Praised be Thou, O Lord my God! I supplicate Thee by Him Whom Thou hast
called into being, Whose Revelation Thou hast ordained to be Thine own
Revelation and His Concealment Thine own Concealment. Through His
Firstness Thou hast confirmed Thine own Firstness, and through His
Lastness Thou hast affirmed Thine own Lastness. Through the power of His
might and the influence of His sovereignty the mighty have apprehended
Thine omnipotence, and through His glory they who are endowed with
authority have acknowledged Thy majesty and greatness. Through His supreme
ascendancy Thy transcendent sovereignty and all-encompassing dominion have
been recognized, and through His will Thine own will hath been revealed.
Through the light of His countenance the splendors of Thine own face have
shone forth, and through His Cause Thine own Cause hath been made
manifest. Through the generative power of His utterance the whole earth
hath been made the recipient of the wondrous signs and tokens of Thy
sovereignty, and the heavens have been filled with the revelations of
Thine incomparable majesty, and the seas have been enriched with the
sacred pearls of Thine omniscience and wisdom, and the trees adorned with
the fruits of Thy knowledge. Through Him all things have sung Thy praise,
and all the eyes have been turned in the direction of Thy mercy. Through
Him the faces of all have been set towards the splendors of the light of
Thy countenance, and the souls of all have been inclined unto the
revelations of Thy divine greatness.
How great is Thy power! How exalted Thy sovereignty! How lofty Thy might!
How excellent Thy majesty! How supreme is Thy grandeur--a grandeur which He
Who is Thy Manifestation hath made known and wherewith Thou hast invested
Him as a sign of Thy generosity and bountiful favor. I bear witness, O my
God, that through Him Thy most resplendent signs have been uncovered, and
Thy mercy hath encompassed the entire creation. But for Him, how could the
Celestial Dove have uttered its songs or the Heavenly Nightingale,
according to the decree of God, have warbled its melody?
I testify that no sooner had the First Word proceeded, through the potency
of Thy will and purpose, out of His mouth, and the First Call gone forth
from His lips than the whole creation was revolutionized, and all that are
in the heavens and all that are on earth were stirred to the depths.
Through that Word the realities of all created things were shaken, were
divided, separated, scattered, combined and reunited, disclosing, in both
the contingent world and the heavenly kingdom, entities of a new creation,
and revealing, in the unseen realms, the signs and tokens of Thy unity and
oneness. Through that Call Thou didst announce unto all Thy servants the
advent of Thy most great Revelation and the appearance of Thy most perfect
Cause.
No sooner had that Revelation been unveiled to men's eyes than the signs
of universal discord appeared among the peoples of the world, and
commotion seized the dwellers of earth and heaven, and the foundations of
all things were shaken. The forces of dissension were released, the
meaning of the Word was unfolded, and every several atom in all created
things acquired its own distinct and separate character. Hell was made to
blaze, and the delights of Paradise were uncovered to men's eyes. Blessed
is the man that turneth towards Thee, and woe betide him who standeth
aloof from Thee, who denieth Thee and repudiateth Thy signs in this
Revelation wherein the faces of the exponents of denial have turned black
and the faces of the exponents of truthfulness have turned white, O Thou
Who art the Possessor of all names and attributes, Who holdest in Thy
grasp the empire of whatever hath been created in heaven and on earth!
Praise be to Thee, therefore, O my God--such praise as Thou didst ascribe
to Thine own Self, and which none except Thee can either comprehend or
reckon. Thou art He, O my Lord, Who hath made known His own Self unto me,
at a time when Thy servants have failed to recognize Thee--servants who, by
virtue of the ties that bind them to Thee, have been ruling over all that
dwell on earth and have been vaunting themselves over its peoples. Were I,
O my God, to exercise from pole to pole supreme dominion over the earth,
and were I to be offered all the treasures it containeth, and were I to
expend them in Thy path, I would still be powerless to attain unto this
station, unless I were assisted and strengthened by Thee. And were I to
glorify Thee, O my God, so long as the glory of Thy majesty endureth and
the influence of Thy sovereignty and power will last, such a glorification
could never be compared with any of the praises which Thou, as a token of
Thy grace, hast taught me, and wherewith Thou hast bidden me to extol Thy
virtues. If such be the excellence of each one of the praises which Thou
hast taught me, how immeasurably greater must be the excellence of the
station of the One Who hath known Thee, Who hath entered Thy Presence, and
pursued steadfastly the path of Thy Cause!
I have clearly perceived, and I am wholly persuaded, that Thou hast from
everlasting been immeasurably exalted above the mention of all beings, and
wilt continue unto everlasting to remain far above the conception of Thy
creatures. None can befittingly praise Thee except Thine own Self and such
as are like unto Thee. Thou hast, verily, been at all times, and wilt
everlastingly continue to remain, immensely exalted beyond and above all
comparison and likeness, above all imagination of parity or resemblance.
