O God, O You who are the all-englobing Encompasser, who cannot be prevented from effusing gifts! O You whose treasuries are never exhausted, and whose generosity and support to the whole of creation is unfailingly extended!
O God, open for me the locks of these treasures, unveil for me the realities of these symbols. Be the One who faces me and my facing. By vision of You veil me from vision of me! By the manifestation of Your Self-revelation efface all my attributes, so that I have no orientation except towards You, so that my eyes alight upon none but You!
* * *
O You to whom belongs absolute Richness beyond need, whilst His servants possess only poverty beyond question!
O You who is Rich beyond need of anything, while each thing is in need of Him!
O You in whose hand lies the destiny of everything and to whom everything returns!
O You who possesses absolute Being, such that none knows what He truly is except Him, and none can be informed of Him except through His Guidance!
* * *
How can I know You when You are the Inwardly Hidden who is not known?
How can I not know You when You are the Outwardly Manifest, making Yourself known to me in every thing?
How can I realise Your Unity when in Uniqueness I have no existence?
How can I not realise your Unity when Union is the very secret of servanthood?
* * *
I ask of You, O God, that You unveil for me the mystery of Unity, that I may verify true servanthood and that I may fully accomplish the service of Your Lordship, according to what is suitable to its highest presence. For I am in existence only through You, being of ephemera and of non-existence, while You are Existent, Permanent, Living, Self-Subsisting, Ancient of Days, Eternal, Knower and Known, O You, whom none know what He truly is except Him!
I ask of You O God, that I may flee from me to You and that my whole totality may be integrated in You, so that the sense of my existence ceases to veil me from my witnessing. O You who are my aim and aspiration, O You whom I worship and adore! Nothing is unknown to me when I have known You! Nothing is missing for me when I have witnessed you! My annihilation is in You; my subsistence is through You; and You are the object of my contemplation. There is no god but You, as You have attested, as You have known and as You have ordered.
Extracted from ‘Sunday Morning Prayer’
The Seven Days of the Heart – Prayers for the Nights and Days of the Week
Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi
Tr. Pablo Beneito and Stephen Hirtenstein