The Book of the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf CHAPTER FOUR
Divisions 131-165
EPISTLE TO THE SON OF THE WOLF
131.
Consort with all men, O people of Bahá,
in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship.
132.
If ye be aware of a certain truth,
if ye possess a jewel, of which others are deprived,
share it with them in a language of utmost kindliness and goodwill.
133.
If it be accepted, if it fulfill its purpose,
your object is attained.
134.
If anyone should refuse it,
leave him unto himself, and beseech God to guide him.
135.
Beware lest ye deal unkindly with him. [or her]
136.
A kindly tongue is the lodestone [magnet] of the hearts of men.
137.
It is the bread of the spirit,
it clotheth the words with meaning,
it is the fountain of the light of wisdom and understanding.
138.
By “divines” in the passage cited above is meant
those men who outwardly attire themselves with the raiment of knowledge,
yet who inwardly are deprived therefrom.
139.
In this connection, We quote from the Tablet addressed to His Majesty the Sháh,
certain passages from the “Hidden Words”
which were revealed by the Abhá Pen under the name of the “Book of Fátimih,”
the blessings of God be upon her!
140.
“O ye that are foolish, yet have a name to be wise!
Wherefore do ye wear the guise of the shepherd,
when inwardly ye have become wolves, intent upon My flock?
141.
Ye are even as the star, which riseth ere the dawn,
and which, though it seem radiant and luminous,
leadeth the wayfarers of My city astray into the paths of perdition.”
142.
And likewise He saith:
“O ye seeming fair yet inwardly foul!
Ye are like clear but bitter water, which to outward seeming is crystal pure
yet of which, when tested by the Divine Assayer, not a drop is accepted.
143.
Yea, the sunbeam falls alike upon the dust and the mirror,
yet differ they in reflection even as doth the star from the earth:
nay, immeasurable is the difference!”
144.
And also He saith:
“O essence of desire!
At many a dawn have I turned from the realms of the Placeless unto thine abode,
and found thee on the bed of ease busied with others than Myself.
145.
Thereupon, even as the flash of the spirit,
I returned to the realms of celestial glory,
and breathed it not in My retreats above unto the hosts of holiness.”
146.
And again He saith:
“O bond slave of the world!
Many a dawn hath the breeze of My loving-kindness wafted over thee
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and found thee upon the bed of heedlessness fast asleep.
147.
Bewailing then thy plight it returned whence it came.”
148.
Those divines, however,
who are truly adorned with the ornament of knowledge and of a goodly character
are, verily, as a head to the body of the world, and as eyes to the nations.
149.
The guidance of men hath, at all times, been, and is, dependent upon such blessed souls.
150.
We beseech God to graciously aid them to do His will and pleasure.
He, in truth, is the Lord of all men, the Lord of this world and of the next.
151.
O Sheik!
We have learned that thou hast turned away from Us, and protested against Us,
in such wise that thou hast bidden the people to curse Me,
and decreed that the blood of the servants of God be shed.
152.
God requite him who said:
“Willingly will I obey the judge who hath so strangely decreed
that my blood be spilt at Hill and at Haram!”
153.
Verily I say:
Whatever befalleth in the path of God is the beloved of the soul and the desire of the heart.
154.
Deadly poison in His path is pure honey,
and every tribulation a draught of crystal water.
155.
In the Tablet to His Majesty the Sháh it is written:
“By Him Who is the Truth!
I fear no tribulation in His path, nor any affliction in My love for Him.
156.
Verily God hath made adversity as a morning dew upon His green pasture,
and a wick for His lamp which lighteth earth and heaven.”
157.
Set thine heart towards Him Who is the Kaaba of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsistent,
and raise thou thine hands with such firm conviction
as shall cause the hands of all created things to be lifted up towards the heaven of the grace of God,
the Lord of all worlds.
158.
Turn, then, thy face towards Him in such wise
that the faces of all beings will turn in the direction of His shining and luminous Horizon, and say:
159.
“Thou seest me, O my Lord,
with my face turned towards the heaven of Thy bounty and the ocean of Thy favor,
withdrawn from all else beside Thee.
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160.
I ask of Thee, by the splendors of the Sun of Thy revelation on Sinai,
and the splendors of the orb of Thy grace which shineth from the horizon of Thy Name,
the Ever-Forgiving, to grant me Thy pardon and to have mercy upon me.
161.
Write down, then, for me with Thy pen of glory
that which will exalt me through Thy Name in the world of creation.
162.
Aid me, O my Lord,
to set myself towards Thee, and to hearken unto the voice of Thy loved ones,
whom the powers of the earth have failed to weaken,
and the dominion of the nations has been powerless to withhold from Thee,
and who, advancing towards Thee, have said:
‘God is our Lord,
the Lord of all who are in heaven and all who are on earth!’”
163.
O Sheik!
Verily, the seal of the Choice Wine hath, in the name of Him Who is the Self-Subsistent, been broken;
withhold not thyself therefrom.
164.
This Wronged One speaketh wholly for the sake of God;
thou too shouldst, likewise, for the sake of God, meditate upon those things that have been sent down and manifested, that haply thou mayest, on this blessed Day, take thy portion of the liberal effusions of Him Who is truly the All-Bountiful, and mayest not remain deprived thereof.
165.
This indeed would not be hard for God. Dust-made Adam was raised up, through the Word of God, to the heavenly throne, and a mere fisherman was made the repository of Divine wisdom, and Abú-
Dhar, the shepherd, became a prince of the nations!
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