| Kitáb-i-Íqán | 51 |
shaken severely. So great was their alarm, that
many of them, discontinuing their prayer, apostatized
their faith. Verily, God caused not this turmoil
but to test and prove His servants. Otherwise,
He, the ideal King, could easily have left the Qiblih
unchanged, and could have caused Jerusalem to
remain the Point of Adoration unto His Dispensation,
thereby withholding not from that holy city
the distinction of acceptance which had been conferred
upon it.
None of the many Prophets sent down, since
Moses was made manifest, as Messengers of the
Word of God, such as David, Jesus, and others
among the more exalted Manifestations who have
appeared during the intervening period between
the Revelations of Moses and Muhammad, ever
altered the law of the Qiblih. These Messengers of
the Lord of creation have, one and all, directed
their peoples to turn unto the same direction. In
the eyes of God, the ideal King, all the places of
the earth are one and the same, excepting that
place which, in the days of His Manifestations, He
doth appoint for a particular purpose. Even as He
hath revealed: "The East and West are God's:
therefore whichever way ye turn, there is the face
