Where else if not in the Kitáb-i-Íqán can the student of the Bábí
Dispensation seek to find those affirmations that unmistakably attest the
power and spirit which no man, except he be a Manifestation of God, can
manifest? “Could such a thing,” exclaims Bahá’u’lláh, “be made manifest
except through the power of a Divine Revelation and the potency of God’s
invincible Will? By the righteousness of God! Were any one to entertain so
great a Revelation in his heart the thought of such a declaration would
alone confound him! Were the hearts of all men to be crowded into his
heart, he would still hesitate to venture upon so awful an enterprise.”
“No eye,” He in another passage affirms, “hath beheld so great an
outpouring of bounty, nor hath any ear heard of such a Revelation of
loving-kindness... The Prophets ‘endowed with constancy,’ whose loftiness
and glory shine as the sun, were each honored with a Book which all have
seen, and the verses of which have been duly ascertained. Whereas the
verses which have rained from this Cloud of divine mercy have been so
abundant that none hath yet been able to estimate their number... How can
they belittle this Revelation? Hath any age witnessed such momentous
happenings?”
Commenting on the character and influence of those heroes and martyrs whom
the spirit of the Báb had so magically transformed Bahá’u’lláh reveals the
following: “If these companions be not the true strivers after God, who
else could be called by this name?... If these companions, with all their
marvelous testimonies and wondrous works, be false, who then is worthy to
claim for himself the truth?... Has the world since the days of Adam
witnessed such tumult, such violent commotion?... Methinks, patience was
revealed only by virtue of their fortitude, and faithfulness itself was
begotten only by their deeds.”
Wishing to stress the sublimity of the Báb’s exalted station as compared
with that of the Prophets of the past, Bahá’u’lláh in that same epistle
asserts: “No understanding can grasp the nature of His Revelation, nor can
any knowledge comprehend the full measure of His Faith.” He then quotes,
in confirmation of His argument, these prophetic words: “Knowledge is
twenty and seven letters. All that the Prophets have revealed are two
letters thereof. No man thus far hath known more than these two letters.
But when the Qá’im shall arise, He will cause the remaining twenty and
five letters to be made manifest.” “Behold,” He adds, “how great and lofty
is His station! His rank excelleth that of all the Prophets and His
Revelation transcendeth the comprehension and understanding of all their
chosen ones.” “Of His Revelation,” He further adds, “the Prophets of God,
His saints and chosen ones, have either not been informed, or, in
pursuance of God’s inscrutable decree, they have not disclosed.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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