This Wronged One hath, at all times, summoned the peoples of
the world unto that which will exalt them, and draw them nigh unto God. From
the Most Sublime Horizon there hath shone forth that which leaveth no room unto
any one for vacillation, repudiation or denial. The wayward, however, have
failed to profit therefrom; nay, it shall only increase their loss. 
Whatsoever ye understand not in the Bayán, ask it of God,
your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers. Should He so desire, He will
expound for you that which is revealed therein, and disclose to you the pearls
of Divine knowledge and wisdom that lie concealed within the ocean of its
words. He, verily, is supreme over all names; no God is there but Him, the Help
in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.
O thou who hast fixed thy gaze upon My countenance! Admonish
men to fear God. By God! This fear is the chief commander of the army of thy
Lord. Its hosts are a praiseworthy character and goodly deeds. Through it have
the cities of men’s hearts been opened throughout the ages and centuries, and
the standards of ascendancy and triumph raised above all other standards.
This day, it behoveth whoso hath quaffed the Mystic Wine of
everlasting life from the Hands of the loving-kindness of the Lord his God, the
Merciful, to pulsate even as the throbbing artery in the body of mankind, that
through him may be quickened the world and every crumbling bone.
Say: O people of God! Adorn your temples with the adornment
of trustworthiness and piety. Help, then, your Lord with the hosts of goodly
deeds and a praiseworthy character. We have forbidden you dissension and
conflict in My Books, and My Scriptures, and My Scrolls, and My Tablets, and
have wished thereby naught else save your exaltation and advancement. Unto this
testify the heavens and the stars thereof, and the sun and the radiance
thereof, and the trees and the leaves thereof, and the seas and the waves
thereof, and the earth and the treasures thereof. We pray God to assist His
loved ones, and aid them in that which beseemeth them in this blest, this
mighty, and wondrous station.
We have admonished Our loved ones to fear God, a fear which
is the fountain-head of all goodly deeds and virtues. It is the commander of
the hosts of justice in the city of Bahá. Happy the man that hath entered the
shadow of its luminous standard, and laid fast hold thereon. He, verily, is of
the Companions of the Crimson Ark, which hath been mentioned in the
Qayyúm-i-Asmá.
O people of the world! When the Mystic Dove will have winged
its flight from its Sanctuary of Praise and sought its far-off goal, its hidden
habitation, refer ye whatsoever ye understand not in the Book to Him Who hath
branched from this mighty Stock.
The foundations of idle fancies have trembled, and the
heaven of vain imaginings hath been cleft asunder, and yet the people are in
doubt and in contention with Him. They have denied the testimony of God and His
proof, after He came from the heaven of power with the kingdom of His signs.
They have cast away what had been prescribed, and perpetrated what had been
forbidden them in the Book. They have abandoned their God, and clung unto their
desires. They truly have strayed and are in error. They read the verses and
deny them. They behold the clear tokens and turn aside. They truly are lost in
strange doubt.
Happy are ye, O ye the learned ones in Bahá. By the Lord! Ye
are the billows of the Most Mighty Ocean, the stars of the firmament of Glory,
the standards of triumph waving betwixt earth and heaven. Ye are the
manifestations of steadfastness amidst men and the daysprings of Divine
Utterance to all that dwell on earth. Well is it with him that turneth unto
you, and woe betide the froward.
The hope is cherished that ye may obtain true education in
the shelter of the tree of His tender mercies and act in accordance with that
which God desireth. Ye are all the leaves of one tree and the drops of one
ocean.
Grieve not, O House of God, [Baghdad House] if the veil of
thy sanctity be rent asunder by the infidels. God hath, in the world of
creation, adorned thee with the jewel of His remembrance. Such an ornament no
man can, at any time, profane. Towards thee the eyes of thy Lord shall, under
all conditions, remain directed. He, verily, will incline His ear to the prayer
of every one that visiteth thee, who will circle around thee, and calleth upon
Him in thy name. He, in truth, is the Forgiving, the All-Merciful.
Whither are gone the proud and their palaces? Gaze thou into their tombs, that thou mayest
profit by this example, inasmuch as We made it a lesson unto every
beholder. Were the breezes of Revelation
to seize thee, thou wouldst flee the world, and turn unto the Kingdom, and
wouldst expend all thou possessest, that thou mayest draw nigh unto this
sublime Vision.
