He is God!
O fragrances of God, waft with perfume! O breezes of God, pass with aroma and seek the valley of the Merciful, the assembly of knowledge, the Sahara of Khorassan ! Become diffused before the friends of God and His faithful ones. Perfume the nostrils of His chosen ones—those whose faces shone forth, whose stars became brilliant, whose feet stood firm, whose banners unfurled, whose hearts grew strong, whose roots and branches flourished, whose breasts dilated in the day of meeting, and who became loyal to the Covenant of God in the world of eternity. Then convey thou to the dwellers of those regions and hills, the greetings of thy Lord, the Supreme, and announce to them the glad tidings of the days of God.
By my Lord! This is a bounty that was desired in the past centuries by the dawning points of lights and stars, and the recipients of the inspiration of thy Lord, the Dear, the Self-subsisting. Their eyes were flooded, their tears flowed, their lamentations arose in yearning and longing for it. May you enjoy this table that has descended from the heaven of the favor of your Lord, the Merciful, the Compassionate!
O breezes of longing and fragrances from the flowers of faithfulness! Stand in the courtyard of the friends, the rose-garden of whose hearts thrived by the flooding clouds of the love of God, and their faces shone with the light of the knowledge of God. Convey to them my longing, yearning and attachment; declare and announce to them my devotion, affection and fondness in their mention. Say to them:—
Upon ye be Baha’u’llah (The Glory of God) and His peace. His greeting and His praise! In your faces are His light and His effulgence. In your hearts are His Spirit and His faithfulness. In your bosoms are His love and His cure. O ye friends of the Merciful! Loosen your tongues in His thanks and praise, for He has confirmed you by the Cause, in the mention of which the Supreme Concourse warbled and the herald of glad tidings proclaimed in the books and tablets.
Blessed are ye for this great bounty. Glad tidings be unto ye for this wondrous gift which is the full bestowal of God and the manifest light of God. May God make ye torches of His mention, centers of His secrets, dawning-points of His lights and rising points of His signs. Blind are the eyes that do not see the lights or His Baha (splendor) and are not consoled by witnessing His marvelous signs, in the day of His Manifestation and His brilliant light. Deaf are the ears that do not hear His call and are not cheered by His wondrous utterances. Dumb are the tongues that are not loosened in His mention and His praise. Lost are the hearts that are portionless of His love and devotion. Cast away are the souls that do not walk in His good pleasure and quench their thirst at the fountain of His knowledge.
O thou dove of faithfulness! Speak to the weak if thou findest that difficulties are intensifying, hardships extending, the earth quaking, the mountains shaking, the hurricanes of afflictions encircling, the sea of calamities surging, the winds of suffering blowing and the flood of tests surrounding the contingent beings. Have beautiful patience in the path of thy Glorious Lord. Beware! O servants of the Merciful, lest ye arouse the tumult when the blaze of the fire of trials become intense, and its crackling arises. Beware of crying and wailing in the path of your Glorious Lord. When the ocean of ordeals becomes stormy and its affairs become serious by the oppression of the rebellious people, do not consider them in a place free from torment, and do not fear their strength and their numbers. Verily, their likes passed before them. Read to them from the book (Qur’an), ‘A Certain Army of the People is Fleeing.’ Verily, those in past centuries were much stronger than these, their possessions were greater and their armies mightier.
Even though, O lambs of God, ye are between the claws of ferocious beasts and the nails of the carnivorous of the earth, do not be discouraged of the Spirit of God. The veil will be removed from the cause of the command of God. This ray will radiate in the horizons of the cities, the signals of oneness will be elevated, the banners of the signs (verses) of your Glorious Lord will wave upon the firm edifice, the structure of doubts will be shaken, the curtain of darkness will be torn asunder; the morn of proofs will dawn and the kingdoms of earth and heaven will shine with the lights of signs.
You will see the banners of the sects lowered, and their flags reversed, their faces erased and transfixed, their eyes staring and sunken, their hearts palpitating and failing, their homes empty and vacant, their bodies weak and decayed, and the souls falling into hell!
By the Life of God! Verily, in the people of Noah, Lot, Thamood (one of the first Arabian tribes) the Jews, the Tobbaas of Seba, (ancient kings of Yemen in Hedjaz, Arabia), the heroes of Batha (Mecca), the kaisers of Fayhaa (Bassra), the Cyruses of Zora (Baghdad), and in the fables of the ancient centuries, there is an exhortation to the mindful, and persons of innersight who unfold the end of affairs by the beginning of signs. Verily, their planets were scattered, their processions have perished, their faces became dusty, their stars darkened, their roots torn up, their seed crushed, their thrones wrecked, their armies routed, their pillars quivered, their edifices in ruins, their palaces forsaken, their backs broken, their tombs collapsed, their faces ugly, their skin chilled, their shelter swept away and their traces effaced. Look thou at their towns and villages in the desert. When the might of thy Lord came it made them extinguished, arid and devastated. No voice or whisper could he heard. But those who took the neighborhood of the mercy of thy Lord Abha (the Most Glorious) as shelter, refuge, asylum and protection, are like the birds who take the twigs of the Sadratu’l-Muntaha (the most distant tree in Paradise, according to the Islamic traditions, no angel or prophet can go beyond the limits of this Tree) as a nest and haunt. God established them on the earth. He made them good leaders, caused their signs to be famous and brought them from the horizon of singleness with lights radiating from their faces.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a Tablet; Star of the West vol. 9, no.
12, October 16, 1918)
