Likewise, Muhammad, in another verse, uttereth His protest against the people of that age.  He saith:  “Although they had before prayed for victory over those who believed not, yet when there came unto them, He of Whom they had knowledge, they disbelieved in Him.  The curse of God on the infidels!"(114) Reflect how this verse also implieth that the people living in the days of Muhammad were the same people who in the days of the Prophets of old contended and fought in order to promote the Faith, and teach the Cause, of God.  And yet, how could the generations living at the time of Jesus and Moses, and those who lived in the days of Muhammad, be regarded as being actually one and the same people?  Moreover, those whom they had formerly known were Moses, the Revealer of the Pentateuch, and Jesus, the Author of the Gospel.  Notwithstanding, why did Muhammad say:  “When He of Whom they had knowledge came unto them”—­that is Jesus or Moses—­“they disbelieved in Him?” Was not Muhammad to outward seeming called by a different name?  Did He not come forth out of a different city?  Did He not speak a different language, and reveal a different Law?  How then can the truth of this verse be established, and its meaning be made clear?

Strive therefore to comprehend the meaning of “return” which hath been so explicitly revealed in the Qur’an itself, and which none hath as yet understood.  What sayest thou?  If thou sayest that Muhammad was the “return” of the Prophets of old, as is witnessed by this verse, His Companions must likewise be the “return” of the bygone Companions, even as the “return” of the former people is clearly attested by the text of the above-mentioned verses.  And if thou deniest this, thou hast surely repudiated the truth of the Qur’an, the surest testimony of God unto men.  In like manner, endeavour to grasp the significance of “return,” “revelation,” and “resurrection,” as witnessed in the days of the Manifestations of the divine Essence, that thou mayest behold with thine own eyes the “return” of the holy souls into sanctified and illumined bodies, and mayest wash away the dust of ignorance, and cleanse the darkened self with the waters of mercy flowing from the Source of divine Knowledge; that perchance thou mayest, through the power of God and the light of divine guidance, distinguish the Morn of everlasting splendour from the darksome night of error.

Furthermore, it is evident to thee that the Bearers of the trust of God are made manifest unto the peoples of the earth as the Exponents of a new Cause and the Bearers of a new Message.  Inasmuch as these Birds of the Celestial Throne are all sent down from the heaven of the Will of God, and as they all arise to proclaim His irresistible Faith, they therefore are regarded as one soul and the same person.  For they all drink from the one Cup of the love of God, and all partake of the fruit of the same Tree of Oneness.  These Manifestations of God have each a twofold station.