d
set your faces towards the Most Sublime Word through which the Scriptures
and the Books and this lucid Tablet have been distinctly set forth. Cast
away, O people, the things ye have composed with the pen of your idle
fancies and vain imaginings. By God! The Daystar of Knowledge hath shone
forth above the horizon of certitude.

"O thou who art gone astray! If thou hast any doubt concerning Our
conduct, know thou that We bear witness unto that whereunto God hath
Himself borne witness ere the creation of the heavens and of the earth,
that there is none other God but Him, the Almighty, the All-Bounteous. We
testify that He is One in His Essence, One in His Attributes. He hath none
to equal Him in the whole universe, nor any partner in all creation. He
hath sent forth His Messengers, and sent down His Books, that they may
announce unto His creatures the Straight Path.

"Hath the _Sh_ah been informed, and chosen to close his eyes to thine
acts? Or hath he been seized with fear at the howling of a pack of wolves
who have cast the path of God behind their backs and followed in thy way
without any clear proof or Book? We have heard that the provinces of
Persia have been adorned with the adornment of justice. When We observed
closely, however, We found them to be the dawning-places of tyranny and
the daysprings of injustice. We behold justice in the clutches of tyranny.
We beseech God to set it free through the power of His might and His
sovereignty. He, verily, overshadoweth all that is in the heavens and on
earth. To none is given the right to protest against any one concerning
that which hath befallen the Cause of God. It behooveth whosoever hath set
his face towards the Most Sublime Horizon to cleave tenaciously unto the
cord of patience, and to put his reliance in God, the Help in Peril, the
Unconstrained. O ye loved ones of God! Drink your fill from the wellspring
of wisdom, and soar ye in the atmosphere of wisdom, and speak forth with
wisdom and eloquence. Thus biddeth you your Lord, the Almighty, the
All-Knowing.

"O heedless one! Rely not on thy glory, and thy power. Thou art even as
the last trace of sunlight upon the mountain-top. Soon will it fade away
as decreed by God, the All-Possessing, the Most High. Thy glory and the
glory of such as are like thee have been taken away, and this verily is
what hath been ordained by the One with Whom is the Mother Tablet. Where
is he to be found who contended with God, and whi