Praise be to Him through Whose splendours the earth and the heavens are
aglow, through Whose fragrant breathings the gardens of holiness that
adorn the hearts of the chosen are trembling for joy, to Him Who hath shed
His light and brightened the face of the firmament. Verily there appeared
luminous and sparkling stars, glittering, shining out, and casting forth
their rays upon the supreme horizon. They derived their grace and
brilliance from the bounties of the Abha Realm, then, stars of guidance,
they poured down their lights upon this earth.
Praise be to Him Who hath fashioned this new era, this age of majesty,
even as an unfolding pageant where the realities of all things can be
exposed to view. Now are clouds of bounty raining down and the gifts of
the loving Lord are clearly manifest; for both the seen and the unseen
worlds have been illumined, and the Promised One hath come to earth and
the beauty of the Adored One hath shone forth.
Salutations, blessings, and welcome to that Universal Reality, that
Perfect Word, that Manifest Book, that Splendour which hath dawned in the
highest heaven, that Guide of all nations, that Light of the world--the
billowing ocean of Whose abounding grace hath flooded all creation, in
such wise that the waves thereof have cast upon the sands of this visible
world their shining pearls. Now hath the Truth appeared, and falsehood
fled away; now hath the day dawned and jubilation taken over, wherefore
men's souls are sanctified, their spirits purged, their hearts rejoiced,
their minds purified, their secret thoughts made wholesome, their
consciences washed clean, their inmost selves made holy: for the Day of
Resurrection hath come to pass, and the bestowals of thy Lord, the
Forgiving, have encompassed all things. Salutations and praise be unto
those luminous, resplendent stars that are shedding down their rays from
the highest heaven, those celestial bodies of the girdling zodiac of the
Abha Realm. May glory rest upon them.
And now, O thou honoured man who hath hearkened unto the Great
Announcement, rise up to serve the Cause of God with the resistless power
of the Abha Kingdom and the breaths that blow from the spirit of the
Company on high. Grieve thou not over what the Pharisees, and the
purveyors of false rumours among writers for the press, are saying of
Baha. Call thou to mind the days of Christ, and the afflictions heaped
upon Him by the people, and all the torments and tribulations inflicted
upon His disciples. Since ye are lovers of the Abha Beauty, ye also must,
for His love's sake, incur the peoples' blame, and all that befell those
of a former age must likewise befall you. Then will the faces of the
chosen be alight with the splendours of the Kingdom of God, and will shine
down the ages, yea, down all the cycles of time, while the deniers shall
remain in their manifest loss. It will be even as was said by the Lord
Christ: they shall persecute you for My name's sake.
Remind them of these words and say unto them: 'Verily did the Pharisees
rise up against Messiah, despite the bright beauty of His face and all His
comeliness, and they cried out that He was not Messiah [Masih] but a
monster [Masi_kh_], because He had claimed to be Almighty God, the
sovereign Lord of all, and told them, 'I am God's Son, and verily in the
inmost being of His only Son, His mighty Ward, clearly revealed with all
His attributes, all His perfections, standeth the Father.' This, they
said, was open blasphemy and slander against the Lord according to the
clear and irrefutable texts of the Old Testament. Therefore they passed
the sentence upon Him, decreeing that His blood be shed, and they hanged
Him on the cross, where He cried out, 'O My beloved Lord, how long wilt
Thou abandon Me to them? Lift Me up unto Thee, shelter Me close to Thee,
make Me a dwelling by Thy throne of glory. Verily art Thou the Answerer of
prayers, and Thou art the Clement, the Merciful. O My Lord! Verily this
world with all its vastness can no longer contain Me, and I love this
cross, out of love for Thy beauty, and yearning for Thy realm on high, and
because of this fire, fanned by the gusts of Thy holiness, aflame within
My heart. Help me, O Lord, to ascend unto Thee, sustain Me that I may
reach unto Thy sacred Threshold, O My loving Lord! Verily Thou art the
Merciful, the Possessor of great bounty! Verily Thou art the Generous!
Verily Thou art the Compassionate! Verily Thou art the All-Knowing! There
is none other God save Thee, the Mighty, the Powerful!'
Never would the Pharisees have been emboldened to calumniate Him and
charge Him with that grievous sin, but for their ignorance of the inner
core of mysteries and the fact that they paid no heed to His splendours
and regarded not His proofs. Else would they have acknowledged His words,
and borne witness to the verses He revealed, confessed the truth of His
utterances, sought shelter under the protective shadow of His banner,
learned of His signs and tokens, and rejoiced in His blissful tidings.
