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Chapter 32
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The successorship of the Holy Imams (the Dependent/Lesser Prophets) to Muhammad (the Independent Prophet).
Based on the writings of
Baha'u'llah, the Bab, Muhammad, the Holy Imams, Abdu'l-Baha and the Bible; the
path of true belief in Islam after the ascension of Muhammad was:
recognition and following the Holy Imams, who were the Face of God
on earth (Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Muhammad). In the Kitab-i-Iqan
and other writings, the station of the Holy Imams is explained.
Also, there are many symbolic references to the Holy Imams in the Quran,
which true believers would apprehend. Imam Ali is referred to as "The
Commander of the Faithful" because true believers in Islam (obedient to
Muhammad and faithful to His Covenant) recognised and followed him and the other Holy Imams. Below are a number of references relating to this. Baha'is also recognise the Bab as the twelfth Imam (Imam Mihdi).
1)
The Quran instructs true believers to obey Muhammad, the Independent Prophet, the Most Great Infallibility
(which is to obey God). This includes obeying Muhammad regarding his
successor, Imam Ali, the first Dependent Prophet in the era of
Muhammad, and the "Object of the covenant".
4:59 O ye who believe! Obey God, and obey the Apostle, and those
charged with authority among you. If ye differ in anything among
yourselves, refer it to God and His Apostle, if ye do believe in God
and the Last Day: That is best, and most suitable for final
determination.
-- Qur'an: 4 - AN-NISA.
And likewise in the sacred verse: "Obey God and obey the Apostle, and
those among you invested with authority." By "those invested with
authority" is meant primarily and more especially the Imáms -- the
blessings of God rest upon them! They, verily, are the manifestations
of the power of God, and the sources of His authority, and the
repositories of His knowledge, and the daysprings of His commandments.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 90
Consider thou and call to mind the time when Muhammad appeared. He
said, and His word is the truth: 'Pilgrimage to the House [1] is a
service due to God.' [2] And likewise are the daily prayer, fasting,
and the laws which shone forth above the horizon of the Book of God,
the Lord of the World and the true Educator of the peoples and kindreds
of the earth. It is incumbent
upon everyone to obey Him in whatsoever God hath ordained; and
whosoever denieth Him hath disbelieved in God, in His verses, in His
Messengers and in His Books. Were He to pronounce right to be wrong or
denial to be belief, He speaketh the truth as bidden by God. This is a
station wherein sins or trespasses neither exist nor are mentioned.
-- Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 108
XXIV. Beware, O believers in the Unity of God, lest ye be tempted to
make any distinction between any of the Manifestations of His Cause, or
to discriminate against the signs that have accompanied and proclaimed
their Revelation. This indeed is the true meaning of Divine Unity, if
ye be of them that apprehend and believe this truth. Be ye assured,
moreover, that the works and acts of each and every one of these Manifestations of God, nay whatever pertaineth unto them, and
whatsoever they may manifest in the future, are all ordained by God,
and are a reflection of His Will and Purpose. Whoso maketh the
slightest possible difference between their persons, their words, their
messages, their acts and manners, hath indeed disbelieved in God, hath
repudiated His signs, and betrayed the Cause of His Messengers.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 59
2)
The importance of the Quran, the
revelation of God for that dispensation, is well established. In the passage
below, Muhammad gives His Family (the Holy Imams) parallel importance,
also indicating their fundamental importance in true Islam.
Muhammad, Himself, as the end of His mission drew nigh, spoke these words: "Verily, I leave amongst you My twin weighty testimonies: The Book of God and My Family [The Holy Imams]."
-- Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 201
3)
In
the passages below, Baha'u'llah makes reference to "Successorship" (of
the Holy Imams); Imam Ali also cites Muhammad regarding his successorship, 'It is thus that the Prophet said: "I am from 'Alí and 'Alí is from Me. None can give forth My Trust but Myself and 'Alí."'
