QUESTION: Concerning the remembrance of God in the
Mashriqu’l-Adhkár “at the hour of dawn”.
O Maryam! The wrongs which I suffer have blotted out the
wrongs suffered by My First Name from the Tablet of creation. The clouds of
divine decree have at every moment rained down upon this manifest Beauty the
showers of tribulation. My banishment from My homeland was for the sake of none
but the Beloved; My exile was in no other path save that of His good-pleasure.
In the midst of heaven-sent trials I glowed bright as a candle, and in the face
of divinely ordained afflictions I stood as firm as a mountain. In manifesting
the outpourings of His grace I was even as a bounteous cloud, and in laying
hold on the foes of the peerless King I was even as a burning flame.
Not a single night in Mine earthly life did I find rest; not
a single day was I granted repose. At one time My severed head was sent as a
trophy from land to land; at another I was suspended in the air. At one time I
had for a boon companion him who dealt Me a fatal blow; at another I had for a
close associate him who profaned My remains. Every morn, as I arose from My
bed, a fresh affliction awaited Me; and every eve, as I repaired to the
solitude of My chamber, a sore trial was in store. In the succession of My woes
there was no reprieve, and in the onslaught of My sorrows there was no respite.
O people! Do ye flee from the mercy of God after it hath
pervaded all that is in the heavens and on the earth? Barter not away that
mercy wherewith God hath favoured you, nor withhold yourselves therefrom, for
they that turn away are indeed in grievous loss. The mercy of God is like unto
the verses that are sent down from one same heaven: The true believers quaff
therefrom the wine of everlasting life, while the ungodly drink a scalding
draught. And whensoever the verses of God are rehearsed unto them, the fire of
hatred is kindled in their breasts. Thus do they barter away the bounty that
God hath bestowed upon them and are reckoned among the heedless.
The Cause of God hath come down upon the clouds of
utterance, while they that have joined partners with Him are afflicted with a
sore torment. The hosts of Divine Revelation, bearing the banners of celestial
inspiration, have descended from the heaven of His Tablet in the name of God,
the Almighty, the Most Powerful, and the faithful rejoice in His victory and
dominion, while the deniers are filled with dismay.
We have decreed, O people, that the highest and last end of
all learning be the recognition of Him Who is the Object of all knowledge; and
yet behold how ye have allowed your learning to shut you out, as by a veil,
from Him Who is the Dayspring of this Light, through Whom every hidden thing
hath been revealed.
The world beyond is as different from this world as this
world is different from that of the child while still in the womb of its
mother.
The light which these souls [“Prophets and Messengers of
God”] radiate is responsible for the progress of the world and the advancement
of its peoples. They are like unto leaven which leaveneth the world of being,
and constitute the animating force through which the arts and wonders of the
world are made manifest. Through them the clouds rain their bounty upon men,
and the earth bringeth forth its fruits. All things must needs have a cause, a
motive power, an animating principle. These souls and symbols of detachment
have provided, and will continue to provide, the supreme moving impulse in the
world of being.
Say: He, verily, is the most perfect Balance established
amongst the nations, through Whom the measures of all things are made manifest
by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. He it is Who hath intoxicated
every understanding heart with the wine of His utterance, and Who hath torn
asunder the veils through the power of My Name that overshadoweth the worlds.
He, verily, hath ordained the Bayán to be a leaf of this Garden and adorned it
with the mention of this incomparable Remembrance. He hath admonished all men
not to withhold themselves from the Dayspring of ancient glory, nor to cling,
at the time of His manifestation, to such tales and traditions as are current
amongst them. Thus hath it been decreed in accordance with that which He hath
revealed, and unto this beareth witness He Who speaketh the truth. No God is
there beside Me, the Almighty, the Most Generous.
This is the eve of that Day from whose horizon the ancient
Morn hath dawned forth with the splendour of the light beaming from that
effulgent horizon. Say: This is the Day whereon God established the Covenant
concerning Him Who is the voice of Truth [Baha’u’llah] by sending forth the One
[The Báb] Who imparted unto humankind the glad-tidings of this Great
Announcement. This is the Day whereon the Most Great Sign appeared and
proclaimed this mighty Name, captivating thereby all created things with the
reviving breezes of the verses of God. Happy the one that hath recognized his
Lord and is numbered with them that have attained His presence.
