In the Íqán, Bahá’u’lláh, wishing to emphasize the transcendent character
of this new Day of God, reinforces the strength of His argument by His
reference to the text of a correct and authorized tradition, which reveals
the following: “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.” And then
immediately follow these confirming and illuminating words of Bahá’u’lláh:
“Consider: He hath declared knowledge to consist of twenty and seven
letters, and regarded all the prophets, from Adam even unto Muḥammad, the
‘seal,’ as expounders of only two letters thereof. He also saith that the
Qá’im will reveal all the remaining twenty and five letters. Behold from
this utterance 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. A revelation, of which the
prophets of God, His saints and chosen ones have either not been informed
or which, in pursuance of God’s inscrutable decree, they have not
disclosed—such a revelation, these vile and villainous people have sought
to measure with their own deficient minds, their own deficient learning
and understanding.”
In another passage of the same Book, Bahá’u’lláh, referring to the
transformation effected by every Revelation in the ways, thoughts and
manners of the people, reveals these words: “Is not the object of every
Revelation to effect a transformation in the whole character of mankind, a
transformation that shall manifest itself, both outwardly and inwardly,
that shall affect both its inner life and external conditions? For if the
character of mankind be not changed, the futility of God’s universal
Manifestations would be apparent.”
Did not Christ Himself, addressing His disciples, utter these words: “I
have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit
when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth”?
From the text of this recognized tradition, as well as from the words of
Christ, as attested by the Gospel, every unprejudiced observer will
readily apprehend the magnitude of the Faith which Bahá’u’lláh has
revealed, and recognize the staggering weight of the claim He has
advanced. No wonder if ‘Abdu’l-Bahá has portrayed in such lurid colors the
fierceness of the agitation that shall center in the days to come round
the nascent institutions of the Faith. We can now but faintly discern the
beginnings of that turmoil which the rise and ascendancy of the Cause of
God is destined to cast in the world.
The Greatest Drama of the World’s Spiritual History
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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