O Dio, guidami, proteggimi, fà di me una lampada luminosa e una stella fulgente. Tu sei il Forte e il Potente.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá
خدایا هدایت نما حفظ فرما سراج روشن کن ستاره 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:
http://starofthewest.info/viewer.erb?vol=09&page=114
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.
Further Information