O Son of Man! If adversity befall thee not in My path, how
canst thou walk in the ways of them that are content with My pleasure? If
trials afflict thee not in thy longing to meet Me, how wilt thou attain the
light in thy love for My beauty? 
Wherever this Wronged One went Mírzá Yaḥyá followed Him.
Thou art thyself a witness and well knowest that whatever hath been said is the
truth. The Siyyid of Iṣfáhán, however, surreptitiously duped him. They
committed that which caused the greatest consternation. Would that thou wouldst
inquire from the officials of the government concerning the conduct of Mírzá Yaḥyá
in that land. Aside from all this, I adjure thee by God, the One, the
Incomparable, the Lord of Strength, the Most Powerful, to carefully look into
the communications addressed in his name to the Primal Point, that thou mayest
behold the evidences of Him Who is the Truth as clear as the sun. Likewise,
there proceeded from the words of the Point of the Bayán—may the souls of all
else but Him be sacrificed for His sake—that which no veil can obscure, and
which neither the veils of glory nor the veils interposed by such as have gone
astray can hide. The veils have, verily, been rent asunder by the finger of the
will of thy Lord, the Strong, the All-Subduing, the All-Powerful. Yea,
desperate is the state of such as have calumniated Me and envied Me. Not long
ago it was stated that thou hadst ascribed the authorship of the Kitáb-i-Íqán
and of other Tablets unto others. I swear by God! This is a grievous injustice.
Others are incapable of apprehending their meaning, how much more of revealing
them!
Were He [Baha’u’llah’] to appear this very moment, I would
be the first to adore Him, and the first to bow down before Him.
We especially appointed certain ones to collect the writings
of the Primal Point. When this was accomplished, We summoned Mírzá Yahyá and
Mírzá Vahháb-i-Khurásání, known as Mírzá Javád, to meet in a certain place.
Conforming with Our instructions, they completed the task of transcribing two
copies of the works of the Primal Point. I swear by God! This Wronged One, by
reason of His constant association with men, hath not looked at these books,
nor gazed with outward eyes on these writings. When We departed, these writings
were in the possession of these two persons. It was agreed that Mírzá Yahyá
should be entrusted with them, and proceed to Persia, and disseminate them
throughout that land. This Wronged One proceeded, at the request of the
Ministers of the Ottoman Government to their capital. When We arrived in Mosul,
We found that Mírzá Yahyá had left before Us for that city, and was awaiting Us
there. Briefly, the books and writings were left in Baghdád, while he himself
proceeded to Constantinople and joined these servants. God beareth now witness
unto the things which have touched this Wronged One, for after We had so
arduously striven, he (Mírzá Yahyá) abandoned the writings and joined the
exiles. This Wronged One was, for a long period, overwhelmed by infinite
sorrows until such time when, in pursuance of measures of which none but the
one true God is aware, We despatched the writings unto another place and
another country, owing to the fact that in ‘Iráq all documents must every month
be carefully examined, lest they rot and perish. God, however, preserved them
and sent them unto a place which He had previously ordained. He, verily, is the
Protector, the Succorer.
The verses are sent down at one time in a form that is
untroubled by the rules of grammarians, transcending what the minds of men have
yet conceived; and at another time they are sent down in a style that
conformeth to the standards of men. Thy Lord, verily, is potent over whatsoever
He willeth by virtue of His words "Be, and it is." Wert thou to view
them with Mine eyes thou wouldst see that they are in conformity with the most
consummate rules, and wouldst give thanks to the Lord, the Almighty, the Best-Beloved.
Thou knowest full well that We perused not the books which
men possess and We acquired not the learning current amongst them, and yet
whenever We desire to quote the sayings of the learned and of the wise,
presently there will appear before the face of thy Lord in the form of a tablet
all that which hath appeared in the world and is revealed in the Holy Books and
Scriptures. Thus do We set down in writing that which the eye perceiveth.
Verily His knowledge encompasseth the earth and the heavens.
Say: Fear ye God and commit not such deeds as would cause My
loved ones on earth to lament. Thus biddeth you this Pen which hath set the Pen
of Glory in motion within the arena of wisdom and true understanding.