Having, thus, recognized Thee as One Who is incomparable, and Whose nature
none can possess, it becometh incontrovertibly evident that whosoever may
praise Thee, his praise can befit only such as are of his own nature, and
are subject to his own limitations, and it can in no wise adequately
describe the sublimity of Thy sovereignty, nor scale the heights of Thy
majesty and holiness. How sweet, therefore, is the praise Thou givest to
Thine own Self, and the description Thou givest of Thine own Being!
I testify, O my God, that Thou hast, from eternity, sent down upon Thy
servants naught else except that which can cause them to soar up and be
drawn near unto Thee, and to ascend into the heaven of Thy transcendent
oneness. Thou hast established Thy bounds among them, and ordained them to
stand among Thy creatures as evidences of Thy justice and as signs of Thy
mercy, and to be the stronghold of Thy protection amongst Thy people, that
no man may in Thy realm transgress against his neighbor. How great is the
blessedness of him who, for love of Thy beauty and for the sake of Thy
pleasure, hath curbed the desires of a corrupt inclination and observed
the precepts laid down by Thy most exalted Pen! He, in truth, is to be
numbered with them that have attained unto all good, and followed the way
of guidance.
I beseech Thee, O my Lord, by Thy Name through which Thou hast enabled Thy
servants and Thy people to know Thee, through which Thou hast drawn the
hearts of those who have recognized Thee towards the resplendent court of
Thy oneness, and the souls of Thy favored ones unto the Day-Spring of Thy
unity,--I beseech Thee to grant that I may be assisted to observe the fast
wholly for Thy sake, O Thou Who art full of majesty and glory! Empower me,
then, O my God, to be reckoned among them that have clung to Thy laws and
precepts for the sake of Thee alone, their eyes fixed on Thy face. These,
indeed, are they whose wine is all that hath proceeded out of the mouth of
Thy primal will, whose pure beverage is Thine enthralling call, whose
heavenly River is Thy love, whose Paradise is entrance into Thy presence
and reunion with Thee. For Thou hast been their Beginning and their End,
and their Highest Hope, and their Supreme Desire. Blinded be the eye that
gazeth on whatsoever may displease Thee, and confounded be the soul that
seeketh the things that are contrary to Thy will.
Deign, O my God, I implore Thee, by Thy Self and by them, to accept,
through Thy grace and Thy loving-kindness, the works we have performed,
however much they fall short of the loftiness of Thy state and the
sublimity of Thy station, O Thou Who art most dear to the hearts that long
for Thee, and the Healer of the souls that have recognized Thee! Rain
down, therefore, upon us from the heaven of Thy mercy and the clouds of
Thy gracious providence that which will cleanse us from the faintest trace
of evil and corrupt desires, and will draw us nearer unto Him Who is the
Manifestation of Thy most exalted and all-glorious Self. Thou art, verily,
the Lord of this world and of the next, and art powerful to do all things.
Do Thou bless, O Lord my God, the Primal Point, through Whom the point of
creation hath been made to revolve in both the visible and invisible
worlds, Whom Thou hast designated as the One whereunto should return
whatsoever must return unto Thee, and as the Revealer of whatsoever may be
manifested by Thee. Do Thou also bless such of His Letters as have not
turned away from Thee, who have been firmly established in Thy love, and
clung steadfastly to Thy good-pleasure. Bless Thou, likewise, as long as
Thine own Self endureth and Thine own Essence doth last, them that have
suffered martyrdom in Thy path. Thou art, verily, the Ever-Forgiving, the
Most Merciful.
Moreover, I beseech Thee, O my God, by Him Whom Thou hast announced unto
us in all Thy Tablets and Thy Books and Thy Scrolls and Thy Scriptures,
through Whom the kingdom of names hath been convulsed, and all that lay
hid in the breasts of them that have followed their evil and corrupt
desires hath been revealed,--I beseech Thee to strengthen us in our love
for Him, to make us steadfast in His Cause, to help us befriend His loved
ones and challenge His enemies. Shield us, then, O my God, from the
mischief wrought by them that have denied Thy presence, and turned away
from Thy face, and resolved to put an end to the life of Him Who is the
Manifestation of Thine own Self.
O my God and my Master! Thou knowest how they have disgraced Thy Cause and
dishonored Thee among Thy creatures, how they have joined Thine enemies,
that they may undermine Thy Revelation and injure Thee. Lay hold on them
with the power of Thy wrath and might, O my God, and expose their shameful
acts and their wickedness, that whatever is hid in their breasts may be
revealed unto the people that dwell within Thy land, O Thou Who art the
Inflictor of trials, the Fashioner of nations, and the Bestower of favors!
No God is there beside Thee, the All-Glorious, the Most Bountiful.