If the mystic knowers be of those who
have reached to the beauty of the Beloved One (Mahbúb), [1] this station is the
apex of consciousness and the secret of divine guidance. This is the center of
the mystery: “He doth what He willeth, ordaineth what He pleaseth.” [Qur’án 2:254; 5:1, etc]
Were all the denizens of earth and
heaven to unravel this shining allusion, this darksome riddle, until the Day
when the Trumpet soundeth, yet would they fail to comprehend even a letter
thereof, for this is the station of God’s immutable decree, His foreordained
mystery. Hence, when searchers inquired of this, He made reply, “This is a
bottomless sea which none shall ever fathom.” [2] And
they asked again, and He answered, “It is the blackest of nights through which
none can find his way.”
Whoso knoweth this secret will
assuredly hide it, and were he to reveal but its faintest trace they would nail
him to the cross. Yet, by the Living God, were there any true seeker, I would
divulge it to him; for they have said: “Love is a light that never dwelleth in
a heart possessed by fear.”
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Four Valleys’)
[1] The Fourth Valley
[2] Statement attributed to Imam ‘Alí.
