The Kitáb-i-Aqdas
Laws of the Lord, your God, the Powerful, the All-Wise.
121When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root.
122Consider the pettiness of men’s minds. They ask for that which injureth them, and cast away the thing that profiteth them. They are, indeed, of those that are far astray. We find some men desiring liberty, and priding themselves therein. Such men are in the depths of ignorance.
123Liberty must, in the end, lead to sedition, whose flames none can quench. Thus warneth you He Who is the Reckoner, the All-Knowing. Know ye that the embodiment of liberty and its symbol is the animal. That which beseemeth man is submission unto such restraints as will protect him from his own ignorance, and guard him against the harm of the mischief-maker. Liberty causeth man to overstep the bounds of propriety, and to infringe on the dignity of his station. It debaseth him to the level of extreme depravity and wickedness.
124Regard men as a flock of sheep that need a shepherd for their protection. This, verily, is the truth, the certain truth. We approve of liberty in certain circumstances, and refuse to sanction it in others. We, verily, are the All-Knowing.
125Say: True liberty consisteth in man’s submission unto My commandments, little as ye know it. Were men to observe that which We have sent down unto
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¶121 ¶122 ¶123 ¶124 ¶125
Internal Related Cross-References
Paragraph 121.
Paragraph 122.
Paragraph 123.
Paragraph 124.
Paragraph 125.
Study Guide
Paragraph 121.
Where do we turn our faces?
(See Note 145)
Who is the “Most Mighty Branch”?
Paragraph 122.
Who are far astray?
Who are in the depths of ignorance?
Paragraph 123.
What does liberty in the end lead to?
What is the symbol of “the embodiment of liberty”?
What beseemeth man?
What does liberty cause man to do?
Who are in the depths of ignorance?
Paragraph 124.
What “is the truth, the certain truth”?
Paragraph 125.
True liberty consists in what?
Who can “of a certainty, attain unto perfect liberty”?
Complete this quotation:
Happy is the man . . . ”
Where is the liberty that profits us to be found?
Complete this quotation:
Whoso hath tasted of its sweetness will refuse to barter it for . . . ”