Saint Charbel Prayer in Arabic
Most people who pray to Saint Charbel pray to him in Arabic. That is the language of Annaya, of the pilgrims who walk to the tomb, of the grandmother in Zahlé and the family in Sydney who still say the same words at the same hour.
If you grew up hearing those words without being able to read them, this page is for you. Each prayer below appears three times: the Arabic as it is prayed, a transliteration so you can say it aloud, and the English meaning.
The Short Invocation
This is the line Lebanese families say most often. It punctuates the novena, the chaplet, and ordinary days.
يا مار شربل، تضرَّعْ لأجلي.
Ya Mar Charbel, tadarraʿ li-ajli.
Saint Charbel, plead for me.
The verb tadarraʿ is stronger than "pray". It means to plead, to entreat, to beg on someone's behalf. When a family prays for someone in the hospital, they use this word.
Said for another person it becomes tadarraʿ li-ajlina, "plead for us". Many people repeat it under their breath through the day rather than reserving it for a set time.
The Prayer of Intercession
This is the prayer printed on the holy cards handed out at the shrine, and the one that closes the novena to Saint Charbel. It is short enough to memorise in an afternoon.
أيُّها الإلهُ القديرُ، يا مَنْ أَذَعْتَ قوَّةَ شفاعةِ القدِّيسِ شربل بعجائبَ ونِعَمٍ شتَّى، امنَحْنا بشفاعتِهِ النعمةَ التي نلتمسُها. (تُذكَر الحاجة)
Ayyuha l-Ilahu l-Qadir, ya man adhaʿta quwwata shafaʿati l-qiddisi Charbel bi-ʿajaʾiba wa niʿamin shatta, imnahna bi-shafaʿatihi n-niʿmata llati naltamisuha. (here the need is named)
Almighty God, you who made known the power of Saint Charbel's intercession through many miracles and countless graces, grant us through his intercession the grace we now ask for. (here the need is named)
Notice that the prayer is addressed to God, not to Charbel. This is the shape of every authentic prayer to a saint: God is asked, and the saint is asked to ask. The Arabic makes it unmistakable, opening with Ayyuha l-Ilahu l-Qadir, "O Almighty God".
The pause at the end is part of the prayer. You say the need out loud, in your own words, in whatever language comes to you. Many people pray this version when they bring a specific request, and use the fuller prayer for healing when someone is sick.
The Daily Prayer to Mar Charbel
A longer prayer, widely prayed in Lebanon and the diaspora, that asks Charbel not for one favour but for his companionship. It is the prayer of someone who has decided to keep him close.
يا مار شربل، كما كنتَ في حياتك على الأرض تحملُ همومَ الناس وتصلّي من أجلهم، تابعتَ في السماء استمطارَ الخيرِ على الأرض، فحدثت العجائبُ الكبيرةُ على يدك، ونال الكثيرون نِعَماً عظيمة، وأنا واحدٌ منهم.
إنني أثقُ بك كثيراً وأطلبُ منك أن تظلَّ معي في حياتي اليوميّة، فتكونَ الشفيعَ، والمثالَ، والصديقَ الأقربَ الذي أحمّلُه همومي، والذي يساعدني على العيش دائماً بقربِ الربِّ ومعه، والذي يهبُني الراحةَ الآتيةَ من عند الربّ.
باركني، بارِكْ عائلتي وأصدقائي ومعارفي وكُنْ معهم وساعِدْهم. كُنْ مع كلِّ ضعيفٍ ومحتاج، وأَحِلَّ الخيرَ والسلامَ والمحبّةَ في كلِّ مكان.
علّمني أن أستسلمَ دوماً لإرادةِ الربّ فأقبلَ بفرحٍ مصاعبَ الحياة، ولا أحيدَ عن طريقه، مهما حدث من أمرٍ في هذه الدنيا، لأنّ معه وفيه فقط المحبّةُ الكاملةُ والحياةُ الأبديّة، على هذه الأرضِ وبعدها.
اِبقَ معي، أنت مثالي وشفيعي، يا مار شربل. آمين.
Ya Mar Charbel, kama kunta fi hayatika ʿala l-ard tahmilu humuma n-nas wa tusalli min ajlihim, tabaʿta fi s-samaʾ istimtara l-khayri ʿala l-ard, fa-hadathat al-ʿajaʾibu l-kabiratu ʿala yadik, wa nala l-kathirun niʿaman ʿazima, wa ana wahidun minhum.