The Prophets and Messengers of God have been sent down for
the sole purpose of guiding mankind to the straight Path of Truth. The purpose
underlying Their revelation hath been to educate all men, that they may, at the
hour of death, ascend, in the utmost purity and sanctity and with absolute
detachment, to the throne of the Most High.
The nature of the soul after death can never be described,
nor is it meet and permissible to reveal its whole character to the eyes of
men.
O Son of Bounty! Out of the wastes of nothingness, with the
clay of My command I made thee to appear, and have ordained for thy training
every atom in existence and the essence of all created things. Thus, ere thou
didst issue from thy mother’s womb, I destined for thee two founts of gleaming
milk, eyes to watch over thee, and hearts to love thee. Out of My
loving-kindness, ’neath the shade of My mercy I nurtured thee, and guarded thee
by the essence of My grace and favor. And My purpose in all this was that thou
mightest attain My everlasting dominion and become worthy of My invisible
bestowals. And yet heedless thou didst remain, and when fully grown, thou didst
neglect all My bounties and occupied thyself with thine idle imaginings, in
such wise that thou didst become wholly forgetful, and, turning away from the
portals of the Friend didst abide within the courts of My enemy.
Beware lest ye act as did the King of Islám [1] when We came
unto him at his bidding. His ministers
pronounced judgement against Us with such injustice that all creation lamented
and the hearts of those who are nigh unto God were consumed. The winds of self and passion move them as
they will, and We found them all bereft of constancy. They are, indeed, of those that are far
astray.
Facing in the direction of the Qiblih is a fixed requirement
for the recitation of obligatory prayer, but for other prayers and devotions
one may follow what the merciful Lord hath revealed in the Qur’án: “Whichever
way ye turn, there is the face of God.”
O Essence of Desire! At many a dawn have I turned from the
realms of the Placeless unto thine abode, and found thee on the bed of ease
busied with others than Myself. Thereupon, even as the flash of the spirit, I
returned to the realms of celestial glory and breathed it not in My retreats
above unto the hosts of holiness.
Far be it… from Thy glory that anyone should gaze on Thy
wondrous beauty with any eye save Thine own eye, or hear the melodies
proclaiming Thine almighty sovereignty with any ear except Thine own ear. Too
high art Thou exalted for the eye of any creature to behold Thy beauty, or for
the understanding of any heart to scale the heights of Thine immeasurable
knowledge. For should the birds of the hearts of them that are nigh unto Thee
be ever enabled to soar as long as Thine own overpowering sovereignty can endure,
or to ascend as long as the empire of Thy Divine holiness can last, they shall,
in no wise, be able to transcend the limitations which a contingent world hath
imposed upon them, nor pass beyond its confines. How, then, can he whose very
creation is restricted by such limitations, attain unto Him Who is the Lord of
the Kingdom of all created things, or ascend into the heaven of Him Who ruleth
the realms of loftiness and grandeur?
Blessed is the soul which, at the hour of its separation
from the body, is sanctified from the vain imaginings of the peoples of the
world. Such a soul liveth and moveth in accordance with the Will of its
Creator, and entereth the all-highest Paradise. The Maids of Heaven, inmates of
the loftiest mansions, will circle around it, and the Prophets of God and His
chosen ones will seek its companionship. With them that soul will freely
converse, and will recount unto them that which it hath been made to endure in
the path of God, the Lord of all worlds. If any man be told that which hath
been ordained for such a soul in the worlds of God, the Lord of the throne on
high and of earth below, his whole being will instantly blaze out in his great
longing to attain that most exalted, that sanctified and resplendent station.
Set your reliance on the army of justice, put on the armour
of wisdom, let your adorning be forgiveness and mercy and that which cheereth
the hearts of the well-favoured of God.
