Praise be to Allah, who has poured upon us from His blessings, placed calm and prosperity among us, and granted us enough for today and tomorrow. These are blessings that, when met with gratitude, endure; and when taken for granted, become a test by which Allah distinguishes the grateful from the wasteful, and the reformer from the corrupter. To Allah belongs praise, before and after.

Praise be to Allah, with a good and blessed praise, as vast as the heavens and the earth, for a trial that has reshaped a scene in which every thought seeking release from its chains was too often frustrated, and every value reaching for provision from above was too often obscured, unless it passed through a hollow smile that dignity itself would be ashamed to wear, or submitted to accumulated customs in which honor had grown narrow, then justified by arguments gathered from here and there, until the ailment settled into one familiar refrain: “This is just how things work here.”

Praise be to Allah, first and last, for trials that appeared to pile up on the surface, yet carried within them the end of a costly habit: standing with whoever happens to be standing, merely to secure a living. It was a cost that disturbed the balance, strained family bonds, and gave temptation a way through. Praise be to Allah for sparing us the burden of clinging to the doors of creation, and the illusion that destiny can be summoned by flattery or softened by servility. He has arranged matters so that every word is given its proper place. Praise be to Allah, who has made truth a clear road, and falsehood a barrier it cannot easily cross.

Praise be to Allah for a trial that has passed, with all it carried of loss and sorrow, and all it brought of awareness and ease. Its outward face was the disruption of human means; its inward meaning was the restoration of judgment to its rightful place. Praise be to Allah for the discord He has turned away, the flames He has extinguished, and the blessings He has brought—blessings beyond our ability to count. Praise be to Allah, first and last.

O Allah, as You have shown us through the movement of events that all affairs return to You, make what has passed a doorway to insight, not a place of heedlessness; a station of gratitude, not a habit we consume without thought. Return our hearts to a certainty that does not look anxiously toward the doors of people, nor imagine that provision is won by bending one’s face, or that destiny is delayed by following desire.

O Allah, grant us wisdom that protects blessing from waste, shields prosperity from arrogance, and makes security a motive for work, not a cover for neglect. Let abundance refine our manners, let resources widen our generosity, and let calm days awaken us to the places where we have fallen short. Do not let habit become an argument against what is right, nor inherited practice an excuse for the continuation of error.

O Allah, place in Kuwait minds that do not break, values that cannot be hidden, and capabilities that do not go to waste. Raise the standing of knowledge, protect the place of thought, and connect work to the benefit it produces—not to the noise around it, nor to the endorsement that precedes it. Bless every sincere mind that seeks reform, every honest hand that builds good, every useful science that points toward wisdom, and every wise word that returns matters to their proper measure. Give the makers of value their place, truth its supporters, mature opinion its effect, and quiet effort its share of fairness, so that appearance does not rise above substance, image is not preferred over meaning, and no useful person is pushed aside merely because he has not mastered the knocking of doors.

O Allah, bring together hearts divided by interest, mend the ties that have been cut, and guide us toward a dignity that is not for sale, an honor that is not borrowed, and a justice that does not change with the changing of gatherings. Make truth among us clear and unconfused, and make falsehood veiled and resistant to entry, until every moment regains its rightful word, deeds return to their true measure, blessings to gratitude, trials to their wisdom, and knowledge and thought to the purpose for which they were created: reform and building.

O Allah, ordain for this nation a matter of sound guidance.