31. Part Two — 11

1This condition is also one of the signs of the Manifestation; as it is said, "He will make your highest to be the lowest, and your lowest to be the highest." Likewise it is said, "And we were minded to be gracious unto those who were weakened in the land, and to make them models of religion; and to make them the heirs (of the wealth of Pharaoh and his people)" (K. S. 28). It is witnessed in the present day how many of the divines, by reason of their denial, abide in the lowest planes of ignorance, their names erased from the book of the exalted and the learned; and how many of the ignorant, on account of their belief, have ascended to the highest horizon of knowledge, and their names are registered in the Tablets of Knowledge by the Pen of Power. Thus, " God shall abolish and shall confirm (what He pleaseth), with Him is the original of the Book" (K. S. 13). Therefore, it is said, " Seeking after proof when the fact is attained is blamable, and occupying one's self with learning after reaching the object of knowledge, is to be censured." Say, O people of the earth, this is a fiery Youth who runneth in the wilderness of Spirit, heralding unto you the lamp of God, and reminding you of a Matter which is visible in concealment under the veils of light, from the horizon of Holiness in the region of Irak.

2O my friend, if thou soarest a little in the heavens of the significances of the Koran, and walkest upon the earth of Divine Knowledge unfolded therein, many doors of knowledge will be opened before thy face and thou wilt be assured that the very things which in this day prevent these servants from arriving at the shore of the eternal ocean, hindered the people during the Manifestation of the Point of the Koran from acknowledging and submitting to that Sun. Likewise thou wilt become informed of the mysteries of the "return" and "revival" and dwell in the loftiest chambers of security and assurance.

3One day a number of the opponents of that peerless Beauty (Mohammed), who were deprived of the Ca'aba of the Eternal, said to Him by way of derision, "Surely God hath covenanted with us that we should not believe in (any) messenger until (one) should come unto us with a sacrifice which should be consumed by fire" (K. S. 3). The import of this is that the Creator had covenanted with them that they should not believe in a messenger unless he perform the miracle of Abel and Cain, that is, offer a sacrifice, and a fire come from heaven to consume it; as they had heard in the story of Abel, and which is recorded in the books. His Holiness said, in answer, "Messengers have already come unto you before me, with plain proofs and with the (miracle) which ye mention; why, therefore, have ye slain them, if ye speak truth" (K. S. 3)? Now, be just; how could those servants who were in the age and cycle of His Holiness, be actually those in the age of Adam or other Prophets, when the interval between Adam and that time was several thousand years? Why did that Essence of Truthfulness attribute to the servants of His age the murder of Abel or other Prophets? Thou hast no other alternative except to ascribe falsehood and vain saying to His Holiness (which God forbid!), or to say that those wicked ones were the same who contradicted the Prophets and Messengers in every age, and finally martyred them all.

4Ponder carefully over this explanation, that the refreshing breeze of Knowledge may blow from the city of the Merciful and cause the soul to reach the garden of Wisdom through the beautiful utterance of the Beloved One. As the heedless people did not understand the meanings of these perfect and eloquent explanations, and, according to their idea, did not find the answer consistent with the question, therefore they attributed lack of knowledge and hallucination to those essences of Knowledge and Reason.

5Likewise, in another verse, it is said in condemnation of the people of the age, " Although they had before prayed for assistance against those who believe not, yet when he came unto them whom they had known (to be from God), they would not believe in him; therefore, the curse of God shall be on the infidels" (K. S. 2). That is, this multitude who waged war and fought against the infidels for the sake of God, and who sought victory in order to assist His Cause, when the one whom they had known came unto them, denied him; therefore the curse of God shall be upon the infidels! Consider how it is understood from this verse that the people of the time of his Holiness were the same people who in the days of each former Prophet strove and fought to promulgate the Law and spread the Cause of God, although the people of the time of Jesus and Moses were not actually the people of the age of His Holiness. Moreover those whom they had known formerly were Moses the possessor of the Pentateuch, and Jesus the possessor of the Gospel. Notwithstanding this, why did His Holiness say "when came unto them the one whom they had known"—that is, Jesus or Moses—they "denied Him?" As His Holiness was outwardly called by another name, that is, Mohammed,—had appeared from another city and come in another language and law—how then can the verse be proven and understood?