O Son of Man! My calamity is My providence, outwardly it is
fire and vengeance, but inwardly it is light and mercy. Hasten thereunto that
thou mayest become an eternal light and an immortal spirit. This is My command
unto thee, do thou observe it. 
It behoveth… the loved ones of God to be forbearing towards
their fellow-men, and to be so sanctified and detached from all things, and to
evince such sincerity and fairness, that all the peoples of the earth may recognize
them as the trustees of God amongst men. Consider to what lofty heights the
injunctions of the Almighty have soared… Blessed are they who, on the wings of
certitude, have flown in the heavens which the Pen of thy Lord, the
All-Merciful, hath spread.
Happy the one who hath quaffed the wine of inner mysteries
from the countenance of his Lord and been intoxicated by this pure and crystal
draught. By God! It causeth every true believer to soar in the heaven of
majesty and grandeur, and transmuteth every doubt into certainty.
“O ye that are bereft of understanding! A severe trial
pursueth you, and will suddenly overtake you. Bestir yourselves, that haply it
may pass and inflict no harm upon you.” “O ye peoples of the world! Know,
verily, that an unforeseen calamity is following you, and that grievous
retribution awaiteth you. Think not the deeds ye have committed have been
blotted from My sight.” “O heedless ones! Though the wonders of My mercy have
encompassed all created things, both visible and invisible, and though the
revelations of My grace and bounty have permeated every atom of the universe,
yet the rod with which I can chastise the wicked is grievous, and the
fierceness of Mine anger against them terrible.”
O ye beloved of God! Repose not yourselves on your couches,
nay, bestir yourselves as soon as ye recognize your Lord, the Creator, and hear
of the things which have befallen Him, and hasten to His assistance. Unloose
your tongues, and proclaim unceasingly His Cause. This shall be better for you
than all the treasures of the past and of the future, if ye be of them that
comprehend this truth.
Praise be unto Thee, O Lord my God! We have observed the
Fast in conformity with Thy bidding and break it now through Thy love and Thy
good-pleasure. Deign to accept, O my God, the deeds that we have performed in
Thy path wholly for the sake of Thy beauty with our faces set towards Thy
Cause, free from aught else but Thee. Bestow, then, Thy forgiveness upon us,
upon our forefathers, and upon all such as have believed in Thee and in Thy
mighty signs in this most great, this most glorious Revelation. Potent art Thou
to do what Thou choosest. Thou art, verily, the Most Exalted, the Almighty, the
Unconstrained.
…obligatory prayer and fasting occupy an exalted station in
the sight of God. It is, however, in a state of health that their virtue can be
realized. In time of ill health it is not permissible to observe these
obligations; such hath been the bidding of the Lord, exalted be His glory, at
all times. Blessed be such men and women as pay heed, and observe His precepts.
All praise be unto God, He who hath sent down the verses and is the Revealer of
undoubted proofs!
Cling firmly to obligatory prayer and fasting. Verily, the
religion of God is like unto heaven; fasting is its sun, and obligatory prayer
is its moon. In truth, they are the pillars of religion whereby the righteous
are distinguished from those who transgress His commandments. We entreat God,
exalted and glorified be He, that He may graciously enable all to observe that
which He hath revealed in His Ancient Book.
O Pen of the Most High! Say: O people of the world! We have
enjoined upon you fasting during a brief
period, and at its close have designated for you Naw-Ruz as a feast. Thus hath
the Day-Star of Utterance shone forth above the horizon of the Book as decreed
by Him Who is the Lord of the beginning and the end. Let the days in excess of
the months be placed before the month of fasting. We have ordained that these,
amid all nights and days, shall be the manifestations of the letter Ha, and
thus they have not been bounded by the limits of the year and its months. It
behoveth the people of Baha, throughout these days, to provide good cheer for
themselves, their kindred and, beyond them, the poor and needy, and with joy
and exultation to hail and glorify their Lord, to sing His praise and magnify
His Name; and when they end - these days of giving that precede the season of
restraint - let them enter upon the Fast. Thus hath it been ordained by Him Who
is the Lord of all mankind. The traveller, the ailing, those who are with child
or giving suck, are not bound by the Fast; they have been exempted by God as a
token of His grace. He, verily, is the Almighty, the Most Generous.
O ye that are the exponents of generosity and the
manifestations thereof! Be generous unto them whom ye find in manifest poverty.
O ye that are possessed of riches! Take heed lest outward appearance deter you
from benevolent deeds in the path of God, the Lord of all mankind.
Verily I have desired naught else but Thy [God’s] love and
the love of those who love Thee.
My God, my Fire and my Light! The days which Thou hast named
the Ayyam-i-Ha (the Days of Ha, Intercalary days) in Thy Book have begun, O
Thou Who art the King of names, and the fast which Thy most exalted Pen hath
enjoined unto all who are in the kingdom of Thy creation to observe is
approaching. I entreat Thee, O my Lord, by these days and by all such as have
during that period clung to the cord of Thy commandments, and laid hold on the
handle of Thy precepts, to grant that unto every soul may be assigned a place
within the precincts of Thy court, and a seat at the revelation of the
splendors of the light of Thy countenance.
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. For in him are potentially
revealed all the attributes and names of God to a degree that no other created
being hath excelled or surpassed.
O Comrades! The gates that open on the Placeless stand wide
and the habitation of the loved one is adorned with the lovers’ blood, yet all
but a few remain bereft of this celestial city, and even of these few, none but
the smallest handful hath been found with a pure heart and sanctified spirit.
I swear by the one true God! This is the day of those who
have detached themselves from all but Him, the day of those who have recognized
His unity, the day whereon God createth, with the hands of His power, divine
beings and imperishable essences, every one of whom will cast the world and all
that is therein behind him, and will wax so steadfast in the Cause of God that
every wise and understanding heart will marvel.
All praise be to Thee, O my God, inasmuch as Thou hast
adorned the world with the splendour of the dawn following the night wherein
was born the One Who heralded the Manifestation of Thy transcendent
sovereignty, the Dayspring of Thy divine Essence and the Revelation of Thy
supreme Lordship. I beseech Thee, O Creator of the heavens and Fashioner of
names, to graciously aid those who have sheltered beneath the shadow of Thine
abounding mercy and have raised their voices amidst the peoples of the world
for the glorification of Thy Name.
Sorrow not for that which hath befallen thee. [1] Thou hast
borne for My love that which most people have never endured. Thy Lord knoweth
and is informed of all. He was with thee
in the assemblages and gatherings, and heard that which flowed from the
wellspring of thy heart in remembrance of thy Lord, the All-Merciful. This,
indeed, is a token of His bountiful favour.
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.