A Traveler's Narrative Written to Illustrate the Episode of the BábʻAbdu'l-Bahá
Religion
A Traveler's Narrative Written to Illustrate the Episode of the Báb
ʻAbdu'l-Bahá
Babism; Bahai Faith
“Many sects and diverse tribes rest tranquil in the shadow of the King,
and of these sects one is this people. Were it not best that the lofty
endeavor and magnanimity of those who surround the King should be so
witnessed: that they should be scheming for all factions to come under the
King’s shadow, and that they should govern amidst all with justice? To put
in force the ordinances of God is unmixed justice, and with this all are
satisfied; nay, the ordinances of God [ever] have been and will be the
instrument and means for the protection of [His] creatures, as He saith
(exalted is He) ‘And in retaliation ye have life, O people of
understanding.’(33) [But] it is far from the justice of His Majesty the
King that, for the fault of one person, a number of persons should become
the objects of the scourges of wrath. God (glorious is His mention) saith:
‘None shall bear the burden of another.’(34) And this is sufficiently
evident, that in every community there have been and will be learned and
ignorant, wise and foolish, sinful and pious. And to commit abominable
actions is far from the wise man. For the wise man either seeketh the
world or abandoneth it. If he abandoneth it, assuredly he will not regard
aught save God, and, apart from this, the fear of God will withhold him
from committing forbidden and culpable actions. And if he seeketh the
world, he will assuredly not commit deeds which will cause and induce the
aversion of [God’s] servants and produce horror in those who are in all
lands; but rather will he practice such deeds as will cause the adhesion
of mankind. So it hath been demonstrated that detestable actions have been
and will be [wrought only] by ignorant persons. We ask God to keep His
servants from regarding aught but Him, and to bring them near to Him:
verily He is potent over all things.
“Glory be to Thee, O God! O My God, Thou hearest My groaning, and seest My
state and My distress and My affliction, and knowest what is in My soul.
If My cry be sincerely for Thy sake, then draw thereby the hearts of Thy
creatures unto the horizon of the heaven of Thy recognition, and turn the
King unto the right hand of the throne of Thy Name the Merciful; then
bestow on him, O My God, the blessing which hath descended from the heaven
of Thy favor and the clouds of Thy mercy, that he may sever himself from
that which he hath and turn toward the region of Thy bounties. O Lord,
help him to support the oppressed amongst [Thy] servants, and to raise up
Thy Word amidst Thy people; then aid him with the hosts of the unseen and
the seen, that he may subdue cities in Thy Name and rule over all who are
upon the earth by Thy power and authority, O Thou in Whose hand is the
Kingdom of creation: and verily Thou art He who ruleth at the beginning
and in the end: there is no God save Thee, the Potent, the Mighty, the
Wise.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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