what hath been ordained by the One with Whom is the Mother
Tablet. Where is he to be found who contended with God, and whither is gone he that gainsaid His signs, and turned aside from His sovereignty? Where are they who have slain His chosen ones and spilt the blood of His holy ones? Reflect, that haply thou mayest perceive the breaths of thine acts, O foolish doubter! Because of you the Apostle
1 lamented, and the Chaste One
2 cried out, and the countries were laid waste, and darkness fell upon all regions. O concourse of
divines! Because of you the people were abased, and the banner of
Islám was hauled down, and its mighty throne subverted. Every time a man of discernment hath sought to hold fast unto that which would exalt Islám, ye raised a clamour, and thereby was he deterred from achieving his purpose, while the land remained fallen in clear ruin.
Consider the Sulṭán of Turkey! He did not want war, but those like you desired it. When its fires were enkindled and its flames rose high, the government and the people were thereby weakened. Unto this beareth witness every man of equity and perception. Its calamities waxed so great that the smoke thereof surrounded the Land of Mystery3 and its environs, and what had been revealed in the Tablet of the Sulṭán was made manifest. Thus hath it been decreed in the Book, at the behest of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.
O My Supreme
Pen! Leave Thou the mention of the Wolf, and call Thou to remembrance the She-Serpent
4 whose cruelty hath caused all created things to groan, and