seen His star in the east and are come to worship Him!"(48) When they had
searched, they found out that in Bethlehem, in the land of Judea, the
Child had been born. This was the sign that was manifested in the visible
heaven. As to the sign in the invisible heaven--the heaven of divine
knowledge and understanding--it was Yahya, son of Zachariah, who gave unto
the people the tidings of the Manifestation of Jesus. Even as He hath
revealed: "God announceth Yahya to thee, who shall bear witness unto the
Word from God, and a great one and chaste."(49) By the term "Word" is
meant Jesus, Whose coming Yahya foretold. Moreover, in the heavenly
Scriptures it is written: "John the Baptist was preaching in the
wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the Kingdom of heaven is
at hand."(50) By John is meant Yahya.
Likewise, ere the beauty of Muhammad was unveiled, the signs of the
visible heaven were made manifest. As to the signs of the invisible
heaven, there appeared four men who successively announced unto the people
the joyful tidings of the rise of that divine Luminary. Ruz-bih, later
named Salman, was honoured by being in their service. As the end of one of
these approached, he would send Ruz-bih unto the other, until the fourth
who, feeling his death to be nigh, addressed Ruz-bih saying: "O Ruz-bih!
when thou hast taken up my body and buried it, go to Hijaz for there the
Day-star of Muhammad will arise. Happy art thou, for thou shalt behold His
face!"
And now concerning this wondrous and most exalted Cause. Know thou verily
that many an astronomer hath announced the appearance of its star in the
visible heaven. Likewise, there appeared on earth Ahmad and Kazim,(51)
those twin resplendent lights--may God sanctify their resting-place!
From all that We have stated it hath become clear and manifest that before
the revelation of each of the Mirrors reflecting the divine Essence, the
signs heralding their advent must needs be revealed in the visible heaven
as well as in the invisible, wherein is the seat of the sun of knowledge,
of the moon of wisdom, and of the stars of understanding and utterance.
The sign of the invisible heaven must needs be revealed in the person of
that perfect man who, before each Manifestation appeareth, educateth, and
prepareth the souls of men for the advent of the divine Luminary, the
Light of the unity of God amongst men.
And now, with reference to His words: "And then shall all the tribes of
the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory." These words signify that in those days
men will lament the loss of the Sun of the divine beauty, of the Moon of
knowledge, and of the Stars of divine wisdom. Thereupon, they will behold
the countenance of the promised One, the adored Beauty, descending from
heaven and riding upon the clouds. By this is meant that the divine Beauty
will be made manifest from the heaven of the will of God, and will appear
in the form of the human temple. The term "heaven" denoteth loftiness and
exaltation, inasmuch as it is the seat of the revelation of those
Manifestations of Holiness, the Day-springs of ancient glory. These
ancient Beings, though delivered from the womb of their mother, have in
reality descended from the heaven of the will of God. Though they be
dwelling on this earth, yet their true habitations are the retreats of
glory in the realms above. Whilst walking amongst mortals, they soar in
the heaven of the divine presence. Without feet they tread the path of the
spirit, and without wings they rise unto the exalted heights of divine
unity. With every fleeting breath they cover the immensity of space, and
at every moment traverse the kingdoms of the visible and the invisible.
Upon their thrones is written: "Nothing whatsoever keepeth Him from being
occupied with any other thing;" and on their seats is inscribed: "Verily,
His ways differ every day."(52) They are sent forth through the
transcendent power of the Ancient of Days, and are raised up by the
exalted will of God, the most mighty King. This is what is meant by the
words: "coming in the clouds of heaven."
