Paragraph 241

O brother, we should open our eyes, meditate upon His Word, and seek the sheltering shadow of the Manifestations of God, that perchance we may be warned by the unmistakable counsels of the Book, and give heed to the admonitions recorded in the holy Tablets; that we may not cavil at the Revealer of the verses, that we may resign ourselves wholly to His Cause, and embrace wholeheartedly His law, that haply we may enter the court of His mercy, and dwell upon the shore of His grace. He, verily, is merciful and forgiving towards His servants.

This paragraph is a bit of a transition to the last few quotes in this section focusing on the proofs from the Qur'an.

Up to this point, He has given us a series of verses warning us about those who ridicule the verses of God. This paragraph feels like it completes that warning.

What is His advice here? We should open our eyes and meditate upon the Word of God. We should seek the shelter of all the Manifestations of God. And then, hopefully, we might heed this warning.

Following all that, He warns us not to cavil, to avoid raising petty objections. Of course, it's interesting to note that He is not telling us to avoid raising serious objections, deep questions that we are unable to resolve. Those He seems to accept. But those are exactly the sorts of questions that the clergy never really raised with the Bab. Instead, they offered petty objections, such as questioning His conjugation of a verb.

After that, He tells us to resign ourselves to his Cause and follow His law. Recognition and obedience. The very first paragraph of the Kitab-i-Aqdas.

Again, He is not saying that we have to recognize the Bab here. We have to resign ourselves to God's Cause. We have to be obedient. Then, again with luck, we might actually be able to enter His court, and dwell upon that shore He has mentioned ever since the opening lines of this very book.

But it all begins with that opening of our eyes, and meditation upon the Word of God. This reminds us of the very beginning of the book where He tells us not to "regard the words and deeds of mortal men as a standard". It is the Word that should be our standard.

While we are meditating, we should be seeking that shelter of the Manifestations. They are our true haven, our source of security.

But let's also recognize that these very objections are an integral part of the time when a Manifestation appears. They are, as He says in paragraph 29, an "essential feature of every Revelation".

Given that they are there, and very real, we have a choice. Which side do we want to be on? If we cavil, then we know where we stand.

But if we are serious, and offer serious questions, such as the uncle did, then we still have a choice. Do we accept? Or do we reject?

We think that as long as we are of pure intent in our questions, we can always rest assured that God is "merciful and forgiving towards His servants." 

As we discussed this paragraph, we felt that it was a warning, but not the type of warning that says "Believe, or you're in trouble." The uncle already believes. He is a believer in Muhammad. He has found that "sheltering shadow".

No. The warning here is to be sincere. It is a warning to not belittle anyone. And it is a warning to only take the Word of God as our standard.

By concluding this section, before going on to offer two more more quotes in His defense of the Bab, with the reminder that God is "merciful and forgiving towards His servants", we see this as a reminder that He is not proselytizing. He is not condemning anyone for not recognizing. His warnings are for those who, as He said in paragraph 28, "have given way to idle fancy".