His Supplication for the Coming of the Month of Ramadan

lace us among the best folk and companions of this our month! 15- O God, bless Muhammad and his Household, efface our sins along with the effacing of its crescent moon, and make us pass forth from the ill effects of our acts with the passing of its days, until it leaves us behind, while within it Thou hast purified us of offensesand rid us of evil deeds! 16- O God, bless Muhammad and his Household, and should we go off to one side in this month, set us aright; should we swerve, point us straight; and should Thy enemy Satan enwrap us, rescue us from him! 17- O God, fill this month with our worship of Thee, adorn its times with our obedience toward Thee, help us during its daytime with its fast, and in its night with prayer and pleading toward Thee, humility toward Thee, and lowliness before Thee, so that its daytime may not bear witness against our heedlessness, nor its night against our neglect! 18 O God, make us like this in the other months and days as long as Thou givest us life, and place us among Thy righteous servants, those who shall inherit Paradise, therein dwelling forever, 4those who give what they give, while their hearts quake, that they are returning to their Lord, 5those who vie in good works, outracing to them! 6 19- O God, bless Muhammad and his Householdin every time, in all moments, and in every state, to the number that Thou hast blessed whomsoever Thou hast blessedand to multiples of all that, through multiples which none can count but Thee! Surely Thou art Accomplisher of what Thou desirest! (a) so that the acts of obedience and nearness-seeking of the angels will be less than ours; (b) so that none of the recording angels will bring the record of our sins except that they be less than the kinds of obedience and sorts of nearness seeking that we bring; (c) so that none of the angels will bring the works of the servants except that they be less than the kinds of obedience and sorts of nearness seeking that we bring; (d) so that none of the angels will bring our good works except that they be less than the good works that we ourselves bring. In support of the last reading he cites a hadith from one of the Imams: 'The angel only writes down what it hears, but God has said, Remember thy Lord in thyself, in pleading and fear (7: 205). So none knows the reward of the remembrance in the person's self except God. ' He concludes that the best interpretation is to say that the passage includes all four of these meanings.