hat naught shall
keep us back from Thee or deter us from Thine adoration. Powerful art Thou
to do Thy pleasure. Thou, verily, art the Almighty, the Most Generous.

LAWH-I-RA'IS

He is in His own Right the Supreme Ruler!

1 The Pen of the Most High proclaimeth: O thou who hast imagined thyself
to be the most exalted of men(72) and who hast regarded as the lowliest of
all creatures this divine Youth, through Whom the eyes of the Concourse on
high have been illumined and made radiant! This Youth hath sought nothing
from thee or from such as are like unto thee, inasmuch as from time
immemorial, whenever the Manifestations of the All-Merciful and the
Exponents of His unfading glory have stepped out of the Realm of eternity
into this mortal world and revealed themselves to revive the dead, men
such as thee have considered these sanctified Souls and Temples of Divine
Oneness, upon Whom must needs depend the rehabilitation of the peoples of
the earth, to be stirrers of mischief and worthy of blame. These men,
verily, have all returned unto dust. Thou, too, shalt erelong take abode
therein and find thyself in grievous loss.

2 Even if this Lifegiver and World Reformer be in thine estimation guilty
of sedition and strife, what crime could have been committed by a group of
women, children, and suckling mothers that they should be thus afflicted
with the scourge of thine anger and wrath? No faith or religion hath ever
held children responsible. The Pen of divine Command hath exempted them,
yet the fire of thy tyranny and oppression encompasseth all. If thou
bearest allegiance to any faith or religion, then thou shouldst know that,
according to all the heavenly Books and all the divinely inspired and
weighty Scriptures, children are not to be held accountable. Aside from
this, not even those who disbelieve in God have perpetrated such unseemly
acts. Since from every thing an effect becometh manifest, a fact that none
can deny save those who are bereft of reason and understanding, it is
certain that the sighs of these children and the cries of these wronged
ones will have their due consequence.

3 Ye have plundered and unjustly despoiled a group of people who have
never rebelled in your domains, nor disobeyed your government, but rather
kept to themselves and engaged day and night in the remembrance of God.
Later, when the order was issued to banish this Youth, all were filled
with dismay. The officials