In response to thy request the Pen of Glory hath graciously described
the stations and grades of the Most Great Infallibility. The purpose is
that all should know of a certainty that the Seal of the Prophets [Muhammad]--may
the souls of all else but Him be offered up for His sake--is without
likeness, peer or partner in His Own station. The Holy Ones [The Holy Imams]--may
the blessings of God be upon them--were created through the potency of
His Word, and after Him they were the most learned and the most
distinguished among the people and abide in the utmost station of
servitude. The divine Essence, sanctified from every comparison and
likeness, is established in the Prophet [Independent Prophet], and God's inmost Reality,
exalted above any peer or partner, is manifest in Him. This is the
station of true unity and of véritable singleness. The followers of the previous Dispensation grievously failed to acquire an adequate understanding of this station. The Primal Point [The Bab]
--may the life of all else but Him be offered up for His sake--saith:
`If the Seal of the Prophets had not uttered the word "Successorship",
such a station would not have been created.'
The people aforetime joined partners with God [rejected the Holy Imams as the Face of God], though they professed belief in His unity; and although they
were the most ignorant amongst men, they considered themselves the most
accomplished. But, as a token of divine retribution upon those heedless
ones, their erroneous beliefs and pursuits have, in this Day of
Judgement, been made clear and evident to every man of discernment and
understanding.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 123
This is that which Salmán[2] and 'Abú Dharr[3] related of the
utterances of the Commander of the Faithful, 'Alí - Peace be upon Him!
'Alí said:
He whose acceptance of my guardianship is based on external reality
more than internal truth, he is that one "whose balance will be
light"[4] Those whose scale will be light, their souls will be in
perdition.[5] O Salmán! The faith of no believer will attain perfection
unless and until he recognizeth Me with luminousness. If he attaineth
unto this, then he hath truly attained faith; he is the one whose heart
is tested with true faith, whose breast is dilated in true Islám and
whose faith is based on discernment. He who is convicted of shortcoming
in this cognition - he will be a doubter, immersed in disbelief.
O Salmán! and O Jandáb![6] In truth, recognition of Me in luminousness
is the recognition of God,[7] and Recognition and knowledge of God is
indeed knowledge of Me; this is what is meant by sincere devotion.[8]
Mankind was not ordered by God to seek naught except to attain unto
this unity.[9] They were commanded to worship but One God.[10] And they
have been commanded no more than this: "To worship God, offering Him
sincere devotion, being true (in faith), to establish regular prayer;
and to practice regular charity; and that is the Religion Right and
Straight."[11]
"Worshipping God" is belief in Divine Unity. "Sincere devotion" and
"being true in Faith"[12] is confession of the Prophethood of the
Prophet. "Establishing Prayer" is my Guardianship and Friendship.[13]
He who pledges fealty and friendship unto Me hath truly established the
obligatory prayer. Yet, this matter is hard, exceedingly hard! "Regular
charity" in the above verse is confession to the Imámate. All this is
the true religion.[14]
The Holy Qur'án hath testified
that true Faith is recognition of divine unity and confession to both
the Prophet and the Imámate. He who attaineth unto both hath fulfilled
his faith. A true believer is the one who does not reject any matter
pertaining to Us, for God Himself hath dilated His Breast such that He
may accept all. He will not doubt or be mistrustful. He who cavileth
why and wherefore becometh a disbeliever. We are, verily, the Cause of
God![15]
O Salmán! O Jandáb![16] Verily, God hath made me His Trustee over His
creation and His Vicegerent on His earth, in His territories, and over
His servants. He hath given Me what no artist can depict and no man of
understanding can truly comprehend. If thou wert to know Me in this
fashion, thou shalt attain unto true belief.[17]
O Salmán! God, exalted be He saith: "Nay, seek God's help with patient
perseverance and prayer: it is indeed hard except to those who bring a
lowly spirit."[18] "Patient perseverance" is Muhammad and "Prayer" is
my Wilayat.[19] Thus, that is why God hath declared it is hard. He doth
not reveal the Two[20] are hard. In truth, My Guardianship is
perplexing only to those who bring a lowly spirit. These latter are
they who have sought discernment using the light of My guidance.
