XVI
Fire and Light · Compilations · 752 words
O ye wronged captives! The divines in that land have put forth the hand of aggression and have surpassed in cruelty the Pharaohs who executed their victims upon the stake, and the people of Nimrod, Thamúd, and ‘Ad. They have closed the eye of justice, and with the darts of tyranny have pierced the hearts of the oppressed. They have set on fire the harvest of the wronged ones, and deemed it expedient to inflict upon them every cruelty, molestation, and torture, that perchance by so doing the divinely kindled fire might be extinguished, the seething and roaring of the ocean of God’s bounty subside, the outpourings of the clouds of His loving-kindness be stopped, the meteor of heavenly guidance be hindered from shedding its radiance upon those regions, the reviving breezes of divine blessing which blow from the direction of His tender mercy be withheld, the fragrance of the rose of His gracious providence no longer be diffused from the garden of divine unity, the light of its brilliant orb be obscured, and the secrets of the manifestation of heavenly bestowals be forgotten.
Alas! Alas! Those divines are unaware that the waves of the ocean of glory will surge high and the pervasive power of the Cause of God will acquire unprecedented glory. Its orb will shine resplendent and the effulgent light of its meteor will permeate the world. Its spark will develop into a flame, its luminous star into a sun, and its drop into a downpour and a flood. Its grain will grow into a harvest, its glittering gem will sparkle in every gathering, its fame will be noised abroad, and the anthem of its glorification will reach the highest heavens.
As to these servants and homeless ones, we were so inebriated with our fill from the draught of the love of God that we yearned to drink deep of that wine of God’s Covenant. Thus, chalice in hand, dancing and leaping with joy, we hastened into the arena of sacrifice. We offered supplications begging for adversity. We exposed our breasts as a target for the shafts of oppression and with the whole affection of our hearts and souls we welcomed the sword of injustice.
This body is the abode of ills and this darkened self a cage to every warbling bird. One’s corporeal frame shall become dust and a target to dreadful darts. Therefore if it were offered up in the field of sacrifice for the sake of God, no favour or blessing could be greater than this. Earthly possessions will certainly be lost, and what hath been accumulated will be dispersed; excessive riches will be cast adrift, and the flush of fortune will wither away and fade into nothingness; immense treasures will be squandered, and the wealth gathered up by the wind will eventually be blown away by the wind. Hence, better is it for one’s riches to be pillaged and plundered in the path of God than be a booty of the changes and chances of the world.
As to lofty buildings, imposing mansions, and magnificent palaces: Every inhabited and flourishing place will become desolate and every mighty edifice reduced to ruin. Therefore, how much better it is for these habitations which are more fragile than a spider’s web to be wrecked and ruined for the love of the sovereign Lord of the Kingdom. For if a house of clay be destroyed, there will be reared in its stead a glorious mansion within the soul-uplifting immensity of the realms above. If one’s home and dwelling-place be laid waste in this transitory dust-heap, one will be provided with a matchless and incomparable nest within the rose-garden of eternity.
Thus all that is related to the loved ones of God—their former glory, their present services, the grievous sufferings they have borne—all will, even as carving on slabs of emerald, be recorded on the scrolls of the Abhá Kingdom, and therefrom will they shed their radiance upon all the worlds of God. Then when that light sheddeth its rays upon the tongues of the world of existence, it giveth rise to expressions of praise and glorification; when directed towards human hearts, it evoketh the memory of noble traits, deeds, and virtues; when reflected upon the pages of the world, it becometh the object of the verse “and give me a good name among posterity”;13 it illumineth the surface of the earth; it is made manifest in the form of consecrated spots and sacred Shrines.