O Allah,
O He Whom the depiction of the describers fails to describe!
O He beyond Whom passes not the hope of the hopers!
O He with Whom is not lost the wage of the good-doers!
O He Who is the ultimate object of the fear of the worshippers!
O He Who is the utmost limit of the dread of the God-fearing!
This is the status of he whom sins have passed from hand to hand.
Offenses' reins have led him on,
and Satan has gained mastery over him.
He fell short of what You have commanded through neglect
and he pursued what You have prohibited in delusion,
like one ignorant of Your power over him
or one who denies the bounty of Your beneficence toward him,
until, when the eye of guidance was opened for him
and the clouds of blindness were dispelled,
he reckoned that through which he had wronged himself
and reflected upon that in which he had opposed his Lord.
He saw his vast disobedience as vast
and his great opposition as great.
So he turned to You,
Hoping in You
and ashamed before You,
and he directed his beseeching toward You,
Having trust in You.
He repaired to You in his longing with certitude
and he went straight to You in fear with sincerity.
His longing was devoid of every object of longing but You,
and his fright departed from every object of fear but You.
So he stood before You pleading,
his eyes turned toward the ground in humbleness,
his head bowed before Your might in lowliness;
he revealed to You in meekness
those secrets of his which You know better than he;
he numbered for You in humility
those sins of his which You count better than he;
he sought help from You
before the dreadful ugliness into which he has fallen
in Your knowledge
and the ugly things which has disgraced him
in Your judgment:
the sins whose pleasures have turned their backs and gone
and whose evil consequences have stayed and stuck fast.
He will not deny Your justice, my God, if You punish him,
nor will he consider Your pardon as difficult
if You pardon him and hast mercy upon him,
for You are the Generous Lord
for whom the forgiveness of big sins is not difficult!
O Allah,
so here I am:
I have come to You
obeying Your command
(for You have commanded supplication)
and asking the fulfillment of Your promise,
(for You have promised to respond)
You have said,
Supplicate Me and I will respond to you.
O Allah,
So bless Muhammad and his Household,
Meet me with Your forgiveness
just as I have met You with my confession,
Lift me up from the fatal infirmities of sins
just as I have let myself down before You,
and cover me with Your covering
just as You have shown no haste to take vengeance on me!
O Allah,
make firm my intention to obey You,
strengthen my insight in worshipping You,
give me the success of works
which will wash away the defilement of offenses,
and take me when You take me
in the creed of Your Prophet Muhammad (p.).
O Allah,
I repent to You in this my status from my sins,
great and small,
my evil deeds, inward and outward,
my lapses, past and recent,
with the repentance of one who does not tell himself that he might disobey
or secretly think that he might return to an offense.
You have said, my God, in Your Book,
that You accept repentance from Your servants,
pardon evil deeds, and love the repented,
so accept my repentance as You have promised,
pardon my evil deeds as You have guaranteed,
and make obligatory toward me Your love
as You have stipulated!
To You, my Lord, belongs
my stipulation that I will not return
to what is disliked by You,
my guarantee that I will not go back
to what You blame,
and my covenant that I will stay away
from acts of disobedience to You.
O Allah,
You know better what I have done,
so forgive me what You know
and turn me through Your power to what You love!
O Allah,
counted against me are claims that stay in my memory
and claims that I have forgotten,
while all of them remain in Your eye that does not sleep
and Your knowledge that does not forget!
So compensate their owners,
Lighten their load upon me,
Lift up their weight from me,
and preserve me from approaching their like!
O Allah,
But I cannot be faithful to my repentance without Your preservation,
nor can I refrain from offenses without Your strength.
So strengthen me with a sufficient strength
and attend to me with a defending preservation!
O Allah,
If any servant repents to You,
while in Your knowledge of the Unseen he will break his repentance
and return to his sin and offense,
I seek refuge in You that I be not like that!
So make this my repentance
a repentance after which I will need no repentance
and a repentance which will obligate the erasing of what has gone by
and safety in what remains!
O Allah,
I ask pardon from You for my ignorance,
and I ask You to disregard my evil acts!
So join me to the shelter of Your mercy through graciousness
and cover me with the covering of Your well-being through bounteousness!
O Allah,
I repent to You from everything opposed to Your will
or far from Your love
- the thoughts of my heart,
the glances of my eye,
the tales of my tongue –
with a repentance through which each bodily part will by itself
stay safe from ill consequences with You
and remain secure from Your painful penalties
feared by transgressors!
O Allah,
so have mercy on my being alone before You,
the pounding of my heart in dread of You,
the trembling of my limbs in awe of You!
My sins, my God, have stood me in the state
of degradation in Your courtyard.
If I remain silent, none will speak for me;
if I seek an intercessor, I am not worthy for intercession.
O Allah,
bless Muhammad and his Household,
Make Your generosity intercede for my offenses,
Follow up my evil deeds with Your pardon,
Repay me not with the punishment that is my proper repayment,
Spread over me Your graciousness,
Wrap me in Your covering,
and do with me what is done by a mighty man,
when a lowly slave pleads to him
and he shows him mercy,
or a rich man, when a poor slave submits himself
and he raises him to wealth!
O Allah,
I have no protector against You,
so let Your might be my protector!
I have no intercessor with You,
so let Your bounty be my intercessor!
My offenses have set me quaking,
so let Your pardon give me security!
Not all that I have said rises up from
my ignorance of my evil footsteps
or forgetfulness of my blameworthy acts in the past,
but in order that Your heaven and those within it
and Your earth and those upon it
may hear the remorse which I have professed to You
and the repentance through which I have sought asylum with You.
Then perhaps one of them, through Your mercy,
may show mercy upon my evil situation
or be seized by tenderness for my evil state.
There may come from him for my sake
a supplication to which You give ear
more than to my supplication
or an intercession surer with You
than my intercession
through which I may be delivered from Your wrath
and attain to Your good pleasure!
O Allah,
if remorse is a repentance toward You,
then I am the most remorseful of the remorseful!
If refraining from disobedience is a turning back to You,
then I am the first of those who turn back!
If praying for forgiveness alleviates sins,
surely I am one of those who pray for Your forgiveness!
O Allah,
as You have commanded repentance
and guaranteed acceptance,
as You have urged supplication,
and promised to respond,
so also bless Muhammad and his Household,
Accept my repentance,
and return me not to the returning place
of disappointment in Your mercy!
Surely You are Ever-turning toward the sinners,
All-compassionate toward the offenders who turn back!
O Allah,
bless Muhammad and his Household
just as You have guided us by him!
Bless Muhammad and his Household
just as You have rescued us through him!
Bless Muhammad and his Household,
with a blessing that will intercede for us
on the Day of Resurrection,
The day of neediness toward You!
You are powerful over everything,
and that is easy for You!