"O Ye who are invested with the Bayan! Ye shall be put ..."

O Ye who are invested with the Bayan! Ye shall be put to proof, even as those unto whom the Qur'an was given. Have pity on yourselves, for ye shall witness the Day when G.o.d will have revealed Him Who is the Manifestation of His Own Self, invested with clear and irrefutable proofs, while ye will cling tenaciously to the words the Witnesses of the Bayan have uttered. On that Day ye will continue to rove distraught, even as camels, seeking a drop of the water of life. G.o.d will cause oceans of living water to stream forth from the presence of Him Whom G.o.d shall make manifest, while ye will refuse to quench your thirst therefrom, notwithstanding that ye regard yourselves as the G.o.d-fearing witnesses of your Faith. Nay, and yet again, nay! Ye will go astray far beyond the peoples unto whom the Gospel, or the Qur'an or any other Scripture was given. Take good heed to yourselves, inasmuch as the Cause of G.o.d will come upon you at a time when you will all be entreating and tearfully imploring G.o.d for the advent of the Day of His Manifestation; yet when He cometh ye will tarry and will fail to be of those who are well-a.s.sured in His Faith.

Beware lest ye grieve Him Who is the Supreme Manifestation of your Lord; verily, He can well afford to dispense with your allegiance unto Him. Be ye careful and bring not despondency upon any soul, for surely ye shall be put to proof. XVII, 2.

"Say, He Whom G.o.d shall make manifest will surely ..."

Say, He Whom G.o.d shall make manifest will surely redeem the rights of those who truly believe in G.o.d and in His signs, for they are the ones who merit reward from His presence. Say, it is far from the glory of Him Whom G.o.d shall make manifest that anyone should in this wise make mention of His name, if ye ponder the Cause of G.o.d in your hearts. Say, He shall vindicate the Cause through the potency of His command and shall bring to naught all perversion of truth by virtue of His behest. Verily G.o.d is potent over all things.

If ye wish to distinguish truth from error, consider those who believe in Him Whom G.o.d shall make manifest and those who disbelieve Him at the time of His appearance. The former represent the essence of truth, as attested in the Book of G.o.d, while the latter the essence of error, as attested in that same Book. Fear ye G.o.d that ye may not identify yourselves with aught but the truth, inasmuch as ye have been exalted in the Bayan for being recognized as the bearers of the name of Him Who is the eternal Truth.

Say, were He Whom G.o.d shall make manifest to p.r.o.nounce a pious and truthful follower of the Bayan as false, it is inc.u.mbent upon you to submit to His decree, as this hath been affirmed by G.o.d in the Bayan; verily G.o.d is able to convert light into fire whenever He pleaseth; surely He is potent over all things. And were He to declare a person whom ye regard alien to the truth as being akin thereto, err not by questioning His decision in your fancies, for He Who is the Sovereign Truth createth things through the power of His behest. Verily G.o.d trans.m.u.teth fire into light as He willeth, and indeed potent is He over all things. Consider ye how the truth shone forth as truth in the First Day and how error became manifest as error; so likewise shall ye distinguish them from each other on the Day of Resurrection. XVII, 4.

"Ponder upon the people unto whom the Gospel was ..."

Ponder upon the people unto whom the Gospel was given. Their religious leaders were considered as the true Guides of the Gospel, yet when they shut themselves out from Mu?ammad, the Apostle of G.o.d, they turned into guides of error, notwithstanding that all their lives they had faithfully observed the precepts of their religion in order to attain unto Paradise; then when G.o.d made Paradise known unto them, they would not enter therein.

Those unto whom the Qur'an is given have wrought likewise. They performed their acts of devotion for the sake of G.o.d, hoping that He might enable them to join the righteous in Paradise. However, when the gates of Paradise were flung open to their faces, they declined to enter. They suffered themselves to enter into the fire, though they had been seeking refuge therefrom in G.o.d.

Say, verily, the criterion by which truth is distinguished from error shall not appear until the Day of Resurrection. This ye will know, if ye be of them that love the Truth. And ere the advent of the Day of Resurrection ye shall distinguish truth from aught else besides it according to that which hath been revealed in the Bayan.

How vast the number of people who will, on the Day of Resurrection, regard themselves to be in the right, while they shall be accounted as false through the dispensation of Providence, inasmuch as they will shut themselves out as by a veil from Him Whom G.o.d shall make manifest and refuse to bow down in adoration before Him Who, as divinely ordained in the Book, is the Object of their creation. XVII, 4.

"Say, ye will be unable to recognize the One True G.o.d or ..."

Say, ye will be unable to recognize the One True G.o.d or to discern clearly the words of divine guidance, inasmuch as ye seek and tread a path other than His. Whenever ye learn that a new Cause hath appeared, ye must seek the presence of its author and must delve into his writings that haply ye may not be debarred from attaining unto Him Whom G.o.d shall make manifest at the hour of His manifestation. Wert thou to walk in the way of truth as handed down by them that are endowed with the knowledge of the inmost reality, G.o.d, thy Lord, will surely redeem thee on the Day of Resurrection. Verily He is potent over all things.

In the Bayan G.o.d hath forbidden everyone to p.r.o.nounce judgement against any soul, lest he may pa.s.s sentence upon G.o.d, his Lord, while regarding himself to be of the righteous, inasmuch as no one knoweth how the Cause of G.o.d will begin or end.