Whilst I lay chained and fettered in the prison, one of thy
ministers extended Me his aid. Wherefore
hath God ordained for thee a station which the knowledge of none can comprehend
except His knowledge. Beware lest thou
barter away this sublime station. Thy
Lord, verily, doeth what He willeth.
What He pleaseth will God abrogate or confirm, and with Him is the
knowledge of all things in a Guarded Tablet.
O Czar of Russia!
Incline thine ear unto the voice of God, the King, the Holy, and turn
thou unto Paradise, the Spot wherein abideth He Who, among the Concourse on
high, beareth the most excellent titles, and Who, in the kingdom of creation,
is called by the name of God, the Effulgent, the All-Glorious.
We behold the generality of mankind worshipping names and
exposing themselves, as thou dost witness, to dire perils in the mere hope of
perpetuating their names, whilst every perceiving soul testifieth that after
death one’s name shall avail him nothing except insofar as it beareth a
relationship unto God, the Almighty, the All-Praised. Thus have their vain imaginings taken hold of
them in requital for that which their hands have wrought.
Exultest thou over the treasures thou dost possess, knowing
they shall perish? Rejoicest thou in
that thou rulest a span of earth, when the whole world, in the estimation of
the people of Bahá, is worth as much as the black in the eye of a dead
ant? Abandon it unto such as have set
their affections upon it, and turn thou unto Him Who is the Desire of the
world.
Meditate on the world and the state of its people. He, for
Whose sake the world was called into being, hath been imprisoned in the most
desolate of cities, by reason of that which the hands of the wayward have
wrought. From the horizon of His prison-city He summoneth mankind unto the
Dayspring of God, the Exalted, the Great.
Set forth that which ye possess. If it be favourably
received, your end is attained; if not, to protest is vain. Leave that soul to
himself and turn unto the Lord, the Protector, the Self-Subsisting. Be not the
cause of grief, much less of discord and strife.
He is a man of insight whose eyes have been illumined with
the brightness of Thy face, and who, as soon as Thy call was raised, hath
recognized Thee. (Baha’u’llah, ‘Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u’llah’)
O people of Bahá! Ye are the dawning-places of the love of
God and the daysprings of His loving-kindness. Defile not your tongues with the
cursing and reviling of any soul, and guard your eyes against that which is not
seemly.
Inasmuch as for each day there is a new problem and for
every problem an expedient solution, such affairs should be referred to the
House of Justice that the members thereof may act according to the needs and
requirements of the time. They that, for the sake of God, arise to serve His
Cause, are the recipients of divine inspiration from the unseen Kingdom. It is
incumbent upon all to be obedient unto them. All matters of State should be
referred to the House of Justice, but acts of worship must be observed
according to that which God hath revealed in His Book.
O people of God! That which traineth the world is Justice,
for it is upheld by two pillars, reward and punishment. These two pillars are
the sources of life to the world.
He is a man of hearing who hath been led to hearken unto Thy
speech, and to draw nigh unto the billowing ocean of Thine utterances.
The men of God’s House of Justice have been charged with the
affairs of the people. They, in truth, are the Trustees of God among His
servants and the daysprings of authority in His countries.
Ere long will the state of affairs within thee [Tihrán] be
changed, and the reins of power fall into the hands of the people. Verily, thy
Lord is the All-Knowing. His authority embraceth all things. Rest thou assured
in the gracious favor of thy Lord. The eye of His loving-kindness shall
everlastingly be directed towards thee. The day is approaching when thy
agitation will have been transmuted into peace and quiet calm. Thus hath it
been decreed in the wondrous Book.
I swear by Thy glory, O Thou the Lord of all being and the
Enlightener of all things visible and invisible! Whoso hath quaffed from the
hands of Thy bounteousness the living waters of Thy love will never allow the
things pertaining to Thy creatures to keep him back from Thee, neither will he
be dismayed at the refusal of all the dwellers of Thy realm to acknowledge
Thee. Before all who are in heaven and on earth such a man will cry aloud, and
announce unto the people the tumult of the Ocean of Thy bounty and the
splendors of the Luminaries of the heaven of Thy bestowals.
