text
stringlengths
0
76
sanctuary of Thy glory, and detach myself from all that pertaineth not
unto Thee. No God is there beside Thee, the God of power, the God of glory
and wisdom.
Praised be Thou, O Lord my God! Thou beholdest my perplexity, and the
depth of mine anguish, and the agony of my soul, and the afflictions which
beset me. By Thy glory! My heart crieth to Thee by reason of the things
that have befallen my loved ones in Thy path, and mine eyes run down with
tears for them who, in these days, have ascended unto Thee, who have cast
the world behind their backs, and set their faces towards the shores of
Thy transcendent mercy.
Clothe them, O my God, with the robe of Thy favor and the raiment of Thy
loving providence, which Thou hast reserved for Thine own Self and woven
with the hands of Thy manifold bounties and gifts. Give them, then, to
drink, from the hands of Thy loving-kindness, of the cups of Thy
measureless mercy. Cause them, moreover, O my Best-Beloved, to abide
within the precincts of Thy court and around Thy most effulgent
Tabernacle. Powerful art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee.
And now I implore Thee, by the eternity of Thy Self, to enable me to be
patient in these tribulations which have caused the Concourse on high to
wail and the denizens of the everlasting Paradise to weep, and through
which all faces have been covered with the tawny dust provoked by the
anguish that hath seized such of Thy servants as have turned towards Thy
Name, the Most Exalted, the Most High. No God is there but Thee, the
Almighty, the Inaccessible, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Compassionate.
All Thy servants, O my God, are occupied with their own selves, so great
have been the troubles which, as decreed by Thee, have encompassed them on
every side. My tongue, however, is busied in extolling Thy chosen ones,
and my heart in remembering them that are dear to Thee and are wholly
subject to Thy will.
Look not on my state, O my God, nor my failure to serve Thee, nay rather
regard the oceans of Thy mercy and favors, and the things that beseem Thy
glory and Thy forgiveness and befit Thy loving-kindness and bounties. Thou
art, verily, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Generous.
Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God! Thou beholdest what the tongue of no one
except Thee can utter, and bearest witness unto things which no mouth can
recount. The floods of afflictions are let loose, and the winds of Thy
judgment have blown, and from the clouds rain down the darts of tests, and
the heavens of Thy decree pour forth the arrows of trial.
Thou seest, O my Lord, how Thy servants, who have believed on Thee and
acknowledged Thy signs, have fallen into the clutches of Thine enemies,
how the doors of ease and comfort have been shut against them, how they
languish in the Fortress wherein neither pleasantness nor hope can be
found. They have suffered in Thy path what no man before them hath
suffered. To this bear witness they who abide around Thy throne, and the
dwellers of the earth, and the Concourse on high.
These, O my God, are Thy servants who, for love of Thy beauty, have
forsaken their homes, and been so stirred up by the gentle winds of their
desire for Thee that they have sundered every tie in Thy path. Such of Thy
servants as dwell in Thy land and have transgressed against Thee have
assailed them, and banished them from Thy cities, and made them captives,
and delivered them into the hands of workers of iniquity among Thy people
and the perverse amidst the wicked doers in Thy realm. And finally, they
were made to abide in this place with which no other place, however
loathsome, in all Thy dominion, can compare. They were seized with such
trials that the clouds weep over them and the thunder groaneth by reason
of the manifold tribulations that have afflicted them in their love for
Thee and for the sake of Thy pleasure.
Thou knowest full well, O my God, that there is no one on Thine earth who
can claim to be related to Thee except these, some of whom have suffered
martyrdom for Thy sake, while the rest have been permitted to survive.
Though for such as are like unto us, O my God, it beseemeth not to claim
to be related to Thee, inasmuch as our misdeeds and our waywardness have
hindered us from reaching the depths of the ocean of Thy oneness, and from
immersing ourselves beneath the waters of Thy transcendent mercy, yet our
tongues, O my God, bear witness, and our hearts testify, and our limbs
confess that Thy mercy hath enveloped all created things and Thy
compassion surpassed all that are in heaven and all that are on earth.
I beseech Thee, by Thy Most Great Name, through which all created things
were rent asunder and the whole creation was shaken, to send down from the
clouds of Thy mercy that which will purge them from every ordeal and from
whatever is hateful to Thee. Raise them up, then, to such heights that no
amount of tribulation will keep them back from Thy wondrous remembrance,
nor any trouble hinder them from turning toward the court of Thy
transcendent oneness.
By Thy might, O Well-Beloved of Bahá and His heart's Desire! I myself cry
out, under all conditions, unto Thee saying: "Would I had, ere this day,
drawn nigh unto Thee!" When I hear, however, the sighs of such of Thy
people as are wholly devoted to Thee, and those of Thy servants as enjoy