Know, therefore, O questioning seeker, that earthly sovereignty is of no
worth, nor will it ever be, in the eyes of God and His chosen Ones.
Moreover, if ascendency and dominion be interpreted to mean earthly
supremacy and temporal power, how impossible will it be for thee to
explain these verses: “And verily Our host shall conquer.”(92) “Fain would
they put out God’s light with their mouths: But God hath willed to perfect
His light, albeit the infidels abhor it.”(93) “He is the Dominant, above
all things.” Similarly, most of the Qur’án testifieth to this truth.
Were the idle contention of these foolish and despicable souls to be true,
they would have none other alternative than to reject all these holy
utterances and heavenly allusions. For no warrior could be found on earth
more excellent and nearer to God than Ḥusayn, son of ‘Alí, so peerless and
incomparable was he. “There was none to equal or to match him in the
world.” Yet, thou must have heard what befell him. “God’s malison on the
head of the people of tyranny!”(94)
Were the verse “And verily Our host shall conquer” to be literally
interpreted, it is evident that it would in no wise be applicable to the
chosen Ones of God and His hosts, inasmuch as Ḥusayn, whose heroism was
manifest as the sun, crushed and subjugated, quaffed at last the cup of
martyrdom in Karbilá, the land of Táff. Similarly, the sacred verse “Fain
would they put out God’s light with their mouths: But God hath willed to
perfect His light, albeit the infidels abhor it.” Were it to be literally
interpreted it would never correspond with the truth. For in every age the
light of God hath, to outward seeming, been quenched by the peoples of the
earth, and the Lamps of God extinguished by them. How then could the
ascendancy of the sovereignty of these Lamps be explained? What could the
potency of God’s will to “perfect His light” signify? As hath already been
witnessed, so great was the enmity of the infidels, that none of these
divine Luminaries ever found a place for shelter, or tasted of the cup of
tranquillity. So heavily were they oppressed, that the least of men
inflicted upon these Essences of being whatsoever he listed. These
sufferings have been observed and measured by the people. How, therefore,
can such people be capable of understanding and expounding these words of
God, these verses of everlasting glory?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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