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is there but Him. Powerful is He to manifest His Cause, and to exalt His

testimony, and to establish whatsoever is His Will, and to elevate it to

so eminent a position that neither thine own hands, nor the hands of them

that have turned away from Him, can ever touch or harm it.



Dost thou believe thou hast the power to frustrate His Will, to hinder Him

from executing His judgment, or to deter Him from exercising His

sovereignty? Pretendest thou that aught in the heavens or in the earth can

resist His Faith? No, by Him Who is the Eternal Truth! Nothing whatsoever

in the whole of creation can thwart His Purpose. Cast away, therefore, the

mere conceit thou dost follow, for mere conceit can never take the place

of truth. Be thou of them that have truly repented and returned to God,

the God Who hath created thee, Who hath nourished thee, and made thee a

minister among them that profess thy faith.



Know thou, moreover, that He it is Who hath, by His own behest, created

all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth. How can, then,

the thing that hath been created at His bidding prevail against Him? High

is God exalted above what ye imagine about Him, ye people of malice! If

this Cause be of God, no man can prevail against it; and if it be not of

God, the divines amongst you, and they that follow their corrupt desires

and such as have rebelled against Him will surely suffice to overpower it.



Hast thou not heard what a man of the family of Pharaoh, a believer, hath

said of old, and which God recounted unto His Apostle, Whom He hath chosen

above all human beings, and entrusted with His Message, and made the

source of His mercy unto all them that dwell on earth? He said, and He,

verily, speaketh the truth: "Will ye slay a man because he saith my Lord

is God, when he hath already come to you with proofs of his mission? And

if he be a liar, on him will be his lie, but if he be a man of truth, part

at least of what he threateneth will fall upon you." This is what God hath

revealed unto His Well-Beloved One, in His unerring Book.



And yet, ye have failed to incline your ears unto His bidding, have

disregarded His law, have rejected His counsel as recorded in His Book,

and have been of them that have strayed far from Him. How many those who,

every year, and every month, have because of you been put to death! How

manifold the injustices ye have perpetrated--injustices the like of which

the eye of creation hath not seen, which no chronicler hath ever recorded!

How numerous the babes and sucklings who were made orphans, and the

fathers who lost their sons, because of your cruelty, O ye unjust doers!

How oft hath a sister pined away and mourned over her brother, and how oft

hath a wife lamented after her husband and sole sustainer!



Your iniquity waxed greater and greater until ye slew Him Who had never

taken His eyes away from the face of God, the Most Exalted, the Most

Great. Would that ye had put Him to death after the manner men are wont to

put one another to death! Ye slew Him, however, in such circumstances as

no man hath ever witnessed. The heavens wept sore over Him, and the souls

of them who are nigh unto God cried out for His affliction. Was He not a

Scion of your Prophet's ancient House? Had not His fame as a direct

descendant of the Apostle been spread abroad amongst you? Why, then, did

ye inflict upon Him what no man, however far ye may look back, hath

inflicted upon another? By God! The eye of creation hath never beheld your

like. Ye slay Him Who is a Scion of your Prophet's House, and rejoice and

make merry while seated on your seats of honor! Ye utter your imprecations

against them who were before you, and who have perpetrated what ye have

perpetrated, and remain yourselves all the time unaware of your

enormities!



Be fair in your judgment. Did they whom you curse, upon whom ye invoke

evil, act differently from yourselves? Have they not slain the descendant

of their Prophet as ye have slain the descendant of your own? Is not your

conduct similar to their conduct? Wherefore, then, claim ye to be

different from them, O ye sowers of dissension amongst men?



And when ye took away His life, one of His followers arose to avenge His

death. He was unknown of men, and the design he had conceived was

unnoticed by any one. Eventually he committed what had been preordained.

It behoveth you, therefore, to attach blame to no one except to

yourselves, for the things ye have committed, if ye but judge fairly. Who

is there on the whole earth who hath done what ye have done? None, by Him

Who is the Lord of all worlds!



All the rulers and kings of the earth honor and revere the descendants of

their Prophets and holy men, could ye but perceive it. Ye, on the other

hand, are responsible for such acts as no man hath, at any time,

performed. Your misdeeds have caused every understanding heart to be

consumed with grief. And yet, ye have remained sunk in your heedlessness,

and failed to realize the wickedness of your actions.



Ye have persisted in your waywardness until ye rose up against Us, though

We had committed nothing to justify your enmity. Fear ye not God Who hath

created you, and fashioned you, and caused you to attain your strength,

and joined you with them that have resigned themselves to Him (Muslims)?

How long will ye persist in your waywardness? How long will ye refuse to

reflect? How long ere ye shake off your slumber and are roused from your

heedlessness? How long will ye remain unaware of the truth?



