Morning
Wert thou [the Ottoman emperor] to incline thine ear unto My speech and observe My counsel, God would exalt thee to so eminent a position that the designs of no man on the whole earth could ever touch or hurt thee. Observe, O king, with thine inmost heart and with thy whole being, the precepts of God, and walk not in the paths of the oppressor. Seize thou, and hold firmly within the grasp of thy might, the reins of the affairs of thy people, and examine in person whatever pertaineth unto them. Let nothing escape thee, for therein lieth the highest good.
- Baha’u’llah (Súriy-i-Mulúk Sulṭán, addressed to Ottoman
Emperor ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz, quoted by Shoghi Effendi in ‘The Promised Day Is Come’)
Evening
…in this Dispensation, not one amongst the renowned divines, in the grasp of whose authority were held the reins of the people, hath embraced the Faith. Nay, they have striven against it with such animosity and determination that no ear hath heard and no eye hath seen the like.
- Baha’u’llah (‘The Kitab-i-Iqan’)
