The following is my English translation from Henry Corbin's French translation of Suhrawardî's 'Descents and Sanctifications' (al-wâridât wa'l-taqdîsât), dubbed by Corbin 'The Book of Hours' (Le Livre d'Heures), in L'archange empourpré (Paris: 1976), pp. 483-4. Presently only one badly scanned ms. of the original Arabic of this work is in my possession. Two other mss. have been cited by Corbin, as well as Brockelman in GAL, as being held in Turkey.
1. [O! To] that God who hears the call of burning
desire! How [It] discloses (kashf) the way to the interior
illumination! By the approaching of the Malakût (angelic world)
of sanctity whereby the word is upraised to the Persons of Light (ashkhâs
al-daw’), inasmuch as They proclaim:
2. O
God of all gods (yâ ilâha kulli ilâhîn), assemble the litany
of the Light! Come to the aid of the people of Light (ahl al-Nûr)!
Guide the light unto the Light!
3. With the First Being the principle movement
originates. To this First Being is lead the final limit of time and repose.
Close is the moment. The Signs have appeared. Herein gathered are in assembly
the folk of Mount
Sina’i, so reciting, let
them say:
4. O God
of the Separations (yâ ilâh al-fâriqât), assemble the litany of
the Light! Come to the aid of the people of Light! Guide the light unto the
Light!
5. The Lord is alone and without equal by the glare of It’s
splendorous flashes of Glory (bi-sanâ’ al-majd). One and Single
in the magnitude of Power. Exalted in the sublimity of Its Victorious force,
dominating every Intelligence, every heart and every material body. Within each
living being It epiphanizes [Itself]. In the proximity of Its Majesty are the
heights of the highest altitudes and the abysses of the utmost depths, so let
the Pure Ones (al-zakkîyât) proclaim :
6. O
Master of the Supreme Symbol (sâhib al-mathal al-a’lâ), assemble
the litany of the Light! Come to the aid of the People of Light! Guide the
light unto the Light!
7. God purifes the upright while approaching them,
approving the liturgy of the Light arising to sounds of the Sanctified Easts (quddâs
al-ishrâq), for Its blessings are upon the cone of the flame of Light. It
directs the celestial impulse upon the lamp of the sanctuary (qandîl
al-mosallâ). It consecrates offerings and praiseworthy acts. It made of
the herald of the Levantine Light the rider of the Orient (rakîb
al-mashriq), for the nearness of the Holy Ones, bestowing aid,
launch the [divine] Order by proclaiming atop the crenels of the world of
Glory:
8. O Principle of the Universe, terminal time limit of
the movements of the suns which rise to their orients when they decline from
their occidents (al-shâriqât al-ghâribât), assemble the litany of
the Light! Come to the aid of the People of Light! Guide the light unto the
Light!
9. God made the primal Light the mediator and sovereign.
He projected upon him Its Light. It gave him the sovereignty over the direction
of [the celestial] bodies. It made of him a lord reigning upon the napes of the
necks of the beings in material bodies. It confirmed by him the mediation of
the cosmic order, the perfector of life, the cause of the seasons, the nights
and days, and to whom the sanctified (hieratic) souls (muqadassât
al-nufûs) invoke with fervor, whilst addressing themselves to It:
10. O You, the Singular Person [in
authority] over the Lights (yâ ayyuhâ al-shakhs al-anwâr). You
Who eternally turn Your face towards Your Father! Call upon the Giver of
Intelligence (wâhib al-‘aql) and Life! Say: Assemble the litany
of the Light! Come to the aid of the People of Light! Guide the light unto the
Light!
11. The Good (the Elect)
beseech the highest Persons, the most elevated of the beings of Light. The
human assembly beseech the celestial Souls, while all together beseech the
archangelic Active-Intellects (al-‘uqâl al-fa’’âla); this, whilst
our Principle encircles their totality. And this is the prayer of all the
levels of the hierarchy of beings, namely, the answer to the Call:
12. O Dispenser of the Light and the
beneficial influx! Come to the aid of the People of Light! Guide the light unto
the Light.
