The forms of revelation: many voices, a living address

So long, however, as the thick clouds of oppression, which obscure the daystar of justice, remain undispelled, it would be difficult for the glory of this station to be unveiled to men's eyes. These thick clouds are the exponents of idle fancies and vain imaginings, who are none other but the divines of Persia. At one time We spoke in the language of the lawgiver; at another in that of the truth-seeker and the mystic, and yet Our supreme purpose and highest wish hath always been to disclose the glory and sublimity of this station.

Say: We have revealed Our verses in nine different modes. Each one of them bespeaketh the sovereignty of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. A single one of them sufficeth for a proof unto all who are in the heavens and on the earth; yet the people, for the most part, persist in their heedlessness. Should it be Our wish, We would reveal them in countless other modes.

He revealeth no less than a thousand verses within the space of five hours. He reciteth verses at a speed consonant with the capacity of His amanuensis to set them down.

… The substance of this gate is this, that all the writings of the Point bear the name Bayan, but in its primary truth this name is singled out for the divine verses. However, in its secondary truth it refereth to the prayers, in its tertiary truth to the commentaries, in its fourth-degree truth to educational forms, and in the fifth-degree truth to the Persian words.

We have sent down the verses in the tongue of the people of Persia and dispatched them to the Arabs, and We have sent down the verses to the Persians in a clear Arabic tongue.

At times He spoke in Persian, and at times in Arabic, and at times without either. He doeth whatsoever He willeth and ordaineth whatsoever He desireth, and He is the All-Knowing, the All-Informed.

In the Name of the Nameless Friend! Your letter was received before Us and what was written therein was noted and heard. God willing, may you remain engaged at all times in the remembrance of the Lord of all names.

As to what was asked concerning the verse revealed in the Suriy-i-Muluk, it is correct as revealed, with no word omitted. The movement of the Supreme Pen in the fields of Tablets is witnessed in different styles. In one instance, the matter is revealed with brevity - this expression is known as 'easily impossible' - and in another instance, both modes are combined. Therefore in the Surih of Kings the aforementioned verses were mentioned concisely, and this is most eloquent. "When it is asked, 'For what crime have they imprisoned Him?' they answer, 'Indeed, they desired to renew religion'" - meaning that if it be asked for what crime and transgression have ye imprisoned the Luminary of creation, they say these people desired to renew religion. From the Most Exalted Source the answer was revealed: If ye choose the ancient and it is preferred by you, why then did ye abandon the previous religions? At the beginning of this verse, "Say" is implied, so it would read "Say: If the ancient is what is chosen..." etc. And since the meaning of "Say" is understood from the utterance of the All-Merciful, it was therefore not mentioned, and this is the manifestation of perfect eloquence. In any case, this verse is not missing anything and is correct. And what you mentioned regarding the other verse, His exalted Word was "He hath dawned from the horizon of detachment."

As to what you asked about the verse revealed in the Tablet to the Pope, these expressions are allusions to the words of the Son [Christ] that were mentioned. In one place He says: "And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." And in another place it is mentioned: "Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God." From these two passages, the allusion in the words of the Lord of Names in the revealed verse becomes clear.

Some statements in certain Tablets refer to previous Books and what was written therein. In these days, Tablets have been specifically revealed for the Zoroastrian people, and what had remained hidden in their books until today has been mentioned. However, until what they possess becomes known, no one will understand the allusions in the revealed verses.

With regard to what you asked about spirits and their awareness of each other after their ascension, know that the people of Baha who are established in the Crimson Ark consort with each other, associate intimately, gather together, soar, aim for their goals, and ascend as if they were one soul - except that they are the discerning ones, they are the seeing ones, they are the knowing ones. Thus has the matter been decreed from the presence of One Who is All-Knowing, All-Wise. The people of Baha who dwell in the divine Ark are all aware of each other's conditions and are intimate companions and associates with one another. This station depends on the certitude and deeds of souls. Those souls who are at the same level are aware of each other's qualities, characteristics, ranks and stations. But souls who are below them cannot fully comprehend the levels and stations of those souls who are above them. Each has their portion with your Lord. Blessed is the soul that has turned to God and remained steadfast in His love until its spirit took flight unto God, the King, the Almighty, the Forgiving, the Merciful.