Ponder in thine heart. Did ye, notwithstanding your behavior and the

things your hands have wrought, succeed in quenching the fire of God or in

putting out the light of His Revelation--a light that hath enveloped with

its brightness them that are immersed in the billowing oceans of

immortality, and hath attracted the souls of such as truly believe in and

uphold His unity? Know ye not that the Hand of God is over your hands,

that His irrevocable Decree transcendeth all your devices, that He is

supreme over His servants, that He is equal to His Purpose, that He doth

what He wisheth, that He shall not be asked of whatever He willeth, that

He ordaineth what He pleaseth, that He is the Most Powerful, the Almighty?

If ye believe this to be the truth, wherefore, then, will ye not cease

from troubling and be at peace with yourselves?



Ye perpetrate every day a fresh injustice, and treat Me as ye treated Me

in times past, though I never attempted to meddle with your affairs. At no

time have I opposed you, neither have I rebelled against your laws. Behold

how ye have, at the last, made Me a prisoner in this far-off land! Know

for a certainty, however, that whatever your hands or the hands of the

infidels have wrought will never, as they never did of old, change the

Cause of God or alter His ways.



Give heed to My warning, ye people of Persia! If I be slain at your hands,

God will assuredly raise up one who will fill the seat made vacant through

My death, for such is God's method carried into effect of old, and no

change can ye find in God's method of dealing. Seek ye to put out God's

light that shineth upon His earth? Averse is God from what ye desire. He

shall perfect His light, albeit ye abhor it in the secret of your hearts.



Pause for but a little while and reflect, O Minister, and be fair in thy

judgment. What is it that We have committed that could justify thee in

having slandered Us unto the King's Ministers, in following thy desires,

in perverting the truth, and in uttering thy calumnies against Us? We have

never met each other except when We met thee in thy father's house, in the

days when the martyrdom of Imam Husayn was being commemorated. On those

occasions no one could have the chance of making known to others his views

and beliefs in conversation or in discourse. Thou wilt bear witness to the

truth of My words, if thou be of the truthful. I have frequented no other

gatherings in which thou couldst have learned My mind or in which any

other could have done so. How, then, didst thou pronounce thy verdict

against Me, when thou hadst not heard My testimony from Mine own lips?

Hast thou not heard what God, exalted be His glory, hath said: "Say not to

every one who meeteth you with a greeting, 'Thou art not a believer'."

"Thrust not away those who cry to their Lord at morn and even, craving to

behold His face." Thou hast indeed forsaken what the Book of God hath

prescribed, and yet thou deemest thyself to be a believer!



Despite what thou hast done I entertain--and to this God is My witness--no

ill-will against thee, nor against any one, though from thee and others We

receive such hurt as no believer in the unity of God can sustain. My cause

is in the hand of none except God, and My trust is in no one else but Him.

Erelong shall your days pass away, as shall pass away the days of those

who now, with flagrant pride, vaunt themselves over their neighbor. Soon

shall ye be gathered together in the presence of God, and shall be asked

of your doings, and shall be repaid for what your hands have wrought, and

wretched the abode of the wicked doers!



By God! Wert thou to realize what thou hast done, thou wouldst surely weep

sore over thyself, and wouldst flee for refuge to God, and wouldst pine

away and mourn all the days of thy life, till God will have forgiven thee,

for He, verily, is the Most Generous, the All-Bountiful. Thou wilt,

however, persist, till the hour of thy death, in thy heedlessness,

inasmuch as thou hast, with all thine heart, thy soul and inmost being,

busied thyself with the vanities of the world. Thou shalt, after thy

departure, discover what We have revealed unto thee, and shalt find all

thy doings recorded in the Book wherein the works of all them that dwell

on earth, be they greater or less than the weight of an atom, are noted

down. Heed, therefore, My counsel, and hearken thou, with the hearing of

thine heart, unto My speech, and be not careless of My words, nor be of

them that reject My truth. Glory not in the things that have been given

thee. Set before thine eyes what hath been revealed in the Book of God,

the Help in Peril, the All-Glorious: "And when they had forgotten their

warnings, We set open to them the gates of all things," even as We did set

open to thee and to thy like the gates of this earth and the ornaments

thereof. Wait thou, therefore, for what hath been promised in the latter

part of this holy verse, for this is a promise from Him Who is the

Almighty, the All-Wise--a promise that will not prove untrue.



I know not the path ye have chosen and which ye tread, O congregation of

My ill-wishers! We summon you to God, We remind you of His Day, We

announce unto you tidings of your reunion with Him, We draw you nigh unto

His court, and send down upon you tokens of His wondrous wisdom, and yet

lo, behold how ye reject Us, how ye condemn Us, through the things which

your lying mouths have uttered, as an infidel, how ye devise your devices

against Us! And when We manifest unto you what God hath, through His

bountiful favor, bestowed upon Us, ye say, "It is but plain magic." The

same words were spoken by the generations that were before you and were

what you are, did ye but perceive it. Ye have thereby deprived yourselves

of the bounty of God and of His grace, and shall never obtain them till

the day when God will have judged between Us and you, and He, verily, is

the best of Judges.



