the Knower of all unseen things.
O God, if You know that this matter,” and you name your need, “is good for me in my religion, my livelihood, and the outcome of my affair,” or he said, “in my immediate and later affairs, then ordain it for me, make it easy for me, and then bless it for me.
And if You know that this matter,” and you mention your need, “is bad for me in my religion, my livelihood, and the outcome of my affair,” or he said, “in my immediate and later affairs, then turn it away from me and turn me away from it. Ordain good for me wherever it may be, then make me content with it.”
(The Inward Application of the Words of the Supplication)
When the knower seeks his Lord’s choice concerning his need, whether specified or unspecified, he brings to his heart, in saying “Allāhumma,” the meaning “O God, intend.” He thus introduces will here, since intention is will. The hamzah is dropped, and the hāʾ of Allāhumma suffices because of the proximity of their articulation and their adjacency, indicating to you the greatness of the connection. The explanation of “Allāhumma”[10] is “O God, turn toward us with good,” meaning “intend us.”
In saying “I,” he alludes to his own self. The āniyyah of a thing is its reality.
In saying “I seek Your choice through Your knowledge,” he means, “O God, intend my reality and essence with what Your knowledge has chosen for me in which there is good for me. You know the good that is beneficial for me, while I do not know it in this thing I have turned to seek. You have power to bring it into existence, while I have none. If there is good for me in doing it and in the appearance of its entity, You have known it. Ordain it for me, meaning do it for me.
And if there is good for me in leaving it and in its entity not appearing, turn it away from me, for I have
Notes
Translator’s note TN2267-1: The explanation links Allāhumma, “O God,” with the imperative umma or ummanā, “intend” or “intend us.” It is the author’s allusive reading of the word.
Translator’s note TN2267-2: The source writes āniyyah and explains it as the reality of a thing. The term is left in transliteration because the allusion depends on its relation to innī, “I.”
