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Provisional Translation
- He is God!
- Exalted art Thou, O Lord My God.
- Praise and thanksgiving be unto Thee
- for what thou hast bestowed:
- Thy Bounty, Thy Kindness and Thy Munificence.
- Thou hast chosen from amongst all the peoples
- of the world for Thy sincere servants those
- who have remained steadfast in Thy faith.
- Thou hast ordained for them to receive Thy Manifest Light,
- to be attracted to Thy Luminous Beauty
- and to follow Thy Straight Path.
- O my Lord, the people are negligent in Thy praise.
- Their hearts are deprived of Thy Love.
- Their eyes are veiled
- from beholding the Kingdom of Thy Beauty.
- Their souls are bereft of discernment
- of the Essence of Thy Glory,
- except such as for those who remain steadfast
- in Thy Covenant,
- who abandoned discord,
- who adopted the Light of Thy Revelation,
- who were deaf to the clamour,
- who rose to serve Thy Cause in this world
- and who became intoxicated with Thy Overflowing Cup.
- Theirs is the greatest fortune
- as they share in Thy Bounty
- and Thy Outpouring Grace
- like gushing clouds pouring forth waters
- from the Divine Spring of Thy of Generosity.
- O Lord, make them
- the Signs of Guidance,
- Exalted Standards,
- Words of Virtue,
- Armies of the Concourse on High,
- and Angles of Heaven,
- so that through them
- the East and the West of the earth may be illuminated
- and Thy Remembrance will be diffused
- throughout the North and the South
- and all the peoples of this world
- may be nurtured through the effulgences of God’s
- Most August Names and His Most Exalted Example.
- O My Lord,
- raise through these souls the banner of unity amongst mankind.
- Make them the symbols of love amongst the peoples,
- so that the differences
- may be merge into the original reality of oneness,
- so that verses used as the veils of hatred may be torn asunder
- and antagonism may be destroyed
- and conflict and enmity may be eliminated amongst mankind
- and people may turn to concord instead of discord
- and may change their hatred into friendship
- and put and end to hopelessness and tyranny
- and may bring salvation and deliverance
- and they may seek Thy grace and salvation
- and may invoke Thee openly or in the privacy of their chambers
- and they may hasten to do righteous deeds
- that will secure their eternal reward.
- O Lord! Strengthen their loins to serve Thee.
- Assist them in their worship of Thee.
- Make them happy by the Light of Thy Knowledge.
- Illumine their eyes by beholding Thy Countenance.
- Comfort their souls through the knowledge of Thy evident Bounties.
- Purify their hearts through Thy manifest Loving Kindness.
- Verily, Thou art the Most Generous,
- the Most Merciful,
- the All-Mighty,
- the Bestower
- the All-Bountiful.
- There is none other God but Thee, the Ever-Forgiving,
- the All-Pardoning,
- the Most-Compassionate,
- the One Whose Favors are concealed.
- O Ye Friends of God!
- The joy of the loyal ones is none other
- than in serving at the Exalted Threshold
- and in turning toward the Abha Kingdom.
- The only desire of the ardent lovers is self-sacrifice.
- The only hope of the enthusiasts
- is to happily offer their lives in martyrdom.
- Verily the cost of true love is the shedding of blood.
- The great mirror that reflects the Love of God is martyrdom.
- Therefore, the Holy Ones and the Manifestations of God
- yearned for death and attaining the station of martyrdom.
- They gave their lives and suffered exile and homelessness.
- They bore severe injuries, were captives, bound in chains,
- the target of arrows and exposed to swords.
- Yet they were neither saddened nor were they weary.
- They drank from the Cup of Sacrifice
- proffered by the Cupbearer of Bounty.
- Then with the utmost joy and the greatest happiness,
- they tasted the Nectar of Death.
- They were not tranquil for a moment
- nor were they comfortable for even an instant.
- They were exposed to the censure of the enemies
- and the reproach of foes.
- They lost their houses and they became homeless.
- They were not secure, not even for a minute.
- Nor did they seek the desire of their hearts
- or the comfort of themselves for even an hour.
- This is the evidence of True Love.
- This is the proof of the Sympathetic Friend.
- If it were not as such,
- every stranger would be considered a friend
- every deprived one would be considered an intimate
- every distant one would be considered a confidant
- and every veiled one would be considered a beloved.
- Thus, the greatest wisdom requires
- that the fire of tests would ignite
- and the flood of examination would overflow
- so that the truthful could be distinguished from the dishonest
- and the sincere would be separated from the hypocrite
- and the humble would be severed from the arrogant
- and the pure fruit would be recognizable from the rotten ones
- so that the signs of light would be visible
- and the black darkness would be vanquished
- the nightingale of loyalty would sing
- and the crow of unkindness would show its true self
- and the fertile land would be cultivated
- and the salty marsh would remain lifeless and barren,
- so that the one who was attracted to The Most Glorious Beauty
- would become firm in the Covenant
- and the one who was a follower of self and desire
- would become a breaker of the Covenant.
- This is the rationale for calamities.
- This is the reason for disasters.
- O heavenly Friends!
- Nayriz became the place of bloodshed in these days;
- Holy Ones from amongst the celestial friends gave up their lives
- and went to the Altar of Love in the Path of the Lucid Light.
- Consequently, eyes are crying and hearts are burning.
- Sighs and moans are reaching the Pinnacle of Heaven.
- The severe sorrow began a renewed time of mourning.
- The greatest wish of Abdu’l-Bahá
- is to quaff from this Cup of Faithfulness,
- to become inebriated with the Wine of Sacrifice
- so that the end of life
- may become the beginning of Eternal Bounty.
- O My Lord!
- Confer upon me from that overflowing cup
- of immense bestowals by Thy grace.
- Intoxicate me with the wine of Thy abundant honor.
- Feed me from the table which none have tasted
- except such as Thy repenting servants.
- Adorn my head with that glorious crown.
- May my blood be shed on earth!
- May my body be crucified in heaven!
- May my corpse be disintegrated upon the dust!
- May my bones be shattered by the arrows of Thy decree!
- Thou art verily The Most Generous.
- Thou art verily The Most Great.
- Thou art verily The All Merciful, The Compassionate.
- O Friends of ‘Abdu’l-Baha!
- In These days, through good fortune
- and the confirmations of the Lord of the Exalted Heavens
- and the success granted from the Invisible Kingdom,
- the Sacred Body of His Holiness, The Bab, The Exalted One
- was placed on Mount Carmel in that Hallowed Spot.
- Therefore, sacrifice was required
- and so, the giving up of life was needed.
- Intoxicated by this brimming cup, the friends of Nayriz
- won the competition in this field with the bat of resolution.
- May all blessings be unto them!
- May all pleasure be theirs!
- May this overflowing Cup of the Wine of the Love of God
- be delicious to them!
- May the Glory of the Glories of God rest upon them!
- It is possible that the covenant breakers
- and the hypocrites will clamour and lie afterwards
- and say that the Noble Temple “ the Body of the Bab”
- hath a different resting place
- or that a part of it is in another place.
- The friends should know these are mere vilifications,
- heresies, and cunning meant to cause discord.
- That Blessed and executed body of the Bab
- was put in its entirety to rest on Mount Carmel.
- However the villains will not be silent.
- They surely will lie and claim that they
- have possessed the Blessed Body, or transmitted it,
- or found a part of it,
- or that sprites have stolen it from the sincere believers!
- Know that all of these are lies and vilifications.
- The truth is what is said.
- The Glory of Glories rests upon you!
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