Paragraph 139

Think not that because these things have come to pass after Husayn’s martyrdom, therefore all this glory hath been of no profit unto him. For that holy soul is immortal, liveth the life of God, and abideth within the retreats of celestial glory upon the Sadrih of heavenly reunion. These Essences of being are the shining Exemplars of sacrifice. They have offered, and will continue to offer up their lives, their substance, their souls, their spirit, their all, in the path of the Well-Beloved. By them, no station, however exalted, could be more dearly cherished. For lovers have no desire but the good-pleasure of their Beloved, and have no aim except reunion with Him.

This is the fifth of six paragraphs relating to the Imam Husayn. In it, as you can see, He talks about the sacrifice made by Husayn, and by extension all those who have made such sacrifices in the path of their Lord. It gives a list of some of the things we can offer up in this path, whether it is our life, our material goods, our very soul or spirit, everything.

This is a direct reminder, also, that our actions are not limited in their effect to this world. Do we wish to be like Husayn, or like any of the heroes of the Faith that we admire? Here He is giving us the method. He is showing us how far we have to be willing to go, how much we may be called upon to give up.

And it is very interestingly placed in the context of this book. By this point the uncle of the Bab is likely beginning to see his Nephew as being the Promised One. And while some of us may have been content with convincing the uncle, or anyone for that matter, of the truth of the Cause, Baha'u'llah, quite naturally, goes further. Here He seems to be saying, as we said way back at that juncture between parts one and two, "You believe? Fine. What are you going to do about it?"

Most of the rest of the book deals with those various heroes who have sacrificed their all, and this is just the beginning of those numerous, inspiring stories.

But here, at the very beginning of this paragraph, we are reminded that our actions, his actions, are and were not limited to this world. It is the great danger we all face, thinking that our actions are limited to this world. Here, Baha'u'llah reminds us that if we believe, then this is one of the implications of our belief: We must accept the reality that our actions carry on into the next world.

And yet there is a caution, too. We should not fall into the trap of doing good merely for the reward of heaven. We should "have no desire but the good-pleasure" of our Lord.

It is as 'Abdu'l-Baha said: "In the highest prayer, men pray only for the love of God, not because they fear Him or hell, or hope for bounty or heaven... The spiritual man finds no delight in anything save in commemoration of God."

This, we are reminded, is the touchstone. Husayn and all those "Essences of being", were prepared to sacrifice literally everything to be nearer to their Lord. How can we do any less?

One last point. We looked at this list that Baha'u'llah gave us: their lives, their substance, their souls, their spirit, their all. And honestly, we don't understand why they are in this order. We'll look at it for just a moment, but ask you, dear Reader, if you can shed more light on it.

To start, offering up your life, difficult as it is, sort of ends there. You offer it up as a martyr, and bang, you're done. That's it.

But when you offer up your substance, your material wealth, as Baha'u'llah did when He became a Babi, there is a very real question of how you survive. How do you pay for your next meal? Your shelter? How do you provide for your family? While martyrdom is quick, in some ways, this becomes more of a life-long martyrdom. So with these two, we see the beginning of that crescendo pattern that we love to look for in the Writings.

The next two, your soul and your spirit, we are stumped on. We just don't get it. Obviously they are of a higher order than both your life and your materials possessions, but why are they in that order? In fact, how are they different? It may make more sense in the original, but for us, we're stuck.

Finally, there is your all. Well, that about takes care of it, doesn't it? You can't get much more than your all. And in fact, there is a story that we are reminded of with this, that of Adam. As Tahirih pointed out, Adam was a Manifestation of God, the first One in the Adamic Cycle. The Cycle was named after Him, so come on, of course He was a Manifestation. But how does this accord with how He is treated in, say, the Bible, or history? For centuries He was regarded as something of a buffoon, having eaten the apple just because Eve asked Him. Well, this doesn't sound like a Manifestation to us. But, as Tahirih said in her incredible poem, Adam's Wish, He sacrificed His reputation to allow us, humanity, to begin this path that has led us to the revelation of both the Bab and Baha'u'llah. He taught us the difference between good and evil, and that opened up the path of choice, which has resulted in this incredible spiritual journey for all humanity. And we, the spiritual children of this glorious faith of ours, have the incredible bounty of helping humanity move on to the next stage in this path.

