If thou art sailing upon the sea of God's Names, which are
reflected in all things, know thou that He is exalted and sanctified from being
known through His creatures, or being described by His servants. Everything
thou beholdest hath been called into being through the operation of His Will.
How can such a created thing, therefore, be indicative of His essential
oneness? God's existence in itself testifieth to His Own oneness, while every
created thing, by its very nature, beareth evidence that it hath been fashioned
by God. Such is the proof of consummate wisdom in the estimation of those who
sail the ocean of divine Truth.
If, however, thou art sailing upon the sea of creation, know
thou that the First Remembrance, which is the Primal Will of God, may be
likened unto the sun. God hath created Him through the potency of His might,
and He hath, from the beginning that hath no beginning, caused Him to be
manifested in every Dispensation through the compelling power of His behest,
and God will, to the end that knoweth no end, continue to manifest Him
according to the good-pleasure of His invincible Purpose.
And know thou that He indeed resembleth the sun. Were the risings
of the sun to continue till the end that hath no end, yet there hath not been
nor ever will be more than one sun; and were its settings to endure for
evermore, still there hath not been nor ever will be more than one sun. It is
this Primal Will which appeareth resplendent in every Prophet and speaketh
forth in every revealed Book. It knoweth no beginning, inasmuch as the First
deriveth its firstness from It; and knoweth no end, for the Last oweth its
lastness unto It.
In the time of the First Manifestation the Primal Will
appeared in Adam; in the day of Noah It became known in Noah; in the day of
Abraham in Him; and so in the day of Moses; the day of Jesus; the day of
Muhammad, the Apostle of God; the day of the 'Point of the Bayan'; the day of
Him Whom God shall make manifest; and the day of the One Who will appear after
Him Whom God shall make manifest. Hence the inner meaning of the words uttered
by the Apostle of God, 'I am all the Prophets', inasmuch as what shineth
resplendent in each one of Them hath been and will ever remain the one and the
same sun.
- The Bab ('Selections from the Writings of the Bab')
