The world passeth away, and that which is everlasting is the
love of God. God willing, thou shalt circumambulate the True One in every world
of His worlds and shalt be free from all else save Him.... 
O peoples of the world! He Who is the Most Great Name is
come, on the part of the Ancient King, and hath announced unto men this
Revelation which lay hid in His knowledge, and was preserved in the treasury of
His protection, and was written down by the Most Sublime Pen in the Books of
God, the Lord of Lords.
O Son of Beauty! By My spirit and by My favor! By My mercy
and by My beauty! All that I have revealed unto thee with the tongue of power,
and have written for thee with the pen of might, hath been in accordance with
thy capacity and understanding, not with My state and the melody of My voice.
O kings of the earth! We see you increasing every year your
expenditures, and laying the burden thereof on your subjects. This, verily, is
wholly and grossly unjust. Fear the sighs and tears of this Wronged One, and
lay not excessive burdens on your peoples. Do not rob them to rear palaces for
yourselves; nay rather choose for them that which ye choose for yourselves.
Thus We unfold to your eyes that which profiteth you, if ye but perceive. Your
people are your treasures. Beware lest your rule violate the commandments of
God, and ye deliver your wards to the hands of the robber. By them ye rule, by
their means ye subsist, by their aid ye conquer. Yet, how disdainfully ye look
upon them! How strange, how very strange! .
O concourse of rulers and divines! Incline your ears unto
the Voice calling from the horizon of Akká. Verily, it aideth you to proceed
aright, and draweth you nigh unto Him, and directeth your steps towards the
station which God hath made the Dayspring of His Revelation and the
Dawning-Place of His splendors.
Time and again have We, for the sake of God, admonished the
distinguished divines, and summoned them unto the Most Sublime Horizon, that
perchance they might, in the days of His Revelation, obtain their portion of
the ocean of the utterance of Him Who is the Desire of the world, and remain
not utterly deprived thereof.
O Children of the Divine and Invisible Essence! Ye shall be
hindered from loving Me and souls shall be perturbed as they make mention of
Me. For minds cannot grasp Me nor hearts contain Me.
O ye rulers of the earth!
Wherefore have ye clouded the radiance of the Sun, and caused it to
cease from shining? Hearken unto the
counsel given you by the Pen of the Most High, that haply both ye and the poor
may attain unto tranquillity and peace.
We beseech God to assist the kings of the earth to establish peace on
earth. He, verily, doth what He willeth.
All should know, and in this regard attain the splendours of
the sun of certitude, and be illumined thereby: Women and men have been and
will always be equal in the sight of God. The Dawning-Place of the Light of God
sheddeth its radiance upon all with the same effulgence. Verily God created
women for men, and men for women. The most beloved of people before God are the
most steadfast and those who have surpassed others in their love for God,
exalted be His glory....
Steadfastness in the Cause is mentioned in the Tablets and
set forth by the Pen of the Ancient of Days. Render thanks to the Beloved of
the world that thou hast set thy heart on Him and art uttering His praise. Many
a man hath in this day been deprived of making mention of the All-Sufficing
Lord and of recognizing His truth; and many a woman hath fixed her gaze upon
the Horizon of the Most High, and hath adorned herself with the garb of the
love of the Desire of the world. This is God's grace which He bestoweth upon
whomsoever He pleaseth. By the Day-Star of ancient mysteries! The sweet-scented
fragrance of every breath breathed in the love of God is wafted in the court of
the presence of the Lord of Revelation. The reward of no good deed is or ever
will be lost. Blessed art thou, doubly blessed art thou! Thou art reckoned
amongst those handmaidens whose love for their kin hath not prevented them from
attaining the shores of the Sea of Grace and Mercy. God willing, thou shalt
rest eternally neath the shade of the favours of the All-Merciful and shalt be
assured of His bounties. Engage in the praise of the True One and rejoice in
His loving-kindness.
Be fair in your judgment. Every good thing is of God, and
every evil thing is from yourselves. Will ye not comprehend? This same truth
hath been revealed in all the Scriptures, if ye be of them that understand.
Every act ye meditate is as clear to Him as is that act when already
accomplished. There is none other God besides Him. His is all creation and its
empire. All stands revealed before Him; all is recorded in His holy and hidden
Tablets. This fore-knowledge of God, however, should not be regarded as having
caused the actions of men, just as your own previous knowledge that a certain
event is to occur, or your desire that it should happen, is not and can never
be the reason for its occurrence.
