Beware lest ye deal with Me as ye dealt with My Herald. Do
not object, when the verses of God are sent down unto you from the Court of My
favour, saying, “these do not proceed from an innate and untaught nature”, for
that nature itself hath been created by My word and circleth round Me, if ye be
of them that apprehend this truth. 
O Salmán! Say: O people! Tread ye in the path of the one
true God and ponder the ways and words of Him Who is the Manifestation of His
ancient Being, that perchance ye may attain unto the Wellspring of the living
waters of the All-Glorious. Were believers and non-believers to occupy the same
station, were the worlds of God to be confined to this ephemeral plane, never
would My previous Manifestation have surrendered Himself into the hands of His
foes or laid down His life as a sacrifice. I swear by the dawning-light of this
Cause that were the people to grasp the barest intimation of the fervour and
longing which overcame that sovereign Beauty when His celestial Temple was
suspended in the air, all would, in the intensity of their own yearning, offer
up their souls in the path of this Manifestation of supernal glory.
The more He [the Báb] extolled the remembrance of God, the
greater they waxed in their oppression, until all the divines pronounced
sentence against Him, save those that were acquainted with the precepts of God,
the All-Glorious, the Best-Beloved. Matters came to such a pass that they
united to put Him to death. They suspended Him in the air, and the hosts of
misbelief flung at Him the bullets of malice and hatred, piercing the body of
the One unto Whom the Holy Spirit is a humble servant, the dust of Whose feet
is the object of adoration of the Concourse on high, and from Whose very
sandals the inmates of Paradise seek a blessing.
No Prophet have We ever raised up except that He was
repudiated by the divines whilst they prided themselves in their learning, even
as they do in this day. Say: O concourse of divines! Do ye worship the Calf and
abandon the One Who hath created you and taught you that which ye knew not?
The voice of the Divine Herald, proceeding out of the throne
of God, declareth: O ye My loved ones! Suffer not the hem of My sacred vesture
to be smirched and mired with the things of this world, and follow not the
promptings of your evil and corrupt desires.
In the year sixty He Who heralded the light of Divine
Guidance—may all creation be a sacrifice unto Him—arose to announce a fresh
revelation of the Divine Spirit, and was followed, twenty years later, by Him
through Whose coming the world was made the recipient of this promised glory,
this wondrous favor. Behold how the generality of mankind hath been endued with
the capacity to hearken unto God’s most exalted Word—the Word upon which must
depend the gathering together and spiritual resurrection of all men....
The thing that must come hath come suddenly; behold how they
flee from it! The inevitable hath come to pass; witness how they have cast it
behind their backs! This is the Day whereon every man will fly from himself,
how much more from his kindred, could ye but perceive it. Say: By God! The
blast hath been blown on the trumpet, and lo, mankind hath swooned away before
us! The Herald hath cried out, and the Summoner raised His voice saying: “The
Kingdom is God’s, the Most Powerful, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.”
O King of the Earth!
Hearken unto the call of this Vassal: Verily, I am a Servant Who hath believed in God and in His signs, and
have sacrificed Myself in His path. Unto
this bear witness the woes which now beset Me, woes the like of which no man
hath ever before sustained. My Lord, the
All-Knowing, testifieth to the truth of My words. I have summoned the people unto none save
God, thy Lord and the Lord of the worlds, and have endured for love of Him such
afflictions as the eye of creation hath never beheld. To this testify those whom the veils of human
fancy have not deterred from turning unto the Most Sublime Vision, and, beyond
them, He with Whom is the knowledge of all things in the preserved Tablet.
Say: O people!... He that hath
appeared with the power of truth is indeed the Glory of the worlds, could ye
but perceive it. He, verily, is the Glory of God; upon Him be the remembrance
of God and His praise, and the praise of the Concourse on high, and of the
dwellers of the everlasting realm, and of all things at all times. Beware lest
ye become veiled by aught that hath been created in heaven or on earth. Hasten
unto the paradise of His good-pleasure and be not of them that slumber.
