The Summons of the Lord of Hosts
Súriy-i-Haykal
head excelleth, in the sight of God, all that are in the heavens and all that are on the earth? O
people of the Bayán! Produce, then, that which ye possess, that I may know by what proof ye believed aforetime in the
Manifestations of His Cause, and by what reason ye now wax so disdainful!
10I swear by Him Who hath fashioned Me from the light of His own Beauty! None have I ever seen that surpasseth you in heedlessness or exceedeth you in blindness. Ye seek to prove your faith in God through such holy
Tablets as ye possess, yet when the verses of God were revealed and His Lamp was lighted, ye disbelieved in Him Whose very
Pen hath fixed the destinies of all things in the Preserved Tablet. Ye recite the sacred verses and yet repudiate Him Who is their Source and Revealer. Thus hath God blinded your eyes in requital for your deeds, would ye but understand. Day and night ye transcribe the verses of God, and yet ye remain shut out, as by a veil, from Him Who hath revealed them.
11In this Day the
Concourse on high beholdeth you in your evil doings and shunneth your company, and yet ye perceive it not. They ask of one another: “What words do these fools utter, and in what valley are they wont to graze? Do they deny that whereunto their very souls testify, and shut their eyes to that which they plainly behold?” I swear by God, O people! They that inhabit the Cities of the Names of God are bewildered at your actions, while ye roam, aimless and unconscious, in a parched and barren land.
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