heard the Voice of this Manifestation. Listen: Those who have mounted to
God before hearing the Voice, if they followed the rules of conduct as
laid down by Jesus and always walked in the straight path,they have
obtained this Dazzling Light after their rising to the Kingdom of God. I
pray God to lift the veil for thee and to corroborate by the spirit of
experience, so that all may be evident to thee, by the Holy Spirit of God.
I implore God to give thee indication of good conduct in the way of
salvation, as a guiding lamp lighted from the fire of God's Love, and to
cause thee to be called in His Name by the multitude of the world, so that
the Name of God shall be proclaimed in all far off countries.
Give my compliments and my praises to thy estimable husband; my greeting
and praise to thee.
"O ye two maid-servants of God!..."
O ye two(220) maid-servants of God!
The Lord of the Kingdom hath invited, chosen and guided you through His
pure favor, feeding you from the heavenly table of divine knowledge! Know
ye the value of this favor and bounty and loosen your tongues in praise;
showing forth the power of knowledge and assurance and breathing the
spirit of guidance into the hearts of the seekers.
Ask from God that ye stand firm and steadfast in this great Cause.
I pray in your behalf, asking assistance and favor for you. I hope that ye
may become confirmed and helped.
"O thou thrall of the Lord of the Kingdom!..."
O thou thrall of the Lord of the Kingdom!
Thy photograph was considered with utmost insight. This picture is an
emblem of an enlightened face, that is, a countenance which hath taken a
share of the outpouring of the manifest Light. This picture is produced by
the light of the sun. Therefore, it is called a sun picture. I pray to God
that thy picture may become reflected upon the page of existence forever
and ever.
"O thou attracted maid-servant of God!..."
O thou attracted maid-servant of God!
A few days ago the photograph of thyself and sister was received and a
tablet was revealed and forwarded. Now, also, through pure mercy, the
answer of thy letter is transmitted.
Praise be to God! that the heavenly blessings are being poured upon thee
and thou art being led by the light of guidance.
Supplication to God that the seed of knowledge in the soil of thy heart
may soon develop and grow into hyacinths and roses(221) and that the
flower-garden of the love of God may be thereby perfumed.
Therefore, I beseech God that He may bestow upon thee a meek and
submissive heart and that He may confirm thee in the service of the divine
garden and assist thee to emulate the actions and deeds of the godly ones.
Also, that He may guide, to the Kingdom of God, your father, mother and
friends, in order that by these heavenly blessings they may become
fruitful trees and obtain a portion of the great and glorious gift.
"O ye members of the shining assembly!..."
O ye members of the shining assembly!(222)
The letter which was written by you, was not a letter, but a musk sack.
For the fragrances of the rose-garden of its significances perfumed the
nostrils of every heavenly one; evincing firmness in the love of God,
steadfastness in the Covenant and Testament and affinity among the
friends.
This yearning one was enflamed and burning intensely, but when I perused
that letter, a gentle breeze wafted and an extraordinary freshness and
delicacy was imparted to me. I turned my face toward the Threshold of the
Almighty and supplicated Him imploringly thus:
"O thou Eternal One! Make the friends of that country prosperous, acquaint
them with the mysteries; usher them into the divine rose-garden and reveal
to them the hidden realities and significances; make their hearts the
association of truth and their souls full of divine melodies and sacred
(choral) music!"
"O God! This respectful assemblage are my relatives and kindred and the
cause of the happiness of this afflicted one. Bestow upon them a shining
face and grant them a musk-diffusing character. Show them the mystery of
the Kingdom and suffer them to hear the soul-elevating harmony of heaven!
Awaken (the people) by the breeze of the Paradise of Abha and make them
alive by the power of the Holy Spirit. Verily, Thou are the Powerful and
Omnipotent, and Thou art the Bestower and generous!"
"O thou dear servant of God!..."
O thou dear servant of God!
Thy letter is received and its contents were the cause of happiness.
