Oh Lord! With what thanks may I attain your praise? Oh Lord!
With what gratitude do I mention your grace? Oh Lord! With which of
your names do I ask your bounty? Oh Lord! With what of your
attributes do I plead your blessings? All praise is due to you. All thanks
is rightfully yours, to you is all grace and grace but returns unto you.
You are peace and peace comes from you. Blessed be you oh One of
Glory and Grace.
Oh Initiator of Innovative Creation and Guarantor
The Means for all, the clouds of your Grace deliver
Oh Fulfiller of generous dutifulness and Extender of beautiful
concealment
Encompassing is your Grace and longer
Oh Knowledgeable of hidden secrets and Loyal
6 The Gardens of Virtue
Accomplisher of promises, Judgment of your reign is just
Grand are your attributes oh Great One
Prodigious to account for due praise by utterer
Sins by your Grace are forgiven
And repentance of sinners by your tolerance endured.
I bear witness that there is no god save Allah alone with no
associate, and I bear witness that Muhammad is his messenger, the
trustworthy guide, bringer of good tidings and warning, shining beacon,
best of creatures, most prudent advisor, most gentle with his nation,
merciful with his beloved, Allah's prayers and peace be upon him and
his family and companions all together.
Oh honorable reader, traveler, pauper, lost, struck by thirst, bent by
hunger, exhausted by the journey.
Travelers: no matter how long the life. Paupers: no matter how
grand the wealth. Lost: astray from light, in darkness. Thirsty by
wrongdoing cannot quench. Bent by the hunger of sin, cannot fill.
Exhausted by disorientation, cannot find guidance.
Yet a godly light has captured their minds, awakened them from
their oblivion, and brought them good tidings post bewilderment.
"Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His
Light is as (if there were) a niche and within it a lamp, the lamp is in
glass, the glass as it were a brilliant star, lit from a blessed tree, an olive,
neither of the east (i.e. neither it gets sun-rays only in the morning) nor
of the west (i.e. nor it gets sun-rays only in the afternoon, but it is
exposed to the sun all day long), whose oil would almost glow forth (of
itself), though no fire touched it. Light upon Light! Allah guides to His
Light whom He wills. And Allah sets forth parables for mankind, and
Allah is All-Knower of everything"1
Those who have felt the membrane2 shatter from their hearts, and
that success is near. Their souls rejuvenated, their will resolved. In the
distance their sight caught by a cohesive correlation of greens, their
hearing caressed by trickling water throwing its self onto the waterways
of vegetation. So they hasted, and raced and when they approached it,
they were mesmerized by its trees, and astonished by its fruits, and
enchanted by its streams. So what great gardens are these? What
marvelous oasis is this? They are the gardens of virtue and the oasis of
faith, plentiful shade, sweet water, pleasant breezes, and easy picking.
Labor in it is joyful, sincerity illuminant, and honesty is with happiness.
No sorrow befalls who enters, no regret by who works in it. These are
gardens of true happiness, initiated by Allah for those who love him,
created by Allah for those who desire bliss, established by Allah for
those who want salvation in the low life and the end.
1 Qura
