Say: God is indeed the Maker of all things. He giveth
sustenance in plenty to whomsoever He willeth. He is the Creator, the Source of
all beings, the Fashioner, the Almighty, the Maker, the All-Wise. He is the
Bearer of the most excellent titles throughout the heavens and the earth and
whatever lieth between them. All do His bidding, and all the dwellers of earth
and heaven celebrate His praise, and unto Him shall all return. 
It behooveth the people of Bahá to die to the world and all
that is therein, to be so detached from all earthly things that the inmates of
Paradise may inhale from their garment the sweet smelling savor of sanctity....
They that have tarnished the fair name of the Cause of God by following the
things of the flesh—these are in palpable error!
From time immemorial He [God] hath been established upon the
seat of His sovereignty and through eternity will He continue to occupy the
inaccessible heights of His glory. Every created thing is impotent before the
evidences of His invincible might, and all beings fade into utter nothingness
when confronted with the revelation of His awesome majesty.
He [God] hath chosen out of the whole world the hearts of
His servants and made them each a seat for the revelation of His glory.
Wherefore, sanctify them from every defilement, that the things for which they
were created may be engraven upon them. This indeed is a token of God’s
bountiful favor.
Our hope is that the world’s religious leaders and the
rulers thereof will unitedly arise for the reformation of this age and the
rehabilitation of its fortunes. Let them, after meditating on its needs, take
counsel together and, through anxious and full deliberation, administer to a
diseased and sorely-afflicted world the remedy it requireth.
In the early days of Our arrival in this land, [Iraq] when
We discerned the signs of impending events, We decided, ere they happened, to
retire. We betook Ourselves to the wilderness, and there, separated and alone,
led for two years a life of complete solitude. From Our eyes there rained tears
of anguish, and in Our bleeding heart there surged an ocean of agonizing pain.
Many a night We had no food for sustenance, and many a day Our body found no
rest. By Him Who hath My being between His hands! notwithstanding these showers
of afflictions and unceasing calamities, Our soul was wrapt in blissful joy,
and Our whole being evinced an ineffable gladness.
To everyone We have been a most kindly companion, a most
forbearing and affectionate friend. In the company of the poor We have sought
their fellowship, and amidst the exalted and learned We have been submissive
and resigned. I swear by God, the one true God! grievous as have been the woes
and sufferings which the hand of the enemy and the people of the Book inflicted
upon Us, yet all these fade into utter nothingness when compared with that
which hath befallen Us at the hand of those who profess to be Our friends.
We fain would hope that the people of the Bayán will be
enlightened, will soar in the realm of the spirit and abide therein, will
discern the Truth, and recognize with the eye of insight dissembling falsehood.
In these days, however, such odours of jealousy are diffused, that—I swear by
the Educator of all beings, visible and invisible—from the beginning of the
foundation of the world—though it hath no beginning—until the present day, such
malice, envy, and hate have in no wise appeared, nor will they ever be
witnessed in the future.
We entreat the learned men of the Bayán not to follow in
such ways, not to inflict, at the time of Mustagháth, [1] upon Him Who is the
divine Essence, the heavenly Light, the absolute Eternity, the Beginning and
the End of the Manifestations of the Invisible, that which hath been inflicted
in this day. We beg them not to depend upon their intellect, their
comprehension and learning, nor to contend with the Revealer of celestial and
infinite knowledge.
O Companion of My Throne! Hear no evil, and see no evil,
abase not thyself, neither sigh and weep. Speak no evil, that thou mayest not
hear it spoken unto thee, and magnify not the faults of others that thine own
faults may not appear great; and wish not the abasement of anyone, that thine
own abasement be not exposed. Live then the days of thy life, that are less
than a fleeting moment, with thy mind stainless, thy heart unsullied, thy
thoughts pure, and thy nature sanctified, so that, free and content, thou
mayest put away this mortal frame, and repair unto the mystic paradise and
abide in the eternal kingdom for evermore.
The Great Being saith: O ye children of men! The fundamental
purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the
interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the spirit of
love and fellowship amongst men. Suffer it not to become a source of dissension
and discord, of hate and enmity. This is the straight Path, the fixed and
immovable foundation. Whatsoever is raised on this foundation, the changes and
chances of the world can never impair its strength, nor will the revolution of
countless centuries undermine its structure.
The tribulations which I have suffered in this land
[Persia], no one of old hath suffered. Verily unto God shall revert the whole
affair, and He in truth is the best protector and is cognizant of all. The
things which have, from the first day till now, befallen Me at the hand of thy
people are but the work of Satan. [cf. Qur’án 4:119] Ever since the Cause of
thy Lord hath appeared none of thy deeds hath been acceptable, and thou hast
been lost in palpable error while all thou couldst see appeared to thee as
deeds performed for the sake of thy Lord. In truth thy day is nigh at hand and
thou shalt be questioned concerning all this, and assuredly God is not heedless
of the deeds of the wicked.
That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to
the service of the entire human race. The Great Being saith: Blessed and happy
is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of
the earth. In another passage He hath proclaimed: It is not for him to pride
himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole
world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.
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.