dear son
peace be upon you
first off
i want you to know with certainty
that you were an answer to a prayer
made before you were ever conceived
secondly
i want you to know that i am not always being truthful
because in ways that i act
and will continue to act
in your presence
i am making the claim that i am good and that i know
but the real truth is that
whatever good you may perceive
is because God has veiled from you my faults
and whatever i know
is because God granted me a tiny drop
from the shoreless ocean of Knowledge
there is nothing i can actually offer you
if i protect you from harm
it is because God is the Protector
if i give you something that benefits you
it is because God is the Benefactor
for when i face God
the invocation attributed to Imam ‘Ali
expresses everything i have ever learned
إِلٰهِي إِنْ كَانَ صَغُرَ فِي جَنْبِ طَاعَتِكَ عَمَلِي
فَقَدْ كَبُرَ فِي جَنْبِ رَجَائِكَ امَلِي
“My God, if my deeds appear small in respect to obedience to You
then my hope is great in respect to pure hopefulness in You”
for this blog is entitled “A Mercy Case” for a reason
and that is because at the end of the day
i am hoping in Mercy
have hoped in Mercy
and God willing
will continue to hope in Mercy
for as that prayer continues
“If my time of death is approaching while my deeds are still too short to approach me to You
I am then considering my confession of being guilty to be my means towards You”
But I need to be explicit that my hope is not unconnected to my love for you
for as Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq has reported to have said
as translated in the book of Ayatollah Modarresi
“Verily Allah Almighty will have mercy upon a man by the strength of his love for his son”
sometimes
when i close my eyes
i can see us hand in hand
in a place more beautiful than i have the words to express
where no fear nor grief exists
and we can discover forever
what it means that God made me your father
and you my son
i love you
dear angels,
رَبَّنَا وَأَدْخِلْهُمْ جَنَّاتِ عَدْنٍ الَّتِي وَعَدتَّهُمْ وَمَن صَلَحَ مِنْ آبَائِهِمْ وَأَزْوَاجِهِمْ وَذُرِّيَّاتِهِمْ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ
“Our Lord! Admit them into the Gardens of Eden, which You have promised them, along with whoever is righteous among their forebears, their spouses and their descendants. Indeed You are the All-mighty, the All-wise.”
A Mercy Case 