Regard the bounty and forgiveness of the Mighty Creator: Though Abdul-Baha
is in this blessed and illuminated Spot and thou in St. Peter (Minn.)--the
other side of the world--thou hast inhaled the divine breath
notwithstanding the great distance, and beheld the heavenly Light. There
are thousands of people in the Holy Land associated with us and yet they
are deprived and have no hope in God. This is naught save a blessing from
the heavenly Father which hath enlightened that face (i.e., thy face) and
made that heart (thy heart) divine. I ask God that thou wilt be so
animated by the breaths of the Holy Spirit that thou wilt cause that
region to become an Eden of Paradise and illumine many souls with the
brilliant Light.
Though we cannot see each other physically at this time, thank God the
Spiritual Breath is a messenger between us, which is the means of assuring
the heart and rejoicing the spirit.
"O thou seeker of the Heavenly Kingdom!..."
O thou seeker of the Heavenly Kingdom!
This world resembles the human body and the Kingdom of God is like the
spirit of life. Think how narrow and dark the material world of man is,
how afflicted with disease and maladies; but how bright and spacious is
His Spiritual World! Through this illustration thou mayest comprehend in
what manner is the Spiritual World portrayed in this earthly world and in
what degree is its power effected. Though the Spirit is concealed, its
power is manifested and clear in the phenomenal world; and so with the
Kingdom of God, though it is veiled from the eyes of the ignorant people,
to men of perception it is discernable and evident. Therefore, thou must
become entirely heavenly that thou mayest forget the earthly conditions
and be immersed in the perception of Divinity to such a degree that thou
wilt be unconscious of the surrounding material existence.
"O my dear friend!..."
O my dear friend!
Verily, my heart is united with thee even though my body is in a distant
land, for verily neither long distance nor immense remoteness can prevent
the union between hearts, because the clear hearts are in reality
assembled in union in the Kingdom of God, while bodies are disperse in the
east and west of the earth. This dispersion cannot stop the affinity and
cannot veil the eye of soul from seeing in all directions.
"O thou who art cheerfully moving by the Fragrances..."
O thou who art cheerfully moving by the Fragrances of God!
Know thou verily, that when the Sun of Truth shown forth to the horizons,
the eyes of the people of affection were brightened by witnessing thereof,
but the blind are in veil and discord, and say: "Where is the Sun of the
Horizon?" Leave them in the veils of passions and fathoms of the seas of
ignorance, to sink and play.
Verily, thou shouldst be rejoiced with this Light, which is shining to the
Easts of the earth and the Wests thereof, and be illumined thereby, so
that thou becomest saved with thy whole being from the gloomy darkness.
Then thou wilt become of the great signs of guidance.
"O thou seeker of Truth!..."
O thou seeker of Truth!
I received the photograph of thy shining figure and I looked at it with
thorough attention. A tranquility and steadfastness was manifest in thy
visage. I beg of God that the lights of the Kingdom may so shine upon this
face (or figure) that they may dispel the darkness of error from many. If
thou doest act according to the commandments and exhortations of God, know
thou for a certainty that the luminosity of thy face will day by day
increase. Be thou happy and well pleased and arise to offer thanks to God,
in order that thanksgiving may conduce to the increase of bounty.
"O thou maid-servant of God!..."
O thou maid-servant of God!
Thy message, through the maid-servant of God ........ was received. Happy
is thy state that thou art seeking the Truth and endeavoring to attain
eternal life. This is a lofty aim, but it requireth the heavenly
confirmation and assistance.
I pray that this assistance may be vouchsafed unto thee and this bounty
environ thee, that thou hearest the call of the Kingdom and beholdest the
greatest signs.
Reflect upon this: What a bounty and what a favor it is that the sages of
the world and the wise among mankind are incompetent of comprehension, yet
the little children of the Kingdom have attained the Truth, dwell and
abide under the shadow of the Tree of Life and are assisted by the
everlasting and eternal gift!
"O maid-servant of God!..."
O maid-servant of God!
Verily that Infant is born and exists and their will appear from His Cause
a wonder which thou wilt hear in future. Thou shalt see Him with the most
perfect form, most great gift, most complete perfection, most great power
and strongest might! His Face glisteneth a glistening whereby the horizons
are illumined! Therefore, forget not this account as long as thou art
living, forasmuch as there are signs for it in the passing centuries and
ages.
