Prayer for Rain

IMAM UMAR AL-YF

TRANSLATED BY HAMZA YUSUF

O You who save all those who plead

If You dont answer who gives heed
We have no other Lord who saves
Save You alone O Lord of slaves
Among us we have suckling babes
As well as aged prayerful slaves
And animals that need to graze
Its You alone all seek with praise
Calamities we now do face
We feel constraint in open space
But this is all from our design
Our sins alone have made us blind
If You will help only the blest
Then who is left to help the rest
The mercy of our Gracious Lord
Is drink for all now being poured
If those alone who gain Your gift
Have been the ones who never drift
Then how can any sinful pray
If You wont guide those gone astray
O Lord, O Lord treat us with love
Which You alone are worthy of
For You have always treated us
As servants of your loving trust

| spring 2006 | seasons

O Lord from You weve often heard

Forgiveness seek from your dear Lord

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The clouds will come with rain and snow

To quench the slaves and earth below
O Merciful with those who live
With mercy too and also give
Give us, give us the rain on high
To fall on earth wherein we lie
The mercy of my Lord on high
Includes all things in earth and sky
Its constancy will never cease
Indeed it flows with blest increase
And by the chosen, Lord please give
O Generous, Graceful, forgive
Bless him O God as long as rain
From heaven falls without refrain
It flows to anyone who seeks
Amid the valleys, dales and peaks
And let it flow on progeny
Who came from him, pure family
For they alone are clouds of hope
For all who live within Gods scope
O Lord forgive the one who penned
These lines of verse or recommends
Among your slaves who often stray
Yet hope for You on Judgment Day

Imam Ab al-Waf Qu~b al-Dn Umar al-Yf al-anaf al-usayn was born in Yafa, Palestine, in the
year 1173 AH/1760 CE. He lived during the time of the Ottoman Empire. In Yafa, he began seeking knowledge at the hands of al-Shaykh Al al-Khlid. He later continued to seek knowledge from other scholars of
that area, one of whom was Ab al-Marif Qu~b al-Dn al-Sayyid Mu|~af b. Kaml al-Dn al-Bakr al-iddq. Through Shaykh Ab al-Marif, Imam al-Yf took the Sufi path of al-Khalwatiyyah al-Bakriyyah.
In 1197/1783, he traveled to Nablus, Gaza, and then to Egypt, where he studied at al-Azhar. He continued
to travel in pursuit of knowledge to al-Hijaz and Beirut. In 1201/1787, he settled in Damascus, where he
took for himself a room in the Umayyad Mosque known as Mashhad al-Yf. He spent the rest of his life
teaching and holding gatherings of remembrance until he passed away in the year 1233/1818. He is buried
in Damascus in the cemetery of Maraj al-Da^d^.

| seasons | spring 2006

BACKGROUND PHOTOGRAPH : A ARON HAROON SELL ARS

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