My tongue is weary of remembrance, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá prays, because sorrow has scattered my thoughts; and in that admission lies a whole school of prayer. The prayers of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for hard times do not pretend. They name loneliness, exile, shut doors, tyrants, debt, the hurt dealt by friends as well as enemies, and they ask outright for the difficulty to be removed. In the same breath they ask for patience, steadfastness and the strength to go on turning toward God, and some of them speak with startling ardor of longing for tribulation in the path of love, a language better received as a lover’s cry than as a demand laid on anyone else’s suffering. Psalm 13 travels a kindred road, from how long to hear me to I will sing [1]. To pray this way is to keep an honest relationship with God in the dark, and to notice the burdens of others more sharply. The way continues into tests and trials themselves, into sacrifice and suffering, and into the wider world of prayer.
O Lord! Have mercy upon my solitude and my anguish, comfort me in my loneliness, and show compassion to me in my estrangement and distress. O Lord! My tongue is weary of remembrance due to the intensity of my sorrows, and my understanding falls short due to my scattered thoughts. I have no refuge to which I might repair, nor any shelter wherein I might take protection. O Lord! Fulfill what Thou hast promised me and bring to pass that wherewith Thou hast assured me, for I am at my wit's end with my tribulation, and my anguish and affliction have intensified.
O Lord! The horizons have been straitened for me, and the doors of hope have been shut before me, and ease hath been changed to hardship, and every facility hath become difficult, and every grief and sorrow hath appeared. O Lord! O Lord! I beseech Thee by the eternity of Thy Being and the might of Thy Self-Subsistence not to leave me, O my God, in this state which would move even the hard rock to compassion.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1903 ca., to Mirza Siyyid Muhammad Afnan (Aqa Mirza Aqa Nurud-Din) -- AB00233)
03
Save me from the depths of the seas of tribulation, deliver me from the pit of hardship and adversity, comfort me in the terror of solitude and the supreme ordeal, and rescue me from the shock of deprivation and the burning anguish of separation and exile.
O God, my God! Be Thou not far from me, for tribulation upon tribulation hath gathered about me. … Beneath the ocean of Thy forgiveness, faced with the restlessness of the leviathan of glory, immerse me, for my sins have utterly doomed me.
The doors of hope have been shut against the hearts that long for Thee, O my Lord! Their keys are in Thy hands; open them by the power of Thy might and Thy sovereignty.
O Lord my God! O Thou All-Praised, Most Holy, Most Merciful and Beneficent One! Remove our difficulties through Thy favor and bestowal. Thou, verily, art the merciful and beneficent Lord.
O Lord! Thou art the Remover of every anguish and the Dispeller of every affliction. Thou art He Who banisheth every sorrow and setteth free every slave, the Redeemer of every soul. O Lord! Grant deliverance through Thy mercy and reckon me among such servants of Thine as have gained salvation.
Then I beseech Thee, O my God, by Thy Name through which sorrow is transformed into joy, hardship into ease, and darkness into light, that Thou mayest send down, O my God, at this moment that which will dispel our sorrows and sever us from all else besides Thee, O Thou in Whose hand are bounty and benevolence, and the dominion of might and forgiveness.
Glorified art Thou, O my God! I beseech Thee by this Name, which hath been encompassed by tribulations from all directions and upon which calamities have descended from every quarter, to such extent that it findeth no helper in Thy earth nor any succorer in Thy dominion, that Thou mayest ease for this people the pangs of travail, preserve them therefrom, deliver them from this hardship, and transform it into comfort and tranquility.
O my God, my God! Thou knowest and seest what hath befallen the Wronged One in His days. I beseech Thee, O my Lord, by Thy Prophets, Thy chosen ones and Thy trusted ones, to send down from the heaven of Thy bounty a blessing upon Thy loved ones and a mercy upon them through Thy grace, Thy generosity and Thy bounty. O my Lord! Change poverty into wealth, hardship into ease, and darkness into light. Verily Thou art the One Who hath power over whatsoever He willeth.
