BB00286: Tafsir-i-Hadith yaktumuhu ’an ghayri ahlihi

In the name of God, the Most Great, the Most Great!

Glorified art Thou, O my God! I testify, and all things testify, that Thou art God, there is no God but Thee, alone, without partner. Thine is the kingdom and the dominion, Thine the might and the power, Thine the strength and divinity, Thine the force and sovereignty, Thine the majesty and sublimity, Thine the beauty and perfection, Thine the glory and grandeur, Thine the sovereignty and authority, Thine the greatness and independence, Thine the exaltation and transcendence, Thine the might and inaccessibility, Thine the power and ascendancy, Thine the joy and delight, Thine the dominion and omnipotence, and Thine is whatsoever Thou hast loved or wilt love in the kingdom of Thy Cause and creation.

Thou hast ever been one God, single, eternal, self-subsisting, everlasting, forever, transcendent, inaccessible, elevated, sovereign, possessing, powerful. Thou hast taken neither consort nor son, and Thou hast no partner in what Thou hast created, nor any helper in what Thou hast fashioned. Thou hast ever been the Subduer of the mighty, the Manifest among the manifest, the Most Glorious among the glorious, the Forgiver of sins, the Light of lights, the Consoler of hearts, the Creator of creation, the Seer of all things, the Helper of helpers.

Thou hast made Thyself known from the time Thou wast known through what Thou hast revealed in Thy Book that there is no God but Thee, lest anyone should differ regarding Thy manifestation unto infinity in the knowledge of Thee, and lest the names of good be confused with the merit of Thy Being and the exaltation of Thy Self.

All praise be unto Thee, O my God, for having made me know Thee through Thy knowledge, and having caused me to enter Thy paradise, and having bestowed upon me what Thou hast bestowed upon Thy chosen ones. Glorified and exalted art Thou! All good is from Thee, through Thee, and unto Thee, Thou Who art One, there is no God but Thee.

…without that thou shouldst love him, or be pleased that he should be ascribed unto thee. For whosoever hath known thee through the knowledge of thine own self—his greatest Ridvan is thy good-pleasure; and thou art exalted through thy pleasure, yet thou art not known by thy creatures. And whosoever hath not known thee—his veil is the greatest fire within his own self, after thou hast completed for him the proofs of recognition, the evidences of attraction, the decisive arguments, the dawning-places of outward signs, and the rising-points of inward meanings.

Glory be unto Thee, and exalted art Thou! One among Thy loved ones—who believed in Thee from the first appearance of Thy Manifestation—was asked concerning the word whereby Thy Proof speaketh; and [it is said that] the three hundred and thirteen shall be dispersed, and twelve shall remain—one of them the Vizier, and eleven the chosen Nuqaba’. Glory be unto Thee, glory be unto Thee! How lofty is the station of that word, and how resplendent the might of that being! Glory be unto Thee, and exalted art Thou!

Inspire him then, O my God, with insight in Thy days, and with the remembrance of the praise of Thine own Self—“There is none other God but Thee”—until the first appearance of that word shall come, and the veil shall be lifted from the secret that enshroudeth it; that all Thy guides may arise through it, and be put to flight by the power of Thy utterance, and then return unto Thee with Thy verses. Glory be unto Thee, and exalted art Thou!

Inspire him also, O my God—him who asked—concerning the manifestation of that word in such wise as [befitteth its] station. Verily I remember Thee; and Thou hast caused to appear, from every land whereon Thy servants dwell and worship Thee, an essence [of devotion]; and Thou hast made this servant the first of those who believed in Thee. If the veil were lifted from their inner sight, all who are upon that earth would behold that they circle around this one; for all seek the Truth, and the Truth hath risen only in that single soul. Yet this is but a thing that followeth upon that word. When the Truth shall reveal it, the possessors of minds shall be unable to bear it; they shall tremble before the justice of God, and turn unto God, the All-Compelling. But since God hath created their hearts from the Light of lights, they love [that which leadeth] unto God, the One, the All-Compelling.

O my God! I have set forth something of that word for him who hath a heart or lendeth an ear from Thy presence—so that there may arise within his heart naught but love for Thee and yearning for Thy good-pleasure; and that his hearing may receive naught but what Thou wouldst have him hear of Thy remembrance and Thy glory. For Thou hast forgiven passing thoughts to those who believe in Thee; and Thou hast magnified and exalted [this matter], even if that word be not disclosed, and hast made it the mark of Thy love and the sign of Thy affection, out of Thy bounty upon Thy creation and Thy generosity toward Thy servants.

Therefore, O my God, do Thou send down upon all Thy loved ones and upon all who are related to the mention of Thy Name, from the first of His love, that which will draw them nigh unto Thee and establish them in the exaltation of Thy Cause and Thy decree in the Hereafter and in this world. And do Thou, O my God, nurture all Thy creation in that whereby they ascend unto Thee, for every goodly attribute that appeareth from a believing man or woman createth in its likeness an angel in the highest heaven, and beneath its shadow in the realms below the highest heaven. Therefore, O my God, do Thou guide all unto Thy religion, and make, O my God, the attributes of all to be among those attributes whereby Thou createst in the Ridvan the forms of angels that commune with the believers by Thy leave and fulfill their needs through Thy grace.

Verily, nothing escapeth Thy knowledge and nothing eludes Thy grasp. Thou givest life and causeth death, then causeth death and givest life, and verily Thou art the Ever-Living Who dieth not, and the Sovereign Who passeth not away, and the Just One Who wrongeth not, and the Ruler Who changeth not, and the Single One from Whose grasp nothing escapeth, whether in the heavens or on the earth or between them. Thou createst what Thou willest by Thy command. Verily, Thou art powerful over whatsoever Thou willest.