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O Haydar-Kabli-'Ali! Upon thee be my Baha and praise! My commands and exhortations have encompassed the world; nevertheless they have caused sorrows, not joy and happiness: because some of those who pretend to love Me have arisen in oppression, and inflicted that which was not wrought by even the former nations, nor by the Iranian doctors of religion. We have formerly said: "My imprisonment is not My affliction, nor is it what I have suffered from Mine enemies, but rather the deeds done by My friends who have related themselves to My Person, and commit that whereby My heart and My pen lament." (184:1) We have repeatedly revealed similar utterances, but they have not profited the heedless ones, for they are found to be captives to egotism and lust. Ask thou God to enable all of them to repent and return. As long as the ego is subject to carnal desires, sin and error continue. It is hoped that the hand of the Divine mercy, and the blessings of the compassionate One may assist them all, and adorn them with the garment of forgiveness and favor; and that He may also guard them from that which impairs His Cause among His servants. Verily, He is the powerful, the mighty, and He is the forgiving, the merciful! (184:2) The Word of God in the Tenth Leaf of the Exalted Paradise: (184:3) O people of the earth! A solitary life and severe discipline do not meet God's approval. The possessors of perception and knowledge should look unto the means which are conducive to joy and fragrance. Such practices come forth and proceed from the loins of superstition and the womb of fancy, and are not worthy the people of knowledge. Some of the people of the past and of later times dwelt in mountain caves, and others frequented the tombs during the night. Say: Hearken to the advice of this oppressed One. Abandon that which ye hold, and adhere unto what the trustworthy counsellor commands. Deprive not yourselves of that which is created for you. (184:4) Charity is beloved and acceptable before God, and is accounted the chief among all good deeds. Consider, and then remember that which the merciful One has revealed in the Qur'an: "But they prefer the poor before themselves, although there be indigence among them. He who is preserved from the covetousness of his own soul, such shall surely prosper." Indeed, this blessed Word is, in this connection, a sun among words: Blessed is he who prefers his brother before himself: Such an one is of the people of Baha, in the Red Ark, on the part of God, the Knower, the Wise! The Word of God in the Eleventh Leaf of the Exalted Paradise:
(184:5)
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