SIXTH MYSTERY

O unhappy man afflicted by boundless impotence and endless wants! See from the following how valuable and acceptable an intercessor is divine mercy. For it is a way to know  the All-Glorious Sovereign in whose army both the stars and minute particles serve together in perfect order and obedience – the Glorious Monarch of Pre- Eternity and Post-Eternity, who is self-sufficient and utterly without need. He is rich without limit and in no way in need of the universe and its beings. The whole cosmos is  under  His  command  and  direction,  utterly  obedient  beneath  His  majesty  and grandeur, submissive before His sublimity. That is divine mercy for you, O man! It raises you to the presence of the One who lacks all need, the Eternal Sovereign, and makes you His friend, addressee, and well-loved servant. But just as you cannot reach the sun and are far from it although it fills your mirror with its light, reflection, and manifestation, and  you  can in no  way draw near to  it; in the same way you  are infinitely distant from the Most Pure and Holy One, the Sun of Pre-Eternity and Post- Eternity, and cannot draw near to Him, but the light of His mercy brings Him nearer to us.

O man! Anyone who finds this mercy finds an eternally unfailing treasury of light.  And  the  way  to  find  it  is  by  following  the  practices  of  the  Most  Noble Messenger  (Upon  whom  be  blessings  and  peace),  who  was  the  most  brilliant exemplar and representative of mercy, its most eloquent tongue and herald, and was described in the Qur’an as a “Mercy to All the Worlds.”

The way to attain to this embodiment of mercy who is a mercy to all the worlds is

to utter the prayer calling down God’s blessings upon him. Indeed, the meaning of this  prayer  is mercy. As a prayer of mercy for that  living embodiment of divine mercy, it is a means of reaching the Mercy to All the Worlds (UWBP).3  So, make this prayer the means to  the mercy to all the worlds for yourself, and at the same time

make him the means of reaching the mercy of the Most Merciful One.

The whole Muslim community in all its vastness uttering this prayer which is synonymous with mercy for the Mercy to All the Worlds (UWBP) proves in brilliant fashion what a precious gift is divine mercy, and how broad is its sphere.

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3   See, Muslim, Salat, 11, 70; Tirmidhi, Witr, 21; Abu Da’ud, Salat, 36, 210; Witr, 26; Nasa’i, Jum’a, 5; Adhan, 37; Sahw, 55; Ibn Maja, Iqama al-Salat, 79; Darimi, Salat, 206; Riqaq, 58; Musnad, ii, 168, 375, 485; iii, 102, 445: iv, 8.