No refuge hast thou to flee to.’ And among them is he
who saith: ‘Have men been gathered together?’ Say: ‘Yea, by my Lord!,
whilst thou didst lie in the cradle of idle fancies.’ And among them is he
who saith: ‘Hath the Book been sent down through the power of the true
Faith?’ Say: ‘The true Faith itself is astounded. Fear ye, O ye men of
understanding heart!’ And among them is he who saith: ‘Have I been
assembled with others, blind?’ Say: ‘Yea, by Him that rideth upon the
clouds!’ Paradise is decked with mystic roses, and hell hath been made to
blaze with the fire of the impious. Say: ‘The light hath shone forth from
the horizon of Revelation, and the whole earth hath been illumined at the
coming of Him Who is the Lord of the Day of the Covenant!’ The doubters
have perished, whilst he that turned, guided by the light of assurance,
unto the Dayspring of Certitude hath prospered. Blessed art thou, who hast
fixed thy gaze upon Me, for this Tablet which hath been sent down for
thee—a Tablet which causeth the souls of men to soar. Commit it to memory,
and recite it. By My life! It is a door to the mercy of thy Lord. Well is
it with him that reciteth it at eventide and at dawn. We, verily, hear thy
praise of this Cause, through which the mountain of knowledge was crushed,
and men’s feet have slipped. My glory be upon thee and upon whomsoever
hath turned unto the Almighty, the All-Bounteous. The Tablet is ended, but
the theme is unexhausted. Be patient, for thy Lord is patient."
These are verses We sent down previously, soon after Our arrival in the
prison-city of Akká, and We have sent them unto thee, that thou mayest be
acquainted with what their lying tongues have spoken, when Our Cause came
unto them with might and sovereignty. The foundations of idle fancies have
trembled, and the heaven of vain imaginings hath been cleft asunder, and
yet the people are in doubt and in contention with Him. They have denied
the testimony of God and His proof, after He came from the heaven of power
with the kingdom of His signs. They have cast away what had been
prescribed, and perpetrated what had been forbidden them in the Book. They
have abandoned their God, and clung unto their desires. They truly have
strayed and are in error. They read the verses and deny them. They behold
the clear tokens and turn aside. They truly are lost in strange doubt.
We have admonished Our loved ones to fear God, a fear which is the
fountain-head of all goodly deeds and virtues. It is the commander of the
hosts of justice in the city of Bahá. Happy the man that hath entered the
shadow of its luminous standard, and laid fast hold thereon. He, verily,
is of the Companions of the Crimson Ark, which hath been mentioned in the
Qayyúm-i-Asmá.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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