How many the fires which God converteth into light through
Him Whom God shall make manifest; and how numerous the lights which are turned
into fire through Him! I behold His appearance even as the sun in the midmost
heaven, and the disappearance of all even as that of the stars of the night by
day. 
If thou attainest unto His [Baha’u’llah] Revelation, and
obeyest Him, thou wilt have revealed the fruit of the Bayán; if not, thou art
unworthy of mention before God. Take pity upon thyself. If thou aidest not Him
Who is the Manifestation of the Lordship of God, be not, then, a cause of
sadness unto Him.” And further He saith—magnified be His station: “If thou
attainest not unto the Presence of God, grieve not, then, the Sign of God. Ye
will renounce that which can profit them that acknowledge the Bayán, if ye
renounce that which can harm Him. I know, however, that ye will refuse to do
so.
Let not names shut you out as by a veil from Him
[Baha’u’llah] Who is their Lord, even the name of Prophet, for such a name is
but a creation of His utterance.
Be fair, O people! The purpose of the Most Exalted One (the
Báb) was to insure that the proximity of the Revelation should not withhold men
from the Divine and everlasting Law, even as the companions of John (the
Baptist) were prevented from acknowledging Him Who is the Spirit (Jesus). Time
and again He hath said: “Suffer not the Bayán and all that hath been revealed
therein to withhold you from that Essence of Being and Lord of the visible and
invisible.” Should any one, considering this binding injunction, cling unto the
Bayán, such a one hath, verily, passed out of the shadow of the blessed and
exalted Tree. Be fair, O people, and be not of the heedless.
…equity is the most fundamental among human virtues. The
evaluation of all things must needs depend upon it.
Please God, the poor may exert themselves and strive to earn
the means of livelihood. This is a duty which, in this most great Revelation,
hath been prescribed unto every one, and is accounted in the sight of God as a
goodly deed. Whoso observeth this duty, the help of the invisible One shall
most certainly aid him. He can enrich, through His grace, whomsoever He
pleaseth. He, verily, hath power over all things....
In such manner hath the Kitáb-i-Aqdas been revealed that it
attracteth and embraceth all the divinely appointed Dispensations. Blessed
those who peruse it. Blessed those who apprehend it. Blessed those who meditate
upon it. Blessed those who ponder its meaning. So vast is its range that it
hath encompassed all men ere their recognition of it. Ere long will its
sovereign power, its pervasive influence and the greatness of its might be
manifested on earth. Verily, thy God is the All-Knowing, the All-Informed.
The reason why the subject of aid and assistance hath time
and again streamed and will continue to stream from the Pen of Providence is to
warn the friends of God lest they engage in activities that would give rise to
strife and turmoil. It is incumbent upon them, one and all, to diligently seek
ways to help the Cause of God in such manner as We have explained. This is but
a token of His grace especially conferred upon His loved ones that every one of
them may attain the station characterized by the words: ‘Whoso quickeneth a
soul hath verily quickened all mankind.’
They who are possessed of riches, however, must have the
utmost regard for the poor, for great is the honor destined by God for those
poor who are steadfast in patience. By My life! There is no honor, except what
God may please to bestow, that can compare to this honor. Great is the
blessedness awaiting the poor that endure patiently and conceal their
sufferings, and well is it with the rich who bestow their riches on the needy
and prefer them before themselves.
The Day-Star of utterance, shining resplendent from the
dayspring of divine Revelation, hath so illumined the Scrolls and Tablets that
the kingdom of utterance and the exalted dominion of understanding vibrate with
joy and ecstasy and shine forth with the splendour of His light, yet the
generality of mankind comprehend not.
It beseemeth all men, in this Day, to take firm hold on the
Most Great Name, and to establish the unity of all mankind. There is no place
to flee to, no refuge that any one can seek, except Him. Should any man be led
to utter such words as will turn away the people from the shores of God’s
limitless ocean, and cause them to fix their hearts on anything except this
glorious and manifest Being, that hath assumed a form subject to human
limitations—such a man, however lofty the station he may occupy, shall be
denounced by the entire creation as one that hath deprived himself of the sweet
savors of the All-Merciful.
Could the people but taste that choice Wine of the mercy of
their Lord, the Almighty, the All-Knowing, which lieth in store for them in the
world beyond, they would assuredly cease their censure, and seek only to win
the good pleasure of this Youth. For now, however, they have hidden Me behind a
veil of darkness, whose fabric they have woven with the hands of idle fancy and
vain imagination. Erelong shall the snow-white hand of God rend an opening
through the darkness of this night and unlock a mighty portal unto His City. On
that Day shall the people enter therein by troops, uttering what the blamers
aforetime exclaimed, [Qur’an 12:31] that there shall be made manifest in the
end that which appeared in the beginning.
It is incumbent upon thee, and upon the followers of Him Who
is the Eternal Truth, to summon all men to whatsoever shall sanctify them from
all attachment to the things of the earth and purge them from its defilements,
that the sweet smell of the raiment of the All-Glorious may be smelled from all
them that love Him.
How great, how very great, the gulf that separateth Us from
them who, in this Day, are occupied with their evil passions, and have set
their hopes on the things of the earth and its fleeting glory! Many a time hath
the court of the All-Merciful been to outward seeming so denuded of the riches
of this world that they who lived in close association with Him suffered from
dire want. Despite their sufferings, the Pen of the Most High hath, at no time,
been willing to refer, nor even to make the slightest allusion, to the things
that pertain to this world and its treasures. And if, at any time, any gift
were presented to Him, that gift was accepted as a token of His grace unto him
that offered it. Should it ever please Us to appropriate to Our own use all the
treasures of the earth, to none is given the right to question Our authority,
or to challenge Our right. It would be impossible to conceive any act more
contemptible than soliciting, in the name of the one true God, the riches which
men possess.
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.