O Qurratu’l-‘Ayn! Proclaim that which hath been sent down
unto Thee as a token of the grace of the merciful Lord, for if Thou do it not,
Our secret will never be made known to the people, [Qur’an 5:71] while the
purpose of God in creating man is but for him to know Him. Indeed God hath
knowledge of all things and is self-sufficient above the need of all mankind. 
O people of Persia! Are ye not satisfied with this glorious
honor which the supreme Remembrance of God hath conferred upon you? Verily ye
have been especially favored by God through this mighty Word. Then do not
withdraw from the sanctuary of His presence, for, by the righteousness of the
One true God, He is none other than the sovereign Truth from God; He is the
most exalted One and the Source of all wisdom, as decreed in the Mother Book.…
O Thou Mother of the Remembrance! May the peace and
salutation of God rest upon thee. Indeed thou hast endured patiently in Him Who
is the sublime Self of God. Recognize then the station of thy Son Who is none
other than the mighty Word of God. He hath verily pledged Himself to be
answerable for thee both in thy grave and on the Judgment Day, while thou hast,
in the Preserved Tablet of God, been immortalized as the “Mother of the
Faithful” by the Pen of His Remembrance.
Say, He Whom God shall make manifest is indeed the Primal
Veil of God. Above this Veil ye can find nothing other than God, while beneath
it ye can discern all things emanating from God. He is the Unseen, the
Inaccessible, the Most Exalted, the Best-Beloved.
Glorified art Thou, O my God! I invoke Thee by Thy Most
Great Name through which the hidden secrets of God, the Most Exalted, were
divulged and the kindreds of all nations converged toward the focal centre of
faith and certitude, through which Thy luminous Words streamed forth for the
quickening of mankind and the essence of all knowledge was revealed from that
Embodiment of bounty. May my life, my inmost being, my soul and my body be
offered up as a sacrifice for the dust ennobled by His footsteps.
O people of the city! Ye have disbelieved your Lord. If ye
are truly faithful to Muhammad, the Apostle of God and the Seal of the
Prophets, and if ye follow His Book, the Qur’án, which is free from error, then
here is the like of it—this Book, which We have, in truth and by the leave of
God, sent down unto Our Servant. If ye fail to believe in Him, then your faith
in Muhammad and His Book which was revealed in the past will indeed be treated
as false in the estimation of God. If ye deny Him, the fact of your having
denied Muhammad and His Book will, in very truth and with absolute certainty,
become evident unto yourselves.
Verily We made the revelation of verses to be a testimony
for Our message unto you. Can ye produce a single letter to match these verses?
Bring forth, then, your proofs, if ye be of those who can discern the one true
God. I solemnly affirm before God, should all men and spirits combine to
compose the like of one chapter of this Book, they would surely fail, even
though they were to assist one another. [Qur’an 17:90]
He is, verily, the eternal Truth come from God, and
according to the divine judgment given in the Mother Book, He is the most
distinguished among the writers of Arabic and most eloquent in His utterance.
He is in truth the Supreme Talisman and is endowed with supernatural powers, as
set forth in the Mother Book.…
Unto every people We have sent down the Book in their own
language. [Qur’an 14:4] This Book We have, verily, revealed in the language of
Our Remembrance and it is in truth a wondrous language.
As to those who deny Him Who is the Sublime Gate of God, for
them We have prepared, as justly decreed by God, a sore torment. And He, God,
is the Mighty, the Wise.
O concourse of the people of the Book! Fear ye God and pride
not yourselves in your learning. Follow ye the Book which His Remembrance hath
revealed in praise of God, the True One. He Who is the Eternal Truth beareth me
witness, whoso followeth this Book hath indeed followed all the past Scriptures
which have been sent down from heaven by God, the Sovereign Truth. Verily, He
is well informed of what ye do.…
O people of the earth! Whoso obeyeth the Remembrance of God
and His Book hath in truth obeyed God and His chosen ones and he will, in the
life to come, be reckoned in the presence of God among the inmates of the
Paradise of His good-pleasure.
…God hath set aside earthly possessions for such as have
denied Him; for unto Him Who is your Lord shall be the most excellent abode, He
Who is, in truth, the Ancient of Days.…
Were We to bring thee to a reckoning, thou wouldst prove
thyself empty-handed; We in truth know all things. Hadst thou uttered “yea” on
hearing the Words of God, thou wouldst have been seen to have been worshipping
God from the beginning that hath no beginning until the present day, never to
have disobeyed Him, not even for the twinkling of an eye. Yet, neither the
upright deeds thou hast wrought during all thy life, nor the exertions thou
didst make to banish every thought from thy heart save that of the good-pleasure
of God, none of these did in truth profit thee, not even to the extent of a
grain of mustard seed, inasmuch as thou didst veil thyself from God and tarried
behind at the time of His manifestation.
Hadst thou observed the contents of the Epistle We sent unto
thee, it would have been far more profitable to thee than worshipping thy Lord
from the beginning that hath no beginning until this day, and indeed more
meritorious than proving thyself wholly devoted in thine acts of worship. And
hadst thou attained the presence of thy Lord in this land, and been of them
that truly believe that the Face of God is beheld in the person of the Primal
Point, it would have been far more advantageous than prostrating thyself in
adoration from the beginning that hath no beginning until the present time.…
We are cognizant of thy righteous deeds, though they shall
avail thee nothing; for the whole object of such righteousness is but
recognition of God, thy Lord, and undoubted faith in the Words revealed by Him.
