O God, my God! Thou seest how black darkness is enshrouding
all regions, how all countries are burning with the flame of dissension, and
the fire of war and carnage is blazing throughout the East and the West. Blood
is flowing, corpses bestrew the ground, and severed heads are fallen on the
dust of the battlefield.
O Lord! Have pity on these ignorant ones and look upon them
with the eye of forgiveness and pardon. Extinguish this fire, so that these
dense clouds which obscure the horizon may be scattered, the Sun of Reality
shine forth with the rays of conciliation, this intense gloom be dispelled and
the resplendent light of peace shed its radiance upon all countries.
O Lord! Draw up the people from the abyss of the ocean of
hatred and enmity, and deliver them from this impenetrable darkness. Unite
their hearts, and brighten their eyes with the light of peace and
reconciliation. Deliver them from the depths of war and bloodshed, and free
them from the darkness of error. Remove the veil from their eyes, and enlighten
their hearts with the light of guidance. Treat them with Thy tender mercy and
compassion, and deal not with them according to Thy justice and wrath which
cause the limbs of the mighty to quake.
O Lord! Wars have persisted. Distress and anxiety have waxed
great and every flourishing region is laid waste.
O Lord! Hearts are heavy, and souls are in anguish. Have
mercy on these poor souls and do not leave them to the excesses of their own
desires.
O Lord! Make manifest in Thy lands humble and submissive
souls, their faces illumined with the rays of guidance, severed from the world,
extolling Thy Name, uttering Thy praise, and diffusing the fragrance of Thy
holiness amongst mankind.
O Lord! Strengthen their backs, gird up their loins, and
enrapture their hearts with the most mighty signs of Thy love.
O Lord! Verily, they are weak, and Thou art the Powerful and
the Mighty; they are impotent, and Thou art the Helper and the Merciful.
O Lord! The ocean of rebellion is surging, and these
tempests will not be stilled save through Thy boundless grace which hath
embraced all regions.
O Lord! Verily, the people are in the abyss of passion, and
naught can save them but Thine infinite bounties.
O Lord! Dispel the darkness of these corrupt desires, and
illumine the hearts with the lamp of Thy love through which all countries will
erelong be enlightened. Confirm, moreover, Thy loved ones, those who, leaving
their homelands, their families and their children, have, for the love of Thy
Beauty, traveled to foreign countries to diffuse Thy fragrances and promulgate
Thy teachings. Be Thou their companion in their loneliness, their helper in a
strange land, the remover of their sorrows, their comforter in calamity. Be
Thou a refreshing draught for their thirst, a healing medicine for their ills
and a balm for the burning ardor of their hearts.
Verily, Thou art the Most Generous, the Lord of grace
abounding, and, verily, Thou art the Compassionate and the Merciful.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (‘Tablets of the Divine Plan’)