As for the spirits of the infidels, by My life, at the time of death they recognize what has passed them by, and they lament and implore. Likewise after their spirits depart from their bodies. It is very clear and evident that after death all will become aware of their deeds and actions. By the Sun of the horizon of might! The people of truth will at that time experience such joy as cannot be described. Similarly, the people of error will be seized by such fear, anxiety and terror as cannot be imagined. How excellent is the state of that soul who has taken and drunk the choice and everlasting wine of faith from the hand of the favors and bounties of the Lord of all religions.

Since a promise was previously made to respond, therefore this brief message is revealed and sent at a time when the clamor of the slanderers is raised and the cry of the heedless has drowned out the sound and echo of thunder. Today the loved ones of God must fix their gaze upon the Manifestation and what appears from Him. Some previous traditions had and have no foundation, and most of what former peoples understood and recorded in their books was according to their own desires, as you have observed that most of what people possess of meanings and interpretations of divine verses has been contrary to truth. Thus after the rending of the veil some things became clear and evident and they acknowledged they had not understood a single word of God's words. The intent is that if God's loved ones would purify their hearts and ears from what they have heard before, and with complete attention fix their gaze upon the Dawning-Place of the Cause and what has appeared from His presence, this would be most loved before God.

Despite these afflictions that have befallen and trials that have descended, the Most Exalted Pen has not liked and does not like aught save what speaks the truth: Verily there is no God but Me, the Protector, the Self-Subsisting. For the fragrance of this word prevents the entry of sorrows, but if one becomes occupied with interpretations of previous words it will aid sorrows. We shall see what God wills and what time requires. For now this much will suffice. Give thanks and be among the grateful ones.

Convey My greetings to My loved ones whom God has singled out for His love and made them among the successful ones. And praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds.

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Were We to utter a word, We would not wish to repeat it again - and God is witness to what I say. And whenever We have repeated words, We have intended in each one of them a meaning that none hath comprehended save My all-knowing and informed Self. By thy life! Had We found the people to have attained maturity, We would not have repeated the words.

We have at times revealed that which none knoweth save whom God willeth, and in another station We have revealed verses in such wise that the servants understand them and what their Lord, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed, intendeth thereby.

There lieth concealed within thee a melody which, were We to reveal it in its fullness, would attract the entire world. Yet We have revealed it in measure, with wisdom. Thus hath the Source of Divinity willed, though the people remain heedless and veiled.

At times We revealed it in the form of a Tablet, and at other times in the form of the Spirit, then in an entirely new form.

By God! I was sleeping when the breathings of revelation stirred me, and I was silent when my Lord, the Mighty, the Powerful, caused me to speak. Were it not for His Command, I would not have revealed myself. His Will hath encompassed my will, and He hath established me in a Cause whereby the darts of the idolaters have assailed me.

We come to the explanation of the words of Baha'u'llah when He says: "O King! I was but a man like others, asleep upon My couch, when lo, the breezes of the All-Glorious were wafted over Me, and taught Me the knowledge of all that hath been. This thing is not from Me, but from One Who is Almighty and All-Knowing." This is the station of divine revelation. It is not a sensible, but an intelligible reality. It is sanctified from and transcendent above past, present, and future. It is a comparison and an analogy -- a metaphor and not a literal truth. It is not the condition that is commonly understood by the human mind when it is said that someone was asleep and then awoke, but signifies a passage from one state to another.

Thou knowest full well that We perused not the books which men possess and We acquired not the learning current amongst them, and yet whenever We desire to quote the sayings of the learned and of the wise, presently there will appear before the face of thy Lord in the form of a tablet all that which hath appeared in the world and is revealed in the Holy Books and Scriptures. Thus do We set down in writing that which the eye perceiveth. Verily His knowledge encompasseth the earth and the heavens.

