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He was,
at no time,
in His love for Thy beauty,
hindered from
shedding the fragrance of His light.
As the transgressions committed
against Thee waxed greater and greater,
my eagerness to reveal Thy Cause
correspondingly increased,
and as the tribulations deepened--and to this
Thy glory beareth me witness--a fuller measure of Thy sovereignty and of
Thy power was vouchsafed by me unto Thy creatures.
And finally,
I was cast by the transgressors into the prison-city of Akká,
and my kindred were made captives in Ba_gh_dád.
The power of Thy might
beareth me witness,
O my God!
Every trouble that hath touched me in Thy
path hath added to my joy and increased my gladness.
I swear by Thee,
O
Thou Who art the King of Kings!
None of the kings of the earth hath power
to hinder me from remembering Thee or from extolling Thy virtues.
Were
they to be leagued--as they have been leagued--against me,
and to brandish
their sharpest swords and most afflictive spears against me,
I would not
hesitate to magnify Thy name before all them that are in Thy heaven and on
Thy earth.
Nay rather,
I would cry out and say:
"This,
O my Beloved,
is my
face which I have offered up for Thy face,
and this is my spirit which I
have sacrificed for Thy spirit,
and this is my blood that seetheth in my
veins,
in its longing to be shed for love of Thee and in Thy path.
"
Though--as Thou beholdest me,
O my God--I be dwelling in a place within
whose walls no voice can be heard except the sound of the echo,
though all
the gates of ease and comfort be shut against us,
and thick darkness
appear to have compassed us on every side,
yet my soul hath been so
inflamed by its love for Thee,
that nothing whatsoever can either quench
the fire of its love or abate the consuming flame of its desire.
Lifting
up its voice,
it crieth aloud amidst Thy servants,
and calleth them,
at
all times and under all conditions,
unto Thee.
I beseech Thee,
by Thy Most Great Name,
to open the eyes of Thy servants,
that they may behold Thee shining above the horizon of Thy majesty and
glory,
and that they may not be hindered by the croaking of the raven from
hearkening to the voice of the Dove of Thy sublime oneness,
nor be
prevented by the corrupt waters from partaking of the pure wine of Thy
bounty and the everlasting streams of Thy gifts.
Gather them,
then,
together around this Divine Law,
the covenant of which
Thou hast established with all Thy Prophets and Thy Messengers,
and Whose
ordinances Thou hast written down in Thy Tablets and Thy Scriptures.
Raise
them up,
moreover,
to such heights as will enable them to perceive Thy
Call.
Potent art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee.
Thou art,
verily,
the
Inaccessible,