in the person of His Manifestation.  For verily, “No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision."(124) Notwithstanding all these indubitable facts and lucid statements, they have foolishly clung to the term “seal,” and remained utterly deprived of the recognition of Him Who is the Revealer of both the Seal and the Beginning, in the day of His presence.  “If God should chastise men for their perverse doings, He would not leave upon the earth a moving thing!  But to an appointed time doth He respite them."(125) But apart from all these things, had this people attained unto a drop of the crystal streams flowing from the words:  “God doeth whatsoever He willeth, and ordaineth whatsoever He pleaseth,” they would not have raised any unseemly cavils, such as these, against the focal Center of His Revelation.  The Cause of God, all deeds and words, are held within the grasp of His power.  “All things lie imprisoned within the hollow of His mighty Hand; all things are easy and possible unto Him.”  He accomplisheth whatsoever He willeth, and doeth all that He desireth.  “Whoso sayeth ‘why’ or ‘wherefore’ hath spoken blasphemy!” Were these people to shake off the slumber of negligence and realize that which their hands have wrought, they would surely perish, and would of their own accord cast themselves into fire—­their end and real abode.  Have they not heard that which He hath revealed:  “He shall not be asked of His doings?"(126) In the light of these utterances, how can man be so bold as to question Him, and busy himself with idle sayings?

Gracious God!  So great is the folly and perversity of the people, that they have turned their face toward their own thoughts and desires, and have turned their back upon the knowledge and will of God—­hallowed and glorified be His name!

Be fair:  Were these people to acknowledge the truth of these luminous words and holy allusions, and recognize God as “Him that doeth whatsoever He pleaseth,” how could they continue to cleave unto these glaring absurdities?  Nay, with all their soul, they would accept and submit to whatsoever He saith.  I swear by God!  But for the divine Decree, and the inscrutable dispensations of Providence, the earth itself would have utterly destroyed all this people!  “He will, however, respite them until the appointed time of a known day.”

Twelve hundred and eighty years have passed since the dawn of the Muhammadan Dispensation, and with every break of day, these blind and ignoble people have recited their Qur’an, and yet have failed to grasp one letter of that Book!  Again and again they read those verses which clearly testify to the reality of these holy themes, and bear witness to the truth of the Manifestations of eternal Glory, and still apprehend not their purpose.  They have even failed to realize, all this time, that, in every age, the reading of the scriptures and holy books is for no other purpose except to enable the reader to apprehend their meaning and unravel their innermost mysteries.  Otherwise reading, without understanding, is of no abiding profit unto man.