In order for one to stand before his Lord entreating Him...

In order for one to stand before his Lord entreating Him, he needs first to put behind him this impediment. In this introduction, ‘Ali (‘a) begins with two requests from Allah. The first one is forgiveness from Allah, “O Allah, forgive me those sins which tear apart protection.

O Allah, forgive me those sins which bring down calamities…” The second request is His remembrance, thankfulness to Him, and proximity to Him, “And I beseech You by Your generosity to bring me closer to Your proximity, and grant me with thankfulness to You, and to inspire me with Your remembrance.” Both of the above things are necessary for one who intends to stand before Allah imploring Him.

He has no choice but that Allah should, first, forgive his sins and remove the veils from his heart, and, secondly, allow him to get closer to Him, be grateful to Him, and inspire him…