44 – ʿAbd Allah narrated to us; Muhammad ibn Salih al-Tamimi narrated to us. He said: Whenever certain scholars recited, “And whoever puts his trust in Allah, He is enough for him” (Q 65:3), they would say:

“O Allah, I have heard You in Your Book inviting Your servants to rely upon Your sufficiency, while stipulating that they place their trust in You. O Allah, yet I find the road to that summons so effaced that its signposts have vanished, its remembrance has faded, and even the very recitation that proves it has all but disappeared. I find between me and You ambiguities that cut me off from You and obstacles that keep me from answering Your call.

“O Allah, I know that no servant journeys toward You without reaching You, for You are never veiled from Your creation—only their misplaced hopes veil them from You. I know, too, that the best provision for one traveling to You is patience with whatever leads to You.

“O Allah, my heart has conversed with You in firm resolve, and through the clarity of Your signs You have made Your proof plain to me. So, O Allah, let me never choose anyone over You while I hope in You, nor drift away from You while I seek You.

“O Allah, strengthen me with something from You that will draw the poverty of this world out of my heart, raise me from the death-traps of its desires, and give me to drink from a cup that makes me forget it, so that You may single me out for the noblest of Your worship and bequeath to me the legacy of Your friends—those for whom You set up beacons that lead straight to You ⦗70⦘ and whom You urged on until they reached You. Amin, Lord of the worlds.”