Paragraph 138

Furthermore, call to mind the shameful circumstances that have attended the martyrdom of Husayn. Reflect upon his loneliness, how, to outer seeming, none could be found to aid him, none to take up his body and bury it. And yet, behold how numerous, in this day, are those who from the uttermost corners of the earth don the garb of pilgrimage, seeking the site of his martyrdom, that there they may lay their heads upon the threshold of his shrine! Such is the ascendancy and power of God! Such is the glory of His dominion and majesty!

Here we are at the fourth of six paragraphs that talk about the Imam Husayn. It all falls under the response to the question of the uncle trying to understand how the Bab demonstrated the sovereignty that was to be shown by the Promised One.

By bringing up the Imam Husayn, whom the uncle honours, and pointing out the "shameful circumstances that have attended the martyrdom" of this man, Baha'u'llah is reminding us to look to the past. If this uncle calls into question the validity of the Bab due to His martyrdom, then how can he claim to properly respect the Imam Husayn?

"Call to mind". "Reflect". These are two things that we were regularly asked to do back in Part 1. By this point, we should be fairly decent at this.

There is no question in the mind or heart of the uncle that he already knows this, and Baha'u'llah is helping him reframe his knowledge. He is pointing out the many similarities between the stories of this Imam and the Bab.

And the reference to none taking up his body? That reminds us of the Bab, Himself. At the time, only a handful of people knew that His body had been rescued from the moat outside Tabriz.

Today, people don't just seek the site of His martyrdom, they go to His actual Shrine as part of their Baha'i Pilgrimage.

To us, the importance of this paragraph, and in fact the whole section on the Imam Husayn, is to help remind us to recognize what others feel is important and sacred. We can always use that as a starting point in our teaching. At no point does Baha'u'llah belittle Islam or any of the Imams. He continually reaffirms what the uncle knows and points out those tidbits of knowledge that will help him advance on his spiritual journey.

Baha'u'llah regularly goes back to history, shows what the uncle already knows, and seems to say, "See how this applies today?" He shows how everything that we love in the history of our religion, no matter what religion it is, can be directly applied today.

There are two other interesting points here that seem to come together. The uncle's faith is very much alive. He is a firm believer, but he is not closed-minded about it. He has serious questions that have prevented him from recognizing his Nephew, but he is willing to listen.

It is as if Baha'u'llah is saying that questions are ok. We are not expected to know everything. But we are expected to be open to hearing an answer.

Today, when talking about the Faith with others, it is important to understand this distinction. There are many people who are very spiritual, but closed to hearing anything different. There are also those who are very open to learning new things, but are not spiritual at all. We, however, need to be open to recognizing those who are both spiritual and open.

Paragraph 137

But the purpose of these verses is not what they have imagined. Nay, the terms “ascendancy,” “power,” and “authority” imply a totally different station and meaning. For instance, consider the pervading power of those drops of the blood of Husayn which besprinkled the earth. What ascendancy and influence hath the dust itself, through the sacredness and potency of that blood, exercised over the bodies and souls of men! So much so, that he who sought deliverance from his ills, was healed by touching the dust of that holy ground, and whosoever, wishing to protect his property, treasured with absolute faith and understanding, a little of that holy earth within his house, safeguarded all his possessions. These are the outward manifestations of its potency. And were We to recount its hidden virtues they would assuredly say: “He verily hath considered the dust to be the Lord of Lords, and hath utterly forsaken the Faith of God.”

This is the third of six paragraphs talking about the Imam Husayn, and as you can see, Baha'u'llah is directing our attention to the fact that the verses cited are not what we believe they are. They do not mean what the generality of the people believe they mean. If they did, if they were to be taken literally, then they do not accord with known and recognized historical events. So either these quotes don't mean what we generally think they do, or they don't fit in with what we know of history. As we can't change history, it's easier to admit that we just don't quite understand these things correctly.

Here we begin to see with greater clarity one of the reasons He spent so much time looking at that marvelous quote from Jesus in Matthew 24. The methodology that He used in the majority of Part 1 is now being used here to better understand these references to the Imam Husayn, whom the uncle of the Bab reveres. As they were not literal at the time, it is easy to suppose that they may not be literal today, either.