QUESTION: Concerning observance of the Fast by people
engaged in hard labour during the month of fasting.
Consider…how the generality of mankind, whatever their
beliefs or theories, have recognized the excellence, and admitted the
superiority, of these Prophets of God. These Gems of Detachment are acclaimed
by some as the embodiments of wisdom, while others believe them to be the
mouthpiece of God Himself. How could such Souls have consented to surrender
themselves unto their enemies if they believed all the worlds of God to have
been reduced to this earthly life? Would they have willingly suffered such
afflictions and torments as no man hath ever experienced or witnessed?
Thou hast asked Me concerning the nature of the soul. Know,
verily, that the soul is a sign of God, a heavenly gem whose reality the most
learned of men hath failed to grasp, and whose mystery no mind, however acute,
can ever hope to unravel. It is the first among all created things to declare
the excellence of its Creator, the first to recognize His glory, to cleave to
His truth, and to bow down in adoration before Him. If it be faithful to God,
it will reflect His light, and will, eventually, return unto Him. If it fail, however,
in its allegiance to its Creator, it will become a victim to self and passion,
and will, in the end, sink in their depths.
Wert thou to ponder in thine heart the behavior of the
Prophets of God thou wouldst assuredly and readily testify that there must
needs be other worlds besides this world.
When the soul attaineth the Presence of God, it will assume
the form that best befitteth its immortality and is worthy of its celestial
habitation. Such an existence is a contingent and not an absolute existence,
inasmuch as the former is preceded by a cause, whilst the latter is independent
thereof. Absolute existence is strictly confined to God, exalted be His glory.
Well is it with them that apprehend this truth.
It [the Word of God] is an ocean inexhaustible in riches,
comprehending all things. Every thing which can be perceived is but an emanation
therefrom. High, immeasurably high is this sublime station, in whose shadow
moveth the essence of loftiness and splendour, wrapt in praise and adoration.
The first person who devoted himself to philosophy was
Ídrís. Thus was he named. Some called him also Hermes. In every tongue he hath
a special name. He it is who hath set forth in every branch of philosophy
thorough and convincing statements. After him Bálinus derived his knowledge and
sciences from the Hermetic Tablets and most of the philosophers who followed
him made their philosophical and scientific discoveries from his words and
statements...
QUESTION: Concerning the definition of old age.
O Shaykh! Reflect upon these words addressed by Him Who is
the Desire of the world to Amos. He saith: “Prepare to meet thy God, O Israel,
for, lo, He that formeth the mountains and createth the wind, and declareth
unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth
upon the high places of the earth, the Lord, the God of Hosts, is His name.” He
saith that He maketh the morning darkness. By this is meant that if, at the
time of the Manifestation of Him Who conversed on Sinai anyone were to regard
himself as the true morn, he will, through the might and power of God, be
turned into darkness. He truly is the false dawn, though believing himself to
be the true one. Woe unto him, and woe unto such as follow him without a clear
token from God, the Lord of the worlds.
The Word of God is the king of words and its pervasive
influence is incalculable. It hath ever dominated and will continue to dominate
the realm of being. The Great Being saith: The Word is the master key for the
whole world, inasmuch as through its potency the doors of the hearts of men,
which in reality are the doors of heaven, are unlocked. No sooner had but a
glimmer of its effulgent splendour shone forth upon the mirror of love than the
blessed word ‘I am the Best-Beloved’ was reflected therein.
Thou knowest full well that We perused not the books which
men possess and We acquired not the learning current amongst them, and yet
whenever We desire to quote the sayings of the learned and of the wise,
presently there will appear before the face of thy Lord in the form of a tablet
all that which hath appeared in the world and is revealed in the Holy Books and
Scriptures. Thus do We set down in writing that which the eye perceiveth.
Verily His knowledge encompasseth the earth and the heavens.