| Kitáb-i-Íqán | 127 |
sacred verse "Fain would they put out God's light
with their mouths: But God hath willed to perfect
His light, albeit the infidels abhor it." Were it to
be literally interpreted it would never correspond
with the truth. For in every age the light of God
hath, to outward seeming, been quenched by the
peoples of the earth, and the Lamps of God extinguished
by them. How then could the ascendancy
of the sovereignty of these Lamps be explained?
What could the potency of God's will to "perfect
His light" signify? As hath already been witnessed,
so great was the enmity of the infidels, that none
of these divine Luminaries ever found a place for
shelter, or tasted of the cup of tranquillity. So
heavily were they oppressed, that the least of men
inflicted upon these Essences of being whatsoever
he listed. These sufferings have been observed and
measured by the people. How, therefore, can such
people be capable of understanding and expounding
these words of God, these verses of everlasting
glory?
But the purpose of these verses is not what they
have imagined. Nay, the terms "ascendancy,"
"power," and "authority" imply a totally different
station and meaning. For instance, consider the
