The Letters of the Living: recognition and responsibility

Eighteen souls must, in the beginning, spontaneously and of their own accord, accept Me and recognize the truth of My Revelation. Unwarned and uninvited, each of these must seek independently to find Me.

And when their number is complete, one of them must needs be chosen to accompany Me on My pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina.

Of this number Mulla Husayn of Bushruyih, Mirza Ahmad of Azghand, Mulla Sadiq Muqaddas [the Holy], Shaykh Abu-Turab of Ishtihard, Mulla Yusuf of Ardibil, Mulla Jalil of Urumiyyih, Mulla Mihdi of Kand, Shaykh Sa'id the Indian, Mulla 'Ali of Bastam, and the like of these came out unto Him and spread themselves through all parts of Persia.

Thou art indeed to be numbered with those Letters that have excelled every other Letter. Wherefore thou hast been singled out by God through the tongue of thy Lord, the Bab, the brightness of Whose countenance hath enveloped, and will continue to envelop, the whole of creation.

And one of the Letters of the Primary Living One, the Letter of thy self, shall remember thee at the time when these verses are being written down from God, the Lord of all worlds, and thou shalt say: "God, my Lord, hath guided me through thee, for thou art the First of the first ones; and God, my Lord, hath honored me through thee, for thou art the Most Honored of the honored ones; and God hath elevated me through thee, for thou art the Most Exalted of the exalted ones; and God, my Lord, hath ennobled me through thee, for thou art the Most Noble of the noble ones; and God, my Lord, hath taught me through thee, for thou art the Most Learned of the learned ones."

And proclaim from My true tongue that "Verily I am God, there is no God but I. I have created all things by My command, and verily Muhammad is My servant and My Messenger, and verily the Letters of the Living are My friends, and likewise the Twin Gates are My doors, for verily I am God, there is no God but I. I have created the heavens and earth by My command more swiftly than uttering the word 'Be.'"

Therefore, O God, do Thou send down upon him and upon the Letters of the Living and upon all his names and likenesses that which befitteth the loftiness of Thy sanctity and the exaltation of Thy grace.

In this wondrous cycle there are the eighteen Letters of the Living and the sacred person of the Exalted One, which total nineteen persons, and likewise five other holy and blessed souls whose mention wisdom does not now permit - it will later become manifest and apparent.

The twenty-four blessed souls who are the guides of the Greatest Name - nineteen are the number of the Letters of the Living, which includes the Primal Point (may my spirit be sacrificed for Him) along with eighteen Letters of the Living.

Regarding the twenty-four chosen ones mentioned in the Holy Book and discussed in 'Abdu'l-Baha's Some Answered Questions - nineteen of them were the Point of Truth and Letters of the Living who have passed away. The other five remain unknown until now.

As for the number twenty-one, it refers to the number of the unity of the Exalted Bab and the Letters of the Living.

1st question: - What is the real meaning of the 19 days feast, spiritual and material?

Answer: "Nineteen days are according to 19 'Letters of the Living' which is composed of the Bab and 18 others.

One day in Baghdad, very early in the morning, Mulla Baqir, one of the Letters of the Living, attained the presence of Baha'u'llah.

The first to believe in the Primal Point, may my spirit be sacrificed for Him, was the revered Mulla Husayn-i-Bushrui, the Babu'l-Bab, not Quddus.

Say: All the Messengers together, and all the angels together, and all the truthful ones together, and all the martyrs together, and all those brought nigh together, and all the believers together, and all the sincere ones together, and all the righteous ones together, and all the guided ones together, and all those who trust in God, their Lord, the All-Merciful, together, and all those who commit their affairs to God, their Lord, together, and those who recite the Book of God and are assured of it, all together - God has promised to reward them with a goodly recompense and to cause them to enter a blessed abode from His presence.

… Say: There is no mercy beside the mercy of God, and all seek mercy through His mercy. Say: There are no words except the words of God; therefore efface the conditions of your own selves if ye desire to be guided.

For They consist of fourteen sacred Souls, and the Hidden, Well-Guarded Name, Whose four letters are called by various names including the Four Gates, the Lights of the Throne, and the Bearers of creation, provision, death, and life. Together They comprise the number of the word the Living (hayy=18), Who are the most near Names unto God. All others besides Them are guided through Their guidance, inasmuch as God hath proceeded the creation of the Bayan from Them, and hath ordained that unto Them they shall return.

The greatness and glory of most of these Letters of the Living resides solely in the fact that they professed their faith at the very beginning. Among them and in terms of importance, a few souls occupy a primary position--Mulla Husayn, Quddus, and Tahirih; a few other blessed souls occupy a secondary position; and the rest are honoured solely for having believed in the very beginning--two of them even, like Judas Iscariot, recanted their faith later.

Your letter arrived and your call was heard. Your petition was accepted at the Divine Throne, for you sought steadfastness from the Exalted Truth. I swear by the Sun of Truth that this station is lofty and this Cause is great. The Exalted Herald (the Bab) says to one of the Letters of the Living that you comprehend Him, but verily the Cause is mighty, mighty. God willing, may you be occupied at all times with the remembrance of the Lord of all beings, and be steadfast on His path, arise in His service, and speak His praise.

Send down then, O God, all Thy majesty and Thy beauty, Thy perfection and Thy greatness, Thy light and Thy mercy, Thy words and Thy names, Thy might and Thy will, Thy knowledge and Thy power, Thy speech and Thy dominion, Thy sovereignty and Thy bounty and Thy signs, and whatsoever Thy knowledge encompasseth of every good, upon the Reality of the Seven Letters, then upon the Letters of the Living, and upon all who seek shelter beneath the shade of that Treea€"until the Day when they shall discover it renewed through the effulgence of Thy light; and do Thou exalt it through the appearance of Thy wondrous novelty.

The Letters of the Unity He described---by the guidance of the Furqan---as fourteen "returns," the first four being the four Gates, and these souls He named the Letters of the Living, giving them precedence above all that are in the Bayan. After this rank He spoke of the Mirrors; and thou mayest observe that in none of His limited Tablets did He confine the Mirrors, even as He declareth that were infinite Mirrors to stand face to face, in all of them the lights of the Sun would be imprinted and made manifest; and after their turning away He saith that that grace is withdrawn. He set forth the likeness of the outward mirror and the visible sun, and declared that whoso desireth to attain unto recognition must behold the manifest Sun and the manifest Mirrors. He swept away all the limiting definitions of the Furqan, so that unto every discerning eye it became evident that in the hands of that people there was naught in support of the Truth, and whatsoever they possessed was wholly contrary thereto.