the good pleasure of their Lord. Are ye possessed of
greater wisdom than the one who contrived a moon which would rise from one
well and set in another, and whose light was visible at a distance of
three leagues?(109) God, verily, blotted out every trace of his works and
returned him unto dust, as ye have already heard or are now informed.

114 How many the sages and philosophers who equalled or surpassed him in
learning and wisdom! And how vast the number of those who equalled or
surpassed yourselves! Some of them believed in God, while others
disbelieved and joined partners with Him. The latter were at last cast
into the Fire, there to take up their abode, while the former returned
unto the mercy of their Lord, therein to abide. For God doth not ask you
of your sciences, but of your faith and of your conduct. Are ye greater in
wisdom than the One Who brought you into being, Who fashioned the heavens
and all that they contain, the earth and all that dwell upon it? Gracious
God! True wisdom is His. All creation and its empire are His. He bestoweth
His wisdom upon whomsoever He chooseth amongst men, and withholdeth it
from whomsoever He desireth. He, in truth, is the Bestower and the
Withholder, and He, verily, is the All-Bountiful, the All-Wise.

115 O ye learned of the world! Ye failed to seek Our presence, that ye
might hearken unto the sweet melodies of the Spirit and perceive that
which God in His bounty hath pleased to bestow upon Me. Verily, this grace
hath now escaped you, did ye but know. Had ye sought Our presence, We
would have imparted unto you a knowledge that would have rendered you
independent of all else. But this ye failed to do, and thus hath the
decree of God been fulfilled. Now have I been forbidden to disclose it,
since We stand accused of sorcery, if ye perceive Our meaning. The same
words were uttered by the deniers of old, men whom death hath long since
overtaken and who now dwell in the fire bewailing their plight. The
deniers of this day shall likewise meet their doom. Such is the
irrevocable decree of Him Who is the All-Powerful, the Self-Sufficient.

116 I counsel you, in the end, not to overstep the bounds of God, nor to
heed the ways and habits of men, for these can neither "fatten nor appease
your hunger". Fix, rather, your gaze upon the precepts of God. Whosoever
desireth, let him accept this counsel as a path leading unto his Lord, and
whosoever desireth, let him return to his own idle im