O Salmán! We are the Mystery of God[21] that shalt not remain hidden.
We are His light that shalt never be extinguished, His Grace that is
expected from none other save Him. Muhammad
is our first, Muhammad our last, Muhammad our all![22] Muhammad is our
first, Muhammad our last, Muhammad our all. He who recognizeth Us in
this regard hath, in truth, consummated his Faith.
O Salmán, and O Jandáb! Muhammad and I were the Light that was voicing
forth the divine eulogy before any other reality started to praise Him.
We were the cause of illumination unto all creation. This one Light was
divided by God into two portions, the Chosen "Mustafa"[23], and His
Vicegerent, "Murtada"[24], and vouchsafed unto creation. God, exalted
be His Glory, said to each half, "Be Muhammad!", "Be 'Alí!"[25] It is thus that the Prophet said: "I am from 'Alí and 'Alí is from Me. None can give forth My Trust but Myself and 'Alí."[26]
This refers to our unity in the worlds of Light and Spirit. Similar is
this divine utterance: "and If He dieth or is slain."[27] "Dieth"
refers to the passing away of the Prophet. "Slain" refers to the
martyrdom of the Successor[28], for the Two are one Entity, one
Signification and one Light. Their unity is in purpose and attributes.
They are different in Their corporeal entity and their Names. But in
the world of spirit, They are One Spirit. In Spirit, He said, "Thou art
the Spirit within My Limbs." In the world of bodies, He saith: "Thou
art of Me and I am of Thine. Thou shalt inherit after Me."
-- Imam Ali, The Sermon of Ma'rifat bin-Nurániyyat (Recognition with Luminousness). Translation by K. Fananapazir.
Full text available at: https://bahai-library.com/imam-ali_marifat_nuraniyyat
4)
Baha'u'llah refers to the trumpet-call
of Imam Ali, and
the requirement that people recognise his station as a chosen one of God, a Prophet (Dependent).
In like manner, two of the people of Kufih went to Ali, the Commander
of the Faithful. One owned a house and wished to sell it; the other was
to be the purchaser. They had agreed that this transaction should be
effected and the contract be written with the knowledge of Ali. He, the
exponent of the law of God, addressing the scribe, said: "Write thou:
'A dead man hath bought from another dead man a house. That house is
bounded by four limits. One extendeth toward the tomb, the other to the
vault of the grave, the third to the Sirat, the fourth to either
Paradise or hell.'" Reflect, had these two souls been quickened by the
trumpet-call of Ali, had they risen from the grave of error by the
power of his love, the judgment of death would certainly not have been
pronounced against them.
In every age and century, the purpose of the Prophets of God and their
chosen ones hath been no other but to affirm the spiritual significance
of the terms "life," "resurrection," and "judgment." If one will ponder
but for a while this utterance of Ali in his heart, one will surely
discover all mysteries hidden in the terms "grave," "tomb," "sirat,"
"paradise" and "hell." But oh! how strange and pitiful! Behold, all the
people are imprisoned within the tomb of self, and lie buried beneath
the nethermost depths of worldly desire! Wert thou to attain to but a
dewdrop of the crystal waters of divine knowledge, thou wouldst readily
realize that true life is not the life of the flesh but the life of the
spirit. For the life of the flesh is common to both men and animals,
whereas the life of the spirit is possessed only by the pure in heart
who have quaffed from the ocean of faith and partaken of the fruit of
certitude. This life knoweth no death, and this existence is crowned by
immortality. Even as it hath been said: "He who is a true believer
liveth both in this world and in the world to come." If by "life" be
meant this earthly life, it is evident that death must needs overtake
it.
-- Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 119
5)
91:1 By the Sun and his (glorious) splendour;
91:2 By the Moon as she follows him;
91:3 By the Day as it shows up (the Sun's) glory;
91:4 By the Night as it conceals it;
-- Qur'an: 91 - ASH-SHAMS.
The Prophet [Independent Prophet] is the Sun and Imam Ali is the Moon.
