Muntakhab al-tawarikh 381: Supplications

381

O King, look upon us with the eye of acceptance and mercy! O Lord of all things, visible and invisible, compose us in the seeking of Thy will, and remove from our way, and from the way of all Muslims, all disunion, disquiet and perplexity! Bestow Thy pardon and forgiveness on us in our time. Let Thy gracious favour and guidance both impel and lead us. Deliver us not up into the hands of our own disunion, and leave us not to ourselves, neither entrust us with ourselves, but preserve us from our own wickedness, and bring our affairs and those of all Muslims to a happy conclusion in Thy pardon and acceptance. Pardon what we have done in the past and preserve us from what we would do in the future. atantly hidden under the protection of God's guardianship, will receive the ornament of acceptance, and no damage will reach it from the evil eyes of squinting (rogues) of varying degrees, and the hands of impotent (foes) will fail to reach the skirt of the beauty of this creature of my wit, and whoever is not admitted to the knowledge of its secret will remain disappointed.
A thousand thanks to the God of the world. For that I have entrusted my jewel to one who can appraise jewels.
It was the intention of my languid and secretive heart and my wearied mind to gather together the "Key to the History of Kashmir" and the histories of the Kings of Gujarat, Bengal and Sind, with an account of the wonders of India, and to have them bound together in one volume with this, but that stuff did not match this, for silk must be joined with silk. Therefore, on Friday, the twenty-third of the month Jamâdi'u-s-Sânî A.H. 1004 (March 5, A.D. 1595) I shortened the rope of prolixity and contented myself with writing this much. I composed the following verses with the object of giving, in an enigma, the date of its completion:—
Thanks be to God, by whose clemency this Selection has arrived at completion When I sought the date of it from my heart (my heart) replied (It is) a selection which has no second.
Praise be to God whose assistance has enabled me to complete it, and blessings and peace be on the best of mankind, our lord And the people shall raise a shout for joy, That bridge, long as the dark nights of separation, Soul-melting as the sighs from lovers’ hearts, Narrower than a hair, Darker than the smoke of the night of separation, Sharper than a sharp-cutting sword, Shooting forth tongues of flame like hell fire, If Thou take me not by the hand, woe is me, For the nethermost pit of hell will be my place! I bring no goods with me but hope, O God, make me not hopeless of forgiveness!
Praise be to God, and thanks, that after all this smearing of myself with the smoke of the midnight lamp and all this fever of the brain I have gained freedom from this hasty work! Ah, how much distraction have I not suffered at the hands of these troubled times before this valuable coin of time (to complete my work) and this priceless jewel (the work itself) was obtained! Please God this work will, for a while, be preserved from the treachery of lack of preservation, of faithlessness, or of evil guardianship, and will thus be safeguarded from the picking and stealing of the ignorant cutpurses of this age, and, being con- Muhammad, and on his family, and on his great companions, till the Day of Resurrection.