As to the “realm of subtle entities” [1] which is
often referred to, it pertaineth to the Revelation of the Prophets, and aught
else is mere superstition and idle fancy. At the time of the Revelation all men
are equal in rank. By reason, however, of their acceptance or rejection, rise
or fall, motion or stillness, recognition or denial, they come to differ
thereafter. For instance, the one true God, magnified be His glory, speaking
through the intermediary of His Manifestation, doth ask: “Am I not your Lord?”
Every soul that answereth “Yea, verily!” is accounted among the most
distinguished of all men in the sight of God. Our meaning is that ere the Word
of God is delivered, all men are deemed equal in rank and their station is one
and the same. It is only thereafter that differences appear, as thou hast no doubt observed.
(Baha’u’llah, ‘The Tabernacle of Unity, Bahá’u’lláh’s
Responses to Mánikchí Sáhib and Other Writings’)
[1] The “realm of subtle entities” (’álam-i-dharr) is an
allusion to the Covenant between God and Adam mentioned in Qur’án 7:172. In a
Tablet ’Abdu’l-Bahá has written: “The realm of subtle entities that is alluded
to referreth to the realities, specifications, individuations, capacities and
potentialities of man in the mirror of the divine knowledge. As these
potentialities and capacities differ, they each have their own particular
exigency. That exigency consisteth in acquiescence and supplication.”
(Má’idiy-i-Ásmání, vol. 2 (New Delhi: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1984), p. 30)