O ye who are invested with the Bayan! Should ye be apprised of a person laying claim to a Cause and revealing verses which to outward seeming are unlikely to have been revealed by anyone else save G.o.d, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting, do not pa.s.s sentence against him, lest ye may inadvertently pa.s.s sentence against Him Whom G.o.d shall make manifest. Say, He Whom G.o.d shall make manifest is but one of you; He will make Himself known unto you on the Day of Resurrection. Ye shall know G.o.d when the Manifestation of His Own Self is made known unto you, that perchance ye may not stray far from His Path.

Verily G.o.d will raise up Him Whom G.o.d shall make manifest, and after Him Whomsoever He willeth, even as He hath raised up prophets before the Point of the Bayan. He in truth hath power over all things. XVII, 4.

"Verily, on the First Day We flung open the gates of ..."

Verily, on the First Day We flung open the gates of Paradise unto all the peoples of the world, and exclaimed: 'O all ye created things! Strive to gain admittance into Paradise, since ye have, during all your lives, held fast unto virtuous deeds in order to attain unto it.' Surely all men yearn to enter therein, but alas, they are unable to do so by reason of that which their hands have wrought. Shouldst thou, however, gain a true understanding of G.o.d in thine heart of hearts, ere He hath manifested Himself, thou wouldst be able to recognize Him, visible and resplendent, when He unveileth Himself before the eyes of all men. XVII, 11.

"Say, by reason of your remembering Him Whom G.o.d ..."

Say, by reason of your remembering Him Whom G.o.d shall make manifest and by extolling His name, G.o.d will cause your hearts to be dilated with joy, and do ye not wish your hearts to be in such a blissful state? Indeed the hearts of them that truly believe in Him Whom G.o.d shall make manifest are vaster than the expanse of heaven and earth and whatever is between them.

G.o.d hath left no hindrance in their hearts, were it but the size of a mustard seed. He will cheer their hearts, their spirits, their souls and their bodies and their days of prosperity or adversity, through the exaltation of the name of Him Who is the supreme Testimony of G.o.d and the promotion of the Word of Him Who is the Dayspring of the glory of their Creator.

Verily, these are souls who take delight in the remembrance of G.o.d, Who dilates their hearts through the effulgence of the light of knowledge and wisdom. They seek naught but G.o.d and are oft engaged in giving praise unto Him. They desire naught except whatever He desireth and stand ready to do His bidding. Their hearts are mirrors reflecting whatsoever He Whom G.o.d shall make manifest willeth. Thus G.o.d will cheer the hearts of those who truly believe in Him and in His signs and who are well a.s.sured of the life to come. Say, the life to come is none other than the days a.s.sociated with the coming of Him Whom G.o.d will make manifest.

Reduce not the ordinances of G.o.d to fanciful imaginations of your own; rather observe all the things which G.o.d hath created at His behest with the eye of the spirit, even as ye see things with the eyes of your bodies.

XVII, 15.

"The divine Revelation a.s.sociated with the advent of Him ..."

The divine Revelation a.s.sociated with the advent of Him Who is your promised Mihdi hath proved far more wondrous than the Revelation wherewith Mu?ammad, the Apostle of G.o.d, was invested. Would that ye might ponder.

Verily, G.o.d raised up Mu?ammad, the Apostle of G.o.d, from among the people of Arabia after he had reached forty years of age-a fact which every one of you affirmeth and upholdeth-while your Redeemer was raised up by G.o.d at the age of twenty-four amidst people none of whom can speak or understand a single word of Arabic. Thus G.o.d layeth bare the glory of His Cause and demonstrateth the Truth through the potency of His revealed Word. He is indeed the Powerful, the Omnipotent, the Help in Peril, the Best Beloved.

XVII, 4.

"Say, verily G.o.d hath caused all created things to enter ..."

Say, verily G.o.d hath caused all created things to enter beneath the shade of the tree of affirmation, except those who are endowed with the faculty of understanding. Theirs is the choice either to believe in G.o.d their Lord, and put their whole trust in Him, or to shut themselves out from Him and refuse to believe with cert.i.tude in His signs. These two groups sail upon two seas: the sea of affirmation and the sea of negation.

They that truly believe in G.o.d and in His signs, and who in every Dispensation faithfully obey that which hath been revealed in the Book-such are indeed the ones whom G.o.d hath created from the fruits of the Paradise of His good-pleasure, and who are of the blissful. But they who turn away from G.o.d and His signs in each Dispensation, those are the ones who sail upon the sea of negation.

G.o.d hath, through the potency of His behest, ordained for Himself the task of ensuring the ascendancy of the sea of affirmation and of bringing to naught the sea of negation through the power of His might. He is in truth potent over all things.

Verily it is inc.u.mbent upon you to recognize your Lord at the time of His manifestation, that haply ye may not enter into negation, and that, ere a prophet is raised by G.o.d, ye may find yourselves securely established upon the sea of affirmation. For if a prophet cometh to you from G.o.d and ye fail to walk in His Way, G.o.d will, thereupon, transform your light into fire. Take heed then that perchance ye may, through the grace of G.o.d and His signs, be enabled to redeem your souls. XVIII, 13.

"Say, G.o.d shall of a truth cause your hearts to be given to ..."