| Kitáb-i-Íqán | 73 |
Prophets, similarly, have been subject to poverty
and afflictions, to hunger, and to the ills and
chances of this world. As these holy Persons were
subject to such needs and wants, the people were,
consequently, lost in the wilds of misgivings and
doubts, and were afflicted with bewilderment and
perplexity. How, they wondered, could such a person
be sent down from God, assert His ascendancy
over all the peoples and kindreds of the earth, and
claim Himself to be the goal of all creation,--
even as He hath said: "But for Thee, I would not
have created all that are in heaven and on earth,"
--and yet be subject to such trivial things? You
must undoubtedly have been informed of the tribulations,
the poverty, the ills, and the degradation
that have befallen every Prophet of God and His
companions. You must have heard how the heads
of their followers were sent as presents unto different
cities, how grievously they were hindered
from that whereunto they were commanded. Each
and every one of them fell a prey to the hands of
the enemies of His Cause, and had to suffer whatsoever
they decreed.
It is evident that the changes brought about in
every Dispensation constitute the dark clouds that
