Persevere thou conscientiously in the service of the Cause
and, through the power of the Name of thy Lord, the Possessor of all things
visible and invisible, preserve the station conferred upon thee. I swear by the
righteousness of God! Were anyone apprised of that which is veiled from the
eyes of men, he would become so enraptured as to wing his flight unto God, the
Lord of all that hath been and shall be. 
…the Tongue of the Ancient of Days reveal, while in this Most
Great Prison, these words which are recorded in this snow-white Scroll: O ye
the beloved of the one true God! Pass beyond the narrow retreats of your evil
and corrupt desires, and advance into the vast immensity of the realm of God,
and abide ye in the meads of sanctity and of detachment, that the fragrance of
your deeds may lead the whole of mankind to the ocean of God’s unfading glory.
Forbear ye from concerning yourselves with the affairs of this world and all
that pertaineth unto it, or from meddling with the activities of those who are
its outward leaders.
Know thou [Sultán ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz] for a certainty that whoso
disbelieveth in God is neither trustworthy nor truthful. This, indeed, is the
truth, the undoubted truth. He that acteth treacherously towards God will, also,
act treacherously towards his king. Nothing whatever can deter such a man from
evil, nothing can hinder him from betraying his neighbor, nothing can induce
him to walk uprightly.
Dost thou imagine, O Minister of the Sháh in the City
(Constantinople), that I hold within My grasp the ultimate destiny of the Cause
of God? Thinkest thou that My imprisonment, or the shame I have been made to
suffer, or even My death and utter annihilation, can deflect its course?
Wretched is what thou hast imagined in thine heart! Thou art indeed of them
that walk after the vain imaginings which their hearts devise. No God is there
but Him. Powerful is He to manifest His Cause, and to exalt His testimony, and
to establish whatsoever is His Will, and to elevate it to so eminent a position
that neither thine own hands, nor the hands of them that have turned away from
Him, can ever touch or harm it.
Consider the people and their condition. Reflect upon the
things that their mouths have uttered and that their hands have wrought in this
blessed, this most holy and peerless Day. They that have tarnished the good
name of the Cause of God and turned unto the Evil One are accursed of all
created things and are numbered among the inmates of the fire. Verily,
whosoever hath hearkened to My call shall remain unperturbed by the clamour of
all that are on earth; and whosoever is influenced by the words of anyone beside
Me hath never heard My call. By God!
Such a man is deprived of entering My Kingdom, is debarred from My
realms of majesty and power, and is of them that are in utter loss.
Say: O peoples of the earth! By the righteousness of God!
Whatever ye have been promised in the Books of your Lord, the Ruler of the Day
of Return, hath appeared and been made manifest. Beware lest the changes and
chances of the world hold you back from Him Who is the Sovereign Truth. Ere
long will everything visible perish and only that which hath been revealed by
God, the Lord of lords, shall endure.
Say: This is the Day of meritorious deeds, did ye but know
it. This is the Day of the glorification of God and of the exposition of His
Word, could ye but perceive it. Abandon the things current amongst men and hold
fast unto that which God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting, hath enjoined
upon you. The day is fast approaching when all the treasures of the earth shall
be of no profit to you. Unto this beareth witness the Lord of Names, He Who
proclaimeth: Verily, no God is there besides Him, the Sovereign Truth, the
Knower of things unseen.
God testifieth that there is none other God but Him and that
He Who hath come from the heaven of divine revelation is the Hidden Secret, the
Impenetrable Mystery, Whose advent hath been foretold in the Book of God and
hath been heralded by His Prophets and Messengers. Through Him the mysteries
have been unravelled, the veils rent asunder and the signs and evidences
disclosed. Lo! He hath now been made manifest. He bringeth to light whatsoever
He willeth, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, invested with
transcendent majesty and power.
By My life, O friend! Wert thou to taste the fruits of these
verdant trees that spring from the soil of true understanding, once the
effulgent light of His Essence hath been reflected in the Mirrors of His names
and attributes yearning would seize the reins of patience and restraint from
out thy hand and stir thy spirit into commotion with the splendours of His
light. It would draw thee from this abode of dust unto thy true and heavenly
habitation in the midmost heart of mystic knowledge, and raise thee to a
station wherein thou wilt soar in the air even as thou treadest upon the earth,
and wilt walk upon the water even as thou movest over the land.
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.... In another passage He hath written: Take
heed, O concourse of the rulers of the world! There is no force on earth that
can equal in its conquering power the force of justice and wisdom.... Blessed
is the king who marcheth with the ensign of wisdom unfurled before him, and the
battalions of justice massed in his rear. He verily is the ornament that
adorneth the brow of peace and the countenance of security. There can be no
doubt whatever that if the day star of justice, which the clouds of tyranny
have obscured, were to shed its light upon men, the face of the earth would be
completely transformed.