He is endued with understanding who is aware of Thy [God’s]
Revelation and hath acknowledged Thy manifold tokens, Thy signs, and Thy
testimonies.
Happy indeed is the man that hath turned towards the
sanctuary of Thy [God’s] presence, and rid himself of all attachment to any one
except Thyself. He is truly exalted who hath confessed Thy glory, and fixed his
eyes upon the Day-Star of Thy loving-kindness.
Know verily that whenever this Youth turneth His eyes toward
His own self, He findeth it the most insignificant of all creation. When He
contemplates, however, the bright effulgences He hath been empowered to
manifest, lo, that self is transfigured before Him into a sovereign Potency
permeating the essence of all things visible and invisible.
Rejoice with great joy, for God hath made thee “the Day
Spring of His light,” inasmuch as within thee [Tihrán] was born the
Manifestation of His Glory. Be thou glad for this name that hath been conferred
upon thee—a name through which the Day Star of grace hath shed its splendor,
through which both earth and heaven have been illumined.
He that bringeth up his son or the son of another, it is as
though he hath brought up a son of Mine; upon him rest My Glory, My
Loving-Kindness, My Mercy, that have compassed the world.
O My servant that believest in God! By the righteousness of
the Almighty! Were I to recount to thee the tale of the things that have
befallen Me, the souls and minds of men would be incapable of sustaining its
weight. God Himself beareth Me witness. Watch over thyself, and follow not the
footsteps of these people. Meditate diligently upon the Cause of thy Lord.
Strive to know Him through His own Self and not through others. For no one else
besides Him can ever profit thee. To this all created things will testify,
couldst thou but perceive it.
Give ear, O My servant, unto that which is being sent down
unto thee from the Throne of thy Lord, the Inaccessible, the Most Great. There
is none other God but Him. He hath called into being His creatures, that they
may know Him, Who is the Compassionate, the All-Merciful. Unto the cities of
all nations He hath sent His Messengers, Whom He hath commissioned to announce
unto men tidings of the Paradise of His good-pleasure, and to draw them nigh
unto the Haven of abiding security, the Seat of eternal holiness and
transcendent glory.
The heaven of divine wisdom is illumined with the two
luminaries of consultation and compassion and the canopy of world order is
upraised upon the two pillars of reward and punishment.
Let nothing grieve thee, O Land of Tá (Tihrán), for God hath
chosen thee to be the source of the joy of all mankind. He shall, if it be His
Will, bless thy throne with one who will rule with justice, who will gather
together the flock of God which the wolves have scattered. Such a ruler will,
with joy and gladness, turn his face towards, and extend his favors unto, the
people of Bahá. He indeed is accounted in the sight of God as a jewel among
men. Upon him rest forever the glory of God, and the glory of all that dwell in
the kingdom of His revelation.
Governments should fully acquaint themselves with the
conditions of those they govern, and confer upon them positions according to
desert and merit. It is enjoined upon every ruler and sovereign to consider
this matter with the utmost care that the traitor may not usurp the position of
the faithful, nor the despoiler rule in the place of the trustworthy.
From the beginning of time the light of unity hath shed its
divine radiance upon the world, and the greatest means for the promotion of
that unity is for the peoples of the world to understand one another’s writing
and speech. In former Epistles We have enjoined upon the Trustees of the House
of Justice either to choose one language from among those now existing or to
adopt a new one, and in like manner to select a common script, both of which
should be taught in all the schools of the world. Thus will the earth be
regarded as one country and one home.
The most glorious fruit of the tree of knowledge is this
exalted word: Of one tree are all ye the fruit, and of one bough the leaves.
Let not man glory in this that he loveth his country, let him rather glory in
this that he loveth his kind.
The Pen of Glory counselleth everyone regarding the
instruction and education of children. Behold that which the Will of God hath
revealed upon Our arrival in the Prison City and recorded in the Most Holy
Book. Unto every father hath been
enjoined the instruction of his son and daughter in the art of reading and
writing and in all that hath been laid down in the Holy Tablet. He that putteth
away that which is commanded unto him, the Trustees are then to take from him
that which is required for their instruction, if he be wealthy, and if not the
matter devolveth upon the House of Justice. Verily, have We made it a shelter
for the poor and needy.
