Praise be unto Thee, O my God! Thou seest how He Who is Thy Light hath
been shut up in the fortress-town of Akka, and been sore oppressed by
reason of what the hands of the wicked doers have wrought, whose corrupt
desires have kept them back from turning towards Thee, O Thou Who art the
King of all names!
I swear by Thy glory! Tribulations, however woeful, can never hinder me
from remembering Thee or from celebrating Thy praise. Every vexation borne
for love of Thee is a token of Thy mercy unto Thy creatures, and every
ordeal suffered in Thy path is but a gift from Thee bestowed on Thy chosen
ones. I testify that my countenance, which shineth above the Day-Spring of
eternity, hath been irradiated by adversity, and my body hath been adorned
by it before all who are in heaven and all who are on earth.
I pray Thee, by Thy Most Great Name, to aid all them that have believed on
Thee and on Thy signs to be steadfast in Thy love and to set themselves
towards the Dawning-Place of the Day-Star of Thy loving-kindness. Inspire
them, then, O my God, with what will unloose their tongue to praise Thee,
and will draw them nigh unto Thee in the life that now is and the life
that is to come.
Thou truly art the Almighty, the All-Glorious, the Beneficent.