"All praise, O my God, be to Thee Who art the..."
All praise, O my God, be to Thee Who art the Source of all glory and
majesty, of greatness and honor, of sovereignty and dominion, of loftiness
and grace, of awe and power. Whomsoever Thou willest Thou causest to draw
nigh unto the Most Great Ocean, and on whomsoever Thou desirest Thou
conferrest the honor of recognizing Thy Most Ancient Name. Of all who are
in heaven and on earth, none can withstand the operation of Thy sovereign
Will. From all eternity Thou didst rule the entire creation, and Thou wilt
continue for evermore to exercise Thy dominion over all created things.
There is none other God but Thee, the Almighty, The Most Exalted, the
All-Powerful, the All-Wise.
Illumine, O Lord, the faces of Thy servants, that they may behold Thee;
and cleanse their hearts that they may turn unto the court of Thy heavenly
favors, and recognize Him Who is the Manifestation of Thy Self and the
Dayspring of Thine Essence. Verily, Thou art the Lord of all worlds. There
is no God but Thee, the Unconstrained, the All-Subduing.
--Baha'u'llah
"In the Name of God, the Most High! Lauded..."
In the Name of God, the Most High! Lauded and glorified art Thou, Lord,
God Omnipotent! Thou before Whose wisdom the wise falleth short and
faileth, before Whose knowledge the learned confesseth his ignorance,
before Whose might the strong waxeth weak, before Whose wealth the rich
testifieth to his poverty, before Whose light the enlightened is lost in
darkness, toward the shrine of Whose knowledge turneth the essence of all
understanding and around the sanctuary of Whose presence circle the souls
of all mankind.
How then can I sing and tell of Thine Essence, which the wisdom of the
wise and the learning of the learned have failed to comprehend, inasmuch
as no man can sing that which he understandeth not, nor recount that unto
which he cannot attain, whilst Thou hast been from everlasting the
Inaccessible, the Unsearchable. Powerless though I be to rise to the
heavens of Thy glory and soar in the realms of Thy knowledge, I can but
recount Thy tokens that tell of Thy glorious handiwork.
By Thy Glory! O Beloved of all hearts, Thou that alone canst still the
pangs of yearning for Thee! Though all the dwellers of heaven and earth
unite to glorify the least of Thy signs, wherein and whereby Thou hast
revealed Thyself, yet would they fail, how much more to praise Thy holy
Word, the creator of all Thy tokens.
All praise and glory be to Thee, Thou of Whom all things have testified
that Thou art one and there is none other God but Thee, Who hast been from
everlasting exalted above all peer or likeness and to everlasting shalt
remain the same. All kings are but Thy servants and all beings, visible
and invisible, as naught before Thee. There is none other God but Thee,
the Gracious, the Powerful, the Most High.
--Baha'u'llah
"Magnified be Thy name, O Lord my God!..."
Magnified be Thy name, O Lord my God! Thou art He Whom all things worship
and Who worshipeth no one, Who is the Lord of all things and is the vassal
of none, Who knoweth all things and is known of none. Thou didst wish to
make Thyself known unto men; therefore, Thou didst, through a word of Thy
mouth, bring creation into being and fashion the universe. There is none
other God except Thee, the Fashioner, the Creator, the Almighty, the Most
Powerful.
I implore Thee, by this very word that hath shone forth above the horizon
of Thy will, to enable me to drink deep of the living waters through which
Thou hast vivified the hearts of Thy chosen ones and quickened the souls
of them that love Thee, that I may, at all times and under all conditions,
turn my face wholly towards Thee.
Thou art the God of power, of glory and bounty. No God is there beside
Thee, the Supreme Ruler, the All-Glorious, the Omniscient.
--Baha'u'llah
"Glorified art Thou, O Lord my God! I yield..."