In this Revelation the hosts that can render it victorious
are the hosts of praiseworthy deeds and upright character. The leader and
commander of these hosts hath ever been the fear of God, a fear that
encompasseth all things and reigneth over all things.
Should it be Our wish it is in Our power to compel, through
the agency of but one letter of Our Revelation, the world and all that is
therein to recognize, in less than the twinkling of an eye, the truth of Our
Cause.
Announce unto My servants the advent of the One Who came
unto them with the power of truth bearing the name of ‘Alí, [the Báb] Who
dawned above the horizon of holiness with the splendours of a cherished glory,
and from Whose right hand flowed the crystal streams of the spirit, laying bare
the wonders of a hidden knowledge.
“God”, said He, [the Báb] “is My witness, O people! I am
come to you with a Revelation from the Lord, your God, the Lord of your fathers
of old. Look not, O people, at the things ye possess. Look rather at the things
God hath sent down unto you. This, surely, will be better for you than the
whole of creation, could ye but perceive it. Repeat the gaze, O people, and
consider the testimony of God and His proof which are in your possession, and
compare them unto the Revelation sent down unto you in this Day, that the
truth, the infallible truth, may be indubitably manifested unto you. Follow
not, O people, the steps of the Evil One; follow ye the Faith of the
All-Merciful, and be ye of them that truly believe. What would it profit man,
if he were to fail to recognize the Revelation of God? Nothing whatever. To
this Mine own Self, the Omnipotent, the Omniscient, the All-Wise, will
testify.”
Ages rolled away, until they attained their consummation in
this, the Lord of days, the Day whereon the Day-Star of the Bayán manifested
itself above the horizon of mercy, the Day in which the Beauty of the
All-Glorious shone forth in the exalted person of ‘Alí-Muhammad, the Báb. No
sooner did He reveal Himself, than all the people rose up against Him. By some
He was denounced as one that hath uttered slanders against God, the Almighty,
the Ancient of Days. Others regarded Him as a man smitten with madness, an
allegation which I, Myself, have heard from the lips of one of the divines.
Still others disputed His claim to be the Mouthpiece of God, and stigmatized
Him as one who had stolen and used as his the words of the Almighty, who had
perverted their meaning, and mingled them with his own. The Eye of Grandeur
weepeth sore for the things which their mouths have uttered, while they
continue to rejoice upon their seats.
It is incumbent upon everyone to observe God’s holy
commandments, inasmuch as they are the wellspring of life unto the world.
He Who is your Lord, the All-Merciful, cherisheth in His
heart the desire of beholding the entire human race as one soul and one
body. Haste ye to win your share of
God’s good grace and mercy in this Day that eclipseth all other created
Days. How great the felicity that
awaiteth the man that forsaketh all he hath in a desire to obtain the things of
God! Such a man, We testify, is among
God’s blessed ones.
Say: O concourse of
priests and monks! Eat ye of that which
God hath made lawful unto you and do not shun meat. God hath, as a token of His grace, granted
you leave to partake thereof save during a brief period. He, verily, is the Mighty, the Beneficent. Forsake all that ye possess and hold fast
unto that which God hath purposed. This
is that which profiteth you, if ye be of them that comprehend. We have ordained a fast of nineteen days in
the most temperate of the seasons, and have in this resplendent and luminous
Dispensation relieved you from more than this. Thus have We set forth and made clear unto you that which ye are bidden
to observe, that ye may follow the commandments of God and be united in that
which the Almighty, the All-Wise, hath appointed unto you.
All feasts have attained their consummation in the two Most
Great Festivals, and in two other Festivals that fall on the twin days—the
first of the Most Great Festivals being those days whereon God shed the
effulgent glory of His most excellent Names upon all who are in heaven and on
earth, and the second being that day on which We raised up the One Who
announced unto the people the glad tidings of this Great Announcement. [1] Thus hath it been set down in the Book by
Him Who is the Mighty, the Powerful. On
other than these four consummate days, engage ye in your daily occupations, and
withhold yourselves not from the pursuit of your trades and crafts. Thus hath the command been issued and the law
gone forth from Him Who is your Lord, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.