from them and followed instead the Samiri(20) of their own idle fancies.

Thus have they strayed far from the mercy of their Lord and failed to

attain unto His Beauty in the day of His presence. For no sooner had He

come unto them with a sign and a testimony from God than the same people

who had eagerly awaited the day of His Revelation, who had called upon Him

in the daytime and in the night season, who had implored Him to gather

them together in His presence and to grant that they may lay down their

lives in His path, be led aright by His guidance and illumined by His

light--this very people condemned and reviled Him, and inflicted upon Him

such cruelties as transcend both My capacity to tell and thine ability to

hear them. My very pen crieth out at this moment and the ink weepeth sore

and groaneth. By God! Wert thou to hearken with thine inner ear, thou

wouldst in truth hear the lamentations of the denizens of heaven; and wert

thou to remove the veil from before thine eyes, thou wouldst behold the

Maids of Heaven overcome and the holy souls overwhelmed, beating upon

their faces and fallen upon the dust.