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CXXXVII: Some have regarded it as lawful to infringe
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Some have regarded it as lawful to infringe on the integrity of the substance of their
neighbor, and have made light of the injunction of
God as prescribed in His Book. Evil fall upon them,
and the chastisement of God, the All-Powerful, the
Almighty, afflict them! By Him Who shineth above
the Day Spring of sanctity! If the whole earth were
to be converted into silver and gold, no man who can
be said to have truly ascended into the heaven of
faith and certitude would deign to regard it, much
less to seize and keep it. We have formerly referred
to this subject in passages revealed in the Arabic
tongue, in a language of exquisite beauty. God is Our
witness! Whoever hath tasted the sweetness of those
words will never consent to transgress the bounds
which God hath fixed, neither will he turn his gaze
towards any one except his Well-Beloved. Such a man
will, with his inner eye, readily recognize how altogether
vain and fleeting are the things of this world,
and will set his affections on things above. |
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Say: Be ashamed, O ye that call yourselves the
lovers of the Ancient Beauty! Be ye admonished by
the tribulation He hath suffered, by the burden of
anguish He hath carried for the sake of God. Let
your eyes be opened. To what purpose hath He
labored, if the manifold trials He hath endured are,
in the end, to result in such contemptible professions,
and such wretched conduct? Every robber, every
worker of iniquity, hath, in the days prior to My
Revelation, uttered these same words, and performed
these same deeds. |
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Verily I say: Incline your ears to My sweet voice,
and sanctify yourselves from the defilement of your
evil passions and corrupt desires. They who dwell
within the tabernacle of God, and are established
upon the seats of everlasting glory, will refuse,
though they be dying of hunger, to stretch their
hands and seize unlawfully the property of their
neighbor, however vile and worthless he may be. |
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The purpose of the one true God in manifesting
Himself is to summon all mankind to truthfulness
and sincerity, to piety and trustworthiness, to resignation
and submissiveness to the Will of God, to
forbearance and kindliness, to uprightness and wisdom.
His object is to array every man with the mantle
of a saintly character, and to adorn him with
the ornament of holy and goodly deeds. |
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Say: Have mercy on yourselves and on your fellowmen,
and suffer not the Cause of God ñ a Cause
which is immeasurably exalted above the inmost
essence of sanctity ñ to be sullied with the stain of
your idle fancies, your unseemly and corrupt imaginations. |
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