You see, again, Baha'u'llah is taking the uncle from where he is, a devout Muslim who greatly admires the Imam Husayn, and helping him understand how his accurate understanding of the station of Husayn can be applied to the Bab. And make no mistake, this is not mere platitude. Baha'u'llah truly loves and admires the Imam Husayn.

He Highly praises the Imam and even goes so far as to remind the uncle just how spiritually powerful this individual is. Even the mere dust that covers the ground where he shed his blood is a potent remedy and protection.

But this leads us to a second point. It seems to us that Baha'u'llah is not actually saying anything magical here. While it is worth remembering that the Faith is, as all religions are, fundamentally mystical at its core, it also accords with science.

Here we find it just as interesting to read what He is not saying as what He is.

He does not say that we can take this dust and make instant cure-alls with it. He does not say that we can sell it as a home security system. He very carefully says that "he who sought deliverance... was healed..." He points out that those who wished to protect their property used this holy dust with "absolute faith and understanding".

In every religion we find examples of people being healed when they came in contact with the hem of the Manifestation's clothing, or other similar things we might call miracles. But in every case the onus seems to be on the faith of the individual. Baha'u'llah, here, calls this an "outward manifestation" of the potency of this blood, physically linking it to the actual blood that was spilled. But then He talks about the hidden virtues it has. This is what has caught our attention.

It made us go back and re-read the references here in this paragraph, and now we wonder if He could also be alluding to the Imam Husayn's blood, as in his blood-line. Could this be a reference to his heritage, being a descendant of Muhammad's family? Could it also be an allusion to the Bab, Himself, Who is his own descendant?

Paragraph 136

Were the verse “And verily Our host shall conquer” to be literally interpreted, it is evident that it would in no wise be applicable to the chosen Ones of God and His hosts, inasmuch as Husayn, whose heroism was manifest as the sun, crushed and subjugated, quaffed at last the cup of martyrdom in Karbilá, the land of Táff. Similarly, the sacred verse “Fain would they put out God’s light with their mouths: But God hath willed to perfect His light, albeit the infidels abhor it.” Were it to be literally interpreted it would never correspond with the truth. For in every age the light of God hath, to outward seeming, been quenched by the peoples of the earth, and the Lamps of God extinguished by them. How then could the ascendancy of the sovereignty of these Lamps be explained? What could the potency of God’s will to “perfect His light” signify? As hath already been witnessed, so great was the enmity of the infidels, that none of these divine Luminaries ever found a place for shelter, or tasted of the cup of tranquillity. So heavily were they oppressed, that the least of men inflicted upon these Essences of being whatsoever he listed. These sufferings have been observed and measured by the people. How, therefore, can such people be capable of understanding and expounding these words of God, these verses of everlasting glory?

This paragraph is the second of six that talks about the Imam Husayn. It's interesting because it continues the discussion about sovereignty, and how it isn't the literal sovereignty that many people believe.

One question we could ask is why Baha'u'llah is spending so much time talking about the Imam Husayn. A possible answer we could give would be that Baha'u'llah is seen as his return, but we think there is a far more plausible answer: He is writing this for the uncle of the Bab. This uncle, as you well know by now, was a devout Shi'ite Muslim. He revered the Imam Husayn and saw him as a paragon of virtue. He was, and still is, held in the highest regard by the Shi'ites. If He were talking to a Catholic, you can well imagine that He would have used Saint Peter as His example. If He were speaking to a Jew, He might have used Aaron as His example. We don't know, but we can presume that He would have used someone that they would highly regard.

On the surface we can see this as a rebuttal of how we traditionally interpret Scripture, namely the awaiting of a literal fulfillment of these prophecies, but really, Baha'u'llah already does this so well that we don't feel we need to go into it any further.

Instead, what we want to consider is how Bah'u'llah does this. Remember, this incredible text can be seen as a model for how we are to teach the Faith.

The main problem here is that the question the uncle asked had to do with a presumptive understanding that the sovereignty spoken of in the Qur'an had to be an earthly, literal sovereignty. Baha'u'llah has to correct him of this misunderstanding before He can go on.

To do this, He is looking at a few quotes that the uncle would have been familiar with, and is showing how they cannot possibly be seen as literal.

