55 Had these souls but clung steadfastly to the Handle of God manifested in the Person of Muhammad, had they turned wholly unto God and cast aside all that they had learned from their divines, He would assuredly have guided them through His grace and acquainted them with the sacred truths that are enshrined within His imperishable utterances.  For far be it from His greatness and His glory that He should turn away a seeker at His door, cast aside from His Threshold one who hath set his hopes on Him, reject one who hath sought the shelter of His shade, deprive one who hath held fast to the hem of His mercy, or condemn to remoteness the poor one who hath found the river of His riches.  But as these people failed to turn wholly unto God, and to hold fast to the hem of His all-pervading mercy at the appearance of the Daystar of Truth, they passed out from under the shadow of guidance and entered the city of error.  Thus did they become corrupt and corrupt the people.  Thus did they err and lead the people into error.  And thus were they recorded among the oppressors in the books of heaven.

56 Now that this evanescent One hath reached this exalted point in the exposition of the inner mysteries, the reason for the denial of these uncouth souls will be described briefly, that it may serve as a testimony unto them that are endued with understanding and insight, and be a token of My favour unto the concourse of the faithful.

57 Know then that when Muhammad, the Point of the Qur’an and the Light of the All-Glorious, came with perspicuous verses and luminous proofs manifested in such signs as are beyond the power of all existence to produce, He bade all men follow this lofty and outstretched Path in accordance with the precepts that He had brought from God.  Whoso acknowledged Him, recognized the signs of God in His inmost Being, and saw in His beauty the changeless beauty of God, the decree of “resurrection”, “ingathering”, “life”, and “paradise” was passed upon him.  For he who had believed in God and in the Manifestation of His beauty was raised from the grave of heedlessness, gathered together in the sacred ground of the heart, quickened to the life of faith and certitude, and admitted into the paradise of the divine presence.  What paradise can be loftier than this, what ingathering mightier, and what resurrection greater?  Indeed, should a soul be acquainted with these mysteries, he would grasp that which none other hath fathomed.

58 Know then that the paradise that appeareth in the day of God surpasseth every other paradise and excelleth the realities of Heaven.  For when God—­ blessed and glorified is He—­sealed the station of prophethood in the person of Him Who was His Friend, His Chosen One, and His Treasure amongst His creatures, as hath been revealed from the Kingdom of glory:  “but He is the Apostle of God and the Seal of the Prophets",(37) He promised all men that they shall attain unto His own presence in the Day of Resurrection.  In this He meant to emphasize the greatness of the Revelation to come, as it hath indeed been manifested through the power of truth.  And there is of a certainty no paradise greater than this, nor station higher, should ye reflect upon the verses of the Qur’an.  Blessed be he who knoweth of a certainty that he shall attain unto the presence of God on that day when His Beauty shall be made manifest.