The Day refers to the Imams and the Night to the Caliphate which
"covered" Imam Ali. (From the writings of the Imams as cited in
"Introduction to Shi'i Islam" by Moojan Momen, p. 151-153).
6)
The following passage on the
"station of pure abstraction and essential unity" of the Manifestations
of God includes Muhammad, Adam, Noah, Moses and Jesus, who are
Independent Prophets; and Ali [Imam Ali] and the Imams, who were
Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Muhammad. True believers recognise and
follow the Manifestations of God, including the Holy Imams, who appeared after the ascension of Muhammad, as foretold in the Quran and in Muhammad's oral statements.
These Manifestations of God have each a twofold station. One is the
station of pure abstraction and essential unity. In this respect, if
thou callest them all by one name, and dost ascribe to them the same
attribute, thou hast not erred from the truth. Even as He hath
revealed: "No distinction do We make between any of His Messengers!"[1]
For they one and all summon the people of the earth to acknowledge the
Unity of God, and herald unto them the Kawthar of an infinite grace and
bounty. They are all invested with the robe of Prophethood, and
honoured with the mantle of glory. Thus hath Muhammad, the Point of the
Qur'án, revealed: "I am all the Prophets." Likewise, He saith: "I am
the first Adam, Noah, Moses, and Jesus." Similar statements have been
made by Ali. Sayings such as this, which indicate the essential unity
of those Exponents of Oneness, have also emanated from the Channels of
God's immortal utterance, and the Treasuries of the gems of divine
knowledge, and have been recorded in the scriptures. These Countenances
are the recipients of the Divine Command, and the day-springs of His
Revelation. This Revelation is exalted above the veils of plurality and
the exigencies of number. Thus He saith: "Our Cause is but one."[2]
Inasmuch as the Cause is one and the same, the Exponents thereof also
must needs be one and the same. Likewise, the Imams of the Muhammadan
Faith, those lamps of certitude, have said: "Muhammad is our first,
Muhammad our last, Muhammad our all."
[1 Qur'án 2:285.]
[2 Qur'án 54:50.]
-- Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 152
7)
In the passage below, Imam Ali,
the first Dependent Prophet of Muhammad, is named a Temple,
and is the first of the angels referred to in Qur'án 2:210: "Will they
wait until Allah comes to them in canopies of clouds, with angels (in
His train)." "angels (in His train)" refers to the Holy Imams, who appeared in succession after Muhammad for a period of over two centuries. "Allah comes to them" is also a reference to the fact that the Holy Imams are Manifestations of God (Dependent Prophets of Muhammad, one of the two classes of Prophets). Those who rejected Imam Ali, a Manifestation of God, brought their own perdition.
Say I swear by God! They to whom you attribute knowledge and have
accepted them as your divines they are in the sight of God the worst of
men nay the quintessence of evil flees from them. Thus has the matter
been inscribed in the scrolls of God's knowledge. We testify that they
have not drunk from the fountains of knowledge and they have not
attained unto a word of Wisdom and have not become aware of the
mysteries of Revelation and have been racing in the land of their
selfish desires. Nothing of rejection and denial against a prophet or a
successor of a prophet has come to pass except after their permission.
Thus has always been their injunction carried out on the Countenances of holiness.
Say to them: O ignorant ones! Did We not reveal in the past: "A Day that God shall come in the canopies of clouds."[4] How is it that when He came down in the clouds of Revelation in the Temple of 'Ali [Imam
Ali], you turned away and rejected Him and waxed haughty and brought
about your own perdition?[5] Was it not also revealed in your Book:
"the Day when Thy Lord comes or certain of the signs of Thy Lord."[6]
And when He did come with evident signs wherefore did ye turn away from those signs and veiled yourselves with the veils of self?..
[4] Qur'án 2:210.
[5] Qur'án 25:18 and 48:12.
[6] Qur'an 6:158.
-- Baha'u'llah, Surih-i-Sabr (Lawh-i-Ayyúb), Surih of Patience or Tablet of Job - (Trans. K. Fananapazir)
2:208. O ye who believe! enter into Islam whole-heartedly; and follow not
the footsteps of the Evil One; for he is to you an avowed enemy.