Upon ye be greeting and praise!
ABDUL-BAHA ABBAS.
"If the people live and act in accord with..."
"If the people live and act in accord with the General Tablets which are
revealed in the beloved of the East and of the West, this universe will
become another universe, and the whole existence of this world will be
clad in another garment"
Abdul-Baha Abbas
VOLUME III
"O thou who art firm in the Covenant!..."
O thou who art firm in the Covenant!
Thou hast asked regarding the phrase, "He is God!" written above the
Tablets. By this Word it is intended that no one hath any access to the
Invisible Essence. The way is barred and the road is impassable. In this
world all men must turn their faces toward "Him-whom God-shall-Manifest."
He is the "Dawning-place of Divinity" and the "Manifestation of Deity." He
is the "Ultimate Goal," the "Adored One" of all and the "Worshipped One"
of all. Otherwise, whatever flashes through the mind is not that Essence
of essences and the Reality of realities; nay, rather it is pure
imagination(223) woven by man and is surrounded, not the surrounding.
Consequently, it returns finally to the realm of suppositions and
conjectures.
"O God! O thou Attracted of the hearts of the favored..."
O God! O thou Attracted of the hearts of the favored ones toward the
Manifest Horizon!
Verily, Thou art witnessing that the fire is ablaze in the breasts, the
tears are streaming from the eyes and the period of patience and silence
hath come to an end. The eyes of the beloved ones, O my God, are swimming
in tears; the hearts of the yearning ones, O my Beloved, are wandering in
the wilderness of Thy mercifulness; and the souls of the attracted ones, O
my Desires, are afflicted with anguish on account of Thy separation!
Verily, they have heard Thy universal proclamation, O my God, and what
Thou has revealed in the Koran: "Say! travel ye on earth, so that ye may
behold the signs of the mercy of God." thereupon, after Thy ascension, the
people of faithfulness have arisen, traveling to distant lands and
hastening to far and remote regions of the world, in order to cry out Thy
Name, to remind the souls of the arrival of Thy days, to lead the minds to
the fountain of Thy signs, to demonstrate to all the inhabitants of the
world Thy proof and Thy religion, to guide the truth seekers to the right
path and to indicate the straight highway to the strivers. From among them
is Thy servant ... who is firm in the Ancient Covenant, fleeing from the
people of darkness, drinking from the water of eternal life and
intoxicated with the wine which is overflowing from the divine cup.
Verily, he hath left his native abode, waved the hand of farewell to his
relatives, forsaken ease and comfort, hastened to strange and unknown
kingdoms and accepted hardship and adversities while heralding Thy Name,
commemorating Thy glorification, attracted to Thy beauty, stirred by the
fragrances of Thy holiness, speaking Thy praises, voicing Thy Cause,
guiding others to Thee, proving Thy religion, demonstrating Thy
irrefutable truth, becoming an answerer to every questioning one and a
guide to every one held in error!
O my Lord! O my Lord! Verily, he endured every affliction in Thy path and
bore patiently every hardship and adversity in Thy love. A breath of rest
hath he not breathed, neither hath his sought after any favor, abode or
habitation in this world; nay, rather hath he walked in the footsteps of
Thy most exalted Word, His Highness Christ, for he hath taken the stars
for his lamp, the earth for his bed and the herbs for his food.
Notwithstanding this, his cry was raised in the assemblages and his voice
was heard in the meetings. The seekers flowed toward him and the thirsty
ones hastened to drink from the water of his utterance. O my God! This is
no other than through Thy generosity, Thy beneficence, Thy mercy and Thy
favors. O my God! Help him by the hosts of the approximate angels, assist
him by the cohorts of the Supreme Concourse amid Thy creatures, make him a
lamp of guidance in that distant part of the earth and a luminary shining
and sparkling from the dawning-place of faithfulness, in order that he may
serve Thy holy threshold, falling prostrate upon the ground thanking and
praising for Thy bounty, liberality and gifts to him; girding up his loins
of endeavor in Thy service and becoming reinforced and empowered in Thy
adoration!
