| Kitáb-i-Íqán | 44 |
point, the terms "easts" and "wests" have been
mentioned in the plural. Others have written that
by this verse the four seasons of the year are intended,
inasmuch as the dawning and setting
points of the sun vary with the change of the seasons.
Such is the depth of their understanding!
None the less, they persist in imputing error and
folly to those Gems of knowledge, those irreproachable
and purest Symbols of wisdom.
In like manner, strive thou to comprehend from
these lucid, these powerful, conclusive, and unequivocal
statements the meaning of the "cleaving
of the heaven"--one of the signs that must needs
herald the coming of the last Hour, the Day of
Resurrection. As He hath said: "When the heaven
shall be cloven asunder." (1) By "heaven" is meant
the heaven of divine Revelation, which is elevated
with every Manifestation, and rent asunder with
every subsequent one. By "cloven asunder" is
meant that the former Dispensation is superseded
and annulled. I swear by God! That this heaven
being cloven asunder is, to the discerning, an act
mightier than the cleaving of the skies! Ponder a
while. That a divine Revelation which for years
