71 Say:  O people!  The Tree of Life hath verily been planted in the heart of the heavenly paradise and bestoweth life in every direction.  How can ye fail to perceive and recognize it?  It will in truth aid thee to grasp all that this well-assured Soul hath disclosed unto thee of the essence of the divine mysteries.  The Dove of holiness warbleth in the heaven of immortality and admonisheth thee to array thyself with a new vesture, wrought of steel to shield thee from the shafts of doubt concealed in the allusions of men, saying:  “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again."(49)

72 Wing then thy flight unto this divine Tree and partake of its fruits.  Gather up that which hath fallen therefrom and guard it faithfully.  Meditate then upon the utterance of one of the Prophets as He intimated to the souls of men, through veiled allusions and hidden symbols, the glad-tidings of the One Who was to come after Him, that thou mayest know of a certainty that their words are inscrutable to all save those who are endued with an understanding heart.  He saith:  “His eyes were as a flame of fire”, and “brass-like were His feet”, and “out of His mouth goeth a two-edged sword".(50) How could these words be literally interpreted?  Were anyone to appear with all these signs, he would assuredly not be human.  And how could any soul seek his company?  Nay, should he appear in one city, even the inhabitants of the next would flee from him, nor would any soul dare approach him!  Yet, shouldst thou reflect upon these statements, thou wouldst find them to be of such surpassing eloquence and clarity as to mark the loftiest heights of utterance and the epitome of wisdom.  Methinks it is from them that the suns of eloquence have appeared and the stars of clarity have dawned forth and shone resplendent.

73 Behold, then, the foolish ones of bygone times and those who, in this day, await the advent of such a being!  Nor would they ever bear allegiance unto him except that he appear in the aforementioned form.  And as such a being will never appear, so too will they never believe.  Such indeed is the measure of the understanding of these perverse and ungodly souls!  How could those who fail to understand the most evident of the evident and the most manifest of the manifest ever apprehend the abstruse realities of the divine precepts and the essence of the mysteries of His everlasting wisdom?

74 I shall now briefly explain the true meaning of this utterance, that thou mayest discover its hidden mysteries and be of them that perceive.  Examine then and judge aright that which We shall reveal unto thee, that haply thou mayest be accounted in the sight of God amongst those who are fair-minded in these matters.