O my Lord! O my Lord! Assign for him every bounty and suffer him to become
the sign of Thy gifts amid Thy people. Then have pity upon me, forgive me,
show me Thy mercy and make me a sharer in his services, a partner in his
adversities and a companion in his loneliness.
Verily Thou art the Confirmer, the Assister, the Mighty, the Generous, the
Compassionate and the Merciful!
"O thou who art firm in the Covenant!..."
O thou who art firm in the Covenant!
"Your letters have been received. God willing, answer..."
Your letters have been received. God willing, answer will be given very
soon, but as a matter of great importance is on foot (afloat), therefore I
write it to you in brief and it is this, that his honor Mr. ... must
compose a letter of thanks on behalf of the believers of America in
general and that letter of thanks should be addressed to a very eminent
and lofty personage. (The contents of that letter must be of this nature:)
"That excellent news hath reached American countries that His Royal
Highness, the noble Prince, hath dealt with utmost justice with the
subjects and the people and hath treated all the subjects with perfect
equality. He hath protected the rights of all and forbidden the extortions
of the tyrants. He is dealing with utmost kindness and affinity and is an
asylum for every oppressed one and an open treasury to every indigent one.
He decides with justice the case of every pleader and is a refuge and
protection to the helpless. Consequently, we in general, who are the
well-wishers of the government and Persian nation, with utmost
gratification are praising and commending the justice of His Royal
Highness, the Prince, and are content and glad; and in order to manifest
our thanks we present this petition; and whatever in the line of service
is commanded us, we are ready to comply with the most extreme diligence.
We ask earnestly from God that the Imperial Government become everlasting,
His Imperial Majesty, the just Shah, remain and live long, and His Royal
Highness, the Prince, become to every subject a divine gift and that he
may become confirmed and helped in all affairs."
Let there be two copies of this petition and the ore the believers sign
each of these two copies, the better it is. Each person must sign
personally. Then (when they are finished) you forward them here. We will
write on them the address and forward to their destination. Wisdom does
not permit the mentioning of the name of these two distinguished
personages; therefore, it is better to be left unknown.
His honor Mr. ... must compose these two petitions in English with utmost
eloquence and perfect style. You, likewise, must translate them and
forward them here with the translations.
Upon thee be greeting and praise!
"O thou who art firm in the Covenant!..."
O thou who art firm in the Covenant!
Now I have found the opportunity to answer the petitions recently received
and forward them to you in this mail.
Regarding the subject of Persia: Praise be to God! she became the East of
the Sun of Truth in this age. The Light of Eternity dawned, the
Everlasting Glory unveiled her countenance and the Reality of the
Mercifulness became manifest. This is the prosperity of Persia.
Undoubtedly she will progress day by day under the shade of the Blessed
Tree until her illumination shall penetrate throughout the wide expanse of
the earth.
Regarding the question of the establishment of the National Assembly: This
National Assembly(224) will not bring any rapid results. Now some of the
agitators are harboring evil intentions and do not let agreement and union
be realized between the nations and the government. They are instigating
the hopeless ones at every moment and sending them to the British
Legation, while on the other hand they ask private assistance and
protection from the government so that they may procure wealth. Each and
all of the clergy are thinking in this line.
However, we have nothing to do with these proceedings and
counter-proceedings. We are commanded to quicken the souls, to train the
characters, to illumine the realm of man, to guide all the inhabitants of
the earth, to create concord and unity among all men and to lead the world
of humanity to the Fountain of the Everlasting Glory. The reformation of
one empire is not our aim; nay, rather we invoke from God that all the
regions of the world be reformed and cultivated; the republic of men
become the manifestors of the bounty of the most glorious Lord; the East
and the West be brought nearer together; and that Turk and Tajik, Iran and
America, India and Arabia, Japan and Persia, China and Germany; in brief,
all the nations and peoples of the world become as one soul and one
spirit, in order that strife and warfare be entirely removed and the
rancor and hostility disappear so that all become as the waves of one
ocean, the drops of one sea, the flowers of one rose-garden, the trees of
one orchard, the grains of one harvest and the plants of one meadow.
