of an infinite grace and bounty. They are all invested with the robe of Prophethood, and honoured with the mantle of glory. Thus hath
Muḥammad, the Point of the
Qur’án, revealed: “I am all the Prophets.” Likewise, He saith: “I am the first Adam,
Noah,
Moses, and Jesus.” Similar statements have been made by
‘Alí. Sayings such as this, which indicate the essential unity of those Exponents of Oneness, have also emanated from the Channels of God’s immortal utterance, and the Treasuries of the gems of divine knowledge, and have been recorded in the scriptures. These Countenances are the recipients of the Divine Command, and the
day-springs of His
Revelation. This Revelation is exalted above the veils of plurality and the exigencies of number. Thus He saith: “Our Cause is but one.”
116 Inasmuch as the Cause is one and the same, the Exponents thereof also must needs be one and the same. Likewise, the
Imáms of the Muhammadan
Faith, those lamps of certitude, have said: “Muḥammad is our first, Muḥammad our last, Muḥammad our all.”