Back in paragraph 134, He chose three quotes, and is now repeating two of them. He is not taking new quotes, but using the ones He just quoted. He is even quoting them again in the same order He previously used. This undoubtedly makes it easier for the uncle to follow.

He is also alluding to the Bab, when He says "in every age the light of God hath, to outward seeming, been quenched..." After all, this was another one of the points that confused the uncle. If the Bab really was a Manifestation, how is it that, at the time of this writing, His Faith seemed to be on the verge of extinction?

So really, this applies to us, too. After all, when Husayn was martyred, it looked as if the Shi'ite line was going to go extinct. When Baha'u'llah wrote this book, it seemed as if the Babi Faith was also on the verge of extinction. Both of them, though, were kept alive and vibrant by those followers who kept their eye on the teachings, and continued to spread their beliefs. They survived because the staunch followers were not down-heartened by their seeming lack of success. They were not dismayed by the loss of a few leaves on the tree of their faith, but recognized that this is just a natural part of the growth cycle.

Similarly, we, too, can continue to look forward, seeing the signs of growth where they appear, and continue to work towards the spread of this religion of ours. We may notice various setbacks at times, but can trust that, like the religions of the past, we will grow past them.

After all, remember what Baha'u'llah has continually told us throughout this book? "Consider the past." Isn't that what He is doing? When we consider the past, and reflect on what we already know, we will clearly see that their interpretation does not conform with what we know has happened in history.

Paragraph 135

Were the idle contention of these foolish and despicable souls to be true, they would have none other alternative than to reject all these holy utterances and heavenly allusions. For no warrior could be found on earth more excellent and nearer to God than Husayn, son of ‘Alí, so peerless and incomparable was he. “There was none to equal or to match him in the world.” Yet, thou must have heard what befell him. “God’s malison on the head of the people of tyranny!”

Ah yes, another short paragraph. These are usually the most difficult to write about, but not because there is so little there, but rather because they are so jam-packed.

To start, we have to ask the question, "Which idle contention?"

To get an idea, we have to go back a paragraph, to the end of 134. Baha'u'llah has just quoted 3 verses. “And verily Our host shall conquer.” “Fain would they put out God’s light with their mouths: But God hath willed to perfect His light, albeit the infidels abhor it.” “He is the Dominant, above all things.”

Looking at these quotes, and the idea mentioned in paragraph 133, that these quotes must refer to a physical reality instead of a spiritual one, Baha'ullah is pointing out the absurd contradiction to history. If these quotes were supposed to be earthly, instead of spiritual, then how could the religious leaders explain Imam Husayn? He sure didn't conquer. He was defeated at Karbila. Dominant? Nope. He was defeated in battle.

But these leaders recognize the authority of so noble a figure as Husayn, son of Ali, and therefore recognize the spiritual nature of his victory.

Now, the question is how does this apply to us? Well, to us it demonstrates how we can respond to any objection raised against the Faith.

When the religious leaders said that the Bab could not be a Manifestation, they said that He would have to demonstrate earthly sovereignty. Ok, we could reply, how did Husayn show earthly sovereignty?

In fact, the same objection could be, and has been, raised by some Christians. "When Jesus returns, He will be sovereign over the whole earth."

This was the same objection raised against Jesus in His own lifetime. How do they answer this? "He had a spiritual sovereignty."

So did Husayn. So did the Bab. So does Baha'u'llah.

Any objection raised can be turned back upon the objector. Whatever defense they offer can also be offered in this instance.

Whatever objection they present was likely also presented against their own Founder.

Baha'u'llah points out that there must be a consistency of argument. Whatever works for one must work for all.

At no point have any of the Messengers been interested in the authority and power of this world. They have always worked towards the spiritual, striving in every Dispensation to draw our attention upwards, from this earthly plane towards the spiritual worlds of God.

At the very end of this paragraph, He curses the "people of tyranny". Why? Because, like all curses, it is a natural result of their own behaviour. These leaders, these "people of tyranny", are doing all they can to move our vision back down to the earthly plane, which is the very antithesis of these teachings. We know that when our vision is turned towards the heavens, we reflect the light of God, but when we turn our vision to those things of the dust, we reflect that lifeless dust, instead. By being so focused on the physical, so distant from the spiritual, they are forcing themselves to do nothing more than reflect the lifeless dust of this world. Can we imagine a greater curse than this?

