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liveth eternally and can never perish, inasmuch as remembrance of Thee is
eternal and will endure so long as Thine own Self endureth, and Thy praise
is everlasting and will last as long as Thine own sovereignty will last.
By its means Thou art glorified by such of Thy chosen ones as call upon
Thee and by the sincere among Thy servants. Nay, the praise wherewith any
one, in the entire creation, praiseth Thee proceedeth from this exalted
self and returneth unto it, even as the sun which, while it shineth,
sheddeth its splendor upon whatsoever may be exposed to its rays. From
this sun is generated, and unto it must return, the light which is shed
over all things.
Exalted, immeasurably exalted art Thou above any attempt to measure the
greatness of Thy Cause, above any comparison that one may seek to make,
above the efforts of the human tongue to utter its import! From
everlasting Thou hast existed, alone with no one else beside Thee, and
wilt, to everlasting, continue to remain the same, in the sublimity of
Thine essence and the inaccessible heights of Thy glory.
And when Thou didst purpose to make Thyself known unto men, Thou didst
successively reveal the Manifestations of Thy Cause, and ordained each to
be a sign of Thy Revelation among Thy people, and the Day-Spring of Thine
invisible Self amidst Thy creatures, until the time when, as decreed by
Thee, all Thy previous Revelations culminated in Him Whom Thou hast
appointed as the Lord of all who are in the heaven of revelation and the
kingdom of creation, Him Whom Thou hast established as the Sovereign Lord
of all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth. He it was Whom
Thou hast determined to be the Herald of Thy Most Great Revelation and the
Announcer of Thy Most Ancient Splendor. In this Thou hadst no other
purpose except to try them who have manifested Thy most excellent titles
unto all who are in heaven and on earth. He it was Whom Thou hast
commanded to establish His covenant with all created things.
And when Thy promise came to pass and the set time was fulfilled, He Who
is the Possessor of all Names and Attributes was made manifest unto men.
Thereupon all that were in the heavens and all that were on the earth were
terror-stricken save those whom Thou didst keep under Thy protection and
preserve within the shelter of Thy power and gracious providence. There
befell Him, at the hands of such of Thy creatures as have transgressed
against Thee, that which the tongue of no one of Thy servants can recount.
Look down, then, upon Him, O my God, with the eye of Thy tender mercy, and
send down upon Him and upon those that love Him all the good Thou didst
ordain in the heaven of Thy will and the Tablet of Thy decree. Aid them,
then, with Thy succor, for Thou art, verily, the Almighty, the Most
Exalted, the All-Glorious, the All-Compelling.
All glory be to Thee, O Lord my God! I bear witness for Thee to that
whereto Thou Thyself didst bear witness for Thine own Self, ere the day
Thou hadst created the creation or made mention thereof, that Thou art
God, and that there is none other God beside Thee. From eternity Thou
hast, in Thy transcendent oneness, been immeasurably exalted above Thy
servants' conception of Thy unity, and wilt to eternity remain, in Thine
unapproachable singleness, far above the praise of Thy creatures. No words
that any one beside Thee may utter can ever beseem Thee, and no man's
description except Thine own description can befit Thy nature. All who
adore Thy unity have been sore perplexed to fathom the mystery of Thy
oneness, and all have confessed their powerlessness to attain unto the
comprehension of Thine essence and to scale the pinnacle of Thy knowledge.
The mighty have all acknowledged their weakness, and the learned
recognized their ignorance. They that are possessed of influence are as
nothing when compared with the revelations of Thy stupendous sovereignty,
and they who are exalted sink into oblivion when brought before the
manifestations of Thy great glory. The radiance of the brightest
luminaries is eclipsed by the effulgent splendors of Thy face, and the
tongues of the most eloquent of speakers falter under the unrestrained
effusions of Thy holy utterance, and the foundations of the mightiest
structures tremble before the onrushing force of Thy compelling power.
Who is there, O my God, that can be deemed worthy to be remembered when
Thou art remembered, and where is he to be found who can be regarded as
capable of hinting at Thy nature or worthy of mention in the court of Thy
transcendent oneness? From everlasting Thou hast been alone with no one
else beside Thee, and to everlasting Thou wilt continue to be one and the
same. No God is there beside Thee, the God of power, of glory and wisdom.
Glorified be Thy name, O Lord my God! I beseech Thee by Him Who is Thine
exalted and supreme Remembrance, Whom Thou hast sent down unto all Thy
creatures and invested with Thy name, the All-Glorious, Whose will Thou
hast ordained to be Thine own will, Whose self Thou hast decreed to be the
revealer of Thine own Self, and His essence the Day-Spring of Thy wisdom,
and His heart the treasury of Thine inspiration, and His breast the
dawning-place of Thy most excellent attributes and most exalted titles,
and His tongue the fountain-head of the waters of Thy praise and the
well-spring of the soft-flowing streams of Thy wisdom, to send down upon
us that which will enable us to dispense with all else except Thee, and
will cause us to direct our steps towards the sanctuary of Thy pleasure
and to aspire after the things Thou didst ordain for us according to Thine
irrevocable decree. Empower us, then, O my God, to forsake ourselves and
cleave steadfastly to Him Who is the Manifestation of Thy Self, the Most
Exalted, the Most High. Supply us also with that which is best for us, and
write us down with such of Thy servants as have repudiated the Idol (Mírzá
Yahyá), and firmly believed in Thee, and been so established on the throne
of certitude that the whisperings of the Evil One have been powerless to
hinder them from turning their faces towards Thy name, the All-Merciful.