Paragraph 230

In yet another passage He saith: “And when he becometh acquainted with any of Our verses he turneth them to ridicule. There is a shameful punishment for them!” The people derisively observed saying: “Work thou another miracle, and give us another sign!” One would say: “Make now a part of the heaven to fall down upon us”; and another: “If this be the very truth from before Thee, rain down stones upon us from heaven.” Even as the people of Israel, in the time of Moses, bartered away the bread of heaven for the sordid things of the earth, these people, likewise, sought to exchange the divinely revealed verses for their foul, their vile, and idle desires. In like manner, thou beholdest in this day that although spiritual sustenance hath descended from the heaven of divine mercy, and been showered from the clouds of His loving-kindness, and although the seas of life, at the behest of the Lord of all being, are surging within the Riḍván of the heart, yet these people, ravenous as the dogs, have gathered around carrion, and contented themselves with the stagnant waters of a briny lake. Gracious God! how strange the way of this people! They clamor for guidance, although the standards of Him Who guideth all things are already hoisted. They cleave to the obscure intricacies of knowledge, when He, Who is the Object of all knowledge, shineth as the sun. They see the sun with their own eyes, and yet question that brilliant Orb as to the proof of its light. They behold the vernal showers descending upon them, and yet seek an evidence of that bounty. The proof of the sun is the light thereof, which shineth and envelopeth all things. The evidence of the shower is the bounty thereof, which reneweth and investeth the world with the mantle of life. Yea, the blind can perceive naught from the sun except its heat, and the arid soil hath no share of the showers of mercy. “Marvel not if in the Qur’án the unbeliever perceiveth naught but the trace of letters, for in the sun, the blind findeth naught but heat.”

This is the fifth quote from the Qur'an that Baha'u'llah uses in His defense of the Cause of the Bab. Examination of these quotes will carry us all the way through paragraph 245.

It started with the reminder that the Word of God is the only source of guidance, and the challenge to try and write anything like it. He then said that if you aren't willing to accept this as a proof, why would you settle for believing in something less worthy? He then reminded us of the dangers of pride.

Here He is pointing out a sadly common reaction to the verses that descend from Heaven: people ridicule them.

In His example, Muhammad is talking about some previous Manifestations, just as He did in the Surih of Hud. He gives five examples of these Manifestations being rejected. At this point in the Surih, they have all told the people to be just and fair, and they all have been denounced. The last of these has just offered them the verses of God, and told the people to be good people and treat others with compassion. Their response was to say, "Who do you think you are? You're just another person like us." And then they demanded Him to strike them down with stones from heaven.

Once again Baha'u'llah is calling to mind the countless times that Muhammad, in the Qur'an, referred to a continuity of Manifestations. He is reminding us of how they have all given the same message. And He is specifically pointing out that they were all ridiculed and denied.

All of this from that second quote from the Qur'an.

Instead of recognizing that the verses of God were good, they sought proof from some absurd miracle. This is where they believed that proof came from. This is what they thought of as godly.

Baha'u'llah then reminds the uncle of the story of Moses, and how they denied Him. They chased after their own desires, instead of searching for the truth.

He also shows how they asked for stones from heaven, when what we really desire is rain. Nobody wants a meteor to fall upon them. What we actually want is the spring rains that cause the seeds to sprout.

He contrasts these healthy rains, that good water, for the "stagnant waters of a briny lake". And the people are content with this? "Gracious God! how strange..."

In the second half of this paragraph, after that exasperated comment, He talks about guidance, knowledge, and proof. The people seek guidance, but the standard of guidance is already waving. They want knowledge, but the source of all knowledge is shining like the sun. And then they want proof of that very same sun, never recognizing that the light itself is the proof of the sun, just as the sprouting of the earth is the proof of the rain's bounty. They demand all sorts of proofs, never realizing that the real proof is right before their eyes.

Why? Well, the only people who who don't see the light of the sun are those who are blind.

But you'll notice that Baha'u'llah never asks why they turn away. He just notes that they do. When we ask why, we can come up with all sorts of reasons. The problem, though, is that it leads us to judging others. We can never really know their motives. But we can see their actions.

These people turned away. They ridiculed the Manifestations. They demanded unreasonable proofs. From these actions we can discern that they must be spiritually blind.