or a perspicuous Book.  How numerous the oppressors before thee who have arisen to quench the light of God, and how many the impious who murdered and pillaged until the hearts and souls of men groaned by reason of their cruelty!  The sun of justice hath been obscured, inasmuch as the embodiment of tyranny hath been stablished upon the throne of hatred, and yet the people understand not.  The children of the Apostle have been slain and their possessions pillaged.  Say:  Was it, in thine estimation, their possessions or themselves that denied God?  Judge fairly, O ignorant one that hath been shut out as by a veil from God.  Thou hast clung to tyranny and cast away justice; whereupon all created things have lamented, and still thou art among the wayward.  Thou hast put to death the aged, and plundered the young.  Thinkest thou that thou wilt consume that which thine iniquity hath amassed?  Nay, by Myself!  Thus informeth thee He Who is cognizant of all.  By God!  The things thou possessest shall profit thee not, nor what thou hast laid up through thy cruelty.  Unto this beareth witness Thy Lord, the All-Knowing.  Thou hast arisen to put out the light of this Cause; ere long will thine own fire be quenched, at His behest.  He, verily, is the Lord of strength and of might.  The changes and chances of the world, and the powers of the nations, cannot frustrate Him.  He doeth what He pleaseth, and ordaineth what He willeth through the power of His sovereignty.  Consider the she-camel.  Though but a beast, yet hath the All-Merciful exalted her to so high a station that the tongues of the earth made mention of her and celebrated her praise.  He, verily, overshadoweth all that is in the heavens and on earth.  No God is there but Him, the Almighty, the Great.  Thus have We adorned the heaven of Our Tablet with the suns of Our words.  Blessed the man that hath attained thereunto and been illumined with their light, and woe betide such as have turned aside, and denied Him, and strayed far from Him.  Praised be God, the Lord of the worlds!

KITAB-I-’AHD (BOOK OF THE COVENANT)

ALTHOUGH the Realm of Glory hath none of the vanities of the world, yet within the treasury of trust and resignation We have bequeathed to Our heirs an excellent and priceless heritage.  Earthly treasures We have not bequeathed, nor have We added such cares as they entail.  By God!  In earthly riches fear is hidden and peril is concealed.  Consider ye and call to mind that which the All-Merciful hath revealed in the Qur’an:  ’Woe betide every slanderer and defamer, him that layeth up riches and counteth them.’(85) Fleeting are the riches of the world; all that perisheth and changeth is not, and hath never been, worthy of attention, except to a recognized measure.