Certain ones among you have said: "He it is Who hath laid claim to be

God." By God! This is a gross calumny. I am but a servant of God Who hath

believed in Him and in His signs, and in His Prophets and in His angels.

My tongue, and My heart, and My inner and My outer being testify that

there is no God but Him, that all others have been created by His behest,

and been fashioned through the operation of His Will. There is none other

God but Him, the Creator, the Raiser from the dead, the Quickener, the

Slayer. I am He that telleth abroad the favors with which God hath,

through His bounty, favored Me. If this be My transgression, then I am

truly the first of the transgressors. I and My kindred are at your mercy.

Do ye as ye please, and be not of them that hesitate, that I might return

to God My Lord, and reach the place where I can no longer behold your

faces. This, indeed, is My dearest wish, My most ardent desire. Of My

state God is, verily, sufficiently informed, observant.



Imagine thyself to be under the eye of God, O Minister! If thou seest Him

not, He, in truth, clearly seeth thee. Observe, and judge fairly Our

Cause. What is it that We have committed that could have induced thee to

rise up against Us, and to slander Us to the people, if thou be of them

who are just? We departed out of Tihran, at the bidding of the King, and,

by his leave, transferred Our residence to 'Iraq. If I had transgressed

against him, why, then, did he release Me? And if I were innocent of

guilt, wherefore did ye afflict Us with such tribulation as none among

them that profess your faith hath suffered? Hath any of Mine acts, after

Mine arrival in 'Iraq, been such as to subvert the authority of the

government? Who is it that can be said to have detected any thing

reprehensible in Our behavior? Enquire for thyself of its people, that

thou mayest be of them who have discerned the truth.



For eleven years We dwelt in that land, until the Minister representing

thy government arrived, whose name Our pen is loth to mention, who was

given to wine, who followed his lusts, and committed wickedness, and was

corrupt and corrupted 'Iraq. To this will bear witness most of the

inhabitants of Ba_gh_dad, wert thou to inquire of them, and be of such as

seek the truth. He it was who wrongfully seized the substance of his

fellow-men, who forsook all the commandments of God, and perpetrated

whatever God had forbidden. Eventually, he, following his desires, rose up

against Us, and walked in the ways of the unjust. He accused Us, in his

letter to thee, and thou didst believe him and followed in his way,

without seeking any proof or trustworthy evidence from him. Thou didst ask

for no explanation, nor didst thou attempt either to investigate or

ascertain the matter, that the truth might be distinguished from falsehood

in thy sight, and that thou mightest be clear in thy discernment. Find out

for thyself the sort of man he was by asking those Ministers who were, at

that time, in 'Iraq, as well as the Governor of the City (Ba_gh_dad) and

its high Counsellor, that the truth may be revealed to thee, and that thou

mayest be of the well-informed.



God is Our witness! We have, under no circumstances, opposed either him,

or others. We observed, under all conditions, the precepts of God, and

were never one of those that wrought disorders. To this he himself doth

testify. His intention was to lay hold on Us, and send Us back to Persia,

that he might thereby exalt his fame and reputation. Thou hast committed

the same crime, and for the self-same purpose. Ye both are of equal grade

in the sight of God, the sovereign Lord of all, the All-Knowing.



It is not Our purpose in addressing to thee these words to lighten the

burden of Our woe, or to induce thee to intercede for Us with any one. No,

by Him Who is the Lord of all worlds! We have set forth the whole matter

before thee, that perchance thou might realize what thou hast done, might

desist from inflicting on others the hurt thou hast inflicted on Us, and

might be of them that have truly repented to God, Who created thee and

created all things, and might act with discernment in the future. Better

is this for thee than all thou dost possess, than thy ministry whose days

are numbered.



Beware lest thou be led to connive at injustice. Set thy heart firmly upon

justice, and alter not the Cause of God, and be of them whose eyes are

directed towards the things that have been revealed in His Book. Follow

not, under any condition, the promptings of thine evil desires. Keep thou

the law of God, thy Lord, the Beneficent, the Ancient of Days. Thou shalt

most certainly return to dust, and shalt perish like all the things in

which thou takest delight. This is what the Tongue of truth and glory hath

spoken.



Rememberest thou not God's warning uttered in times past, that thou mayest

be of them that heed His warning? He said, and He, verily, speaketh the

truth: "From it (earth) have We created you, and unto it will We return

you, and out of it will We bring you forth a second time." This is what

God ordained unto all them that dwell on earth, be they high or low. It

behoveth not, therefore, him who was created from dust, who will return

unto it, and will again be brought forth out of it, to swell with pride

before God, and before His loved ones, to proudly scorn them, and be

filled with disdainful arrogance. Nay, rather it behoveth thee and those

like thee to submit yourselves to them Who are the Manifestations of the

unity of God, and to defer humbly to the faithful, who have forsaken their

all for the sake of God, and have detached themselves from the things

which engross men's attention, and lead them astray from the path of God,

the All-Glorious, the All-Praised. Thus do We send down upon you that

which shall profit you and profit them that have placed their whole trust

and confidence in their Lord.