The Prayer upon the Prophet of 'Abd as-Salam ibn Mashish
’Abd as-Salam ibn Mashish (1140-1223), a native of Morocco, is one of the most widely recognised representatives of the Shadhiliyya tariqa. He composed these praises of the Prophet, which are recited daily in every land where the tariqa has taken root. These praises have given rise to a great many interpretations and commentaries by masters in different countries. The English rendering published here makes no claim to give access to all the nuances and subtleties contained in the original Arabic text. Its sole aim is to offer a glimpse of the flavour and beauty of these verses.
The prayer
O my God, bless him from whom the secrets derive and from whom the lights spring forth.
Bless him in whom the realities ascend and upon whom the sciences of Adam came down, so that none of us can grasp his immensity.
The gardens of the spiritual world are adorned by the flower of his beauty, and the pools of the world of Omnipotence overflow with the outpouring of his lights.
There is no thing that is not bound to him, for were it not for the mediator, everything that depends on him would vanish.
O my God, grant him a blessing such that it returns to him through You and from You, according to the full extent of his dignity.
O my God, join me to his posterity, and grant that I be among the righteous through his mediation.
Let me know him with a knowledge that turns me away from the watering-places of ignorance and quenches my thirst at the watering-places of virtue.
Carry me upon his path, enveloped in Your help, towards Your presence. Employ me to strike down every vanity so as to destroy it.
Plunge me into the oceans of the One, draw me out of the mires of the path towards Unity, drown me in the pure source of the ocean of Unicity, so that I may not see, nor hear, nor be aware, nor feel except through it.
And make the supreme Veil the life of my spirit, and His spirit the secret of my reality, and His reality all my worlds, through the realisation of the first Truth.
O First, O Last, O Outward, O Inward, hear my call, as You heard the call of Your servant Zachariah; come to my aid, help me to turn towards You, bring about union between me and You, and erase all ties between me and other than You.
Allah! Allah! Allah!
“Verily, He who inspired you with the Qur’an will bring you back to the place where we all return” (Qur’an, 28:85)
“Our Lord, grant us a mercy from You, and dispose of our affair in conformity with the right way” (Qur’an, 18:10)
“Verily, God and His angels bless the Prophet; O you who believe, pray for him and call down peace upon him” (Qur’an, 33:56)
May the graces, the peace, the salutations, the mercy and the blessings of God spread over our lord Muhammad, the unlettered prophet who is Your servant, Your prophet and Your messenger.
May they spread also over his family and his companions, and may they be as numerous as the perfect and blessed words of our Lord.
“Glory to your Lord, the Lord of Omnipotence, He who is beyond what they imagine. Peace be upon the messengers of God. Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds” (Qur’an, 37:180-182)
Based on the French translation of Titus Burckhardt, and on Denise Masson’s translation for the Qur’anic passages.
Further reading
- The Dala’il al-Khayrat, the other great collection of prayers upon the Prophet
- The initiatic chain of the path
- What is dhikr?
