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Selections From the Writings of the Báb
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Pages 124-130
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"THY letter hath been perused. Were the truth of this ..."
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1 |
THY letter hath been perused. Were the truth of this
Revelation to be fully demonstrated with elaborate proofs,
all the scrolls that exist in the heaven and on the earth
would be insufficient to contain them.
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2 |
However, the substance and essence of the subject is this,
that there can be no doubt that from everlasting God hath
been invested with the independent sovereignty of His
exalted Being, and unto everlasting He will remain inaccessible
in the transcendent majesty of His holy Essence.
No creature hath ever recognized Him as befitteth His
recognition, nor hath any created being ever praised Him
as is worthy of His praise. He is exalted above every name,
and is sanctified from every comparison. Through Him all
things are made known, while too lofty is His reality to be
known through anyone but Him. The process of His creation
hath had no beginning and can have no end, otherwise it
would necessitate the cessation of His celestial grace. God
hath raised up Prophets and revealed Books as numerous as
the creatures of the world, and will continue to do so to
everlasting.
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3 |
If thou art sailing upon the sea of God's Names, which
are reflected in all things, know thou that He is exalted and
sanctified from being known through His creatures, or
being described by His servants. Everything thou beholdest
hath been called into being through the operation of
His Will. How can such a created thing, therefore, be indicative
of His essential oneness? God's existence in itself
testifieth to His Own oneness, while every created thing,
by its very nature, beareth evidence that it hath been
fashioned by God. Such is the proof of consummate wisdom
in the estimation of those who sail the ocean of divine
Truth.
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4 |
If, however, thou art sailing upon the sea of creation,
know thou that the First Remembrance, which is the Primal
Will of God, may be likened unto the sun. God hath created
Him through the potency of His might, and He hath,
from the beginning that hath no beginning, caused Him to
be manifested in every Dispensation through the compelling
power of His behest, and God will, to the end that
knoweth no end, continue to manifest Him according to
the good-pleasure of His invincible Purpose.
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5 |
And know thou that He indeed resembleth the sun.
Were the risings of the sun to continue till the end that
hath no end, yet there hath not been nor ever will be more
than one sun; and were its settings to endure for evermore,
still there hath not been nor ever will be more than one
sun. It is this Primal Will which appeareth resplendent in
every Prophet and speaketh forth in every revealed Book.
It knoweth no beginning, inasmuch as the First deriveth its
firstness from It; and knoweth no end, for the Last oweth its
lastness unto It.
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6 |
In the time of the First Manifestation the Primal Will
appeared in Adam; in the day of Noah It became known
in Noah; in the day of Abraham in Him; and so in the day
of Moses; the day of Jesus; the day of Muhammad, the
Apostle of God; the day of the `Point of the Bayán'; the
day of Him Whom God shall make manifest; and the day
of the One Who will appear after Him Whom God shall
make manifest. Hence the inner meaning of the words
uttered by the Apostle of God, `I am all the Prophets',
inasmuch as what shineth resplendent in each one of Them
hath been and will ever remain the one and the same sun.
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7 |
O ye that are invested with the Bayán! Denounce
ye not one another, ere the Day-Star of ancient
eternity shineth forth above the horizon of His
sublimity. We have created you from one tree
and have caused you to be as the leaves and fruit of the same
tree, that haply ye may become a source of comfort to one
another. Regard ye not others save as ye regard your own
selves, that no feeling of aversion may prevail amongst you
so as to shut you out from Him Whom God shall make
manifest on the Day of Resurrection. It behooveth you all
to be one indivisible people; thus should ye return unto
Him Whom God shall make manifest.
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8 |
Those who have deprived themselves of this Resurrection
by reason of their mutual hatreds or by regarding
themselves to be in the right and others in the wrong, were
chastised on the Day of Resurrection by reason of such
hatreds evinced during their night.
[1]
Thus they deprived
themselves of beholding the countenance of God, and this
for no other reason than mutual denunciations.
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O ye that are invested with the Bayán! Ye should perform
such deeds as would please God, your Lord, earning
thereby the good-pleasure of Him Whom God shall make
manifest. Turn not your religion into a means of material
gain, spending your life on vanities, and inheriting thereby
on the Day of Resurrection that which would displease
Him Whom God shall make manifest, while ye deem that
what ye do is right. If, however, ye observe piety in your
Faith, God will surely nourish you from the treasuries of
His heavenly grace.
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10 |
Be ye sincere in your allegiance to Him Whom God
shall make manifest, for the sake of God, your Lord, that
perchance ye may, through devotion to His Faith, be
redeemed on the Day of Resurrection. Beware lest ye
suffer one another to be wrapt in veils by reason of the
disputes which may, during your night, arise among you
as a result of the problems ye encounter or in consideration
of such matters as your loftiness or lowliness, your nearness
or remoteness.
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11 |
Thus have We firmly exhorted you--a befitting exhortation
indeed--that haply ye may cleave tenaciously unto it
and attain thereby salvation on the Day of Resurrection.
The time is approaching when ye will be at peace with
yourselves in your homes, and lo, Him Whom God shall
make manifest will have appeared, and God wisheth you
to return unto Him, even as God called you into being
through the Primal Point. However, all of you will seek
guidance while pursuing the promptings of your own
desires. Some of you are filled with pride by reason of your
religion, others because of your learning. Ye will, one and
all, cling unto some part of the Bayán as a means of self-glorification.
XVI, 19.
[2]
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Notes
1. [By `night' is meant the period between two divine Revelations when the Sun of Truth is not manifest among men. In the Persian Bayán, II, 7, the Báb says, `O people of the Bayán! Act not as the people of the Qur'án have acted, for if you do so the fruits of your night will come to naught'. ]
2. [The Kitáb-i-Asmá' is divided into vahíds and chapters, to which these numbers refer.]
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