107 Rememberest thou not God’s warning uttered in times past, that thou
mayest be of them that heed His warning? He said, and He, verily, speaketh
the truth: “From it (earth) have We created you, and unto it will We
return you, and out of it will We bring you forth a second time.”(108)
This is what God ordained unto all them that dwell on earth, be they high
or low. It behoveth not, therefore, him who was created from dust, who
will return unto it, and will again be brought forth out of it, to swell
with pride before God, and before His loved ones, to proudly scorn them,
and be filled with disdainful arrogance. Nay, rather it behoveth thee and
those like thee to submit yourselves to them Who are the Manifestations of
the unity of God, and to defer humbly to the faithful, who have forsaken
their all for the sake of God, and have detached themselves from the
things which engross men’s attention, and lead them astray from the path
of God, the All-Glorious, the All-Praised. Thus do We send down upon you
that which shall profit you and profit them that have placed their whole
trust and confidence in their Lord.
108 O ye divines of the City! We came to you with the truth, whilst ye
were heedless of it. Methinks ye are as dead, wrapt in the coverings of
your own selves. Ye sought not Our presence, when so to do would have been
better for you than all your doings. Know ye that the Sun of vicegerency
hath dawned in all truth, and yet ye have turned away therefrom. The Moon
of guidance hath risen high in the midmost heaven, and yet ye remain
veiled therefrom. The Star of divine bounty hath shone forth above the
horizon of eternal holiness, and yet ye have strayed far therefrom.
109 Know ye, that had your leaders, to whom ye owe allegiance, and on whom
ye pride yourselves, and whom ye mention by day and by night, and from
whose traces ye seek guidance—had they lived in these days, they would
have circled around Me, and would not have separated themselves from Me,
whether at eventide or at morn. Ye, however, did not turn your faces
towards My face, for even less than a moment, and waxed proud, and were
careless of this Wronged One, Who hath been so afflicted by men that they
dealt with Him as they pleased. Ye failed to inquire about My condition,
nor did ye inform yourselves of the things which befell Me. Thereby have
ye withheld from yourselves the winds of holiness, and the breezes of
bounty, that blow from this luminous and perspicuous Spot.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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