the hearts of such as had known Him?  Indeed thou hast produced, in this day, the same proofs which the foolish divines advanced in that age.  Unto this testifieth He Who is the King of the realm of grace in this great Prison.  Thou hast, truly, walked in their ways, nay, hast surpassed them in their cruelty, and hast deemed thyself to be helping the Faith and defending the Law of God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.  By Him Who is the Truth!  Thine iniquity hath made Gabriel to groan, and hath drawn tears from the Law of God, through which the breezes of justice have been wafted over all who are in heaven and on earth.  Hast thou fondly imagined that the judgement thou didst pronounce hath profited thee?  Nay, by Him Who is the King of all Names!  Unto thy loss testifieth He with Whom is the knowledge of all things as recorded in the preserved Tablet.  When thou didst pen thy judgement, thou wast accused by thy very pen.  Unto this doth bear witness the Pen of God, the Most High, in His inaccessible station.

O thou who hast gone astray!  Thou hast neither seen Me, nor associated with Me, nor been My companion for the fraction of a moment.  How is it, then, that thou hast bidden men to curse Me?  Didst thou, in this, follow the promptings of thine own desires, or didst thou obey thy Lord?  Produce thou a sign, if thou art one of the truthful.  We testify that thou hast cast behind thy back the Law of God, and laid hold on the dictates of thy passions.  Nothing, in truth, escapeth His knowledge; He, verily, is the Incomparable, the All-Informed.  O heedless one!  Hearken unto that which the Merciful hath revealed in the Qur’an:  ’Say not to every one who meeteth you with a greeting, “Thou art not a believer."’(69) Thus hath He decreed in Whose grasp are the kingdoms of Revelation and of creation, if thou be of them that hearken.  Thou hast set aside the commandment of God, and clung unto the promptings of thine own desire.  Woe, then, unto thee, O careless one that doubtest!  If thou deniest Me, by what proof canst thou vindicate the truth of that which thou dost possess?  Produce it, then, O thou who hast joined partners with God, and turned aside from His sovereignty that hath encompassed the worlds!

O foolish one!  Know thou that he is truly learned who hath acknowledged My Revelation, and drunk from the Ocean of My knowledge, and soared in the atmosphere of My love, and cast away all else besides Me, and taken firm hold on that which hath been sent down from the Kingdom of My wondrous utterance.  He, verily, is even as an eye unto mankind, and as the spirit of life unto the body of all creation.  Glorified be the All-Merciful Who hath enlightened him, and caused him to arise and serve His great and mighty Cause.  Verily, such a man is blessed by the Concourse on high, and by them who dwell within the Tabernacle of Grandeur, who have quaffed My sealed Wine in My Name, the Omnipotent, the All-Powerful.  O Baqir!  If thou be of them that occupy such