Know thou that the Divine Essence, which is called the Invisible of the
Invisibles, never to be described, beyond the reach of mind--is sanctified
above any mention, any definition or hint or allusion, any acclamation or
praise. In the sense that It is that It is, the intellect can never grasp
It, and the soul seeking knowledge of It is but a wanderer in the desert,
and far astray. 'No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision: He
is the Subtile, the All-Informed.'(18)
When, however, thou dost contemplate the innermost essence of all things,
and the individuality of each, thou wilt behold the signs of thy Lord's
mercy in every created thing, and see the spreading rays of His Names and
Attributes throughout all the realm of being, with evidences which none
will deny save the froward and the unaware. Then wilt thou observe that
the universe is a scroll that discloseth His hidden secrets, which are
preserved in the well-guarded Tablet. And not an atom of all the atoms in
existence, not a creature from amongst the creatures but speaketh His
praise and telleth of His attributes and names, revealeth the glory of His
might and guideth to His oneness and His mercy: and none will gainsay this
who hath ears to hear, eyes to see, and a mind that is sound.
And whensoever thou dost gaze upon creation all entire, and dost observe
the very atoms thereof, thou wilt note that the rays of the Sun of Truth
are shed upon all things and shining within them, and telling of that
Day-Star's splendours, Its mysteries, and the spreading of Its lights.
Look thou upon the trees, upon the blossoms and fruits, even upon the
stones. Here too wilt thou behold the Sun's rays shed upon them, clearly
visible within them, and manifested by them.
Shouldst thou, however, turn thy gaze unto a Mirror, brilliant, stainless,
and pure, wherein the divine Beauty is reflected, therein wilt thou find
the Sun shining with Its rays, Its heat, Its disc, Its fair form all
entire. For each separate entity possesseth its allotted portion of the
solar light and telleth of the Sun, but that Universal Reality in all Its
splendour, that stainless Mirror Whose qualities are appropriate to the
qualities of the Sun revealed within It--expresseth in their entirety the
attributes of the Source of Glory. And that Universal Reality is Man, the
divine Being, the Essence that abideth forever. 'Say, Call upon God, or
call upon the All-Merciful; whichsoever ye call upon, most beauteous are
His Names.'(19)
This is the meaning of the Messiah's words, that the Father is in the
Son.(20) Dost thou not see that should a stainless mirror proclaim,
'Verily is the sun ashine within me, together with all its qualities,
tokens and signs', such an utterance by such a mirror would be neither
deceptive nor false? No, by the One Who created It, shaped It, fashioned
It, and made It to be an entity conformable to the attributes of the glory
within It! Praised be He Who created It! Praised be He Who fashioned It!
Praised be He Who made It manifest!
Such were the words uttered by Christ. On account of these words they
cavilled at and assailed Him when He said unto them, 'Verily the Son is in
the Father, and the Father is in the Son.'(21) Be thou informed of this,
and learn thou the secrets of thy Lord. As for the deniers, they are
veiled from God: they see not, they hear not, neither do they understand.
'Leave them to entertain themselves with their cavillings.'(22) Abandon
them to their wanderings along river beds where no stream flows. Like
grazing beasts they cannot tell paste from pearl. Are they not shut away
from the mysteries of thy Lord, the Clement, the Merciful?
For thy part, rejoice at this best of all glad tidings, and rise up to
exalt the Word of God and to spread abroad His sweet savours in all that
vast and mighty land. Know thou of a certainty that thy Lord will come to
thine aid with a company of the Concourse on high and hosts of the Abha
Kingdom. These will mount the attack, and will furiously assail the forces
of the ignorant, the blind. Erelong wilt thou behold the flush of daybreak
spreading from out the Most Exalted Realm, and the morn encompassing all
regions. It will put the dark to flight, and the gloom of night will fade
and pass, and the bright brow of the Faith shine forth, and the Day-Star
rise and overspread the world. On that day will the faithful rejoice, and
the steadfast be blissful; then will the slanderers take themselves off,
and the waverers be blotted out, even as deepest shadows fall away at the
first light of the breaking dawn.
Greetings be unto thee, and praise.
O God, my God! This is Thy radiant servant, Thy spiritual thrall, who hath
drawn nigh unto Thee and approached Thy presence. He hath turned his face
unto Thine, acknowledging Thy oneness, confessing Thy singleness, and he
hath called out in Thy name among the nations, and led the people to the
streaming waters of Thy mercy, O Thou Most generous Lord! To those who
asked He hath given to drink from the cup of guidance that brimmeth over
with the wine of Thy measureless grace.
O Lord, assist him under all conditions, cause him to learn Thy
well-guarded mysteries, and shower down upon him Thy hidden pearls. Make
of him a banner rippling from castle summits in the winds of Thy heavenly
aid, make of him a wellspring of crystal waters.
O my forgiving Lord! Light up the hearts with the rays of a lamp that
sheddeth abroad its beams, disclosing to those among Thy people whom Thou
hast bounteously favoured, the realities of all things.
Verily, Thou art the Mighty, the Powerful, the Protector, the Strong, the
Beneficent! Verily, Thou art the Lord of all mercies!