43) Imam Sajjad's Supplication when he Looked at the New Crescent Moon

1- O obedient creature, speedy and untiring, frequenter of the mansions of determination,1 moving about in the sphere of governance!

2- I have faith in Him who lights up darknesses through thee, illuminates jet-black shadows by thee, appointed thee one of the signs of His kingdom and one of the marks of His authority, and humbled thee through increase and decrease, rising and setting, illumination and eclipse. In all of this thou art obedient to Him, prompt toward His will.

3- Glory be to Him! How wonderful is what He has arranged in thy situation! How subtle what He has made for thy task! He has made thee the key to a new month for a new situation.

I have faith in Him who lights up darknesses through thee, illuminates jet-black shadows by thee, appointed thee one of the signs of His kingdom and one of the marks of His authority, and humbled thee through increase and decrease, rising and setting, illumination and eclipse. In all of this thou art obedient to Him, prompt toward His will.

4- So I ask God, my Lord and thy Lord, my Creator and thy Creator, my Determiner and thy Determiner, my Form-giver and thy Form-giver, that He bless Muhammad and his Household and appoint thee a crescent of blessings not effaced by days and of purity not defiled by sins;

5- a crescent of security from blights and of safety from evil deeds; a crescent of auspiciousness containing no misfortune, of prosperity accompanied by no adversity, of ease not mixed with difficulty, of good unstained by evil; a crescent of security and faith, favour and good-doing, safety and submission!

6- O God, bless Muhammad and his Household, place us among the most satisfied of those over whom the crescent has risen, the purest of those who have looked upon it, the most fortunate of those who have worshipped Thee under it; give us the success during [the new month] to repent, preserve us within it from misdeeds, guard us therein from pursuing disobedience to Thee,

O God, bless Muhammad and his Household, place us among the most satisfied of those over whom the crescent has risen, the purest of those who have looked upon it, the most fortunate of those who have worshipped Thee under it; give us the success during [the new month] to repent, preserve us within it from misdeeds, guard us therein from pursuing disobedience to Thee,

7- allot to us within it thanksgiving for Thy favour, clothe us during it in the shields of well-being, and complete for us Thy kindness by perfecting therein obedience to Thee! Surely Thou art All-kind, Praiseworthy. And bless Muhammad and his Household, the good, the pure.

1. Allusion to 36:39: And the moon - We have determined it by mansions, till it returns like an aged palm-bough.