O God, bless Muhammad and his Household, fortify the frontiers of the Muslims through Thy might, support their defenders through Thy strength, and lavish upon them gifts through Thy wealth!
O God, bless Muhammad and his Household, increase their number, hone their weapons, guard their territory, defend their midst, unite their throng, arrange their affair, send them supplies in a steady string, undertake Thyself to suffice them with provisions, support them with victory, help them with patience, and give them subtlety in guile!1
O God, bless Muhammad and his Household, give them the knowledge of that of which they are ignorant, teach them what they do not know, and show them what they do not see!
O God, bless Muhammad and his Household, make them forget when they meet the enemy to remember this cheating and delusive world of theirs, erase from their hearts the thought of enchanting possessions, place the Garden before their eyes, and display to their sight that part of it which Thou hast prepared for them - the homes of everlastingness and mansions of honour, the beautiful houris, the rivers gushing forth with all sorts of drinks, the trees hanging, low with all kinds of fruits - lest any of them think of turning his back or suggest to himself to flee his opponent!
O God, bless Muhammad and his Household, make them forget when they meet the enemy to remember this cheating and delusive world of theirs, erase from their hearts the thought of enchanting possessions, place the Garden before their eyes, and display to their sight that part of it which Thou hast prepared for them - the homes of everlastingness and mansions of honour, the beautiful houris, the rivers gushing forth with all sorts of drinks, the trees hanging, low with all kinds of fruits - lest any of them think of turning his back or suggest to himself to flee his opponent!
O God, defeat their enemy through that, trim their nails from them, separate them from their weapons, pull out the firm ties from their hearts, keep them far away from their stores, bewilder them in their roads, turn them astray from their direction, cut off reinforcements from them, chop them down in numbers, fill their hearts with terror, hold back their hands from stretching forth, tie back their tongues from speaking, scatter by them the ones behind them2 make them a lesson for those beyond them, and through their degradation cut off the hopes of those who come after them!
O God, make the wombs of their women barren, dry up the loins of their men, cut off the breeding of their mounts and their cattle, and permit not their sky to rain or their earth to grow!
O God, through that strengthen the prowess3 of the People of Islam, fortify their cities, increase their properties, give them ease from their fighting to worship Thee and from their warfare to be alone with Thee, so that none will be worshipped in the regions of the earth but Thee and no forehead of theirs may be rubbed in dust for less than Thee!
O God, send out the Muslims of every region on raids against the idolaters who face them! Reinforce them with angels in ranks from Thee, till the idolaters are routed by them to the end of the land, slain in Thy earth or taken captive, or till they admit that Thou art God, other than whom there is no god, Thou alone, who hast no associate!
O God, include in this Thy enemies in the regions of the lands,... those whose names and attributes are concealed, but whom Thou countest in Thy cognizance and overseest through Thy power!
O God, if a warrior from the people of Thy creed wars against them or a struggler from the followers of Thy prescriptions struggles against them so that Thy religion may be the highest, Thy party the strongest, and Thy share the fullest, cast ease to him, arrange his affair, attend to him by granting success, select for him his companions, strengthen his back, lavish upon him livelihood, give him enjoyment of joyous vitality, cool for him the heat of yearning, give him sanctuary from the gloom of loneliness, make him forget the remembrance of wife and child,
O God, distract the idolaters from reaching for the borders of the Muslims through the idolaters, bar them from cutting them down through being cut down, and hold them back from massing together against them through dissension!
O God, empty their hearts of security and their bodies of strength, distract their hearts from thinking of stratagems, make their limbs too feeble for clashing with men, make them too cowardly for contending with champions, send against them a troop of Thy angels with some of Thy severity as Thou didst on the Day of Badr,4 so that through it Thou mayest cut off their roots, harvest their thorns, and disperse their number!...
