een created. Woe betide
the perpetrators and those who led them into such evil! Erelong will God
consume their souls in the fire. He, verily, is the fiercest of avengers.

12 The people surrounded the house, and Muslims and Christians wept over
Us, and the voice of lamentation was upraised between earth and heaven by
reason of what the hands of the oppressors had wrought. We perceived that
the weeping of the people of the Son exceeded the weeping of others--a sign
for such as ponder.

13 One of My companions offered up his life, cutting his throat with his
own hands for the love of God, an act unheard of in bygone centuries and
which God hath set apart for this Revelation as an evidence of the power
of His might.(67) He, verily, is the Unconstrained, the All-Subduing. As
for the one who thus slew himself in 'Iraq,(68) he truly is the King and
Beloved of Martyrs, and that which he evinced was a testimony from God
unto the peoples of the earth. Such souls have been influenced by the Word
of God, have tasted the sweetness of His remembrance, and are so
transported by the breezes of reunion that they have detached themselves
from all that dwell on earth and turned unto the Divine Countenance with
faces beaming with light. And though they have committed an act which God
hath forbidden, He hath nevertheless forgiven them as a token of His
mercy. He, verily, is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Compassionate. So
enraptured were these souls by Him Who is the All-Compelling that the
reins of volition slipped from their grasp, until at last they ascended to
the dwelling of the Unseen and entered the presence of God, the Almighty,
the All-Knowing.

14 Say: This Youth hath departed out of this country and deposited beneath
every tree and every stone a trust, which God will erelong bring forth
through the power of truth. Thus hath the True One come and the command of
Him Who is the Ordainer, the All-Wise, been fulfilled. The hosts of earth
and heaven are powerless to resist His Cause, nor can all the kings and
rulers of the world ever frustrate His purpose. Say: Adversity is the oil
which feedeth the flame of this Lamp and by which its light is increased,
did ye but know. Indeed, the repudiation of the froward serveth but to
proclaim this Faith and to spread the Cause of God and His Revelation
throughout the world.

15 Great is your blessedness, inasmuch as ye have forsaken your homes and
wandered the land for the love of your Lord, t