e peoples and kindreds of the earth--whereby
His loved ones should be exalted and be made to live in peace, and His
enemies be abased and tormented--such form of sovereignty would not be true
of God Himself, the Source of all dominion, Whose majesty and power all
things testify. For, dost thou not witness how the generality of mankind
is under the sway of His enemies? Have they not all turned away from the
path of His good-pleasure? Have they not done that which He hath
forbidden, and left undone, nay repudiated and opposed, those things which
He hath commanded? Have not His friends ever been the victims of the
tyranny of His foes? All these things are more obvious than even the
splendour of the noon-tide sun.

Know, therefore, O questioning seeker, that earthly sovereignty is of no
worth, nor will it ever be, in the eyes of God and His chosen Ones.
Moreover, if ascendency and dominion be interpreted to mean earthly
supremacy and temporal power, how impossible will it be for thee to
explain these verses: "And verily Our host shall conquer."(92) "Fain would
they put out God's light with their mouths: But God hath willed to perfect
His light, albeit the infidels abhor it."(93) "He is the Dominant, above
all things." Similarly, most of the Qur'an testifieth to this truth.

Were the idle contention of these foolish and despicable souls to be true,
they would have none other alternative than to reject all these holy
utterances and heavenly allusions. For no warrior could be found on earth
more excellent and nearer to God than Husayn, son of 'Ali, so peerless and
incomparable was he. "There was none to equal or to match him in the
world." Yet, thou must have heard what befell him. "God's malison on the
head of the people of tyranny!"(94)

Were the verse "And verily Our host shall conquer" to be literally
interpreted, it is evident that it would in no wise be applicable to the
chosen Ones of God and His hosts, inasmuch as Husayn, whose heroism was
manifest as the sun, crushed and subjugated, quaffed at last the cup of
martyrdom in Karbila, the land of Taff. Similarly, the sacred verse "Fain
would they put out God's light with their mouths: But God hath willed to
perfect His light, albeit the infidels abhor it." Were it to be literally
interpreted it would never correspond with the truth. For in every age the
light of God hath, to outward seeming, been quenched by the peoples of the
earth, and the Lamps of God extinguished by