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Extracts on Covenant Breakers
from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá
| 1. |
Souls are still unaware of the power of the Covenant. This
Testament is neither a tradition or a tale. It has been established through the pen of His
Holiness Bahá'u'lláh with the utmost firmness and undoubtedly if all the people of the
world join in endeavouring to uproot it, they will all eventually fail and be
disappointed. What can therefore a handful of people do? The power of the Covenant is
like unto the sun and those who have acted contrary to it are like transparent clouds. The
Sun of the Covenant dissipates dense clouds and causes them to vanish. What then will it
do to these imaginary mists? Thou dost consider that in all regions the Call of the
Covenant is being raised and in the utmost power. His Holiness Christ said to Peter,
"Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church." This Word could not
be resisted by all the people of the world and eventually it has been evident and
manifest. At present His Holiness Bahá'u'lláh has through His Sacred Pen established
this Covenant in the utmost power, perfection, and clearness. Consider then what power it
yields. At present some superficial souls like unto bats are plotting together in the
dark, and say to one another that this Sun of the Covenant shall be eclipsed and the
resplendent Moon of the Testament shall be concealed. But the Sun of the Covenant through
one effulgence shall disperse and annihilate these bats.
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| 2. |
A certain disciple came to Christ and asked permission to go
and bury his father. He answered, "Let the dead bury their dead." Therefore,
Christ designated as dead some who were still living--that is, let the living dead, the
spiritually dead, bury your father. They were dead because they were not believers in
Christ. Although physically alive, they were dead spiritually. This is the meaning of
Christ's words, "That which is born of flesh is flesh; and that which is born of
Spirit is spirit." He meant that those who were simply born of the human body were
dead spiritually, while those quickened by the breaths of the Holy Spirit were living and
eternally alive. These are the interpretations of Christ Himself. |
| 3. |
Thou hadst asked some questions; that why the blessed and
spiritual souls who are firm and steadfast, shun the company of degenerate persons. This
is because, that just as the bodily diseases, like consumption and cancer are contagious,
likewise the spiritual diseases are also infectious. If a consumptive should associate
with a thousand safe and healthy persons, the safety and health of these thousand persons
would not affect the consumptive and would not cure him of his consumption. But when this
consumptive associates with those thousand souls, in a short time the disease of
consumption will infect a number of those healthy persons. This is a clear and
self-evident question. Likewise, if a thousand magnanimous persons associate with a
degraded one, the perfection of those souls will not affect this debased person. On the
contrary, this mean person will be the cause of their going astray. Therefore, His
Holiness Bahá'u'lláh says in the Tablets: "Soon will a foul odour be spread; shun
it, so commandeth the Omniscient and the Wise. That is, in that city a stinking odour will
soon be spread. You should avoid it. So are ye commanded by His Holiness, the Knower and
the Wise." That foul odour is that of violation. Also in the Tablet of Advice He
says: "Now, do not neglect your Sower, Protector, and Educator; and do not choose and
prefer others to Him, lest foul and poisonous winds should pass over you."
His Holiness Christ says that the owner of the garden does not leave the dried tree,
but certainly cuts it and throws it into the fire, because the dried wood is worthy and
deserving of fire.
Again, His Holiness Bahá'u'lláh says: "Then, O ye trees of the blessed garden of
My bestowal, protect ye yourselves from the poison of the treacherous souls and the
stinking winds, which are the association of the polytheists and the negligent ones, so
that the trees of existence, through the bounty of the Worshipped [God] be not deprived of
the blessed breaths and breezes of love."
