knowledge and certitude, yet how many are those
who, through failure to understand its meaning,
have allowed the term "Seal of the Prophets" to
obscure their understanding, and deprive them of
the grace of all His manifold bounties! Hath not
&Muhammad, Himself, declared: "I am all the
Prophets?" Hath He not said as We have already
mentioned: "I am Adam, Noah, Moses, and
Jesus?" Why should Muhammad, that immortal
Beauty, Who hath said: "I am the first Adam" be
incapable of saying also: "I am the last Adam"?
For even as He regarded Himself to be the "First
of the Prophets"--that is Adam--in like manner,
the "Seal of the Prophets" is also applicable unto
that Divine Beauty. It is admittedly obvious
that being the "First of the Prophets," He likewise
is their "Seal."
The mystery of this theme hath, in this Dispensation,
been a sore test unto all mankind. Behold,
how many are those who, clinging unto these
words, have disbelieved Him Who is their true
Revealer. What, We ask, could this people presume
the terms "first" and "last"--when referring
to God--glorified be His Name!--to mean? If
they maintain that these terms bear reference to