O My Friends! Walk ye in the ways of the good pleasure of
the Friend, and know that His pleasure is in the pleasure of His creatures.
That is: no man should enter the house of his friend save at his friend’s
pleasure, nor lay hands upon his treasures nor prefer his own will to his
friend’s, and in no wise seek an advantage over him. Ponder this, ye that have
insight! 
…that ideal King [God] is, in Himself and by Himself,
sufficient unto Himself and independent of all things. Neither doth the love of
His creatures profit Him, nor can their malice harm Him. All have issued forth
from abodes of dust, and unto dust shall they return, while the one true God,
alone and single, is established upon His Throne, a Throne which is beyond the
reaches of time and space, is sanctified above all utterance or expression, intimation,
description and definition, and is exalted beyond all notion of abasement and
glory. And none knoweth this save Him and those with whom is the knowledge of
the Book. No God is there but Him, the Almighty, the All-Bountiful.
“And whoso shall withdraw from the remembrance of the
Merciful, We will chain a Satan unto him, and he shall be his fast companion.”
[Qur’án 43:36] “And whoso turneth away from My remembrance, truly his shall be
a life of misery.” [Qur’án 20:124]
I was asleep upon My couch, when lo, the breezes of My Lord,
the All-Merciful, passed over Me, awoke Me from My slumber, and bade Me lift up
My voice betwixt earth and heaven. This thing is not from Me, but from
God. Unto this testify the dwellers of
His Dominion and of His Kingdom, and the inhabitants of the cities of His
unfading glory.
The Prophet [Muhammad] —may the blessings of God and His
salutations be upon Him—is stated to have said: “In Akká are works of
supererogation and acts which are beneficial, which God vouchsafed specially
unto whomsoever He pleaseth. And he that saith in Akká: ‘Glorified be God, and
praise be unto God, and there is none other God but God, and most great is God,
and there is no power nor strength except in God, the Exalted, the Mighty,’ God
will write down for him a thousand good deeds, and blot out from him a thousand
evil deeds, and will uplift him a thousand grades in Paradise, and will forgive
him his transgressions. And whoso saith in Akká: ‘I beg forgiveness of God,’
God will forgive all his trespasses. And he that remembereth God in Akká at
morn and at eventide, in the night-season and at dawn, is better in the sight
of God than he who beareth swords, spears and arms in the path of God—exalted
be He!”
…in him [a human being] are potentially revealed all the
attributes and names of God to a degree that no other created being hath
excelled or surpassed… Even as He hath said: “Man is My mystery, and I am his
mystery.” Manifold are the verses that have been repeatedly revealed in all the
Heavenly Books and the Holy Scriptures, expressive of this most subtle and
lofty theme. Even as He hath revealed: “We will surely show them Our signs in
the world and within themselves.” Again He saith: “And also in your own selves:
will ye not, then, behold the signs of God?” And yet again He revealeth: “And
be ye not like those who forget God, and whom He hath therefore caused to
forget their own selves.” In this connection, He Who is the eternal King—may
the souls of all that dwell within the mystic Tabernacle be a sacrifice unto
Him—hath spoken: “He hath known God who hath known himself.”
Sedition hath never been pleasing unto God, nor were the
acts committed in the past by certain foolish ones acceptable in His
sight. Know ye that to be killed in the
path of His good pleasure is better for you than to kill. The beloved of the Lord must, in this day,
behave in such wise amidst His servants that they may by their very deeds and
actions guide all men unto the paradise of the All-Glorious.
The day is approaching when all the peoples of the world
will have adopted one universal language and one common script. When this is
achieved, to whatsoever city a man may journey, it shall be as if he were
entering his own home.
…all things, in their inmost reality, testify to the
revelation of the names and attributes of God within them. Each according to
its capacity, indicateth, and is expressive of, the knowledge of God. So potent
and universal is this revelation, that it hath encompassed all things visible
and invisible.