Praise be to Him Who hath honoured the Land of Bá [1]
through the presence of Him round Whom all names revolve. All the atoms of the
earth have announced unto all created things that from behind the gate of the
Prison-city there hath appeared and above its horizon there hath shone forth
the Orb of the beauty of the great, the Most Mighty Branch of God—His ancient
and immutable Mystery—proceeding on its way to another land. Sorrow, thereby,
hath enveloped this Prison-city, whilst another land rejoiceth. Exalted,
immeasurably exalted is our Lord, the Fashioner of the heavens and the Creator
of all things, He through Whose sovereignty the doors of the prison were
opened, thereby causing what was promised aforetime in the Tablets to be
fulfilled. He is verily potent over what He willeth, and in His grasp is the
dominion of the entire creation. He is the All-Powerful, the All-Knowing, the
All-Wise.
We cherish the hope that the light of justice may shine upon
the world and sanctify it from tyranny. If the rulers and kings of the earth,
the symbols of the power of God, exalted be His glory, arise and resolve to
dedicate themselves to whatever will promote the highest interests of the whole
of humanity, the reign of justice will assuredly be established amongst the
children of men, and the effulgence of its light will envelop the whole earth.
Had Muhammad, the Apostle of God, attained this Day, He
would have exclaimed: “I have truly recognized Thee, O Thou the Desire of the
Divine Messengers!” Had Abraham attained it, He too, falling prostrate upon the
ground, and in the utmost lowliness before the Lord thy God, would have cried:
“Mine heart is filled with peace, O Thou Lord of all that is in heaven and on
earth! I testify that Thou hast unveiled before mine eyes all the glory of Thy
power and the full majesty of Thy law! I bear witness, moreover, that through Thy
Revelation the hearts of the faithful are well assured and contented.” Had
Moses Himself attained it, He, likewise, would have raised His voice saying:
“All praise be to Thee for having lifted upon me the light of Thy countenance
and enrolled me among them that have been privileged to behold Thy face!”
Be thou [1] patient, though thy heart be consumed in its
separation from God, for He hath granted thee an exalted station in His
presence. Nay, thou art even now standing before His face, and We are imparting
unto thee, through the tongue of might and power, such words as even the ears
of the sincere ones have been deprived of hearing. Say: Were He to utter but
one word, that word alone would exceed in sweetness all the sayings of men.
O My Dhabíh! [1] May the breaths of the spirit waft upon
thee and upon such as have sought communion with thee, inhaled from thee the
sweet fragrance of My presence, and hearkened unto that whereby the hearts of
the true seekers are sanctified. Render thanks unto God inasmuch as thou hast
attained unto the shores of this Most Great Ocean, and give ear to the very atoms
of the earth proclaiming: “This is the Best-Beloved of the worlds!” The
dwellers of the earth have wronged Him and failed to recognize the One Whose
name they ceaselessly invoke. Lost are such as have remained heedless and have
opposed Him for Whose loved ones it would have behoved them to offer up their
lives, how much more for His own luminous and resplendent Beauty!
That which is conducive to the regeneration of the world and
the salvation of the peoples and kindreds of the earth hath been sent down from
the heaven of the utterance of Him Who is the Desire of the world. Give ye a
hearing ear to the counsels of the Pen of Glory. Better is this for you than
all that is on the earth. Unto this beareth witness My glorious and wondrous
Book.
Peerless is this Day, for it is as the eye to past ages and
centuries, and as a light unto the darkness of the times.
Though—as Thou beholdest me, O my God—I be dwelling in a
place within whose walls no voice can be heard except the sound of the echo,
though all the gates of ease and comfort be shut against us, and thick darkness
appear to have compassed us on every side, yet my soul hath been so inflamed by
its love for Thee, that nothing whatsoever can either quench the fire of its
love or abate the consuming flame of its desire. Lifting up its voice, it
crieth aloud amidst Thy servants, and calleth them, at all times and under all
conditions, unto Thee.
The Great Being saith: O well-beloved ones! The tabernacle
of unity hath been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Ye are the
fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch.
Behold the disturbances which, for many a long year, have
afflicted the earth, and the perturbation that hath seized its peoples. It hath
either been ravaged by war, or tormented by sudden and unforeseen calamities.
Though the world is encompassed with misery and distress, yet no man hath
paused to reflect what the cause or source of that may be. Whenever the True
Counsellor uttered a word in admonishment, lo, they all denounced Him as a
mover of mischief and rejected His claim. How bewildering, how confusing is
such behavior! No two men can be found who may be said to be outwardly and
inwardly united. The evidences of discord and malice are apparent everywhere,
though all were made for harmony and union.