By “divines” in the passage cited above is meant those men who outwardly attire themselves with the raiment of knowledge, but who inwardly are deprived therefrom.  In this connection, We quote from the Tablet addressed to His Majesty the Shah, certain passages from the “Hidden Words” which were revealed by the Abha Pen under the name of the “Book of Fatimih,” the blessings of God be upon her!

“O ye that are foolish, yet have a name to be wise!  Wherefore do ye wear the guise of the shepherd, when inwardly ye have become wolves, intent upon My flock?  Ye are even as the star, which riseth ere the dawn, and which, though it seem radiant and luminous, leadeth the wayfarers of My city astray into the paths of perdition.”

And likewise He saith:  “O ye seeming fair yet inwardly foul!  Ye are like clear but bitter water, which to outward seeming is crystal pure but of which, when tested by the Divine Assayer, not a drop is accepted.  Yea, the sunbeam falls alike upon the dust and the mirror, yet differ they in reflection even as doth the star from the earth:  nay, immeasurable is the difference!”

And also He saith:  “O essence of desire!  At many a dawn have I turned from the realms of the Placeless unto thine abode, and found thee on the bed of ease busied with others than Myself.  Thereupon, even as the flash of the spirit, I returned to the realms of celest and breathed it not in My retreats above unto the hosts of holiness.”

And again He saith:  “O bond slave of the world!  Many a dawn hath the breeze of My loving-kindness wafted over thee and found thee upon the bed of heedlessness fast asleep.  Bewailing then thy plight it returned whence it came.”

Those divines, however, who are truly adorned with the ornament of knowledge and of a goodly character are, verily, as a head to the body of the world, and as eyes to the nations.  The guidance of men hath, at all times, been, and is, dependent upon such blessed souls.  We beseech God to graciously aid them to do His will and pleasure.  He, in truth, is the Lord of all men, the Lord of this world and of the next.

O Shay_kh_!  We have learned that thou hast turned away from Us, and protested against Us, in such wise that thou hast bidden the people to curse Me, and decreed that the blood of the servants of God be shed.  God requite him who said:  “Willingly will I obey the judge who hath so strangely decreed that my blood be spilt at Hill and at Haram!” Verily I say:  Whatever befalleth in the path of God is the beloved of the soul and the desire of the heart.  Deadly poison in His path is pure honey, and every tribulation a draught of crystal water.  In the Tablet to His Majesty the Shah it is written:  “By Him Who is the Truth!  I fear no tribulation in His path, nor any affliction in My love for Him.  Verily God hath made adversity as a morning dew upon His green pasture, and a wick for His lamp which lighteth earth and heaven.”