2:209. If ye backslide after the clear (signs) have come to you, then know that Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise.
2:210. Will they wait until Allah comes to them in canopies of clouds, with angels (in His train) and the question is (thus) settled? But to Allah do all questions go back (for decision).
2:211. Ask the Children of Israel how many Clear (Signs) We have sent
them. But if anyone, after Allah's favor has come to him, substitutes
(something else), Allah is strict in punishment.
2:212. The life of this world is alluring to those who reject faith, and
they scoff at those who believe. But the righteous will be above them
on the Day of Resurrection; for Allah bestows His abundance without
measures on whom He will.
-- The Qur'an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 2.
2:26. Allah disdains not to use the similitude of things, lowest as
well as highest. Those who believe know that it is truth from their
Lord; but those who reject Faith say: "What means Allah by this
similitude?" By it He causes many to stray, and many He leads into the
right path, but He causes not to stray, except those who forsake (the
path).
2:27. Those who break Allah's Covenant after it is ratified, and who
sunder what Allah has ordered to be joined, and do mischief on earth:
These cause loss (only) to themselves.
-- The Qur'an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 2.
8)
Imam Ali is the Cord of God referred to in the Quran, the bearer of the Signs of God. This is another prophecy about the division that occurred in Islam after the ascension of Muhammad..
GOD says in the Qur'án: "Take ye hold of the Cord of God, all of you, and become ye not disunited."[1]
[1 Qur'án 3:103.]
-- Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets of the Divine Plan, p. 100
3:102 O ye who believe! Fear God as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islám.
3:103 And hold fast, all together, by the rope [cord]
which God (stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves;
and remember with gratitude God's favour on you; for ye were enemies
and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His Grace, ye became
brethren; and ye were on the brink of the pit of Fire, and He saved you
from it. Thus doth God make His Signs clear to you: That ye may be
guided.
3:104 Let there arise out of you a band of people inviting to all that
is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong: They
are the ones to attain felicity.
3:105 Be not like those who are divided amongst themselves and fall
into disputations after receiving Clear Signs: For them is a dreadful
penalty,-
3:106 On the Day when some faces will be (lit up with) white, and some
faces will be (in the gloom of) black: To those whose faces will be
black, (will be said): "Did ye reject Faith after accepting it? Taste
then the penalty for rejecting Faith."
3:107 But those whose faces will be (lit with) white,- they will be in (the light of) God's mercy: therein to dwell (for ever).
3:108 These are the Signs of God: We rehearse them to thee in Truth: And God means no injustice to any of His creatures.
-- The Qur'an: 3 - AL-I-IMRAN,
The truth is Mine and certitude is at My side. Leadership is Mine and
the righteous shall follow Me. I am the first to acknowledge faith, the Cord of God that shall not be broken, the One who will raise the world
to justice even as it hath been brought low by oppression. I am the
companion of Gabriel and the archangel Michael is beside Me. I am the
tree of guidance, and the essence of righteousness. I shall gather
together the world of creation through the Word of God that gathers
together all things. I give life unto humanity and I am the treasury of
all divine commands. To Me hath been given the Luminous Pen and the
Crimson Camel[6].
-- Imam Ali, Sermon of Glorification (a provisional translation by K. Fananapazir).
Full text available at: https://bahai-library.com/imam-ali_khutbat_iftikhar
9)
Muhammad and Imam Ali are the "two witnesses" foretold in the Bible...
11:3 And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall
prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in
sackcloth.
11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth,
and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in
this manner be killed.
11:6 These have power to shut heaven,
that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over
waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues,
as often as they will.
-- Bible: Revelation,
"And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a
thousand two hundred and three-score days, clothed in sackcloth."[1]
These two witnesses are Muhammad the Messenger of God, and Ali, son of
Abu Talib [Imam Ali].
[1 Rev. 11:3.]