Therefore, O my God, through Thy bounty and favor, deliver me, and then, O my God, free me from his clutches. Verily, Thou art powerful over all things.
I beseech Thee by the lights of Thy Most Great Name and the mysteries hidden in Thy knowledge, O Lord of eternity, to deliver Thy loved ones from the evil of every oppressor. Then preserve them, O my God, through Thy grace and Thy hosts and Thy sovereignty, and ordain for them that which will draw them nigh unto Thee.
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1307 ? [1889-1890], to Ja'far Nayrizi known as Jalal -- BH03502)
14
Aid me through Your grace and bounty from the Supreme Concourse and raise me to the Most Exalted Horizon, that I may find rest from the assaults of enemies and the stones cast by the criticism of the loved ones.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1897-Mar-25, to Hasan Khurasani -- AB03281)
15
O Lord, deliver us from all temptations, tests and evil suggestions of those who turned their faces from Thee.
Keep safe Thy servants and Thy handmaidens, O my Lord, from the darts of idle fancy and vain imaginings, and give them from the hands of Thy grace a draught of the soft-flowing waters of Thy knowledge.
(Bahá’u’lláh, ca. 1289-1290?, to Nephew of Baha'u'llah -- BH10578)
17
Therefore, O my God, I beseech Thee by Thy Name through which the Ark of Thy Cause did sail upon the ocean of Thy will, that Thou mayest deliver me from my condition, purify my heart through Thy knowledge, and make me steadfast in Thy Cause and Thy love.
Then for deliverance from every difficulty: "Thee do we worship and Thine aid we seek." Then for seeking guidance: "Guide us to the straight path." Then for glory: "Thou givest glory to whom Thou pleasest and abasest whom Thou pleasest." Then for drawing nigh unto whomsoever thou pleaseth: "Faces shall be humbled before the Living, the Self-Subsisting."
Think about their afflictions so that every affliction becomes easy and every day with the utmost humility, meekness and supplication and imploring recite this prayer:
O my God, O my God! My tribulations have become grievous and my troubles and pain have increased and I have fallen in the greatest of calamities. O my God! Enable me to be patient, contented and pleasing unto Thee, full confident in Thy grace and mercy, mentioning Thy praises, thanking Thee upon all the tribulations that come to me, yearning Thy presence, attracted to Thy beauty, ignited with the fire of Thy love.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1908-Aug-18, to Hubbiyyih Yazdi -- AB03737)
22
Turn thy face toward the Intended One and say:
O my Lord, the Mighty, the Loving! I beseech Thee by Thy Most Beautiful Names and by Thy Beauty that hath shone forth from the horizon of Thy Most Glorious Name, to make me among those whom tribulation hath not kept back from Thy direction nor decree from turning toward Thy face. Then write down for me what is best for me. Verily, Thou art the Powerful, the Mighty, the Generous.
(Bahá’u’lláh, to Siyyid Muhammad Ali Shirazi -- BH11830)
23
O Thou Whose tests are a healing medicine to such as are nigh unto Thee, Whose sword is the ardent desire of all them that love Thee, Whose dart is the dearest wish of those hearts that yearn after Thee, Whose decree is the sole hope of them that have recognized Thy truth!
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1290 [1873] or earlier, to Shaykh Ahmad Farhadi -- BH08600)
24
Therefore, in gratitude for this bounty, open thy inner and outer tongue and say: "Praise be unto Thee, O my God, for having given me to drink from that cup whereof Thy loved ones have drunk, from which Thy Prophets and Messengers have been refreshed, and which the essences of being among Thy chosen ones have sought after. Thou hast, through Thy grace, bounty and favor, given me to drink therefrom and strengthened me to bear this Cause which Thou hast made a test for the weak, a mercy for the chosen ones, a healing for the breasts of the near ones, a light for the eyes of the righteous, and glad-tidings for the hearts of those enkindled with the fire of Thy love, O Thou Who art the Beloved of the hearts of them that love Thee!"