O God, if a warrior from the people of Thy creed wars against them or a struggler from the followers of Thy prescriptions struggles against them so that Thy religion may be the highest, Thy party the strongest, and Thy share the fullest, cast ease to him, arrange his affair, attend to him by granting success, select for him his companions, strengthen his back, lavish upon him livelihood, give him enjoyment of joyous vitality, cool for him the heat of yearning, give him sanctuary from the gloom of loneliness, make him forget the remembrance of wife and child,
pass along to him an excellent intention, attend to him with well-being, make safety his companion, release him from cowardice, inspire him with boldness, provide him with strength, support him with help, teach him right conduct and the norms of the Sunna, point him straight in judgement, remove from him hypocrisy, purify him from seeking fame, and make his thinking and remembrance, his departing and his staying, be in Thee and for Thee!
When he stands in ranks before Thy enemy and his enemy, make them few in his eye, diminish their importance in his heart, give him a turn to prevail over them, not them a turn to prevail over him! But if Thou sealest him with felicity and decreest for him martyrdom, then let it be after he has exterminated Thy enemies by slaying, captivity has afflicted them, the borders of the Muslims are secure, and Thy enemy has turned his back in flight!
O God, and if a Muslim should take the place of a warrior or a soldier in his home, or attend to those left behind in his absence, or help him with a portion of his property, assist him with equipment, hone him for the struggle, send along with him a supplication for his purpose, or guard his honour in his absence, reward him with the like of his reward measure for measure, like for like, and recompense him for his act with an immediate compensation through which he will hasten to the profit of what he has sent forth and the joy of what he has given, till the present moment takes him to the bounty Thou hast granted to him and the generosity Thou hast prepared for him!
O God, and if the affair of Islam should worry a Muslim and the alliance of the idolaters' against Islam should grieve him, so that he has the intention to go to war and is about to enter the struggle, but frailty keeps him seated, neediness keeps him waiting, a mishap delays him, or an obstruction prevents him from his wish, write his name among the worshipers, make incumbent for him the reward of the strugglers, and place him among the ranks of the martyrs and the righteous!
O God, and if the affair of Islam should worry a Muslim and the alliance of the idolaters' against Islam should grieve him, so that he has the intention to go to war and is about to enter the struggle, but frailty keeps him seated, neediness keeps him waiting, a mishap delays him, or an obstruction prevents him from his wish, write his name among the worshipers, make incumbent for him the reward of the strugglers, and place him among the ranks of the martyrs and the righteous!
O God, bless Muhammad, Thy slave and Thy messenger, and the Household of Muhammad, with a blessing high above all other blessings, towering beyond all other salutations, a blessing whose end is never reached and whose number is never cut off, like the most perfect of Thy blessings that has passed to any one of Thy friends! Thou art All-kind, Praiseworthy, the Originator who takes back again, Accomplisher of what Thou desirest.
1. Sayyid '''Alikhan explains the expression as meaning: 'Give them lutf (gracefulness, gentleness, subtlety) in their makr (guile, stratagem) so that their enemy will not become aware of their guile, for then it will be too subtle and fine to be perceived by the intellect and the understanding; so the meaning is that God should inspire them with careful watchfulness and excellence of artful stratagems.' He suggests that the text may also be interpreted to mean: Be kind and gentle to them in relation to the guile of their enemy, so that his guile will not harm them.
2. 8:57
3. The commentator devotes a long discussion to the word mihal, which occurs in the Qur'anic name of God, shadid al-mihal (13:13). It may signify, among others, cunning, guile, stratagem, planning, managing, power, strength, dispute, enmity, punishment, vengeance, chastisement.
4. This victory of a small army of Muslims over a much larger contingent of unbelievers took place in the year 2/623. Many accounts are given of how the angels also took part in the fighting, and it is said to be in reference to Badr that God says in the Qur'an:
When thy Lord was revealing to the angels: 'I am with you, so strengthen the faithful. I shall cast terror into the hearts of the unbelievers' (8:12).
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