Selections From the Writings of the Báb

PONDER likewise the Dispensation of the Apostle of God which lasted twelve hundred and seventy years 1 till the dawn of the manifestation of the Bayán. He directed everyone to await the advent of the Promised Qá’im. All deeds which in the Islamic Dispensation began with Muḥammad should find their consummation through the appearance of the Qá’im. God hath made Him manifest invested with the proof wherewith the Apostle of God was invested, so that none of the believers in the Qur’án might entertain doubts about the validity of His Cause, for it is set down in the Qur’án that none but God is capable of revealing verses. During the period of 1270 years no one among the followers of the Qur’án ever witnessed a person appearing with conclusive proofs. Now the Ever-Living Lord hath made manifest and invested with supreme testimony this long-awaited Promised One from a place no one could imagine and from a person whose knowledge was deemed of no account. His age is no more than twenty-five years, yet His glory is such as none of the learned among the people of Islám can rival; inasmuch as man’s glory lieth in his knowledge. Behold the learned who are honoured by virtue of their ability to understand the Holy Writings, and God hath exalted them to such a degree that in referring to them He saith: ‘None knoweth the meaning thereof except God and them that are well-grounded in knowledge.’ 2 How strange then that this twenty-five-year-old untutored one should be singled out to reveal His verses in so astounding a manner. If the Muslim divines have cause for pride in understanding the meaning of the Holy 119 Writings, His glory is in revealing the Writings, that none of them may hesitate to believe in His Words. So great is the celestial might and power which God hath revealed in Him that if it were His will and no break should intervene He could, within the space of five days and nights, reveal the equivalent of the Qur’án which was sent down in twenty-three years. Ponder thou and reflect. Hath anyone like unto Him ever appeared in former times, or is this characteristic strictly confined unto Him?