Paragraph 134

Know, therefore, O questioning seeker, that earthly sovereignty is of no worth, nor will it ever be, in the eyes of God and His chosen Ones. Moreover, if ascendency and dominion be interpreted to mean earthly supremacy and temporal power, how impossible will it be for thee to explain these verses: “And verily Our host shall conquer.” “Fain would they put out God’s light with their mouths: But God hath willed to perfect His light, albeit the infidels abhor it.” “He is the Dominant, above all things.” Similarly, most of the Qur’án testifieth to this truth.

Here, it would be so easy to continue to talk about how the earthly sovereignty is worthless, but this is what Baha'u'llah is already doing. We could continue to talk about how these quotes are obviously not referring to "earthly supremacy and temporal power", but again, this is so obvious from the context here.

Instead, we would like to look at the three quotes He has chosen to use here: "Our host shall conquer"; "God hath willed to perfect His light"; and "He is the Dominant".

The first is in the future perfect tense, giving us a promise of something that will happen, without question. The second quote seems to explain how, showing that it is through this perfecting of His light. The last one is a reminder that this is what we have always seen in the other religions, their dominance.

So while we can rest assured in the promise, and the example from the past, our primary concern is the how. How will God perfect His light? What does it mean for God to "perfect His light"? And how would the people be able to put it out "with their mouths"?

To get a better idea of this, we decided to look at a few other quotes.

The first one that came to mind was "A kindly tongue is the lodestone of the hearts of men. It is the bread of the spirit, it clotheth the words with meaning, it is the fountain of the light of wisdom and understanding..."

You see, for God to perfect His light, He uses the tools at hand, namely the followers of the new religion. This is how it was done in the past, and we can presume, given what we have been reading in this book, that this will be His method in the present day.

In fact, there is a marvelous passage from 'Abdu'l-Baha in which He says, "The purpose of the appearance of the Manifestations of God is the training of the people. That is the only result of Their mission, the real outcome. The outcome of the whole life of Jesus was the training of eleven disciples and two women. Why did He suffer troubles, ordeals and calamities? For the training of these few followers. That was the result of His life. The product of the life of Christ was not the churches but the illumined souls of those who believed in Him. Afterward, they spread His teachings."

Given that we seem to be the ones who have the responsibility for passing on these teachings, it seems that we are also instrumental in passing on this light. How do we do it?

Looking at the quote, the one about the lodestone, it seems we are given a bit of a clue. A lodestone, as you know, is a magnet, and so speaking with kindness, quite simply, is attractive. Well, given our experience, that just makes sense. We react far more positively to those that speak kindly than to those that speak harshly. It's the old "attracting flies with honey, as opposed to vinegar" motif, but with more spiritual importance.

In fact, looking at the quote, we realize that when someone speaks harshly, we are less likely to even bother listening to them. And so a kindly tongue really does clothe the words with meaning. After all, if we do not listen to the other person, then their actual words are truly meaningless.

But "the fountain of the light of wisdom and understanding"? Again if we talk about the teaching of Baha'u'llah with a kindly tongue, ensuring that we do all we can to be as gracious and gentle as possible, then the person is far more willing to listen, and to listen closely. We can easily imagine our words as a fountain, to which others can approach and from which they can drink. If we fill our words with Baha'u'llah's teachings, then they end up drinking that divine draught.

It is through this teaching that the light of God's message penetrates more and more hearts.

In the Hidden Words, revealed around the same time as this book, Baha'u'llah writes, "Thou art My lamp and My light is in thee. Get thou from it thy radiance and seek none other than Me. For I have created thee rich and have bountifully shed My favor upon thee." And so we get a better understanding of the nature of this light, and its relation to us.

Honestly, though we can find hundreds more quotes on this theme, if not more, we don't want to bury you, dear Reader, in too many. Instead, let us look at the best example of this process in action that we can think of: Baha'u'llah's revelation of this very book.

When we consider how this book came to be revealed, can we imagine a better example of a kindly tongue perfecting the light of God in another's heart?

