| Kitáb-i-Íqán | 15 |
had seen, heard, and felt, they surely would not
have been deprived of beholding the beauty of
God, nor strayed far from the habitations of glory.
But having weighed the testimony of God by the
standard of their own knowledge, gleaned from
the teachings of the leaders of their faith, and
found it at variance with their limited understanding,
they arose to perpetrate such unseemly acts.
Leaders of religion, in every age, have hindered
their people from attaining the shores of eternal
salvation, inasmuch as they held the reins of authority
in their mighty grasp. Some for the lust of
leadership, others through want of knowledge and
understanding, have been the cause of the deprivation
of the people. By their sanction and authority,
every Prophet of God hath drunk from the chalice
of sacrifice, and winged His flight unto the heights
of glory. What unspeakable cruelties they that
have occupied the seats of authority and learning
have inflicted upon the true Monarchs of the
world, those Gems of divine virtue! Content with
a transitory dominion, they have deprived themselves
of an everlasting sovereignty. Thus, their
eyes beheld not the light of the countenance of the
Well-Beloved, nor did their ears hearken unto the