Regarding the statement that hath been given out as the saying of His
Majesty the Shah: This hath no connection whatever with the Bahais; nay,
rather it hath meant the Babis. Mirza Yahya, the son of Mirza Hadi of
Doulet Abad, and a few souls of Ezelis(225) who are living in Teheran and
were at one time secret friends of Jamal-ed-Din of Afghan, have allied
themselves with the party, which is working against the government, and is
engaged in the work of instigating and inciting the people. His Imperial
Majesty did mean these souls, that is, the Babis, not the Bahais. But it
is an established facts that the Bahais are the well-wishers of the nation
and the government; are showing forth obedience and displaying good
intentions; are not interfering in political matters; are engaged in the
education and spiritualization of characters and are occupied with the
training of the ignorant ones.
O thou who art firm in the Covenant! The general historical report about
the Cause of God in that country,(226) that thou hast forwarded to
Menshadi,(227) became very acceptable. Undoubtedly you must, every few
months, write a report about the general conditions and attitudes of the
Cause of God in America and forward it to Acca, so that we may send it to
Persia to be printed and spread among the people.
O thou yearning servant of the Beauty of Abha! In the time that all the
ulemas and sages, leaders, merchants and traders, nay, even the public
itself from the highest to the lowest have taken refuge in the British
Legation and began to complain and clamor that they are oppressed, His
Royal Highness Shoa-Us-Saltanah, the son of the Shah, cried in the
Assembly of Nobles: "These ulemas and Sheite leaders were always
stigmatizing the Bahais, saying, 'They are the ill-wishers of the
government and the corruptors of nations!' Now consider ye with the eye of
justice! Sixty years have rolled by and the Bahais have been the object of
the sword of affliction and the target of the arrows of oppression.
Thousands of houses have been destroyed, children became captives, women
became prisoners, property was pillaged and not even a small children
remained safe; yet, notwithstanding all of this, not one single Bahai took
refuge under the flag of a foreign power! Now these Sheites, though they
have always been treated with the utmost favor and benefit by the
government, yet without the slightest reason they went under the
protection of a foreign power and brought down such humiliation and
dishonor upon the nation and the government! If they presented primarily
their petitions to the government, their wishes would be complied with in
a better and more effective way. This is the difference between the
Sheites and the Bahais!"
"O thou who art firm in the Covenant!..."
O thou who art firm in the Covenant!
I have received the eloquent article which thou hast written at the moment
of the arrival of the most great glad-tidings regarding the establishment
of the National Assembly and the organization of the constitutional and
judicial government of Persia according to the evident command of the Book
of Akdas, and the spontaneous joy and the genuine sympathy demonstrated by
the people of science and discernment in America at hearing this
soul-refreshing news, and the utmost happiness to the members of the
Legation. I read it and it became the cause of the utmost joy and
fragrance.
The Constitutional Government, according to the irrefutable text of the
Religion of God, is the cause of the glory and prosperity of the nation
and the civilization and freedom of the people. However, according to what
is known, the hands of the selfish leaders from among the ulemas
(Mohammedan clergy) are in this affair. Outwardly they are desiring the
establishment of the National Assembly and at every moment they are crying
and clamoring (for its immediate realization), but inwardly they are
sowing the seeds of corruption and agitation and try to put at naught the
noble intention of the government. In the secret of their hearts and souls
they do not favor the upbuilding of the National Assembly, the
civilization of Persia, the awakening of the people, the advancement of
the age, the spreading of knowledge and public instruction. Thieves like
to lurk in darkness; fishers desire disturbed water; the bat shuns the
rays of the sun; the black beetle dislikes the fragrance of the
rose-garden; the ferocious wolf is in expectation of the sleet and snow;
and the wine seller sees his advantage in the inebriate, irrational
drinker. These leaders of religion also desire to behold the nation thrown
into a weltering chaos of ignorance so that the rein of affairs remain in
the hands of the arrogant ulemas. They know that if the nation began to
adore wisdom, truthfulness, progression and fidelity, it would bring about
their (the ulemas) degradation.