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| 4. |
In every age and cycle, in the time of Moses, of His
Holiness Christ and of His Holiness Muhammad as well as after these sacred Manifestations,
some people of evil intention have been found and have sown the seeds of discord and of
sedition. Even after Christ, Arius, the well-known patriarch, was the cause of a
widespread schism in the Cause of God and intense agitation among the believers. His
followers numbered over three million, and he as well as his successors exerted the utmost
effort in order to produce a split and a widespread commotion in the religion of God. But
eventually the power of Christ exterminated and utterly destroyed them all to the extent
that no trace [of them] has been left. These people are like the froth that gathers on the
surface of the sea; a wave surges from the ocean of the Covenant and through the power of
the Abhá Kingdom will cast these foams ashore. In the Qur'án it is mentioned: "As
to the foam, it is quickly gone; and as to what is useful to man, it remaineth on the
earth." These corrupt thoughts that emanate from personal and evil intentions will
all vanish, whereas the Covenant of God shall remain stable and secure. |
| 5. |
.... carnal desires are the cause of difference, as it is
the case with violators [of the Covenant, but selfish motives have dragged them to this
condition. It is not that they ignore (or are ignorant of) what they do; they are
perfectly aware and still they exhibit opposition. IN short, the ocean of the Covenant is
tumultuous and wide. It casts ashore the foam of violation, and thus rest ye assured. |
| 6. |
And now, one of the greatest and most fundamental principles
of the Cause of God is to shun and avoid entirely the Covenant-breakers, for they will
utterly destroy the Cause of God, exterminate His Law and render of no account all efforts
exerted in the past. O friends! It behoveth you to call to mind with tenderness the trials
of His Holiness, the Exalted One, and show your fidelity to the Ever-Blest Beauty. The
utmost endeavour must be exerted lest all these woes, trials, and afflictions, all this
pure and sacred blood that hath been shed so profusely in the Path of God, may prove to be
in vain. O ye beloved of the Lord! Strive with all your heart to shield the Cause of
God from the onslaught of the insincere, for souls such as these cause the straight to
become crooked and all benevolent efforts to produce contrary results.
O God! My God! I call Thee, thy Prophets and Thy Messengers, Thy Saints and Thy Holy
Ones, to witness that I have declared conclusively Thy Proofs unto Thy loved ones and set
forth clearly all things unto them, that they may watch over Thy Faith, guard Thy Straight
Path, and protect Thy resplendent Law. Thou art, verily, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise!
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| 7. |
All previous Books are subordinate to this Book of the
Covenant, for it has been revealed subsequent to all the previous ones. He has named it
the "Book of the Covenant," therefore consider that if the friends remain firm
in the Covenant will there be any misunderstandings among them? No, by God! Except those
souls who have an evil intention and are thinking of leadership and of forming a party;
those souls, although they have written epistles with their own pen and have execrated the
violators, denouncing them as having destroyed the foundation of the monument erected by
His Holiness Bahá'u'lláh, and have written that He has written this Covenant with His
own pen and that whoever deviated the least from the Centre of the Covenant is of the
people of treachery and well deserves the wrath of God-these souls are themselves at
present among the pioneers of violation. This is because of their personal motives, for
they had thought of securing leadership and wealth, but when they considered that in
remaining firm in the Covenant their purpose would not be realized, they deviated from
it... Their lie is now manifest. Notwithstanding this, some souls who are not aware of
this fact waver when these people cast the seeds of suspicion... |
| 8. |
The tests of every dispensation are in direct proportion
with the greatness of the Cause and as heretofore such a manifest Covenant, written by the
Supreme Pen, has not been entered upon, the tests are proportionately severe. These trials
cause the feeble souls to waver while these who are firm are not affected. These
agitations of the violators are no more than the foam of the ocean, which is one of its
inseparable features, but the ocean of the covenant shall urge and shall cast ashore those
dead bodies for it cannot contain them. Thus it is seen that the ocean of the Covenant has
surged and surged until it has thrown out the dead bodies-the souls that are deprived of
the Spirit of God and are lost in passion and self and are seeking leadership. In time,
this froth of the ocean shall not endure and shall soon disappear and vanish, while on the
other hand the ocean of the Covenant shall eternally surge and roar. |
| 9. |
The People of God The more you love, the nearer you will
be to God. Love is one of the bounties of God. Therefore to love one another is good.
The bounties of God are: to love each other, to speak the truth, to sever our hearts
from the world, to be reverent, to be humble, to be hospitable. By these things you know
the faithful servant of God. How do we know the light? By its rays. So when you see these
qualities, you will know that the servant of God has received the regeneration. You must
be thus reborn. You must pray and supplicate, and the more you pray and supplicate, the
nearer you will be to God.
When a dead body is thrown into the ocean, the waves will throw it back upon the shore.
So it is with the Ocean of Truth-it will not accept a dead body; and if a believer has not
these bounties of God, the sea will roll until he is finally cast out.
The people of God have no dependence upon the conditions of this world; they neither
become bittered with the bitterness of the cup, nor do they become intoxicated if the cup
be sweet.
The people of God are like the birds, who satisfy themselves with a few crumbs, and sit
the whole time on the branches of the tree singing the praises of God. |
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Introduction