Glorified be God!  One wondereth by what proof or reason the disbelievers among the people of the Bayan have turned away from the Lord of being.  In truth the station of this Revelation transcendeth the station of whatever hath been manifested in the past or will be made manifest in the future.

Were the Point of the Bayan present in this day and should He, God forbid, hesitate to acknowledge this Cause, then the very blessed words which have streamed forth from the wellspring of His Own Bayan would apply to Him.  He saith, and His word is the truth, ’Lawful is it for Him Whom God will make manifest to reject him who is the greatest on earth.’  Say, O ye that are bereft of understanding!  Today that Most Exalted Being is proclaiming:  ‘Verily, verily, I am the first to adore Him.’  How shallow is the fund of men’s knowledge and how feeble their power of perception.  Our Pen of Glory beareth witness to their abject poverty and to the wealth of God, the Lord of all worlds.

Lauded and glorified is He Who hath called the creation into being.  He is the sovereign Truth, the Knower of things unseen.  The Mother Book is revealed and the Lord of Bounty is established upon the most blessed seat of glory.  The Dawn hath broken, yet the people understand not.  The signs have been ushered in, while He Who hath revealed them is overwhelmed with manifest sorrow.  Indeed I have endured that which hath caused the world of existence to lament.

Say:  O Yahya (Azal), produce a single verse, if thou dost possess divinely-inspired knowledge.  These words were formerly spoken by My Herald Who at this hour proclaimeth:  ’Verily, verily, I am the first to adore Him.’  Be fair, O My brother.  Art thou able to express thyself when brought face to face with the billowing ocean of Mine utterance?  Canst thou unloose thy tongue when confronted with the shrill voice of My Pen?  Hast thou any power before the revelations of Mine omnipotence?  Judge thou fairly, I adjure thee by God, and call to mind when thou didst stand in the presence of this Wronged One and We dictated to thee the verses of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.  Beware lest the source of falsehood withhold thee from the manifest Truth.

O thou who hast fixed thy gaze upon My countenance!  Say:  O ye heedless ones!  By reason of a droplet ye have deprived yourselves of the ocean of heavenly verses and for the sake of an insignificant atom ye have shut yourselves out from the splendours of the Day-Star of Truth.  Who else but Baha hath the power to speak forth before the face of mankind?  Judge ye fairly and be not of the unjust.  Through Him the oceans have surged, the mysteries have been divulged and the trees have lifted up their voices exclaiming:  The kingdoms of earth and heaven are God’s, the Revealer of signs, the Fountainhead of clear tokens.  Peruse ye the Persian Bayan revealed by Him Who heralded this Revelation and look at it with the eye of fairness.  Verily He will guide you aright to His Path.  At this moment He proclaimeth that which His tongue had formerly uttered when He was seated upon the throne of His most exalted Name.