And honestly, it is only through the changing of the heart that God's light becomes dominant.

Paragraph 133

And now, ponder this in thine heart: Were sovereignty to mean earthly sovereignty and worldly dominion, were it to imply the subjection and external allegiance of all the peoples and kindreds of the earth—whereby His loved ones should be exalted and be made to live in peace, and His enemies be abased and tormented—such form of sovereignty would not be true of God Himself, the Source of all dominion, Whose majesty and power all things testify. For, dost thou not witness how the generality of mankind is under the sway of His enemies? Have they not all turned away from the path of His good-pleasure? Have they not done that which He hath forbidden, and left undone, nay repudiated and opposed, those things which He hath commanded? Have not His friends ever been the victims of the tyranny of His foes? All these things are more obvious than even the splendour of the noon-tide sun.

"And now..." Here He is implying that He is moving onto a new section, a new thought. And at the very beginning He is asking us to "ponder". Whenever we see this word, or any of its synonyms, such as "meditate" or "consider", we take it very seriously. We have seen, as you will no doubt recall, in Part 1 of this book that every time He tells us to do this, it is so that we can begin to get a deeper understanding of some difficult truth that will become the foundation of what is to come.

So what is happening here? What is it that we are to ponder? And why?

Before we go onto those questions, we want to take a look back at paragraph 102, that first paragraph of Part 2.

You will recall that He talks about "He Who is the Day-star of Truth and Revealer of the Supreme Being" and His "undisputed sovereignty over all that is in heaven and on earth, though no man be found on earth to obey Him." Over the past 30 paragraphs, He has helped us redefine our understanding of this "sovereignty". He has carefully moved us away from an earthly understanding, which naturally would lead to God's loved ones being exalted and living in peace, and towards this more accurate understanding of this spiritual sovereignty that He does wield.

When we look at the past, we can see that no Manifestation has had this life of ease that the people imagine, nor have the early followers found lives of peace. The early Christians did not expect to get a warm reception when they delivered the Message. They expected to be crucified.

In the latter part of paragraph 102, Baha'u'llah talks about how we may be able to "soar on the wings of renunciation to those heights that are veiled from the eyes of men." This, we feel, is the key to understanding the rest of Part 2, this renunciation. From here on out, He is going to direct our attention to the tests and trials that the early believers have faced in other religious traditions, namely Islam, since He is addressing the uncle of the Bab. And then, from there, He will direct our gaze towards the early Babi heroes, whom we will be encouraged to emulate.

But, if we have a poor understanding of this sovereignty, it all stops here. For if we expect a life of ease and comfort, we will never make the necessary sacrifices needed to transform the planet and all the peoples on it. It is like the Buddha said to His disciples when He sent them out to teach. "What if they ignore you?" "Then we will be glad that they have not harmed us." "Well, what if they harm you?" "Then we will be glad that they do not imprison us." "What if they throw you in prison?" "We will be glad they do not kill us." "And what if they kill you?" "Then we will be glad to die as martyrs, for what is greater than to die for the glory of God?"

And so, Baha'u'llah gives us these questions to ponder.

He points out, very logically, that if we actually believe that God is the earthly sovereign of this planet, then that would mean that we would all be following and obeying His laws. Clearly, this is not the case. When we look at God's laws, no matter which religion we examine, we will find that the majority of the people on earth are clearly not following this guidance. Wherever we turn, we can easily see that the people are not obeying His laws. In fact, in most areas, the majority are acting contrary to the guidance in the sacred Books of the world.

Doesn't this get us to sit up and think? Pay attention? Do we not, when pondering this, ask ourselves if we are acting according to God's teachings? Or are we acting like most people, being greedy and self-centred?

He ties all this to the stories of the heroes of both Islam and the Babi religion, encouraging the friends to arise, in His day, to the same degree of self-sacrifice. Similarly, today, we are encouraged to use these very same stories of those heroes of the Faith, those Dawn-Breakers, to encourage those around us to their own great feats of service. The stories are wonderful, but if they do not motivate us to serve today, then they are nothing more than mere history. And if they do not encourage us to arise in our own turn, then they are, also, no more than mere stories. It is our reaction to them, our own willingness to strive to emulate their greatness, that give the stories of the heroes the meaning that will last through the ages.