In the utterances of the divine Luminaries the term "heaven" hath been
applied to many and divers things; such as the "heaven of Command," the
"heaven of Will," the "heaven of the divine Purpose," the "heaven of
divine Knowledge," the "heaven of Certitude," the "heaven of Utterance,"
the "heaven of Revelation," the "heaven of Concealment," and the like. In
every instance, He hath given the term "heaven" a special meaning, the
significance of which is revealed to none save those that have been
initiated into the divine mysteries, and have drunk from the chalice of
immortal life. For example, He saith: "The heaven hath sustenance for you,
and it containeth that which you are promised;"(53) whereas it is the
earth that yieldeth such sustenance. Likewise, it hath been said: "The
names come down from heaven;" whereas they proceed out of the mouth of
men. Wert thou to cleanse the mirror of thy heart from the dust of malice,
thou wouldst apprehend the meaning of the symbolic terms revealed by the
all-embracing Word of God made manifest in every Dispensation, and wouldst
discover the mysteries of divine knowledge. Not, however, until thou
consumest with the flame of utter detachment those veils of idle learning,
that are current amongst men, canst thou behold the resplendent morn of
true knowledge.
Know verily that Knowledge is of two kinds: Divine and Satanic. The one
welleth out from the fountain of divine inspiration; the other is but a
reflection of vain and obscure thoughts. The source of the former is God
Himself; the motive-force of the latter the whisperings of selfish desire.
The one is guided by the principle: "Fear ye God; God will teach you;"(54)
the other is but a confirmation of the truth: "Knowledge is the most
grievous veil between man and his Creator." The former bringeth forth the
fruit of patience, of longing desire, of true understanding, and love;
whilst the latter can yield naught but arrogance, vainglory and conceit.
From the sayings of those Masters of holy utterance, Who have expounded
the meaning of true knowledge, the odour of these dark teachings, which
have obscured the world, can in no wise be detected. The tree of such
teachings can yield no result except iniquity and rebellion, and beareth
no fruit but hatred and envy. Its fruit is deadly poison; its shadow a
consuming fire. How well hath it been said: "Cling unto the robe of the
Desire of thy heart, and put thou away all shame; bid the worldlywise be
gone, however great their name."
The heart must needs therefore be cleansed from the idle sayings of men,
and sanctified from every earthly affection, so that it may discover the
hidden meaning of divine inspiration, and become the treasury of the
mysteries of divine knowledge. Thus hath it been said: "He that treadeth
the snow-white Path, and followeth in the footsteps of the Crimson Pillar,
shall never attain unto his abode unless his hands are empty of those
worldly things cherished by men." This is the prime requisite of whosoever
treadeth this path. Ponder thereon, that, with eyes unveiled, thou mayest
perceive the truth of these words.
We have digressed from the purpose of Our argument, although whatsoever is
mentioned serveth only to confirm Our purpose. By God! however great Our
desire to be brief, yet We feel We cannot restrain Our pen.
Notwithstanding all that We have mentioned, how innumerable are the pearls
which have remained unpierced in the shell of Our heart! How many the
huris of inner meaning that are as yet concealed within the chambers of
divine wisdom! None hath yet approached them;--huris, "whom no man nor
spirit hath touched before."(55) Notwithstanding all that hath been said,
it seemeth as if not one letter of Our purpose hath been uttered, nor a
single sign divulged concerning Our object. When will a faithful seeker be
found who will don the garb of pilgrimage, attain the Ka'bih of the
heart's desire, and, without ear or tongue, discover the mysteries of
divine utterance?
By these luminous, these conclusive, and lucid statements, the meaning of
"heaven" in the aforementioned verse hath thus been made clear and
evident. And now regarding His words, that the Son of man shall "come in
the clouds of heaven." By the term "clouds" is meant those things that are
contrary to the ways and desires of men. Even as He hath revealed in the
verse already quoted: "As oft as an Apostle cometh unto you with that
which your souls desire not, ye swell with pride, accusing some of being
impostors and slaying others."(56) These "clouds" signify, in one sense,
the annulment of laws, the abrogation of former Dispensations, the repeal
of rituals and customs current amongst men, the exalting of the illiterate
faithful above the learned opposers of the Faith. In another sense, they
mean the appearance of that immortal Beauty in the image of mortal man,
with such human limitations as eating and drinking, poverty and riches,
glory and abasement, sleeping and waking, and such other things as cast
doubt in the minds of men, and cause them to turn away. All such veils are
symbolically referred to as "clouds."
