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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Where do we turn our faces?
Who is the “Most Mighty Branch”?
Who are in the depths of ignorance?
What does liberty in the end lead to?
What is the symbol of “the embodiment of liberty”?
What does liberty cause man to do?
Who are in the depths of ignorance?
What “is the truth, the certain truth”?
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 . . . ”