visiting of the sick is for the sake of this (spiritual) attachment[1], and this attachment is pregnant with a hundred loving kindness.
• The peerless Prophet went to visit the sick man; he found that Companion at the last gasp.
• When the Prophet saw the sick man, he dealt sweetly and tenderly with the familiar friend.
• He became alive when he saw the Prophet; you might say, that moment created him.
• He said, “Sickness has given me this good fortune, that this Sultan has come to my side at morn.
2255 • So that health and well-being have accrued to me from the arrival of this King who is without retinue.
• O happy pain and sickness and fever! O blessed anguish and wakefulness in the night!
• Lo, in (my) old age God of His grace and bounty hath bestowed on me such a sickness and malady!
• He too hath given me pain in the back, so that every midnight I cannot help springing up quickly from sleep.
• In order that I may not slmber all night like a buffalo, God of His grace hath given me pains.
2260 • Through this infirmity the mercy of Kings has been aroused, and Hell’s threatening of me has been silenced.”
2456 • The Prophet said to the sick man, when he visited (his) suffering friend,
• “Maybe you have made a prayer of some (peculiar) sort, and from ignorance have (as it were) eaten some poisoned food.
• Bring to mind what (sort of) a prayer you said when you were being vexed by the guile of the fleshly soul.”
• He answered, “I do not remember; but direct a (spiritual) influence towards me, and it (the prayer) will come to my memory in a moment.”
2460 • Through the light-giving presence of Mustafá (Mohammad pbuh), that prayer came into his mind.
• (From) the aspiration of the Prophet who dwells in light there came into his mind that which had been lost;
• Through the window which is between heart and heart flashed the light that separates truth and falsehood.
• He said, “Look now, I have remembered, O prophet, the prayer which I, impertinent fool, spoke.
• When I was being caught in (the toils of) sin, and drowning (therein) was clutching at straws-
2465 • (Whilst) there was coming from thee to sinners a threat and menace of punishment exceedingly severe-
• (And) I was becoming agitated, and t here was no help (for me), (since) there were chains made fast and a lock not (to be) opened;
• Neither room for patience nor means of flight, neither hope of repenting nor opportunity for rebelling-
• The pain of that (future) world is beyond description; light is the pain of this world beside it.
• Oh, happy he that wages a holy war (of self-mortification), and puts a restraint upon the body and deals justice (against it),
• And, in order that he may be delivered from the pain of that world, lays upon himself this pain of serving God.
2475 • “I was saying, ‘O Lord, quickly inflict on me in this world that punishment,
• So that I may have exemption (from it) in yonder world.” About such-like a request was I knocking at the door.[2]
• (Thereupon) such a (painful) sickness as this appeared in me: through pain my soul was deprived of rest.
• I have been left without power to perform my dhikr (commemoration of God) and litanies: I have become unconscious of myself and of (all) good and ill.
• If I had not now beheld thy face, O thou whose scent is fortunate and blessed,
2480 • I should have passed altogether from the bondage (of this life). Thou in kingly fashion hast bestowed one me this sympathy.”
• Said the Prophet, “Hey! Do not offer this prayer again: do not dig yourself up from root and base.
• What strength have you, O wretched ant, to endure that He should lay on you such a lofty mountain?”
• He answered, “O Sultan, I repent (and vow) that in no wise will I (henceforth) brag recklessly.)
2497 • By the truth of that power (which is Thine), have some mercy upon our mutability, O Ruler of (all) mutations!
• We have seen ourselves (as we really are) and our shame. Put us not to further trial, O King,
• So that (by sparing us) Thou wilt have concealed other disgraces[3], O Bounteous One who help me implore!
2500 • Thou art infinite in beauty and perfection; we are infinite in wrongness and error.
• Direct Thy infinity, O Bounteous One, upon the infinite wrongness of a handful of vile wretches (such as we are).
• Oh, come, for our cloth-piece (only) a single thread remains: we were a city, and (only) a single wall remains.
• (Save) the remnant, (save) the remnant, O Sovereign, that the soul of the Devil may not rejoice entirely-
• Not for our sakes, (But) for the sake of the primal grace through which Thou didst seek out them that had lost the way.
2505 • As Thou hast shown Thy power, (so now) show Thy mercy, O Thou who hast implanted feelings of mercy in flesh and fat.
• If this prayer increase Thy wrath, do Thou teach (us) to pray, O Lord.
2551 • The Prophet said to the sick man: “Say thus: - ‘O Thou that makest easy that which is hard,
• Give good unto us in our present abode, and give good unto us in our future abode!
• Make the way agreeable to us as a rose garden: Thou indeed, O Glorious One, art our goal.”
(Reynold A. Nicholson The Mathnawí of Jalálu’ddin Rúmi Translation of Book II)
[1] The first profit is that the sick person may perchance be a Qutb and a glorious (spiritual)king;
And if he be not a Qutb, he may be a friend of the (Sufi) Way; if he may be the cavalier of the host.
Deem it, then incumbent (on you) to attach yourselves to the friends of the Way, whosoever it may be, and whether (he be) footman or rider. [Mathnawi Book II, 2144-45-46]
[2] I.e. “such was the petition I made to God.”
[3] I.e. other acts of ours which would expose us to disgrace.
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