Source: Nur-ul-Hudā, Prayer 8

The Salat

Arabic

اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ

عَبْدِكَ وَنَبِيِّكَ وَرَسُولِكَ النُّورِ الَّذِي لَمَعَ سَنَاهُ

فَاقْتَبَسَتِ الأَرْوَاحُ مِنْهُ هُدَاهُ

فَاهْتَزَّتْ وَرَبَتْ وَأَذْعَنَتْ لِذِكْرِ مَوْلَاهُ

وَتَقَرَّبَتْ إِلَى خَالِقِهَا قُرْبَ العَارِفِينَ

فَسَقَاهَا مِنْ مَخْتُومِ رَحِيقِهَا شَرَابَ الذَّاكِرِينَ

فَتَذَكَّرَتْ مَا نَسِيَتْ وَشَكَرَتْ لِرَبِّهَا وَأَذْعَنَتْ

وَاسْتَغْفَرَتْ خَالِقَهَا وَإِلَيْهِ تَوَجَّهَتْ

وَصَارَتْ تَتْلُو

﴾إِنِّي وَجَّهْتُ وَجْهِيَ لِلَّذِي فَطَرَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ حَنِيفًا وَمَا أَنَا مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ﴿

وَسَلِّمْ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ

سَلَامًا يَلِيقُ بِمَقَامِهِ العَالِي

بِعَدَدِ تَسْلِيمِ النِّسَاءِ وَالرِّجَالِ

وَأَصْلِحْ يَا مَوْلايَ أَحْوَالِي

وَبَلِّغْنِي مِنَ الخَيْرِ مَآلِي

Transliteration

Allāhumma ṣalli ʿalā sayyidinā Muḥammadin,
ʿabdika wa nabiyyika wa rasūlika, an-nūri alladhī lamaʿa sanāhu,
fa-iqtabasati l-arwāḥu minhu hudāhu,
fa-ihtazzat wa rabat wa adhʿanat li-dhikri mawlāhu,
wa taqarrabat ilā khāliqihā qurba l-ʿārifīn,
fa-saqāhā min makhtūmi raḥīqihā sharāba dh-dhākirīn,
fa-tadhakkarat mā nasiyat wa shakarat li-rabbihā wa adhʿanat,
wa istaghfarat khāliqahā wa ilayhi tawajjahat,
wa ṣārat tatlū:
﴿innī wajjahtu wajhiya lilladhī faṭara s-samāwāti wa l-arḍa ḥanīfan wa mā anā mina l-mushrikīn﴾
wa sallim ʿalayhi wa ʿalā ālihi,
salāman yalīqu bi-maqāmihi l-ʿālī,
bi-ʿadadi taslīmi n-nisāʾi wa r-rijāl,
wa aṣliḥ yā mawlāya aḥwālī,
wa ballighnī mina l-khayri maʾālī.

Translation

O Allah, send blessings upon our Master Muḥammad,
Your servant, Your Prophet, and Your Messenger, the Light whose radiance shone,
so the spirits drew from him their guidance,
then they stirred and grew and yielded to the remembrance of their Master,
and drew near to their Creator with the nearness of the knowers,
so He gave them to drink from the sealed nectar, the drink of those who remember,
so they remembered what they had forgotten, thanked their Lord, and yielded,
and sought forgiveness from their Creator and turned to Him,
and began to recite (Qur’an 6:79),
and grant him peace, and his Family,
a peace befitting his lofty rank,
as many as the salutations of women and men,
and set right, O my Master, my states,
and bring me to the goodness of my final end.

The Reservoir

There are days when the heart is not rebellious, it is simply unlit. We are present in body, but the inside feels dim. We reach for more input, more words, more explanations, and still feel unchanged. This salat offers a quieter diagnosis. What we are missing is not information. It is ignition.

It calls the Messenger ﷺ the Light whose radiance shone, then says, “the spirits drew from him their guidance.” That verb matters. Guidance here is not manufactured. It is received. Like a wick that cannot light itself, the soul is not asked to become its own sun. It is asked to come close enough to the lamp that the flame can be borrowed.

Then the prayer shows what happens when that borrowing is real. The spirits stir and grow, fa-ihtazzat wa rabat, the Qur’anic image of dead earth reviving when rain reaches it, then yield to the remembrance of their Master. The Prophet ﷺ is not the destination of the journey, but the light by which the road becomes walkable. His radiance makes Allah’s remembrance inhabitable again. The end is the Creator, and the path is made gentle through the lamp He sent.

And the text does not stop at sight. It shifts to taste. “He gave them to drink… the drink of those who remember.” Some dryness in us is thirst, not doubt. Dhikr is described as a sealed sweetness, protected from the bitterness of the world’s noise. Once the heart drinks, memory returns, gratitude returns, seeking forgiveness returns, and turning returns. One borrowed flame becomes a whole chain of return.

This is why we do not despise small beginnings. A spark is not the end, but it is enough to start moving again.

The Return

When the inside feels dim, return with the image of a borrowed flame. This salat teaches us to stop demanding a state from ourselves and to stay near the Prophet’s light until the heart begins to stir. O Allah, kindle our spirits by blessing him, and return us to Your remembrance.

One word to carry

اقْتِبَاس (iqtibās): taking light from a flame. A reminder that guidance is received before it is performed.