A Modern Ismaili Prayer
An Ismaili Prayer and Ginan to the current Imam
Our Lord Nur Mawlana Shah,
Karim al-Husayni Hazar Imam!
We humble students pray to thee:
Give us your divine guidance to discharge our duties!
Give us the courage and strenght to obey the holy firmans!(1)
Our saviour,
have mercy upon us
and bless us with the holy Nurani Didar(2) in this world
and the next.
There is no salvation without our imam.
O ‘Ali! O ‘Ali! (3)
Better than written guidance, (4)
we have the living imam. (5)
O ‘Ali! O ‘Ali!
All-wise, omniscient, sinless.
The imam will give the kingdom to his followers
and they will rule until eternity.
Pay dashond
and obey his incarnation.
After these good deeds the soul attains salvation.
Pay your tithes to our teacher, the imam;
it will help you to secure salvation, bliss and happiness.
Without it you may be reborn 10,000 times.
O believers!
Pay your dues to our Lord accurately.
You will be doubly rewarded for all the things you offer.
O believers!
Come to the jamatkhana
and drink the water of purity.
While serving him devoutly
we recognize him as imam.
Only those who give all the dashond which they owe,
only those who sacrifice all they possess with love,
only they are the true believers.
He is true and just.
He is pure and sinless.
He is our gracious Lord,
sustainer of creation.
He is the judge of judgement,
the maker of us all.
Serve the imam,
we are his servants.
There is no salvation without the imam.
He is all in all.
O ‘Ali!
O Karim al-Husayni! Forgive our sines. Ameen.
O Karim al-Husayni! Fulfil our wishes. Ameen.
O Karim al-Husayni! Remove our troubles. Ameen.
O Karim al-Husayni! Overcome the enemies of our faith. Ameen.
O Karim al-Husayni! Grant us a temporal and spiritual glimpse. Ameen.
O Karim al-Husayni! Grant us health for our sick. Ameen.
O Karim al-Husayni! Grant is goodness to know you and belive in you. Ameen.
O Karim al-Husayni! Keep us perfect in partaking in sukrit and in paying dashond. Ameen.
O Karim al-Husayni! Make the community prosperous by giving them long life, wealth and children. Ameen.
O Karim al-Husayni! Please bless those that give money generously. Ameen.
(1) These are the religious teachings of the imam which are binding upon all Ismailis. Only the firmans of the living imam or imam of the time are authorative. This allows the imam of the time to adapt the faith to new times and situations without being hampered by tradition.
(2) This is the Ismaili hajj. Everyone should seek to see the imam both in person and spiritually.
(3) Every imam is Allah’s Noor which first manifested itself as Ali the first imam of this cycle. So every imam is Ali.
(4) This referes to the Koran.
(5) The Ismailis have the only living imam of all the branches of Shiism. Other branches whose imam has gone into occultation stagnate at the leve
l where the imam disappeared.
