Since that Day is a great Day it would
be sorely trying for thee to identify thyself with the believers. For the
believers of that Day are the inmates of Paradise, while the unbelievers are
the inmates of the fire. And know thou of a certainty that by Paradise is meant
recognition of and submission unto Him Whom God shall
make manifest, and by the fire the company of such souls as would fail to
submit unto Him or to be resigned to His good-pleasure. On that Day thou
wouldst regard thyself as the inmate of Paradise and as a true believer in Him,
whereas in reality thou wouldst suffer thyself to be wrapt in veils and thy
habitation would be the nethermost fire, though thou thyself wouldst not be
cognizant thereof.
Compare His manifestation with that of
the Point of the Qur’án. How vast the number of the Letters of the Gospel who
eagerly expected Him, yet from the time of His declaration up to five years no
one became an inmate of Paradise, except the Commander of the Faithful [Imám
‘Alí], and those who secretly believed in Him. All the rest were accounted as
inmates of the fire, though they considered themselves as dwellers in Paradise.
(The Báb, excerpt from the Persian Bayán; ‘Selections from the Writings
of the Báb)
