Likewise,
He saith: “On the day when the heaven shall give out a palpable smoke, which
shall enshroud mankind: this will be an afflictive torment.” [Qur’án
44:10] The
All-Glorious hath decreed these very things, that are contrary to the desires
of wicked men, to be the touchstone and standard whereby He proveth His
servants, that the just may be known from the wicked, and the faithful
distinguished from the infidel. The symbolic term “smoke” denotes grave
dissensions, the abrogation and demolition of recognized standards, and the
utter destruction of their narrow-minded exponents. What smoke more dense and
overpowering than the one which hath now enshrouded all the peoples of the
world, which hath become a torment unto them, and from
which they hopelessly fail to deliver themselves, however much they strive? So
fierce is this fire of self burning within them, that at every moment they seem
to be afflicted with fresh torments.
(Baha'u'llah,
The Kitab-i-Iqan)
