Should We wish to impart unto thee a glimmer of the mysteries of Husayn’s martyrdom, and reveal unto thee the fruits thereof, these pages could never suffice, nor exhaust their meaning. Our hope is that, God willing, the breeze of mercy may blow, and the divine Springtime clothe the tree of being with the robe of a new life; so that we may discover the mysteries of divine Wisdom, and, through His providence, be made independent of the knowledge of all things. We have, as yet, descried none but a handful of souls, destitute of all renown, who have attained unto this station. Let the future disclose what the Judgment of God will ordain, and the Tabernacle of His decree reveal. In such wise We recount unto thee the wonders of the Cause of God, and pour out into thine ears the strains of heavenly melody, that haply thou mayest attain unto the station of true knowledge, and partake of the fruit thereof. Therefore, know thou of a certainty that these Luminaries of heavenly majesty, though their dwelling be in the dust, yet their true habitation is the seat of glory in the realms above. Though bereft of all earthly possessions, yet they soar in the realms of immeasurable riches. And whilst sore tried in the grip of the enemy, they are seated on the right hand of power and celestial dominion. Amidst the darkness of their abasement there shineth upon them the light of unfading glory, and upon their helplessness are showered the tokens of an invincible sovereignty.
Here we are, the last of the six paragraphs that talk about the Imam Husayn.
It is worth remembering, here, that this is the conclusion of Baha'u'llah's argument about "true sovereignty". This was all in response to the uncle's question about how his Nephew could possibly be the Promised One when He did not appear to be a sovereign at all.
In this paragraph, after a beautiful reminder of the glorious station of the Imam Husayn, Baha'u'llah sums it up for us. Within the darkness of his abasement we could see "the light of unfading glory", and in his helplessness we could see his "invincible sovereignty". There appears to be a strange contradiction here, but this just brings us right back to paragraph 102, the very beginning of Part 2. In that paragraph, you will recall, the Messenger of God holds "undisputed sovereignty over all that is in heaven and on earth, though no man be found on earth to obey Him." We can see it so clearly in Husayn, and Baha'u'llah allows us, at this point, to make that connection to the Bab on our own.
He talks of the "mysteries" of Husayn's martyrdom, and the "fruits thereof", reminding us that we don't really know the benefit of his martyrdom. All good Shi'ite Muslims are well aware of Husayn, and revere him, rightly so, but that doesn't mean that they have thought about this aspect of his life and death.
Similarly, we can presume that we don't really know the effects of the martyrdom of the Bab. We do know, though, that although His "dwelling be in the dust," His "true habitation is the seat of glory in the realms above".
There is a lot of metaphor in this paragraph, a lot to do with nature. There are the fruits of his martyrdom, the breeze of mercy, the divine Springtime, the tree of being. We see the Tabernacle again, and following that we get that metaphor of music, as well as those mysterious apparent contradictions.
But what really stands out to us, amidst this wealth of imagery, is that singular word "haply", with luck. We first encountered this word way back in paragraph 1, where we were told "Sanctify your souls... that haply ye may attain that station which God hath destined for you and enter thus the tabernacle which... hath been raised in the firmament of the Bayán." Then we were told to "scan for a while the horizon of divine knowledge, and contemplate those words of perfection which the Eternal hath revealed, that haply the mysteries of divine wisdom... may be made manifest unto you." Over and over again He shows us these great insights into the sacred Texts of the past, hoping that, with luck, we might understand.
When He gets to Part 2, it is no longer just about understanding. In that first paragraph, paragraph 102, He hopes that through all of this, "haply", we may "soar on the wings of renunciation to those heights that are veiled from the eyes of men." He reminds us that these heights are veiled from our sight, but goes on to remind us of what we already know. These heights are real, and, with luck, we may have the opportunity to move up to them, if we but strive.
Most of all, here, we need to be careful not to let ourselves be blinded by the fact that to outward appearances, these holy Souls were disgraced, abased and powerless. Truly, He seems to say, we should know better.
In the end, if we question the validity of the Bab based on our understanding of sovereignty, then we have to question all those great souls of the past that we already revere. But when we re-examine what we understand of true sovereignty, and begin to get a better understanding of the spiritual nature of Their sovereignty, then we not only gain a greater appreciation of those Messengers of the past, and Their followers, we also come to a better understanding of the station of the Bab, Himself. This, presumably, is just a taste of that fruit of "true knowledge".
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