Say: If it be Our pleasure We shall render the Cause
victorious through the power of a single word from Our presence. He is in truth
the Omnipotent, the All-Compelling. Should it be God’s intention, there would
appear out of the forests of celestial might the lion of indomitable strength
whose roaring is like unto the peals of thunder reverberating in the mountains.
However, since Our loving providence surpasseth all things, We have ordained
that complete victory should be achieved through speech and utterance, that Our
servants throughout the earth may thereby become the recipients of divine good.
This is but a token of God’s bounty vouchsafed unto them. Verily thy Lord is
the All-Sufficing, the Most Exalted.
We… beseech Him [God] to make of this darksome tribulation
[Baha’u’llah’s imprisonment in Akka] a shield for the Temple of His Cause, and
to protect it from the assault of sharpened swords and pointed daggers. Adversity hath ever given rise to the
exaltation of His Cause and the glorification of His Name. Such hath been God’s method carried into
effect in centuries and ages past. That
which the people now fail to apprehend they shall erelong discover, on that day
when their steeds shall stumble and their finery be folded up, their blades
blunted and their feet made to falter.
Exhort thou the servants of God unto that whereunto We have
exhorted thee that they may abstain from whatsoever is forbidden them in the
Mother Book. Those who perpetrate deeds that would create turmoil among the
people have indeed strayed far from helping God and His Cause and are numbered
with the mischief-makers in the Tablet which God hath designated to be the
dawning-place of all Tablets.
Say: To assist Me is to teach My Cause. This is a theme with
which whole Tablets are laden. This is the changeless commandment of God,
eternal in the past, eternal in the future. Comprehend this, O ye men of
insight. They that have passed beyond the bounds of wisdom fail to understand
the meaning of assisting God as set forth in the Book. Say: Fear ye God and sow
not the seeds of dissension amongst men. Observe ye that which hath been
enjoined upon you by your Lord, the Almighty, the All-Knowing. He knoweth the
reality of victory and hath taught it to you with an utterance that the vain
imaginings of them that rove distraught in the wilderness of doubt can never
corrupt.
The vitality of men’s belief in God is dying out in every
land; nothing short of His wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The
corrosion of ungodliness is eating into the vitals of human society; what else
but the Elixir of His potent Revelation can cleanse and revive it? Is it within
human power, O Hakím, to effect in the constituent elements of any of the
minute and indivisible particles of matter so complete a transformation as to
transmute it into purest gold? Perplexing and difficult as this may appear, the
still greater task of converting satanic strength into heavenly power is one
that We have been empowered to accomplish. The Force capable of such a
transformation transcendeth the potency of the Elixir itself. The Word of God,
alone, can claim the distinction of being endowed with the capacity required
for so great and far-reaching a change.
We have not entered any school, nor read any of your
dissertations. Incline your ears to the words of this unlettered One, wherewith
He summoneth you unto God, the Ever-Abiding. Better is this for you than all
the treasures of the earth, could ye but comprehend it.
Say: This, verily, is the heaven in which the Mother Book is
treasured, could ye but comprehend it. He it is Who hath caused the Rock to
shout, and the Burning Bush to lift up its voice, upon the Mount rising above
the Holy Land, and proclaim: “The Kingdom is God’s, the sovereign Lord of all,
the All-Powerful, the Loving!”
By God! Though weariness lay Me low, and hunger consume Me,
and the bare rock be My bed, and My fellows the beasts of the field, I will not
complain, but will endure patiently as those endued with constancy and firmness
have endured patiently, through the power of God, the Eternal King and Creator
of the nations, and will render thanks unto God under all conditions. We pray
that, out of His bounty—exalted be He—He may release, through this imprisonment,
the necks of men from chains and fetters, and cause them to turn, with sincere
faces, towards His face, Who is the Mighty, the Bounteous. Ready is He to
answer whosoever calleth upon Him, and nigh is He unto such as commune with
Him.
