m all by one name, and dost ascribe to them the same
attribute, thou hast not erred from the truth. Even as He hath revealed:
"No distinction do We make between any of His Messengers!"(115) For they
one and all summon the people of the earth to acknowledge the Unity of
God, and herald unto them the Kawthar of an infinite grace and bounty.
They are all invested with the robe of Prophethood, and honoured with the
mantle of glory. Thus hath Muhammad, the Point of the Qur'an, revealed: "I
am all the Prophets." Likewise, He saith: "I am the first Adam, Noah,
Moses, and Jesus." Similar statements have been made by 'Ali. Sayings such
as this, which indicate the essential unity of those Exponents of Oneness,
have also emanated from the Channels of God's immortal utterance, and the
Treasuries of the gems of divine knowledge, and have been recorded in the
scriptures. These Countenances are the recipients of the Divine Command,
and the day-springs of His Revelation. This Revelation is exalted above
the veils of plurality and the exigencies of number. Thus He saith: "Our
Cause is but one."(116) Inasmuch as the Cause is one and the same, the
Exponents thereof also must needs be one and the same. Likewise, the Imams
of the Muhammadan Faith, those lamps of certitude, have said: "Muhammad is
our first, Muhammad our last, Muhammad our all."

It is clear and evident to thee that all the Prophets are the Temples of
the Cause of God, Who have appeared clothed in divers attire. If thou wilt
observe with discriminating eyes, thou wilt behold them all abiding in the
same tabernacle, soaring in the same heaven, seated upon the same throne,
uttering the same speech, and proclaiming the same Faith. Such is the
unity of those Essences of being, those Luminaries of infinite and
immeasurable splendour. Wherefore, should one of these Manifestations of
Holiness proclaim saying: "I am the return of all the Prophets," He verily
speaketh the truth. In like manner, in every subsequent Revelation, the
return of the former Revelation is a fact, the truth of which is firmly
established. Inasmuch as the return of the Prophets of God, as attested by
verses and traditions, hath been conclusively demonstrated, the return of
their chosen ones also is therefore definitely proven. This return is too
manifest in itself to require any evidence or proof. For instance,
consider that among the Prophets was Noah. When He was invested with the
robe of Prophethood, and was