Innani athiqu bika kathiran wa atlubu minka an tazalla maʿi fi hayati l-yawmiyya, fa-takuna sh-shafiʿ, wa l-mithal, wa s-sadiqa l-aqrab alladhi uhammiluhu humumi, wa alladhi yusaʿiduni ʿala l-ʿaysh daʾiman bi-qurbi r-Rabb wa maʿah, wa alladhi yahabuni r-rahata l-atiyata min ʿindi r-Rabb.
Barikni, barik ʿaʾilati wa asdiqaʾi wa maʿarifi wa kun maʿahum wa saʿidhum. Kun maʿa kulli daʿifin wa muhtaj, wa ahlili l-khayra wa s-salama wa l-mahabbata fi kulli makan.
ʿAllimni an astaslima dawman li-iradati r-Rabb fa-aqbala bi-farahin masaʾiba l-hayat, wa la ahida ʿan tariqih, mahma hadatha min amrin fi hadhihi d-dunya, li-anna maʿahu wa fihi faqat al-mahabbatu l-kamila wa l-hayatu l-abadiyya, ʿala hadhihi l-ardi wa baʿdaha.
Ibqa maʿi, anta mithali wa shafiʿi, ya Mar Charbel. Amin.
Saint Charbel, as in your life on earth you carried the burdens of others and prayed for them, so in heaven you have gone on drawing goodness down upon the earth. Great wonders were worked through you, and many received great graces. I am one of them.
I trust you deeply, and I ask you to stay with me in my daily life: to be my intercessor, my example, and the closest friend to whom I bring my worries, who helps me live always near the Lord and with him, and who gives me the rest that comes from the Lord.
Bless me. Bless my family, my friends, and everyone I know, and be with them and help them. Be with everyone who is weak and in need, and let goodness and peace and love come down in every place.
Teach me to surrender always to the will of the Lord, so that I may accept the difficulties of life with joy and never turn from his path, whatever happens in this world, because with him and in him alone are perfect love and eternal life, on this earth and beyond it.
Stay with me. You are my example and my intercessor, Mar Charbel. Amen.
The Arabic verb in the first line, istimtar, is worth pausing over. It comes from the root for rain, and means to call rain down. Charbel is pictured in heaven making goodness fall on Lebanon the way rain falls: steadily, over everyone, without being asked.
The prayer traditionally closes with the Our Father, the Hail Mary, and the Glory Be. If you want the Our Father in the older language of the Maronite Church, see the Our Father in Aramaic.
Healing Prayers in Arabic
Charbel is invoked for healing more than for anything else, and the healing petitions in Arabic are surprisingly plain. The chaplet of Saint Charbel, مسبحة مار شربل, carries short rhyming couplets in Lebanese dialect rather than formal Arabic. Children learn them by ear.
قدّيس شربل يا حكيم، تشفي المرضى أجمعين.
قدّيس شربل يا حبيب، تشفينا بجاه الصليب.
قدّيس شربل يا حنون، تشفي الجسم والروح والعيون.
يا شفاءَ المرضى، اشفِهم.
Qiddis Charbel ya hakim, tishfi l-marda ajmaʿin.
Qiddis Charbel ya habib, tishfina bi-jah es-salib.
Qiddis Charbel ya hanun, tishfi l-jism w er-ruh w el-ʿuyun.
Ya shifaʾa l-marda, ishfihum.
Saint Charbel, wise one, heal all the sick.
Saint Charbel, beloved, heal us through the Cross.
Saint Charbel, tender one, heal body and soul and eyes.
O healing of the sick, heal them.
These lines rhyme in Lebanese and not in translation, which is most of their point. They were made to be repeated aloud by a room full of people, on a bead, at a bedside.
For a longer healing text in English, see the prayer to Saint Charbel for healing, and for the full set of titles prayed in sequence, the litany of Saint Charbel.
The Novena Opening
Each day of the Arabic novena opens with the same address, which is the boldest line in the whole devotion.
أيُّها القدّيسُ شربل العجائبيّ، يا مَنْ يفوحُ من جسدِكَ الطاهرِ المنتصرِ على الفساد طِيبُ السماء، هلمَّ إلى معونتي.
Ayyuha l-qiddis Charbel al-ʿajaʾibi, ya man yafuhu min jasadika t-tahiri l-muntasiri ʿala l-fasad tibu s-samaʾ, halumma ila maʿunati.
Saint Charbel, worker of wonders, from whose pure body, victorious over corruption, the fragrance of heaven pours out: come to my help.
The line refers to something specific. When Charbel's tomb was opened months after his death in 1898, his body was found intact and exuding a liquid that pilgrims called the oil of Charbel. The phrase al-muntasir ʿala l-fasad, "victorious over corruption", is the Arabic prayer's way of naming that, and of naming what it points to.