Emerge from behind the veil, by the leave of thy Lord, the
All-Glorious, the Most Powerful, and seize, before the eyes of those who are in
the heavens and those who are on the earth, the Chalice of Immortality, in the
name of thy Lord, the Inaccessible, the Most High, and quaff thy fill, and be
not of them that tarry. I swear by God! The moment thou touchest the Cup with
thy lips, the Concourse on high will acclaim thee saying, “Drink with healthy
relish, O man that hast truly believed in God!” and the inhabitants of the
Cities of Immortality will cry out, “Joy be to thee, O thou that hast drained
the Cup of His love!” and the Tongue of Grandeur will hail thee, “Great is the
blessedness that awaiteth thee, O My servant, for thou hast attained unto that
which none hath attained, except such as have detached themselves from all that
is in the heavens and all that is on the earth, and who are the emblems of true
detachment.”
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.
Look at the world and ponder a while upon it. It unveileth
the book of its own self before thine eyes and revealeth that which the Pen of
thy Lord, the Fashioner, the All-Informed, hath inscribed therein. It will
acquaint thee with that which is within it and upon it and will give thee such
clear explanations as to make thee independent of every eloquent expounder.
O people! I have revealed Myself for His [Baha’u’llah’s]
Manifestation, and have caused My Book, the Bayán, to descend upon you for no
other purpose except to establish the truth of His Cause. Fear ye God, and
contend not with Him as the people of the Qur’án have contended with Me. At
whatever time ye hear of Him, hasten ye towards Him, and cleave ye to whatsoever
He may reveal unto you. Naught else besides Him can ever profit you, no, not
though ye produce from first to last the testimonies of all those who were
before you.
Walk thou high above the world of being through the power of
the Most Great Name, that thou mayest become aware of the immemorial mysteries
and be acquainted with that wherewith no one is acquainted. Verily, thy Lord is
the Helper, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed. Be thou as a throbbing artery,
pulsating in the body of the entire creation, that through the heat generated
by this motion there may appear that which will quicken the hearts of those who
hesitate.
Make thou mention of this Day and magnify that which hath
appeared therein. It will in truth suffice all mankind… It behoveth thee to
speak forth in such wise as to set the hearts of true believers ablaze and
cause their bodies to soar.
Whoso firmly believeth today in the rebirth of man and is
fully conscious that God, the Most Exalted, wieldeth supreme ascendancy and
absolute authority over this new creation, verily such a man is reckoned with
them that are endued with insight in this most great Revelation. Unto this
beareth witness every discerning believer.
That which hath been in existence had existed before, but
not in the form thou seest today. The world of existence came into being
through the heat generated from the interaction between the active force and
that which is its recipient. These two are the same, yet they are different.
Thus doth the Great Announcement inform thee about this glorious structure.
Such as communicate the generating influence and such as receive its impact are
indeed created through the irresistible Word of God which is the Cause of the
entire creation, while all else besides His Word are but the creatures and the
effects thereof. Verily thy Lord is the Expounder, the All-Wise.
As regards thine assertions about the beginning of creation,
this is a matter on which conceptions vary by reason of the divergences in
men’s thoughts and opinions. Wert thou to assert that it hath ever existed and
shall continue to exist, it would be true; or wert thou to affirm the same
concept as is mentioned in the sacred Scriptures, no doubt would there be about
it, for it hath been revealed by God, the Lord of the worlds. Indeed He was a
hidden treasure. This is a station that can never be described nor even alluded
to. And in the station of ‘I did wish to make Myself known’, God was, and His
creation had ever existed beneath His shelter from the beginning that hath no
beginning, apart from its being preceded by a Firstness which cannot be
regarded as firstness and originated by a Cause inscrutable even unto all men
of learning.
Praise be to Thee, O my God, that Thou hast ordained this
day [Naw-Ruz] as a festival unto the favoured among Thy servants and the
sincere among Thy loved ones. Thou hast called this day by that Name whereby
all created things have been subdued and the breezes of Thy Revelation have
been wafted between earth and heaven, a Name through which all that hath been
recorded in Thy Holy Books and Sacred Scriptures hath been made manifest, and
which Thy Messengers and Thy Chosen Ones have foretold, that all men might be
made ready to behold Thee, to turn towards the ocean of Thy reunion, to stand
before the seat of Thy throne, and to hear Thy wondrous call from the Dayspring
of Thine invisible Self and the Dawning-Place of Thine Essence.
