ভূমিকা

3- I am urged to ask Thee by Thy gratuitous bounty upon him who turns his face toward Thee and comes to Thee with a good opinion, since all Thy beneficence is gratuitous bounty and every one of Thy favours a new beginning!

4- So here I am, my God, standing at the gate of Thy might, the standing of the lowly, the surrendered, asking Thee in my shame, the asking of the destitute, the pitiful, 5- admitting to Thee that at the time of Thy beneficence I surrendered not save through abstaining from disobedience toward Thee and in none of my states was I ever without Thy Kindness. 6- Will it profit me, my God, to admit to Thee the evil of what I have earned?

Will it save me from Thee to confess the ugliness of what I have done? Or wilt Thou impose upon me in this my station Thy displeasure? Will Thy hate hold fast to me in the time of my supplication? 7- Glory be to Thee! I do not despair of Thee, for Thou hast opened the door of repentance toward Thyself.

Rather, I say, the words of a lowly servant, having wronged himself and made light of his Lord's inviolability, 8- and whose sins are dreadful, great, whose days have parted, fled, until, when he sees the term of his works expired and the limit of his lifetime reached and knows with certainty that he has no escape from Thee, no place to flee from Thee, he turns his face toward Thee in repeated turning, makes his repentance toward Thee sincere, stands before Thee with a pure and purified heart, then supplicates Thee with a feeble, quiet voice.

9- He is bowed before Thee, bent, his head lowered, thrown down, his legs shaking in fear, his tears flooding his cheeks. He supplicates Thee: O Most Merciful of the merciful! O Most Merciful of those toward whom seekers of mercy keep on turning! O Tenderest of those around whom run seekers of forgiveness!