| Kitáb-i-Íqán | 172 |
unto these glaring absurdities? Nay, with all their
soul, they would accept and submit to whatsoever
He saith. I swear by God! But for the divine
Decree, and the inscrutable dispensations of Providence,
the earth itself would have utterly destroyed
all this people! "He will, however, respite
them until the appointed time of a known day."
Twelve hundred and eighty years have passed since the dawn of the Muhammadan Dispensation, and with every break of day, these blind and ignoble people have recited their Qur'án, and yet have failed to grasp one letter of that Book! Again and again they read those verses which clearly testify to the reality of these holy themes, and bear witness to the truth of the Manifestations of eternal Glory, and still apprehend not their purpose. They have even failed to realize, all this time, that, in every age, the reading of the scriptures and holy books is for no other purpose except to enable the reader to apprehend their meaning and unravel their innermost mysteries. Otherwise reading, without understanding, is of no abiding profit unto man.
And it came to pass that on a certain day a needy
man came to visit this Soul, craving for the ocean