These are the "clouds" that cause the heavens of the knowledge and
understanding of all that dwell on earth to be cloven asunder. Even as He
hath revealed: "On that day shall the heaven be cloven by the clouds."(57)
Even as the clouds prevent the eyes of men from beholding the sun, so do
these things hinder the souls of men from recognizing the light of the
divine Luminary. To this beareth witness that which hath proceeded out of
the mouth of the unbelievers as revealed in the sacred Book: "And they
have said: 'What manner of apostle is this? He eateth food, and walketh
the streets. Unless an angel be sent down and take part in His warnings,
we will not believe.'"(58) Other Prophets, similarly, have been subject to
poverty and afflictions, to hunger, and to the ills and chances of this
world. As these holy Persons were subject to such needs and wants, the
people were, consequently, lost in the wilds of misgivings and doubts, and
were afflicted with bewilderment and perplexity. How, they wondered, could
such a person be sent down from God, assert His ascendancy over all the
peoples and kindreds of the earth, and claim Himself to be the goal of all
creation,--even as He hath said: "But for Thee, I would not have created
all that are in heaven and on earth,"--and yet be subject to such trivial
things? You must undoubtedly have been informed of the tribulations, the
poverty, the ills, and the degradation that have befallen every Prophet of
God and His companions. You must have heard how the heads of their
followers were sent as presents unto different cities, how grievously they
were hindered from that whereunto they were commanded. Each and every one
of them fell a prey to the hands of the enemies of His Cause, and had to
suffer whatsoever they decreed.
It is evident that the changes brought about in every Dispensation
constitute the dark clouds that intervene between the eye of man's
understanding and the divine Luminary which shineth forth from the
dayspring of the divine Essence. Consider how men for generations have
been blindly imitating their fathers, and have been trained according to
such ways and manners as have been laid down by the dictates of their
Faith. Were these men, therefore, to discover suddenly that a Man, Who
hath been living in their midst, Who, with respect to every human
limitation, hath been their equal, had risen to abolish every established
principle imposed by their Faith--principles by which for centuries they
have been disciplined, and every opposer and denier of which they have
come to regard as infidel, profligate and wicked,--they would of a
certainty be veiled and hindered from acknowledging His truth. Such things
are as "clouds" that veil the eyes of those whose inner being hath not
tasted the Salsabil of detachment, nor drunk from the Kawthar of the
knowledge of God. Such men, when acquainted with these circumstances,
become so veiled that without the least question, they pronounce the
Manifestation of God an infidel, and sentence Him to death. You must have
heard of such things taking place all down the ages, and are now observing
them in these days.
It behooveth us, therefore, to make the utmost endeavour, that, by God's
invisible assistance, these dark veils, these clouds of Heaven-sent
trials, may not hinder us from beholding the beauty of His shining
Countenance, and that we may recognize Him only by His own Self. And
should we ask for a testimony of His truth, we should content ourselves
with one, and only one; that thereby we may attain unto Him Who is the
Fountain-head of infinite grace, and in Whose presence all the world's
abundance fadeth into nothingness, that we may cease to cavil at Him every
day and to cleave unto our own idle fancy.
Gracious God! Notwithstanding the warning which, in marvelously symbolic
language and subtle allusions, hath been uttered in days past, and which
was intended to awaken the peoples of the world and to prevent them from
being deprived of their share of the billowing ocean of God's grace, yet
such things as have already been witnessed have come to pass! Reference to
these things hath also been made in the Qur'an, as witnessed by this
verse: "What can such expect but that God should come down to them
overshadowed with clouds?"(59) A number of the divines, who hold firmly to
the letter of the Word of God, have come to regard this verse as one of
the signs of that expected resurrection which is born of their idle fancy.
This, notwithstanding the fact that similar references have been made in
most of the heavenly Books, and have been recorded in all the passages
connected with the signs of the coming Manifestation.
