Threshold.

It is certain that ye will make every effort to bring this about, will
also draw up plans for the opening of a number of schools. These schools
for academic studies must at the same time be training centres in
behaviour and conduct, and they must favour character and conduct above
the sciences and arts. Good behaviour and high moral character must come
first, for unless the character be trained, acquiring knowledge will only
prove injurious. Knowledge is praiseworthy when it is coupled with ethical
conduct and virtuous character; otherwise it is a deadly poison, a
frightful danger. A physician of evil character, and who betrayeth his
trust, can bring on death, and become the source of numerous infirmities
and diseases.

Devote ye the utmost attention to this matter, for the basic, the
foundation-principle of a school is first and foremost moral training,
character and the rectification of conduct.

(From a Tablet--translated from the Persian) [71]

"72: The All-Merciful hath created humankind for the adornment of this..."

The All-Merciful hath created humankind for the adornment of this
contingent world, so that men may array the earth with the manifold
blessings of Heaven; that the inner reality of the human being may, like
unto a lamp of the spirit, cause the community of man to become as a
mirror for the assemblage on high.

It is clear that learning is the greatest bestowal of God; that knowledge
and the acquirement thereof is a blessing from Heaven. Thus is it
incumbent upon the friends of God to exert such an effort and strive with
such eagerness to promote divine knowledge, culture and the sciences, that
erelong those who are schoolchildren today will become the most erudite of
all the fraternity of the wise. This is a service rendered unto God
Himself, and it is one of His inescapable commandments.

Wherefore, O loving friends, strive with heart and soul and strength to
make the Tarbiyat School a center of enlightenment, and a well-spring of
truth, that the children of God may shine with the rays of boundless
learning, and that these tender plants of the divine garden may grow and
flourish in the grace that showereth down from the clouds of knowledge and
true understanding, and advance to such a degree as to astonish the
company of those who know.

I swear by the bounty of God's wisdom that if they win this great prize,
the members of the Tarbiyat School will be admitted to the asse