O God, guide me, protect me, make of me a shining lamp and a brilliant star. Thou art the Mighty and the Powerful.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá

خدایا هدایت نما حفظ فرما سراجِ روشن کن ستارۀ درخشنده نما توئی مقتدر و توانا

حضرت عبدالبهاء

This most beloved of all Bahá’í prayers for children was originally included in a letter from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to a certain “Mrs. E.C.” (Ella Cooper) and published in Star of the West, vol. 9, no. 10 (September 8, 1918), p. 114. You can see the prayer in the second-to-last paragraph on the right-hand column of that page by following this link.

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English translation of this prayer published for the first time in Star of the West (1918)

Interesting Fact

The portion of this earlier translation which reads “illumine the lamp of my heart” is actually a mistranslation of the original text, whereby siráj-i-rawshan kun has been misread as siráj rawshan kun. It was later changed to correctly read “make of me a shining lamp,” which is now part of the authorized translation of this prayer.

Original Sources

  • The source for the English translation can be found here
  • The source for the original Persian text can be found here

Further References