and
the lover from the beloved, this term hath been so employed, and apart
from this dividing and separating no other meaning is intended. Thus, when
He Who is the Primal Point and the eternal Sun desireth, by the leave of
God, to gather together all creation, to raise them up from the graves of
their own selves, and to divide them one from another, He shall pronounce
but one verse from Him, and this verse will distinguish truth from error
from this day unto the Day of Resurrection. What sword is sharper than
this heavenly sword, what blade more trenchant than this incorruptible
steel that severeth every tie and separateth thereby the believer from the
infidel, father from son, brother from sister, and lover from beloved?(53)
For whoso believeth in that which hath been revealed unto him is a true
believer and whoso turneth away is an infidel, and such an irrevocable
separation occurreth between them that they will cease to consort and
associate with each other in this world. And so it is between father and
son, for should the son believe and the father deny, they will be severed
and forever dissociated from each other. Nay rather, thou witnesseth how
the son slayeth the father and the father the son. Consider in the same
light all that We have explained and related unto thee.

78 Wert thou to behold all things with the eye of discernment, thou
wouldst indeed see that this divine sword doth cleave asunder generations.
Would that ye could understand it! All this is by virtue of the word of
separation that is manifested on the Day of Judgement and Separation, were
the people to take heed in the days of their Lord. Nay, couldst thou but
sharpen thy sight and refine thy heart, thou wouldst witness that all the
material swords which in every day and age have slain the infidels and
waged war against the impious proceed from this divine and invisible
sword. Open then thine eyes, that thou mayest behold all that We have
revealed to thee and attain unto that which none other hath attained. We
verily exclaim: "Praise be to God, He Who is the Lord of the Day of
Reckoning!"(54)

79 Yea, inasmuch as these people have failed to acquire true knowledge
from its source and wellspring, and from the ocean of fresh and
soft-flowing waters that stream, by the leave of God, through hearts that
are pure and stainless, they have been veiled from that which God hath
intended by those words and allusions and have remained confined within
the pri