God grant that the people of the world may be graciously
aided to preserve the light of His loving counsels within the globe of wisdom.
We cherish the hope that everyone may be adorned with the vesture of true
wisdom, the basis of the government of the world.
…of all men, the most accomplished, the most distinguished,
and the most excellent are the Manifestations of the Sun of Truth. Nay, all
else besides these Manifestations, live by the operation of Their Will, and
move and have their being through the outpourings of Their grace.
Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth is a
direct evidence of the revelation within it of the attributes and names of God,
inasmuch as within every atom are enshrined the signs that bear eloquent
testimony to the revelation of that Most Great Light. Methinks, but for the potency
of that revelation, no being could ever exist. How resplendent the luminaries
of knowledge that shine in an atom, and how vast the oceans of wisdom that
surge within a drop! To a supreme degree is this true of man, who, among all
created things, hath been invested with the robe of such gifts, and hath been
singled out for the glory of such distinction.
…were men but to take heed they would readily appreciate
that whatever hath streamed from and is set down by the Pen of Glory is even as
the sun for the whole world and that therein lie the welfare, security and true
interests of all men…
Among the things which are conducive to unity and concord
and will cause the whole earth to be regarded as one country is that the divers
languages be reduced to one language and in like manner the scripts used in the
world be confined to a single script. It is incumbent upon all nations to
appoint some men of understanding and erudition to convene a gathering and
through joint consultation choose one language from among the varied existing
languages, or create a new one, to be taught to the children in all the schools
of the world.
The Great Being, wishing to reveal the prerequisites of the
peace and tranquillity of the world and the advancement of its peoples, hath
written: The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a
vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The
rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its
deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of
the world’s Great Peace amongst men. Such a peace demandeth that the Great
Powers should resolve, for the sake of the tranquillity of the peoples of the
earth, to be fully reconciled among themselves.
…rendering assistance unto God, in this day, doth not and
shall never consist in contending or disputing with any soul; nay rather, what
is preferable in the sight of God is that the cities of men’s hearts, which are
ruled by the hosts of self and passion, should be subdued by the sword of
utterance, of wisdom and of understanding.
Thus, whoso seeketh to assist God must, before all else, conquer, with
the sword of inner meaning and explanation, the city of his own heart and guard
it from the remembrance of all save God, and only then set out to subdue the
cities of the hearts of others.
By Him Who shineth above the Dayspring of Sanctity! The
friends of God have not, nor will they ever, set their hopes upon the world and
its ephemeral possessions. The one true God hath ever regarded the hearts of
men as His own, His exclusive possession—and this too but as an expression of
His all-surpassing mercy, that haply mortal souls may be purged and sanctified
from all that pertaineth to the world of dust and gain admittance into the
realms of eternity.
That Sovereign Lord [God] Who doeth whatsoever He pleaseth
hath entrusted the kingdom of creation, its lands and its seas, into the hands
of the kings, for they are, each according to his degree, the manifestations of
His divine power. Should they enter
beneath the shadow of the True One, they will be accounted of God, and if not,
thy Lord, verily, knoweth and observeth all things.
That which God — glorified be His Name! —hath desired for
Himself is the hearts of His servants, which are the treasuries of His love and
remembrance and the repositories of His knowledge and wisdom. It hath ever been the wish of the Eternal
King to cleanse the hearts of His servants from the things of the world and all
that pertaineth thereunto, that they may be made worthy recipients of the
effulgent splendours of Him Who is the King of all names and attributes. Wherefore must no stranger be allowed in the
city of the heart, that the incomparable Friend may enter His abode. By this is meant the effulgence of His names
and attributes, and not His exalted Essence, inasmuch as that peerless King
hath ever been, and shall eternally remain, sanctified above ascent and
descent.
The Great Being saith: The structure of world stability and
order hath been reared upon, and will continue to be sustained by, the twin
pillars of reward and punishment.