In the Qur'án it is said that God addressed Muhammad, the Messenger of
God, saying: "We made You a Witness, a Herald of good news, and a
Warner" -- that is to say, We have established Thee as the witness, the
giver of good tidings, and as One bringing the wrath of God.[1] The
meaning of "a witness"
is one by whose testimony things may be verified. The commands of these
two witnesses were to be performed for twelve hundred and sixty days,
each day signifying a year. Now, Muhammad was the root, and Ali the branch, like Moses and Joshua.
-- Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 48
11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city,
which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was
crucified.
11:9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall
see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer
their dead bodies to be put in graves.
-- Bible: Revelation
"And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see
their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their
dead bodies to be put in graves."
As it was before explained, in the terminology of the Holy Books three
days and a half signify three years and a half, and three years and a
half are forty and two months, and forty and two months twelve hundred
and sixty days; and as each day by the text of the Holy Book signifies
one year, the meaning is that for twelve hundred and sixty years, which
is the cycle of the Qur'án, the nations, tribes and peoples would look
at their bodies--that is to say, that they would make a spectacle of
the Religion of God: though they would not act in accordance with it,
still, they would not suffer their bodies--meaning the Religion of
God--to be put in the grave. That is to say, that in appearance they
would cling to the Religion of God and not allow it to completely
disappear from their midst, nor the body of it to be entirely destroyed
and annihilated. Nay, in reality they would leave it, while outwardly
preserving its name and remembrance.
Those "kindreds, people and nations" signify those who are gathered
under the shadow of the Qur'án, not permitting the Cause and Law of God
to be, in outward appearance, entirely destroyed and annihilated -- for
there are prayer and fasting among them -- but the fundamental
principles of the Religion of God, which are morals and conduct, with
the knowledge of divine mysteries, have disappeared; the light of the
virtues of the world of humanity, which is the result of the love and
knowledge of God, is extinguished; and the darkness of tyranny,
oppression, satanic passions and desires has become victorious. The
body of the Law of God, like a corpse, has been exposed to public view
for twelve hundred and sixty days, each day being counted as a year,
and this period is the cycle of Muhammad.
The people forfeited all that these two persons [Muhammad and Imam Ali] had established, which
was the foundation of the Law of God, and destroyed the virtues of the
world of humanity, which are the divine gifts and the spirit of this
religion, to such a degree that truthfulness, justice, love, union,
purity, sanctity, detachment and all the divine qualities departed from
among them.
-- `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 52
10)
The Holy Imams are the twelve Messengers who promoted the teachings of Muhammad, the same way the twelve Apostles promoted the teachings of Christ.
In each cycle the guardians and holy souls have been twelve. So Jacob
had twelve sons; in the time of Moses there were twelve heads or chiefs
of the tribes; in the time of Christ there were twelve Apostles; and in the time of Muhammad there were twelve Imams.
But in this glorious manifestation there are twenty-four, double the
number of all the others, for the greatness of this manifestation
requires it. These holy souls are in the presence of God seated on
their own thrones, meaning that they reign eternally.
[1 Rev. 11:16-17.]
-- Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 57
Thou didst ask as to the tenth to the seventeenth verses of the
twenty-first chapter of Saint John the Divine's Revelation. Know thou
that according to mathematical principles, the firmament of this
earth's brilliant day-star hath been divided among twelve
constellations, which they call the twelve zodiacal signs. In the same
way, the Sun of Truth shineth out from and sheddeth its bounties
through twelve stations of holiness, and by these heavenly signs are
meant those stainless and unsullied personages who are the very
well-springs of sanctity, and the dawning-points proclaiming the oneness of God.
Consider how in the days of the Interlocutor (Moses), there were twelve
holy beings who were leaders of the twelve tribes; and likewise in the
dispensation of the Spirit (Christ), note that there were twelve
Apostles gathered within the sheltering shade of that supernal Light,
and from those splendid dawning-points the Sun of Truth shone forth
even as the sun in the sky. Again, in the days of Muhammad, observe
that there were twelve dawning-points of holiness, the manifestors of
God's confirming help. Such is the way of it.
-- `Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 165
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