His Supplication upon Completing a Reading of the Qur'an

urrectionand from the hardships of terrors on the Day of Disaster! 16- Whiten our faces on the day when the faces of wrongdoers are blackened19during the Day of Regret and Remorse, appoint love for us in the breasts of the faithful, and make not life for us troublesome! 17- O God, bless Muhammad, Thy servant and Thy messenger, just as He delivered Thy message, executed Thy command, and counselled Thy servants! 18- O God, on the Day of Resurrection make our Prophet(Thy blessings be upon him and his Household)the nearest of the prophets to Thee in seat, the ablest of them before Thee with intercession, the greatest of them with Thee in measure, and the most eminent of them with Thee in rank! 19- O God, bless Muhammad and the Household of Muhammad, ennoble his edifice, magnify his proof, make weighty his balance, accept his intercession, bring near his mediation, 20whiten his face, complete his light, and raise his degree! 20- Make us live according to his Sunna, make us die in his creed, take us on his road, make us travel his path, place us among the people who obey him, muster us in his band, lead us to up his pool, 21and give us to drink of his cup! 21- And bless Muhammad and his Household, with a blessing through which Thou wilt take himto the most excellent of Thy good, Thy bounty, and Thy generosity for which he hopes! Thou art Possessor of boundless mercyand generous bounty. 22- O God, repay him for Thy messages which he delivered, Thy signs which he passed on, the good counsel he gave to Thy servants, and the struggle he undertook in Thy way, with the best Thou hast repaid any of Thy angels brought nighand Thy prophets sent out and chosen! And upon him and his Household, the good, the pure, be peace, God's mercy, and His blessings! Thus We appointed you a midmost nation that you might be witnesses to the people, and that the Messenger might be a witness to you (2: 143). They shall be secure from terror on that day (27: 89); The Greatest Terror shall not grieve them (21: 103). As though they were being driven into death with their eyes open (8: 6) and: And death's agony comes in truth. . . . And every soul will come, with it a driver and a witness. (50: 21) 'Mediation' may mean simply the means of access to God, defined in terms of any work of obedience or pious act. But most commentators point out the verse's connection to a well-known saying of the Prophet concerning 'mediation' as the highest station of Paradise, and this in turn is normally defined as the permission God will give to the Prophet at the Resurrection to intercede for his community. The Prophet said: 'When you hear the muezzin, repeat what he says, then call down blessings upon me. If someone calls down a blessing upon me, God will call down ten upon him. Then ask that I be given the mediation, for it is a station in the Garden suited only for one of God's servants, and I hope to be that one. If anyone asks that I be given the mediation, my intercession for him will become lawful' (Muslim, Salat 11; Tirmidhi, Manaqib I; Abu Dawud, Salat 36; Ahmad II, 168, 265; III 83). Padwick discusses the connection between mediation and intercession in Muslim Devotions, Ch. 2, 'The Prayer of Mediation' (the relationship between the two can be seen in the present work in 65. 4-5, 66. 3-4, 78. 1). On the mediation of the Imams, see note 217.