dead, and
the spring came, and it revived. These expressions are metaphors,
allegories, mystic explanations in the world of signification.

Briefly, the Holy Manifestations have ever been, and ever will be,
Luminous Realities; no change or variation takes place in Their essence.
Before declaring Their manifestation, They are silent and quiet like a
sleeper, and after Their manifestation, They speak and are illuminated,
like one who is awake.

17: THE BIRTH OF CHRIST

Question.--How was Christ born of the Holy Spirit?

Answer.--In regard to this question, theologians and materialists disagree.
The theologians believe that Christ was born of the Holy Spirit, but the
materialists think this is impossible and inadmissible, and that without
doubt He had a human father.

In the Qur'an it is said: "And We sent Our Spirit unto her, and He
appeared unto her in the shape of a perfect man,"(79) meaning that the
Holy Spirit took the likeness of the human form, as an image is produced
in a mirror, and he addressed Mary.

The materialists believe that there must be marriage, and say that a
living body cannot be created from a lifeless body, and without male and
female there cannot be fecundation. And they think that not only with man,
but also with animals and plants, it is impossible. For this union of the
male and female exists in all living beings and plants. This pairing of
things is even shown forth in the Qur'an: "Glory be to Him Who has created
all the pairs: of such things as the earth produceth, and of themselves;
and of things which they know not"(80)--that is to say, men, animals and
plants are all in pairs--"and of everything have We created two kinds"--that
is to say, We have created all the beings through pairing.

Briefly, they say a man without a human father cannot be imagined. In
answer, the theologians say: "This thing is not impossible and
unachievable, but it has not been seen; and there is a great difference
between a thing which is impossible and one which is unknown. For example,
in former times the telegraph, which causes the East and the West to
communicate, was unknown but not impossible; photography and phonography
were unknown but not impossible."

The materialists insist upon this belief, and the theologians reply: "Is
this globe eternal or phenomenal?" The materialists answer that, according
to science and important discoveries, it is established that it is
phenomenal; in the beginning