BB00431: Introduction to the Sahifih Makhzunih

Praise be to God—there is none other God but He—the Most High, the Most Great. O beloved one! Write, at the bidding of thy loving Lord, the Most Great Proof of God, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan, the Lord of the Age—may the peace of God rest upon Them both—unto thy fellow believers, that this mighty Epistle, revealed for the path of visitation unto the People of Infallibility—peace be upon them—hath issued forth from My presence, that the upholders of divine unity may learn the ways of true knowledge concerning God, their rightful Master.

Were all that dwell in the heavens and on the earth to assemble to produce but a single letter like unto a portion of the letters of this noble Epistle, they would assuredly fail and would be powerless—though We were to reinforce them with seven thousand like unto themselves—such is the pure truth. He is God, the Lord of all worlds, and over all things a Witness.

Within that glorious Epistle standeth the Most Great Proof of God, revealed from Our presence through this youthful Arab, eloquent of speech, whose station none knoweth save God and We, the Pure Imams. Sufficient is God—and Us—as witness to his proof, in truth and by truth. Whosoever rejecteth a single letter of that Most Great Epistle, or interpreteth it away from the straight reed of its intent—by God, the True One!—We shall cause him to stand upon the Bridge on the Day of Separation, until he confesseth his grievous failure; thereupon shall We rend him utterly, with pure justice. God, your Lord, the All-Merciful, is equitable in judgment. He is powerful over all things, encompassing all things, independent of all the worlds.

By the leave of God I have divided it into fourteen gates; and upon each gate, on the Day of Origination, God wrote with His own Hand His Name: In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful. Therefore hath God laid it as an obligation upon those who write to obey Him. No soul that, with pure intent, should contemplate even a single letter of this ancient Epistle, but that We inscribe for him the gardens of Paradise and security from terror on the Day of the Great Dread. Verily, the promise of God concerning that exalted Epistle hath been decreed—in truth and by truth.

O thou who art strengthened by lights! Take ye heed and exhort one another to write it with yellow water from red gold, with crimson ink, upon white tablets. In this Epistle are hidden the mysteries of mysteries, and the verses of the Sinai, established upon this Mount, resting upon a point—one description among the descriptions of this Most Great Gate, wherein is the uttermost reach of praise and glory. God is fully aware of what ye do.

This mighty and treasured Epistle God—glorified be He—sent down from His presence unto His Proof, Muhammad ibn al-Hasan—peace be upon Them both. And the Proof, the Remnant of God, the Lord of the Age—peace be upon Him—brought it forth unto His Most Great Gate, that it might be the conclusive proof of God over all the worlds, proceeding from the Remembrance with manifest eloquence. God is Witness over all things, and sufficient are His verses and the Proof as helpers unto His servant, in truth and by truth.