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to Haji Mirza Muhammad Yazdi Alaqihband -- AB01198)
25
O Lord, O Lord! Let me drink from the cup overflowing with the wine of tribulation in the path of Baha, and plunge me into the depths of the seas of hardship in Thy love, O Lord of the Most Beautiful Names. Ordain not for me a day wherein I taste not the deadly poison in Thy love, O my Generous Lord. Were it not for tribulation in Thy path, what would my life profit me and how would it differ from my death? For tribulation is provision for my heart, my rest upon my bed, my companion in wakefulness, and my joy in slumber.
O my God, my God! Your love has set me ablaze, and my remoteness from the shore of Your nearness has consumed me, causing my veins to be severed and my liver to melt. I beseech You by Your Prophets and Your chosen ones, by the mysteries of Your Kingdom and Your Dominion, and by the Mother Book which none has known save You, to aid me in that which You love and are pleased with, and to assist me in serving Your chosen ones and Your loved ones. Then grant me the best of what You have revealed in Your Book. O Lord! You see that hardship has encompassed me and difficulty has seized me. Where is Your ease, O Master of existence, and Your repose, O Sovereign of the seen and unseen?
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1303-05-13 [1886-Feb-17], to Haji Muhammad Husayn Tabib -- BH00616)
27
O Thou Divine Spirit! Descend and behold how my humiliation is greater than Thy Glory!"
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words spoken on 1914-Jun-21 -- ABU3328)
28
My God, my God! Thou seest me standing at Thy sacred threshold, supplicating Thee and humbled before Thy door. I call upon Thee with my spirit and my heart, and commune with Thee with my soul and my tongue, saying: My God, my God! Verily Thy servant Husayn hath fallen into an affliction at which the peoples of both East and West are dismayed, and hath been tried with a trial that bringeth sorrow to his parents, nay, that grieveth the hearts of all who love him, even from the farthest lands of East and West, causing tears to flow from every eye.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1909-Jul-21, to Wife of Aqa Muhammad Sadiq et al -- AB01396)
29
Write down, then, for such as have been afflicted with adversities for Thy sake, the reward of those who have suffered martyrdom in the path of Thy good-pleasure. Send down, moreover, upon them, O Lord, that which will rejoice their hearts, solace their eyes, and exhilarate their souls.
I beseech Thee, O my God, by the light of Thy countenance whereby earth and heaven were illumined, to send down from the heaven of Thy grace that which shall gladden the hearts of Thy loved ones after this sorrow which hath clouded the pure wine of assurance in Thy days.
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1296 ? [1878-1879], to Haji Muhammad Baqir from Najafabad -- BH09088)
31
From the pit thou shalt rise to the summit of glory and from the narrow confines of this incarceration thou shalt ascend to soul-entrancing gardens and meadows.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1901 or <, to Ali Muhammad Sarrishtihdar -- AB05781)
32
Thou dost witness what Thou dost witness, how particles of evil and intimations of doubt have encompassed me, such that they have prevented me from entering the city of Thy reunion and soaring in the atmosphere of the glory of meeting with Thee. I beseech Thee therefore, O my Beloved, by Him Whom Thou hast made the Ruler over all contingent beings and the Sovereign over all who dwell in the earth and the heavens, that Thou mayest purify my heart from the whisperings of Satan, O Thou in Whose hand is the dominion of might and certitude.
My purpose in relating this is so you know what has prevented correspondence, and although there was a slackening in sending letters, there was constant supplication and entreaty to the Divine Kingdom that He may preserve and protect the friends of God from all afflictions in the shelter of His protection...
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to Ahmad Yazdi son in law of Abdu'l-Baha -- AB02890)
The available source contains an omission or incomplete wording; sentence boundaries need review.