XIV
Fire and Light · Compilations · 541 words
O faithful friends in the Abhá Beauty! By reason of the oppression and atrocities that have befallen those two souls whom the people of the world have wronged, ye have raised the cry of lamentation and grieving and have wept and sighed bitterly. This is meet and right, for those two gazelles of the meadow of oneness were held fast in the talons of ferocious beasts, and those two nightingales of the rose-garden of divine unity were gripped in the claws of depraved ravens.
There is no doubt that as a result of those dire woes and sufferings the hearts of the friends of God have been set aflame like unto a candle and they bemoan their grief with tearful eyes. I swear by God, besides Whom there is none other God, were ye to scrutinize carefully, ye would observe that every tree, every rock or clod of earth hath wept sore over this grievous injustice and hostility, and is wasted away by reason of this world-consuming fire.
Indeed, those wronged ones had never hurt the feelings of even a moth, nor had they ever put forth the hand of molestation towards a helpless ant. They were innocent of any crime and sought no refuge except the threshold of the Ever-Living, Self-Subsisting Lord. They had committed no error save that of having shaken off their slumber, and had incurred no guilt but that of becoming captive to His musk-laden tresses. Their grave offence was to display a glimpse of the beauty of the heavenly Peacock. To do this they spread out the plumage of sanctity and intoned sweet melodies even as the warbling of a nightingale. This was the only guilt they had committed; their faithfulness was regarded as a crime, and their sincerity as deceit. Yet notwithstanding their manifold expressions of love and fellowship, the ravening wolves attacked those two radiant, Joseph-like beings and ripped open not only their shirts but their breasts. Indeed, so vehement was their hatred and rancour that they unhesitatingly shed their sacred blood. Erelong will God punish those wicked-doers, both in this world and hereafter, for that which they have wrought, and will bring dire humiliation upon them in this life and in the next. Verily, God is the Avenger, the Almighty.
As to those blessed souls, they will, even as the doves of holiness, wing their flight unto the Concourse on high and in the meads of the Abhá Kingdom will burst into melodious songs, whose strains of sanctity will exhilarate every attentive ear, and whose wondrous accents will be heard at all times by the people of abiding faithfulness. What gift is there greater than this? What blessing is mightier than shedding these few drops of blood in the path of the peerless Lord? What felicity is more meritorious than the bounty of being aided by the mystery of sacrifice to consecrate themselves to the love of the Abhá Beauty? May my life be offered up for those two martyrs; may my whole being be sacrificed for their sake; may my heart be laid down as a ransom for them. Verily, this is a supreme favour, this is a most glorious felicity.