Likewise, He saith: "On the day when the heaven shall give out a palpable
smoke, which shall enshroud mankind: this will be an afflictive
torment."(60) The All-Glorious hath decreed these very things, that are
contrary to the desires of wicked men, to be the touchstone and standard
whereby He proveth His servants, that the just may be known from the
wicked, and the faithful distinguished from the infidel. The symbolic term
"smoke" denotes grave dissensions, the abrogation and demolition of
recognized standards, and the utter destruction of their narrow-minded
exponents. What smoke more dense and overpowering than the one which hath
now enshrouded all the peoples of the world, which hath become a torment
unto them, and from which they hopelessly fail to deliver themselves,
however much they strive? So fierce is this fire of self burning within
them, that at every moment they seem to be afflicted with fresh torments.
The more they are told that this wondrous Cause of God, this Revelation
from the Most High, hath been made manifest to all mankind, and is waxing
greater and stronger every day, the fiercer groweth the blaze of the fire
in their hearts. The more they observe the indomitable strength, the
sublime renunciation, the unwavering constancy of God's holy companions,
who, by the aid of God, are growing nobler and more glorious every day,
the deeper the dismay which ravageth their souls. In these days, praise be
to God, the power of His Word hath obtained such ascendancy over men, that
they dare breathe no word. Were they to encounter one of the companions of
God who, if he could, would, freely and joyously, offer up ten thousand
lives as a sacrifice for his Beloved, so great would be their fear, that
they forthwith would profess their faith in Him, whilst privily they would
vilify and execrate His name! Even as He hath revealed: "And when they
meet you, they say, 'We believe'; but when they are apart, they bite their
fingers' ends at you, out of wrath. Say: 'Die in your wrath!' God truly
knoweth the very recesses of your breasts."(61)
Ere long, thine eyes will behold the standards of divine power unfurled
throughout all regions, and the signs of His triumphant might and
sovereignty manifest in every land. As most of the divines have failed to
apprehend the meaning of these verses, and have not grasped the
significance of the Day of Resurrection, they therefore have foolishly
interpreted these verses according to their idle and faulty conception.
The one true God is My witness! Little perception is required to enable
them to gather from the symbolic language of these two verses all that We
have purposed to propound, and thus to attain, through the grace of the
All-Merciful, the resplendent morn of certitude. Such are the strains of
celestial melody which the immortal Bird of Heaven, warbling upon the
Sadrih of Baha, poureth out upon thee, that, by the permission of God,
thou mayest tread the path of divine knowledge and wisdom.
And now, concerning His words: "And He shall send His angels...." By
"angels" is meant those who, reinforced by the power of the spirit, have
consumed, with the fire of the love of God, all human traits and
limitations, and have clothed themselves with the attributes of the most
exalted Beings and of the Cherubim. That holy man, Sadiq,(62) in his
eulogy of the Cherubim, saith: "There stand a company of our
fellow-_Sh_i'ihs behind the Throne." Divers and manifold are the
interpretations of the words "behind the Throne." In one sense, they
indicate that no true _Sh_i'ihs exist. Even as he hath said in another
passage: "A true believer is likened unto the philosopher's stone."
Addressing subsequently his listener, he saith: "Hast thou ever seen the
philosopher's stone?" Reflect, how this symbolic language, more eloquent
than any speech, however direct, testifieth to the non-existence of a true
believer. Such is the testimony of Sadiq. And now consider, how unfair and
numerous are those who, although they themselves have failed to inhale the
fragrance of belief, have condemned as infidels those by whose word belief
itself is recognized and established.
And now, inasmuch as these holy beings have sanctified themselves from
every human limitation, have become endowed with the attributes of the
spiritual, and have been adorned with the noble traits of the blessed,
they therefore have been designated as "angels." Such is the meaning of
these verses, every word of which hath been expounded by the aid of the
most lucid texts, the most convincing arguments, and the best established
evidences.