In truth the station of this Revelation transcendeth the
station of whatever hath been manifested in the past or will be made manifest
in the future.
…I beseech Thee by Thy Name which no scroll can bear, which
no heart can imagine and no tongue can utter—a Name which will remain concealed
so long as Thine own Essence is hidden, and will be glorified so long as Thine
own Being is extolled—to unfurl, ere the present year draw to a close, the
ensigns of Thine undisputed ascendancy and triumph, that the whole creation may
be enriched by Thy wealth, and may be exalted through the ennobling influence
of Thy transcendent sovereignty, and that all may arise and promote Thy Cause.
By the glory of Thy might, O my God! Wert Thou to set me
king over Thy realms, and to establish me upon the throne of Thy sovereignty,
and to deliver, through Thy power, the reins of the entire creation into my
hands, and wert Thou to cause me, though it be for less than a moment, to be
occupied with these things and be oblivious of the wondrous memories associated
with Thy most mighty, most perfect, and most exalted Name, my soul would still
remain unsatisfied, and the pangs of my heart unstilled. Nay, I would, in that
very state, recognize myself as the poorest of the poor, and the most wretched
of wretches.
Say, were He Whom God shall make manifest to pronounce a
pious and truthful follower of the Bayán as false, it is incumbent upon you to
submit to His decree, as this hath been affirmed by God in the Bayán; verily
God is able to convert light into fire whenever He pleaseth; surely He is
potent over all things. And were He to declare a person whom ye regard alien to
the truth as being akin thereto, err not by questioning His decision in your
fancies, for He Who is the Sovereign Truth createth things through the power of
His behest. Verily God transmuteth fire into light as He willeth, and indeed
potent is He over all things.
With unswerving vision, with pure heart, and sanctified
spirit, consider attentively what God hath established as the testimony of
guidance for His people in His Book, [the Qur’an] which is recognized as
authentic by both the high and lowly. To this testimony we both, as well as all
the peoples of the world, must cling, that through its light we may know and
distinguish between truth and falsehood, guidance and error. Inasmuch as
Muhammad hath confined His testimonies to His Book and to His Family, and
whereas the latter hath passed away, there remaineth His Book only as His one
testimony amongst the people.
O my beloved! Immeasurably exalted is the celestial Melody
above the strivings of human ear to hear or mind to grasp its mystery! How can
the helpless ant step into the court of the All-Glorious?
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.
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-Muḥammad, 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.
Consider these days in which He Who is the Ancient Beauty
hath come in the Most Great Name, that He may quicken the world and unite its
peoples. They, however, rose up against
Him with sharpened swords, and committed that which caused the Faithful Spirit
to lament, until in the end they imprisoned Him in the most desolate of cities,
and broke the grasp of the faithful upon the hem of His robe. Were anyone to tell them: “The World Reformer
is come”, they would answer and say: “Indeed it is proven that He is a fomenter of discord!”, and this
notwithstanding that they have never associated with Him, and have perceived
that He did not seek, for one moment, to protect Himself. At all times He was at the mercy of the
wicked doers. At one time they cast Him
into prison, at another they banished Him, and at yet another hurried Him from
land to land. Thus have they pronounced
judgement against Us, and God, truly, is aware of what I say.
O Befriended Stranger! The candle of thine heart is lighted
by the hand of My power, quench it not with the contrary winds of self and
passion. The healer of all thine ills is remembrance of Me, forget it not. Make
My love thy treasure and cherish it even as thy very sight and life.
God…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.
O Son of Earth! Wouldst thou have Me, seek none other than
Me; and wouldst thou gaze upon My beauty, close thine eyes to the world and all
that is therein; for My will and the will of another than Me, even as fire and
water, cannot dwell together in one heart.