Question: What is the divine wisdom of fasting?

Answer: There is many a divine wisdom in fasting. Among them is this: that, in the days when He Who is the Dayspring of the Sun of Truth engages, through divine inspiration, in revealing the verses of God, in establishing His religion, and in setting forth His teachings, He is so enraptured and enkindled as to find no time for food or drink. … In the same way, in the beginning of His manifestation, the Bab would be so overcome with emotion at the revelation of the divine verses that for days He would confine himself to drinking tea. Likewise, in the days when He was instituting the divine teachings, and when the divine verses would be sent down continuously, Baha'u'llah would be so overwhelmed with the intensity of their influence and the emotions surging within His heart that He would take but little food.

I ascended to the Most Exalted Horizon and stood before the Throne. Then the Desired One addressed me and other verses were revealed with the speed of a torrent rushing down from mountains or lightning flashing from clouds - nay, even faster. I was unable to record them. By your life! The wine of verses so intoxicated me that my fingers were prevented from moving and my heart from comprehending what was revealed from the heaven of utterance of our All-Knowing, All-Informed Lord. It was as though I had become a piece of fire as I gazed toward the direction of the Throne like one overcome with bewilderment.

God willing, may they ever be successful in transcribing the verses of God, for there is no deed more beloved than this. The specimens of writing which they had requested were presented to the Most Great Branch - may my spirit be a sacrifice for the dust of His most pure footsteps. He said: "You yourself are witness and can testify that due to the abundance of divine Tablets to be transcribed, there is absolutely no time or opportunity available." And truly it is as He has stated, for even when He repairs to the outskirts of the city for recreation, the Tablets accompany Him and He remains occupied with them there also.

This servant also wished to present a petition to his honor, but since for some time no Tablets have been sent from the Most Holy Court in any direction, and likewise divine verses have been suspended, meaning they are not being revealed outwardly, this servant has also delayed in sending petitions until such time as may be deemed appropriate.

Until now, this servant has, according to command, effaced in water the equivalent of what was revealed by the Point (the Bab), may the souls of all else be sacrificed for Him, and what remains equals what has been seen from the Primal Point and the previous Prophets, nay rather exceeds it. Every fair-minded and discerning person bears witness to this.

Suddenly He commanded: "Take up the pen, and with power and grandeur, openly in a clear voice, the verses of God were revealed while the monk of that place stood by listening."

The Blessed Beauty did not make any more public speeches after leaving Baghdad and Adrianople. The mode of His discourse and the style of His utterances were a cause of wonder and were without peer or likeness.

Apart from these matters, the equivalent of all heavenly books from the Point and before Him is now present and available. Come and see, and be present at the time of revelation, that perchance the breezes of divine revelation may attract thee, or the fragrance of inspiration may lead thee to thy goal. O Hadi! If thou art prevented from being present, appoint a deputy or representative. Perchance ye may find that of which ye are now heedless and turn towards that from which ye have turned away.

Say: The verses We have revealed are as numerous as those which, in the preceding Revelation, were sent down upon the Bab. Let him that doubteth the words which the Spirit of God hath spoken seek the court of Our presence and hear Our divinely-revealed verses, and be an eye-witness of the clear proof of Our claim.

The equivalent of all the books of the past and future hath been sent down from the heaven of divine Will. Present thyself before the Face, then ask whatsoever thou desirest, that thou mayest witness the ocean of utterance and its waves, and the sun and its effulgence. Look thou upon the revealed Suras and reflect, that perchance thou mayest turn from the left hand to the right, from ignorance to knowledge, and from darkness to light.

And He hath sent down all that creation desired in a recorded Book and an outstretched parchment, and verily it is the Frequented House in the horizon of Manifestation, and through such as this doth God expose the deed of the weary lie.

… As the Balance is established, there flow from my hands a thousand verses every six hours when rendered in proper Arabic - a proof none in the heavens or earth can match.

… And from the day He manifested His verses, none hath produced a verse, and all denied and were amazed, while some believed and acknowledged their impotence.