What "Mar" Means
Lebanese Christians rarely say al-qiddis Charbel out loud. They say Mar Charbel. The word مار is not Arabic at all.
It comes from Syriac, ܡܪܝ, mar in the Eastern pronunciation and mor in the Western pronunciation Maronites use. It means "lord" or "my lord", and it is the title the Syriac churches have given to saints and bishops since antiquity. Mar Maroun, Mar Elias, Mar Youssef, Mar Charbel.
So a Lebanese family praying in Arabic is still carrying one Syriac word in the middle of every sentence. They usually do not know it, which is the ordinary way languages preserve things. If you want the longer story of that language, see the Aramaic Jesus spoke.
Why Praying in Arabic Matters
Arabic is not the ancient language of the Maronite Church. Syriac is. Arabic arrived later and gradually became the everyday tongue of Lebanon, including the tongue of Lebanese prayer.
What Arabic holds is not antiquity but memory. It is the language in which your mother prayed over you when you had a fever, the language of the radio during the war years, the language of the pilgrims walking up to Annaya. For a diaspora reader whose Arabic has thinned to a few phrases, saying Ya Mar Charbel, tadarraʿ li-ajli is a way of standing where your family stood.
Syriac has not disappeared. In the Maronite Qurbono the words of Consecration are still sung in Syriac, along with the Qadishat Aloho and often the Our Father, even when the rest of the liturgy is Arabic or English. Most Maronites pray in Arabic and hear Syriac at Mass, and both are theirs.
You do not need perfect Arabic to pray these words. Read the transliteration slowly, aloud. The pronunciation will be rough for a week and then it will not be.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Saint Charbel prayer in Arabic?
The most widely prayed Arabic prayer to Saint Charbel is the official prayer of intercession: Ayyuha l-Ilahu l-Qadir, ya man adhaʿta quwwata shafaʿati l-qiddisi Charbel bi-ʿajaʾiba wa niʿamin shatta, imnahna bi-shafaʿatihi n-niʿmata llati naltamisuha, "Almighty God, who made known the power of Saint Charbel's intercession through many miracles and graces, grant us through his intercession the grace we now ask for." It is printed on holy cards, prayed at Annaya, and used to close the novena. Alongside it, families pray the short invocation Ya Mar Charbel, tadarraʿ li-ajli, "Saint Charbel, pray for me."
How do you say Saint Charbel in Arabic?
Saint Charbel is written مار شربل and pronounced "Mar Sharbel", closer to "Mar Charbel" in Lebanese usage. The fuller form القدّيس شربل, al-qiddis Charbel, uses the standard Arabic word for saint and appears in written prayers and official texts. In everyday Lebanese speech almost no one says al-qiddis. They say Mar Charbel.
What does Mar Charbel mean?
Mar (مار) is not Arabic. It comes from the Syriac ܡܪܝ, mar or mor, meaning "lord" or "my lord", and it is the title the Syriac churches give to saints and bishops. So مار شربل means roughly "Lord Charbel" or "Saint Charbel". The same title appears in Mar Maroun, Mar Elias, and Mar Youssef. Its survival inside Arabic prayers is a trace of the Syriac the Maronite Church spoke before Arabic.
Is there a Saint Charbel prayer for healing in Arabic?
Yes. Healing petitions usually take one of two forms. The official prayer of intercession is prayed with the healing named aloud in place of "the grace we now ask for". And the chaplet of Saint Charbel carries short rhyming refrains in Lebanese dialect, such as Qiddis Charbel ya hanun, tishfi l-jism w er-ruh w el-ʿuyun ("Saint Charbel, tender one, heal body and soul and eyes"), closing with Ya shifaʾa l-marda, ishfihum ("O healing of the sick, heal them").
Do Maronites pray in Arabic or Syriac?
Both. Arabic is the everyday language of prayer for Maronites in Lebanon and much of the diaspora, and nearly all popular devotion to Saint Charbel is in Arabic. But the Maronite liturgy is Syriac in origin, and Syriac survives inside it: the words of Consecration, the Qadishat Aloho, and often the Our Father are still sung in Syriac even when the rest of the Qurbono is in Arabic. Most Maronites pray in Arabic and hear Syriac at Mass.
See also: Prayers to Saint Charbel. Prayer for Healing. Novena to Saint Charbel. Litany of Saint Charbel. Saint Charbel. The Our Father in Aramaic. The language Jesus spoke. The Maronite Divine Liturgy.