Say: O people! Let not this life and its deceits deceive
you, for the world and all that is therein is held firmly in the grasp of His
Will. He bestoweth His favor on whom He willeth, and from whom He willeth He
taketh it away. He doth whatsoever He chooseth. Had the world been of any worth
in His sight, He surely would never have allowed His enemies to possess it,
even to the extent of a grain of mustard seed. He hath, however, caused you to
be entangled with its affairs, in return for what your hands have wrought in
His Cause. This, indeed, is a chastisement which ye, of your own will, have
inflicted upon yourselves, could ye but perceive it. Are ye rejoicing in the
things which, according to the estimate of God, are contemptible and worthless,
things wherewith He proveth the hearts of the doubtful?
- Baha’u’llah (‘Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah’)