Erelong shall the exponents of wealth and power banish Us
from the land of Adrianople to the city of ‘Akká. According to what they say,
it is the most desolate of the cities of the world, the most unsightly of them
in appearance, the most detestable in climate, and the foulest in water. It is
as though it were the metropolis of the owl, within whose precincts naught can
be heard save the echo of its cry. Therein have they resolved to imprison this
Youth, to shut against our faces the doors of ease and comfort, and to deprive
us of every worldly benefit throughout the remainder of our days.
I noted, moreover, thine allusions to thy death in God and
thy life through Him, and the love thou dost cherish for the beloved of the
Lord and for the Manifestations of His names and the Exponents of His
attributes. I have purposed, therefore, to acquaint thee with holy and
resplendent tokens from the realms of might and glory, that haply they may draw
thee nigh unto the court of holiness, nearness, and beauty, and draw thee to a
station wherein thou shalt see naught in all existence but the hallowed Countenance
of thy Beloved, and wilt behold all of creation as a day wherein none was
deemed worthy of mention.
We have decreed, O people, that the highest and last end of
all learning be the recognition of Him Who is the Object of all knowledge; and
yet, behold how ye have allowed your learning to shut you out, as by a veil,
from Him Who is the Day Spring of this Light, through Whom every hidden thing
hath been revealed. Could ye but discover the source whence the splendor of
this utterance is diffused, ye would cast away the peoples of the world and all
that they possess, and would draw nigh unto this most blessed Seat of glory.
O ye leaders of religion! Who is the man amongst you that
can rival Me in vision or insight? Where is he to be found that dareth to claim
to be My equal in utterance or wisdom? No, by My Lord, the All-Merciful! All on
the earth shall pass away; and this is the face of your Lord, the Almighty, the
Well-Beloved.
Say: O leaders of religion! Weigh not the Book of God with
such standards and sciences as are current amongst you, for the Book itself is
the unerring balance established amongst men. In this most perfect balance
whatsoever the peoples and kindreds of the earth possess must be weighed, while
the measure of its weight should be tested according to its own standard, did
ye but know it.
God testifieth and beareth Us witness that We have, at all
times, been busied with the propagation of this Cause. Neither chains nor
bonds, stocks nor imprisonment, have succeeded in withholding Us from revealing
Our Self. In that land We forbad all mischief, and all unseemly and unholy
deeds. Day and night We sent forth Our Tablets in every direction. We had no
other purpose except to edify the souls of men, and to exalt the blessed Word.
Thou hast enquired about the warning We gave to the people
at the time of Our departure from ‘Iráq to the effect that when the Sun
disappeareth from sight, birds of darkness will be in motion and the standards
of Samírí [1] will be reared high. I swear by God! Those birds have stirred in
these days and Samírí hath raised his clamour. Well is it with him who
recognizeth and is numbered with men of understanding. We have also warned them
against the appearance of the calf. God is My witness! All Our warnings have
come to pass, as indeed, they are bound to, inasmuch as they have issued from
the fingers of glory and might. Beseech thou God to protect thee from the
mischief of these men and to purify thee from the insinuations of the froward.
Strengthen thy loins then for the promotion of the Cause and pay no attention
unto the words uttered by the people of the Bayán, for they are truly incapable
of understanding and have failed to comprehend the essence of the Cause as is
revealed in this august, this Most Great Announcement. Thus have We inspired
thee, and infused into thy heart that which will make thee independent of the
allusions of mankind.
Say, O people, fulfil whatever ye understand of the Persian
Bayán and whatever ye understand not ask this unerring Remembrance
[Baha’u’llah] that He may set forth clearly that which God hath intended in His
Book, for in truth He knoweth that which is enshrined in the Bayán by virtue of
the Will of Him Who is the Omnipotent, the Powerful.
Purge thou thy heart that We may cause fountains of wisdom
and utterance to gush out therefrom, thus enabling thee to raise thy voice
among all mankind. Unloose thy tongue and proclaim the truth for the sake of
the remembrance of thy merciful Lord. Be not afraid of anyone, place thy whole
trust in God, the Almighty, the All-Knowing.