BB00436: Letter to the first word

He is Thou

This is a Book from God, the Protecting, the Self-Subsisting, to the First Word. Bear thou witness that there is none other God but I, the Mighty, the Well-Beloved. Say to those who follow God’s Cause: When will ye free yourselves, while day and night ye remain at rest? Say not “ah”—nay, rather say “There is no God but God.” Verily, ye must negate negation and then affirm affirmation. This is the foundation of religion, would ye but reflect. How can ye consider yourselves sincere in God’s religion when until now the words “There is no God but God” have not been made manifest, and all that ye say is mere lip-service? If ye truly say “There is no God but God,” then all would abide in God’s religion. This is the foundation of religion in every Revelation from God, the Inaccessible, the Impregnable, before Whom prostrate themselves whatsoever is in the heavens and on earth and whatsoever lieth between them. He is the Great Manifestation.

And ye shall recite each night that verse as a remembrance from God, the Exalted, the High (1360 times according to the number of that Name: “In the Name of God, the Most High, Possessor of Loftinesses; In the Name of God, the Most High, Possessor of the Exalted Ones; In the Name of God, the Most High, Possessor of Exaltations”), with a spirit from thy presence. And to recite it once with joy in thy soul is better than reciting it a thousand times without joy. This is what God loveth for those near ones who know God their Lord and are certain of His signs, who desire naught save God and seek none other than their Lord. They are patient in God’s path until God cometh unto them in the shadows of the clouds and the matter is decreed from God, the One, the Manifest, Whom glorify all in the heavens and earth and whatsoever lieth between them. Verily, there is no God but He, the One, the All-Seeing. To God belongeth whatsoever He hath created or will create of all things, and God is a Sovereign, Powerful and Transcendent. To God belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and on earth and whatsoever lieth between them, and God is All-Knowing, Inaccessible, Most High.

These are verses God hath sent down unto thee, and He had sent down unto thee aforetime a Book with His Most Exalted and Most Impregnable Effect, together with His Most High and Most Elevated Name, and thereafter He sent with al-Hasan a vial of mighty perfume and refined white sugar. Remember thou God, thy Lord, at all times, before all times and after all times, and say: Praise be to God, the Lord of all worlds. This was written in the land of Sad in the year 1263.