BB00298: Li-Jinabi’l-Ahmad

For Ahmad—may there reach him the answer to what he wrote to the All-Bountiful—and for whosoever wishes to remember God as He has described Himself, and be among the truthful ones.

In the Name of God, the Most Unapproachable, the Most Holy

Glorified be the Possessor of sovereignty and dominion! Glorified be the Possessor of oneness and might! Glorified be the Possessor of power and divinity! Glorified be the Possessor of grandeur and majesty! Glorified be the Possessor of glory and invincibility! Glorified be the Possessor of strength and exaltation! Glorified be the Possessor of joy and gladness! Glorified be the Possessor of might and magnificence! Glorified be the Possessor of beauty and comeliness! Glorified be the Possessor of perfection and completion! Glorified be the Possessor of power and independence! Glorified be the Possessor of mercy and bounty! Glorified be the Possessor of authority and justice! Glorified be the Possessor of similitude and parables! Glorified be the Possessor of grandeur and glory! Glorified be the Possessor of awe and radiance! Glorified be the Possessor of magnificence and majesty! Glorified be the Possessor of generosity and grace! Glorified be the Possessor of might and action!

Glorified be He Whom no thing can know, no thing can comprehend, no thing can praise, no thing can encompass His knowledge, and no thing can adequately extol Him. He is the One Who hath ever been one God, Single, Independent, Self-Subsisting, Ever-Living, Self-Sustaining, Eternal, Everlasting, Self-Dependent. He hath taken neither consort nor son. The heavens in their heights and the earth in its lowness, and whatsoever lieth between them, glorify Him through what proceedeth from His command. For He is the Manifest Who will never be manifested, the Exalted Who will never be known, the Inaccessible Who will never be approached, the Self-Subsisting Who will never slumber. His are the most beautiful names in the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and whatsoever lieth between them, and His are the most exalted similitudes in the kingdom of creation and command and whatsoever lieth beneath them. He seeth from the highest heights to the depths beneath the earth, and heareth both secret and whispered speech, and determineth the measure of all things as He willeth, in the hereafter and in this world.

I bear witness, and all things bear such witness as would purify him who beareth similar witness from all hints of aught else but His oneness, and would cause him who ascendeth through it to reach the horizon of what His grace hath caused to shine forth in creation, that there is no God but Him, alone with no partner. He giveth life and causeth death, then causeth death and giveth life, and verily He is the Ever-Living Who dieth not, the Sovereign Who passeth not away, the Just Who wrongeth not, the Ruler Who changeth not, and the Single One from Whose grasp escapeth nothing, whether in the heavens or on the earth or between them. And verily He is the Supreme, the Self-Subsisting.

Then I shall surely bear witness, and all things likewise, that He hath ever been One, not by number, distinct from every mention and counting. All that can be designated by any name among created things is His creation which He created from nothing by His power and sustained from nothing by His will. He cannot be described by what is possible in contingent being nor characterized by what is known in creation. He is as His Essence hath borne witness unto His Essence, and He is sanctified above all that His servants can comprehend. There is no God but Him, the Mighty, the Beloved.

Then I shall surely bear witness unto Him at the apex of creation and the heights of the Command that He hath brought into being the First One from nothing by Himself, then He hath revealed Himself unto all things through the manifestation of what He revealed unto it through His Essence. I bear witness, and all His creation beareth witness, that He is unique in the midst of creation and pure at the summit of invention in His indication of God His Lord and His seeking shelter in all that God hath revealed unto Him of Himself. He hath established the heavens and the earth and whatsoever lieth between them by His command, and hath sustained the creation of all things by His power, and hath made Himself known through him by linking the mention of his nearness to the exaltation of His transcendence, and the mention of his servitude to the inaccessibility of His Lordship.

Thus doth God bear witness that He hath established His servant in the station of His Self in deed, and hath chosen for Himself such letters of His oneness wherein naught can be seen save the manifestation of His revelation, encompassed by His knowledge unto infinity, for whatsoever God hath revealed through His signs and exalted through His words hath no will save what He hath willed, no purpose save what He hath purposed, no decree save what He hath decreed, no judgment save what He hath judged, no permission save what He hath permitted, no term save what He hath ordained, and no book save what He hath sent down. And verily the manifestation of His revelation unto all whom He revealeth Himself is none other than this, for were it not thus, how could it be made manifest throughout the kingdom of the heavens and earth and whatsoever is between them that there is none other God but Him?

We are, all of us, His worshippers; we are, all of us, His adorers; we are, all of us, submissive unto Him; we are, all of us, humble before Him; we are, all of us, His rememberers. There is no power nor strength except through God. His is the creation and the command, both before and after. There is none other God but Him, the Supreme, the Self-Subsisting.

O God! Cause all that hath been revealed from Thy servant to reach unto the Manifestation of Thy bounty and him who preserveth Thy words as his very eyes, for this is Thy provision unto Thy servants until the Day of Resurrection, and Thy grace unto those in the highest realms of the heart and loftiest reaches of creation, until all destinies return unto the Day of Resurrection. Then shalt Thou ordain as Thou pleaseth whatsoever Thou pleaseth through what floweth from the pen and ink.