That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy
and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all
its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith. This can in no wise be
achieved except through the power of a skilled, an all-powerful and inspired
Physician. This, verily, is the truth, and all else naught but error. Each time that Most Mighty Instrument hath
come, and that Light shone forth from the Ancient Dayspring, He was withheld by
ignorant physicians who, even as clouds, interposed themselves between Him and
the world. It failed, therefore, to
recover, and its sickness hath persisted until this day. They indeed were powerless to protect it, or
to effect a cure, whilst He Who hath been the Manifestation of Power amongst
men was withheld from achieving His purpose, by reason of what the hands of the
ignorant physicians have wrought.
Let each morn be better than its eve, each morrow richer
than its yesterday. Man’s merit lies in service and virtue and not in the
pageantry of wealth and riches.
Know thou that religion is as heaven; and fasting and
obligatory prayer are its sun and its moon. We entreat God, exalted and
glorified be He, to graciously aid everyone who acteth according to His will
and good-pleasure.
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.
Suffer not yourselves to be wrapt in the dense veils of your
selfish desires, inasmuch as I have perfected in every one of you My creation,
so that the excellence of My handiwork may be fully revealed unto men.
Sanctify your souls from whatsoever is not of God, and taste
ye the sweetness of rest within the pale of His vast and mighty Revelation, and
beneath the shadow of His supreme and infallible authority.
Tear asunder, in My Name, the veils that have grievously
blinded your vision, and, through the power born of your belief in the unity of
God, scatter the idols of vain imitation. Enter, then, the holy paradise of the
good-pleasure of the All-Merciful.
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.
Be a treasure to the poor, an admonisher to the rich, an
answerer of the cry of the needy, a preserver of the sanctity of thy pledge.
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.
Blessed is he who loves the world simply for the sake of the
Face of his Generous Lord. With perfect compassion and mercy have we aided and
directed the people of the world to that whereby their souls shall be profited.
The signs of God shine as manifest and resplendent as the
sun amidst the works of His creatures. Whatsoever proceedeth from Him is apart,
and will always remain distinguished, from the inventions of men. From the
Source of His knowledge countless Luminaries of learning and wisdom have risen,
and out of the Paradise of His Pen the breath of the All-Merciful hath
continually been wafted to the hearts and souls of men. Happy are they that
have recognized this truth.
If, in the Day when all the peoples of the earth will be
gathered together, any man should, whilst standing in the presence of God, be
asked: “Wherefore hast thou disbelieved in My Beauty and turned away from My
Self,” and if such a man should reply and say: “Inasmuch as all men have erred,
and none hath been found willing to turn his face to the Truth, I, too,
following their example, have grievously failed to recognize the Beauty of the
Eternal,” such a plea will, assuredly, be rejected. For the faith of no man can
be conditioned by any one except himself.
…every man hath been, and will continue to be, able of
himself to appreciate the Beauty of God, the Glorified. Had he not been endowed
with such a capacity, how could he be called to account for his failure?
…the moment the word expressing My attribute “The
Omniscient” issueth forth from My mouth, every created thing will, according to
its capacity and limitations, be invested with the power to unfold the
knowledge of the most marvelous sciences, and will be empowered to manifest
them in the course of time at the bidding of Him Who is the Almighty, the
All-Knowing. Know thou of a certainty that the Revelation of every other Name
is accompanied by a similar manifestation of Divine power. Every single letter
proceeding out of the mouth of God is indeed a mother letter, and every word
uttered by Him Who is the Well Spring of Divine Revelation is a mother word,
and His Tablet a Mother Tablet. Well is it with them that apprehend this truth.
We have also heard that thou hast entrusted the reins of
counsel into the hands of the representatives of the people. Thou, indeed, hast done well, for thereby the
foundations of the edifice of thine affairs will be strengthened, and the
hearts of all that are beneath thy shadow, whether high or low, will be tranquillized. It behoveth them, however, to be trustworthy
among His servants, and to regard themselves as the representatives of all that
dwell on earth. This is what counselleth
them, in this Tablet, He Who is the Ruler, the All-Wise. And if any one of them directeth himself
towards the Assembly, let him turn his eyes unto the Supreme Horizon, and
say: “O my God! I ask Thee, by Thy most glorious Name, to aid
me in that which will cause the affairs of Thy servants to prosper, and Thy
cities to flourish. Thou, indeed, hast
power over all things!” Blessed is he
that entereth the Assembly for the sake of God, and judgeth between men with
pure justice. He, indeed, is of the
blissful.