And now, ponder this in thine heart: Were sovereignty to
mean earthly sovereignty and worldly dominion, were it to imply the subjection
and external allegiance of all the peoples and kindreds of the earth—whereby
His loved ones should be exalted and be made to live in peace, and His enemies
be abased and tormented—such form of sovereignty would not be true of God
Himself, the Source of all dominion, Whose majesty and power all things
testify. For, dost thou not witness how the generality of mankind is under the
sway of His enemies? Have they not all turned away from the path of His good-pleasure?
Have they not done that which He hath forbidden, and left undone, nay
repudiated and opposed, those things which He hath commanded? Have not His
friends ever been the victims of the tyranny of His foes? All these things are
more obvious than even the splendour of the noon-tide sun.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The
Kitab-i-Iqan’)
