XXI. O Salmán! The door of
the knowledge of the Ancient Being hath ever been,
and will continue for ever to be,
closed in the face of men. No man's
understanding shall ever gain access
unto His holy court. As a token of His
mercy, however, and as a proof of
His loving-kindness, He hath manifested unto
men the Day
Stars of His divine guidance, the Symbols of His divine unity, and
hath ordained the knowledge of these
sanctified Beings to be identical with the
knowledge of His own Self. Whoso
recognizeth them hath recognized God. Whoso
hearkeneth to their call, hath hearkened
to the Voice of God, and whoso
testifieth to the truth of their
Revelation, hath testified to the truth of
God Himself. Whoso turneth away from
them, hath turned away from God, and
whoso disbelieveth in them, hath
disbelieved in God. Every one of them is the
Way of God that connecteth this world
with the realms above, and the Standard
of His Truth unto every one in the
kingdoms of earth and heaven. They are the
Manifestations of God amidst men,
the evidences of His Truth, and the signs of
His glory.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings
from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 49
The term "suns" hath many a time been
applied in the writings of the
"immaculate Souls" unto the Prophets
of God, those luminous Emblems of
Detachment. Among those writings
are the following words recorded in
the "Prayer of Nudbih": "Whither
are gone the resplendent Suns? Whereunto
have departed those shining Moons
and sparkling Stars?" Thus, it hath
become evident that the terms "sun,"
"moon," and "stars" primarily signify
the Prophets of God, the saints,
and their companions, those Luminaries,
the light of Whose knowledge hath
shed illumination upon the worlds of
the visible and the invisible.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, The
Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 35
And now, to resume Our argument concerning
the question: Why is it that the
sovereignty of the Qá'im,
affirmed in the text of recorded traditions, and
handed down by the shining stars
of the Muhammadan Dispensation [the Imams],
hath not in the least been made manifest?
-- Bahá'u'lláh, The
Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 106
12:1 And there appeared a great wonder
in heaven; a woman clothed with
the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of
twelve stars:
-- Bible: Revelation
The Law of God is also compared to
an adorned bride who appears with
most beautiful ornaments, as it has
been said in chapter 21 of the
Revelation of St. John: "And I John
saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband." And in chapter 12,
verse 1, it is said: "And there
appeared a great wonder in heaven;
a woman clothed with the sun, and
the moon under her feet, and upon
her head a crown of twelve stars."
This woman is that bride, the Law
of God that descended upon Muhammad.
The sun with which she was clothed,
and the moon which was under her
feet, are the two nations which are
under the shadow of that Law, the
Persian and Ottoman kingdoms; for
the emblem of Persia is the sun, and
that of the Ottoman Empire is the
crescent moon. Thus the sun and moon
are the emblems of two kingdoms which
are under the power of the Law
of God. Afterward it is said: "upon
her head is a crown of twelve stars."
These twelve
stars are the twelve Imáms, who were the promoters of the
Law of Muhammad and the educators
of the people, shining like stars in
the heaven of guidance.
-- `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered
Questions, p. 68
If we ponder a while over the Qur'ánic
verses and proofs, and the traditional
accounts which have come down to
us from those stars of the heaven of Divine
Unity, the
Holy Imáms, we shall be convinced of the fact that if a soul
is
endowed with the attributes of true
faith and characterized with spiritual
qualities he will become to all mankind
an emblem of the outstretched mercies
of God.
-- `Abdu'l-Bahá, The Secret
of Divine Civilization, p. 55
Ages rolled away, until they attained
their consummation in this, the Lord of
days, the Day whereon the
Day Star of the Bayán manifested itself above the
horizon of mercy, the Day in which
the Beauty of the All-Glorious shone forth
in the exalted person of `Alí-Muhammad,
the Báb.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings
from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 145