Thy vision is obscured by the belief that divine revelation
ended with the coming of Muhammad, and unto this We have borne witness in Our
first epistle. Indeed, He Who hath revealed verses unto Muhammad, the Apostle
of God, hath likewise revealed verses unto ‘Alí-Muhammad. For who else but God
can reveal to a man such clear and manifest verses as overpower all the
learned? Since thou hast acknowledged the revelation of Muhammad, the Apostle
of God, then there is no other way open before thee but to testify that
whatever is revealed by the Primal Point hath also proceeded from God, the Help
in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. Is it not true that the Qur’án hath been sent
down from God and that all men are powerless before its revelation? Likewise
these words have also been revealed by God, if thou dost but perceive. What is there
in the Bayán which keepeth thee back from recognizing these verses as being
sent forth by God, the Inaccessible, the Most Exalted, the All-Glorious?
Indeed God hath permitted no one to pass unfair judgment,
and if thou wouldst fain do so, then soon shalt thou learn.
In the estimation of them that have fixed their eyes upon
the merciful Lord, the riches of the world and its trappings are worth as much
as the eye of a dead body, nay even less.
I swear by Him Who createth all beings and unto Whom all
shall return, if anyone at the hour of death beareth hatred towards Me or
disputeth the clear tokens wherewith I have been invested, then naught but
afflictive torment shall be his lot. On that day no ransom will be accepted,
nor will any intercession be permitted, unless God so please. Verily He is the
All-Compelling, the All-Glorious; and no God is there other than Him, the
sovereign Ruler, the Almighty, the Most Severe.
If thou art of them that truly believe, thou hast no other
alternative than to bear allegiance unto it. This is the Way of God for all the
inhabitants of earth and heaven and all that lieth betwixt them. No God is
there but Me, the Almighty, the Inaccessible, the Most Exalted.
This is an epistle from God, the Help in Peril, the
Self-Subsisting, unto Sulaymán in the land of Masqat, to the right of the Sea.
In truth there is none other God but Him, the Help in Peril, the
Self-Subsisting.… Indeed, were all the inhabitants of heaven and earth and
whatever existeth between them to assemble together, they would utterly fail
and be powerless to produce such a book, even though We made them masters of
eloquence and learning on earth. Since thou dost adduce proofs from the Qur’án,
God shall, with proofs from that self-same Book, vindicate Himself in the
Bayán. This is none other than a decree of God; He is truly the All-Knowing,
the All-Powerful.
Ye cannot alter the things which the Almighty hath
prescribed unto Me. Naught shall touch Me besides that which God, My Lord, hath
preordained for Me. In Him have I placed My whole trust and upon Him do the
faithful place their complete reliance.
Ever since the Cause of thy Lord hath appeared none of thy
deeds hath been acceptable, and thou hast been lost in palpable error while all
thou couldst see appeared to thee as deeds performed for the sake of thy Lord.
In truth thy day is nigh at hand and thou shalt be questioned concerning all
this, and assuredly God is not heedless of the deeds of the wicked.
I swear by the truth of God! Wert thou to know that which I
know, thou wouldst forgo the sovereignty of this world and of the next, that
thou mightest attain My good-pleasure, through thine obedience unto the True
One.… Wert thou to refuse, the Lord of the world would raise up one who would
exalt His Cause, and the Command of God would, verily, be carried into effect.
Whatever reacheth Me is ordained to reach Me; and that which
hath come unto Me, to him who giveth will it revert… For assuredly whatsoever
God hath decreed for Me shall come to pass and naught else save that which God
hath ordained for us shall ever touch us. Woe betide him from whose hands
floweth evil, and blessed the man from whose hands floweth good. Unto no one do
I take My plaint save to God; for He is the best of judges. Every state of
adversity or bliss is from Him alone, and He is the All-Powerful, the Almighty.
Verily, the One True God beareth Me witness that in this Day
I am the true mystic Fane of God, and the Essence of all good.
As to those who truly believe in God and are well assured in
the signs revealed by Him, perchance He will graciously forgive them the things
their hands have committed, and will grant them admission into the precincts of
His mercy. He, in truth, is the Ever-Forgiving, the Compassionate. But the
verdict of divine chastisement is pronounced against those who have turned away
disdainfully from Me and have repudiated the conclusive proofs and the unerring
Book with which God hath invested Me, and on the Day of Severing they shall
find no protector or helper.
I swear by the Most Great Lord! Wert thou to be told in what
place I dwell, the first person to have mercy on Me would be thyself. In the
heart of a mountain is a fortress [Máh-Kú] … the inmates of which are confined
to two guards and four dogs. Picture, then, My plight.… I swear by the truth of
God! Were he who hath been willing to treat Me in such a manner to know Who it
is Whom he hath so treated, he, verily, would never in his life be happy.
Nay—I, verily, acquaint thee with the truth of the matter—it is as if he hath
imprisoned all the Prophets, and all the men of truth and all the chosen ones.…
In brief, I hold within My grasp whatsoever any man might
wish of the good of this world and of the next. Were I to remove the veil, all
would recognize Me as their Best-Beloved, and no one would deny Me. Let not
this assertion astound Your Majesty; inasmuch as a true believer in the unity
of God who keepeth his eyes directed towards Him alone will regard aught else
but Him as utter nothingness.