eeds which in the Islamic Dispensation began with Muhammad should find
their consummation through the appearance of the Qa'im. God hath made Him
manifest invested with the proof wherewith the Apostle of God was
invested, so that none of the believers in the Qur'an might entertain
doubts about the validity of His Cause, for it is set down in the Qur'an
that none but God is capable of revealing verses. During the period of
1270 years no one among the followers of the Qur'an ever witnessed a
person appearing with conclusive proofs. Now the Ever-Living Lord hath
made manifest and invested with supreme testimony this long-awaited
Promised One from a place no one could imagine and from a person whose
knowledge was deemed of no account. His age is no more than twenty-five
years, yet His glory is such as none of the learned among the people of
Islam can rival; inasmuch as man's glory lieth in his knowledge. Behold
the learned who are honoured by virtue of their ability to understand the
Holy Writings, and God hath exalted them to such a degree that in
referring to them He saith: 'None knoweth the meaning thereof except God
and them that are well-grounded in knowledge.'(68) How strange then that
this twenty-five-year-old untutored one should be singled out to reveal
His verses in so astounding a manner. If the Muslim divines have cause for
pride in understanding the meaning of the Holy Writings, His glory is in
revealing the Writings, that none of them may hesitate to believe in His
Words. So great is the celestial might and power which God hath revealed
in Him that if it were His will and no break should intervene He could,
within the space of five days and nights, reveal the equivalent of the
Qur'an which was sent down in twenty-three years. Ponder thou and reflect.
Hath anyone like unto Him ever appeared in former times, or is this
characteristic strictly confined unto Him?

"Consider the manifold favours vouchsafed by the ..."

Consider the manifold favours vouchsafed by the Promised One, and the
effusions of His bounty which have pervaded the concourse of the followers
of Islam to enable them to attain unto salvation. Indeed observe how He
Who representeth the origin of creation, He Who is the Exponent of the
verse, 'I, in very truth, am God', identified Himself as the Gate [Bab]
for the advent of the promised Qa'im, a descendant of Muhammad, and in His
first Book enjoined the observance of the laws of the Qur'an, so