By the life of Him Whom God shall make manifest, that Manifestation is more wondrous than the Manifestation of Muhammad before, but people do not understand nor remember. What God revealed to Muhammad over twenty-three years, if God had wished, He could have revealed to him in two days and two nights. Say: If you desire, We shall surely reveal to you, for We are powerful over that. If it is not detailed in two days and two nights and written before Us by one who tires not, this is from God's command, the Mighty, the Inaccessible.

Now, the equivalent of all heavenly Books--nay, more--hath been sent down in every mode from the heaven of God's Will.

The world hath been encompassed by wondrous and exalted verses, and manifest verses equivalent to all heavenly books have been revealed, and outwardly that hath transpired in the past or shall come to pass in the future hath been set forth with utmost clarity in God's Holy Book.

So continuous was the stream of Verses descending from the Heaven of thy Lord, the Possessor of all Names and Attributes, that their sweet savours encompassed all the worlds.

The outpourings of divine revelation continually and successively drip from the leaves of the Divine Lote-Tree, appearing and shining forth in the form of words in the divine Tablets.

That honored one beareth witness that from the beginning of the Cause until now, this Wronged One hath caused verses to rain down like copious rain from the heaven of grace, and hath acted beyond the power and might of all the peoples of the world. No barrier prevented it, no thing became an obstacle.

O Mihdi! In these days, both night and day, verses are being revealed from the heaven of divine Will in such measure that creation is witnessed to be powerless to enumerate them.

O Ism-i-Jud! Tablets have been revealed equal in number to the raindrops, and books to match the number of all knowledge, psalms, scriptures and what lies between them, which none has comprehended save God, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed. The essence of utterance has reached such a station that every letter thereof is a clear book establishing the Cause of God, the Lord of all worlds.

At all times verses descend like rain from the heaven of the favor of the Lord of the Worlds - nay, even more abundantly - yet the people remain in evident doubt and mighty suspicion.

Divine verses have been revealed in such manner that none except His sanctified Essence is capable of numbering them, and exalted and wondrous Tablets specifically for the loved ones have been sent down from the heaven of the favor of the Lord of Lords, successively and continuously.

Divine verses have been revealed in such wise that the writers of the world and the possessors of the pen are incapable and powerless to enumerate them.

The verses have been sent down in such wise that the Kingdom of Utterance circleth round them, as attesteth He Who speaketh in every state, that there is none other God but Him, the Single, the One, the Powerful, the Mighty, the Loving.

Glorified be He Who sendeth down verses anew, in a manner that draweth unto Him all them that are nigh unto God, and hath ordained therein the measures of all things in such wise that all who are in the heavens and on earth are powerless before it.

Thus was opened the gate of utterance and there emerged from it the Book of Knowledge with such effulgences that were they to appear upon the earth in less than the eye of a needle, by God, all would be found thunderstruck upon the ground.

Neither My imprisonment hath prevented Me from the remembrance of God, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed, nor hath the oppression of those who have disbelieved in the Day of Judgment frightened Me. Behold, behold: this is the Finger of Power whereby the heaven of idle fancies hath been cleft. Hear, hear: this is the shrill voice of My Pen which hath been raised before the faces of the mystics, then the learned ones, then the kings and the sovereigns.

Therefore when one school states that the words of God are 'uncreated and eternal' they are right, because they mean the 'Spiritual Words' and when the other school asserts that the Words of God are 'created and finite' they mean the 'finite Words' and the 'Creational words', because their character changes from time to time...

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Divine verses have been revealed in such measure as transcendeth computation and is sanctified from limitation. It is hoped that the men of this age will arise with perfect determination to educate mankind - an arising that is sanctified from sitting down and from alteration. Verily God, our Lord, is powerful over all things.

Verses are being sent down and arriving like rain upon the soil of hearts.

All Divine Revelation seems to have been thrown out in flashes. The Prophets never composed treatises. That is why in the Qur'an and our own Writings different subjects are so often included in one Tablet. It pulsates, so to speak. That is why it is "Revelation".

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