Glorified art Thou, O Lord my God! I yield Thee thanks for having enabled
me to recognize the Manifestation of Thyself, and for having severed me
from Thine enemies, and laid bare before mine eyes their misdeeds and
wicked works in Thy days, and for having rid me of all attachment to them,
and caused me to turn wholly towards Thy grace and bountiful favors. I
give Thee thanks, also, for having sent down upon me from the clouds of
Thy will that which hath so sanctified me from the hints of the infidels
and the allusions of the misbelievers that I have fixed my heart firmly on
Thee, and fled from such as have denied the light of Thy countenance.
Again I thank Thee for having empowered me to be steadfast in Thy love,
and to speak forth Thy praise and to extol Thy virtues, and for having
given me to drink of the cup of Thy mercy that hath surpassed all things
visible and invisible.
Thou art the Almighty, the Most Exalted, the All-Glorious, the All-
Loving.
--Baha'u'llah
"Praised be Thou, O Lord my God! Every time..."
Praised be Thou, O Lord my God! Every time I attempt to make mention of
Thee, I am hindered by the sublimity of Thy station and the overpowering
greatness of Thy might. For were I to praise Thee throughout the length of
Thy dominion and the duration of Thy sovereignty, I would find that my
praise of Thee can befit only such as are like unto me, who are themselves
Thy creatures, and who have been generated through the power of Thy decree
and been fashioned through the potency of Thy will. And at whatever time
my pen ascribeth glory to any one of Thy names, methinks I can hear the
voice of its lamentation in its remoteness from Thee, and can recognize
its cry because of its separation from Thy Self. I testify that everything
other than Thee is but Thy creation and is held in the hollow of Thy hand.
To have accepted any act or praise from Thy creatures is but an evidence
of the wonders of Thy grace and bountiful favors, and a manifestation of
Thy generosity and providence.
I entreat Thee, O my Lord, by Thy Most Great Name whereby Thou didst
separate light from fire, and truth from denial, to send down upon me and
upon such of my loved ones as are in my company the good of this world and
of the next. Supply us, then, with Thy wondrous gifts that are hid from
the eyes of men. Thou art, verily, the Fashioner of all creation. No God
is there but Thee, the Almighty, the All-Glorious, the Most High.
--Baha'u'llah
"All majesty and glory, O my God, and all dominion..."
All majesty and glory, O my God, and all dominion and light and grandeur
and splendor be unto Thee. Thou bestowest sovereignty on whom Thou willest
and dost withhold it from whom Thou desirest. No God is there but Thee,
the All-Possessing, the Most Exalted. Thou art He Who createth from naught
the universe and all that dwell therein. There is nothing worthy of Thee
except Thyself, while all else but Thee are as outcasts in Thy holy
presence and are as nothing when compared to the glory of Thine Own Being.
Far be it from me to extol Thy virtues save by what Thou hast extolled
Thyself in Thy weighty Book where Thou sayest, "No vision taketh in Him,
but He taketh in all vision. He is the Subtile, the All-Perceiving."(6)
Glory be unto Thee, O my God, indeed no mind or vision, however keen or
discriminating, can ever grasp the nature of the most insignificant of Thy
signs. Verily, Thou art God, no God is there besides Thee. I bear witness
that Thou Thyself alone art the sole expression of Thine attributes, that
the praise of no one besides Thee can ever attain to Thy holy court nor
can Thine attributes ever be fathomed by anyone other than Thyself.
Glory be unto Thee, Thou art exalted above the description of anyone save
Thyself, since it is beyond human conception to befittingly magnify Thy
virtues or to comprehend the inmost reality of Thine Essence. Far be it
from Thy glory that Thy creatures should describe Thee or that anyone
besides Thyself should ever know Thee. I have known Thee, O my God, by
reason of Thy making Thyself known unto me, for hadst Thou not revealed
Thyself unto me, I would not have known Thee. I worship Thee by virtue of
Thy summoning me unto Thee, for had it not been for Thy summons I would
not have worshiped Thee.
--The Bab