As the adherents of Jesus have never understood the hidden meaning of
these words, and as the signs which they and the leaders of their Faith
have expected have failed to appear, they therefore refused to
acknowledge, even until now, the truth of those Manifestations of Holiness
that have since the days of Jesus been made manifest. They have thus
deprived themselves of the outpourings of God's holy grace, and of the
wonders of His divine utterance. Such is their low estate in this, the Day
of Resurrection! They have even failed to perceive that were the signs of
the Manifestation of God in every age to appear in the visible realm in
accordance with the text of established traditions, none could possibly
deny or turn away, nor would the blessed be distinguished from the
miserable, and the transgressor from the God-fearing. Judge fairly: Were
the prophecies recorded in the Gospel to be literally fulfilled; were
Jesus, Son of Mary, accompanied by angels, to descend from the visible
heaven upon the clouds; who would dare to disbelieve, who would dare to
reject the truth, and wax disdainful? Nay, such consternation would
immediately seize all the dwellers of the earth that no soul would feel
able to utter a word, much less to reject or accept the truth. It was
owing to their misunderstanding of these truths that many a Christian
divine hath objected to Muhammad, and voiced his protest in such words:
"If Thou art in truth the promised Prophet, why then art Thou not
accompanied by those angels our sacred Books foretold, and which must
needs descend with the promised Beauty to assist Him in His Revelation and
act as warners unto His people?" Even as the All-Glorious hath recorded
their statement: "Why hath not an angel been sent down to him, so that he
should have been a warner with Him?"(63)
Such objections and differences have persisted in every age and century.
The people have always busied themselves with such specious discourses,
vainly protesting: "Wherefore hath not this or that sign appeared?" Such
ills befell them only because they have clung to the ways of the divines
of the age in which they lived, and blindly imitated them in accepting or
denying these Essences of Detachment, these holy and divine Beings. These
leaders, owing to their immersion in selfish desires, and their pursuit of
transitory and sordid things, have regarded these divine Luminaries as
being opposed to the standards of their knowledge and understanding, and
the opponents of their ways and judgments. As they have literally
interpreted the Word of God, and the sayings and traditions of the Letters
of Unity, and expounded them according to their own deficient
understanding, they have therefore deprived themselves and all their
people of the bountiful showers of the grace and mercies of God. And yet
they bear witness to this well-known tradition: "Verily Our Word is
abstruse, bewilderingly abstruse." In another instance, it is said: "Our
Cause is sorely trying, highly perplexing; none can bear it except a
favorite of heaven, or an inspired Prophet, or he whose faith God hath
tested." These leaders of religion admit that none of these three
specified conditions is applicable to them. The first two conditions are
manifestly beyond their reach; as to the third, it is evident that at no
time have they been proof against those tests that have been sent by God,
and that when the divine Touchstone appeared, they have shown themselves
to be naught but dross.
Great God! Notwithstanding their acceptance of the truth of this
tradition, these divines who are still doubtful of, and dispute about, the
theological obscurities of their faith, yet claim to be the exponents of
the subtleties of the law of God, and the expounders of the essential
mysteries of His holy Word. They confidently assert that such traditions
as indicate the advent of the expected Qa'im have not yet been fulfilled,
whilst they themselves have failed to inhale the fragrance of the meaning
of these traditions, and are still oblivious of the fact that all the
signs foretold have come to pass, that the way of God's holy Cause hath
been revealed, and the concourse of the faithful, swift as lightning, are,
even now, passing upon that way, whilst these foolish divines wait
expecting to witness the signs foretold. Say, O ye foolish ones! Wait ye
even as those before you are waiting!
Were they to be questioned concerning those signs that must needs herald
the revelation and rise of the sun of the Muhammadan Dispensation, to
which We have already referred, none of which have been literally
fulfilled, and were it to be said to them: "Wherefore have ye rejected the
claims advanced by Christians and the peoples of other faiths and regard
them as infidels," knowing not what answer to give, they will reply:
"These Books have been corrupted and are not, and never have been, of
God." Reflect: the words of the verses themselves eloquently testify to
the truth that they are of God. A similar verse hath been also revealed in
the Qur'an, were ye of them that comprehend. Verily I say, throughout all
this period they have utterly failed to comprehend what is meant by
corrupting the text.