certainty that their words are inscrutable to all save those who are
endued with an understanding heart. He saith: "His eyes were as a flame of
fire", and "brass-like were His feet", and "out of His mouth goeth a
two-edged sword".(50) How could these words be literally interpreted? Were
anyone to appear with all these signs, he would assuredly not be human.
And how could any soul seek his company? Nay, should he appear in one
city, even the inhabitants of the next would flee from him, nor would any
soul dare approach him! Yet, shouldst thou reflect upon these statements,
thou wouldst find them to be of such surpassing eloquence and clarity as
to mark the loftiest heights of utterance and the epitome of wisdom.
Methinks it is from them that the suns of eloquence have appeared and the
stars of clarity have dawned forth and shone resplendent.

73 Behold, then, the foolish ones of bygone times and those who, in this
day, await the advent of such a being! Nor would they ever bear allegiance
unto him except that he appear in the aforementioned form. And as such a
being will never appear, so too will they never believe. Such indeed is
the measure of the understanding of these perverse and ungodly souls! How
could those who fail to understand the most evident of the evident and the
most manifest of the manifest ever apprehend the abstruse realities of the
divine precepts and the essence of the mysteries of His everlasting
wisdom?

74 I shall now briefly explain the true meaning of this utterance, that
thou mayest discover its hidden mysteries and be of them that perceive.
Examine then and judge aright that which We shall reveal unto thee, that
haply thou mayest be accounted in the sight of God amongst those who are
fair-minded in these matters.

75 Know then that He who uttered these words in the realms of glory meant
to describe the attributes of the One Who is to come in such veiled and
enigmatic terms as to elude the understanding of the people of error. Now,
when He saith: "His eyes were as a flame of fire", He alludeth but to the
keenness of sight and acuteness of vision of the Promised One, Who with
His eyes burneth away every veil and covering, maketh known the eternal
mysteries in the contingent world, and distinguisheth the faces that are
obscured with the dust of hell from those that shine with the light of
paradise.(51) Were His eyes not made of the blazing fire of God, how could
He consume every veil and burn away