notifications_active Weekly Meshkat-e Noor Session: Thursdays at 20:30 at Haj Reza Mosque
O God, if any of my shortcomings become manifest, it is through Your justice.
Please share more of the subtle insights and deeper truths of this passage from the Supplication of ʿArafah.
إلهی إن ظهرت المحاسن منی فبفضلک و لک المنه علی و إن ظهرت المساوی منی فبعدلک و لک الحجه علی
Our good and bad deeds become manifest by God’s permission and decree. Through divine grace, we are enabled to perform righteous deeds, so whatever is beautiful in us is a sign of God’s encompassing grace and generosity. On the other hand, God’s concealment of faults and forgiveness keep our shortcomings from being exposed. If they do come to light, then, in keeping with divine justice, we receive the consequence of our own actions.
Every human act, whether good or evil, comes into being only by God’s permission and decree. Through His special grace and care, a person is enabled to perform righteous deeds. Thus, every beauty that appears in a person bears witness to the encompassing favour and generosity of God, and the person is indebted to Him for this grace.
On the other hand, through His veiling and forgiving, the Almighty Lord prevents a person’s ugliness from coming to light. When a person becomes deserving of having an evil deed exposed, no injustice has been done to them. Rather, by God’s justice, they have received the ugliness of their own act; they have received the consequence of what they themselves did.