"By the One in Whose hand is My soul! We were dismayed by his deceitfulness -- nay, bewildered were all things visible and invisible. Nor did he find respite from what he harboured in his bosom until he had committed that which no pen dare describe, and by which he disgraced the dignity of My station and profaned the sanctity of God, the Almighty, the All-Glorious, the All-Praised. Were God to turn all the oceans of the earth into ink and all created things into pens, they would not suffice Me to exhaust the record of his wrongdoings. Thus do We recount that which befell Us, that haply ye may be of them that understand."
Comments:
• One of the qualities of Mirza Yahya that the Manifestation of God brings to our attention in this paragraph is “his deceitfulness”. The dictionary defines “deceit” as “the act of representing as true what is known to be false; a dishonest action or trick; fraud or lie”. Baha’u’llah reminds us that:
“This Day the deceitful of eye, and all that men's breasts conceal, are made known and laid bare before the throne of His Revelation. (Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 107).
Adib Taherzadeh indicates that Baha’u’llah in one of His Tablets “explains that through His attribute 'The Concealer' He has concealed the faults and shortcomings of many deceitful men, who, as a result, have thought that the Manifestation of God was ignorant of their evil deeds. These men did not realize that through the knowledge of God Bahá'u'lláh was fully aware of their wrong-doings, but the sin-covering eye of God had not disclosed their iniquities. Only when they were about to harm the Cause of God did He expel them from His presence and cast them out from among the 'people of Baha'.” (Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah v 2, p. 117)
• It will also be very educational to reflect on the beloved Guardian’s analysis and recommendations concerning the factors associated with the regeneration of our “inward life” and the assailing of “the long-standing evils” that have entrenched us:
“Dearly beloved friends! A rectitude of conduct which, in all its manifestations, offers a striking contrast to the deceitfulness and corruption that characterize the political life of the nation and of the parties and factions that compose it; a holiness and chastity that are diametrically opposed to the moral laxity and licentiousness which defile the character of a not inconsiderable proportion of its citizens; an interracial fellowship completely purged from the curse of racial prejudice which stigmatizes the vast majority of its people -- these are the weapons which the American believers can and must wield in their double crusade, first to regenerate the inward life of their own community, and next to assail the long-standing evils that have entrenched themselves in the life of their nation. The perfection of such weapons, the wise and effective utilization of every one of them, more than the furtherance of any particular plan, or the devising of any special scheme, or the accumulation of any amount of material resources, can prepare them for the time when the Hand of Destiny will have directed them to assist in creating and in bringing into operation that World Order which is now incubating within the worldwide administrative institutions of their Faith.” (Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 41)
• This paragraph makes us further aware about the extent and gravity of Yahya’s behavior and how they “dismayed” his Brother, about their “damaging effect” on “the Cause of God” and how he “disgraced” the “station” of the Manifestation of God, and “profaned the sanctity of God”. It would be tremendously difficult, nay impossible for us to fully understand and appreciate these points. We could ponder on the lessons that each one of us need to gain from this in our own process of certitude in the Cause of God.
• The metaphors of “all the oceans of the earth” were to turn into “ink” and “all created things into pens” and yet not being sufficient “to exhaust the record of his [Yahya’s] wrongdoings” should alert us to the incredible depth of the issues involved with respect to Yahya’s behavior.
• Finally, we become aware from the last line of this paragraph Baha’u’llah’s reason for telling us about the behavior of His half-brother and its damaging impact on the Cause of God: “Thus do We recount that which befell Us, that haply ye may be of them that understand.” Generally speaking, it’s amazing how in this dispensation it is so important to “understand” many things. On the one hand we know from Baha’u’llah that “understanding” is a “gift” from God and is “first and foremost” among His “favors”, and on the other hand, that it has a “purpose”:
“First and foremost among these favors, which the Almighty hath conferred upon man, is the gift of understanding. His purpose in conferring such a gift is none other except to enable His creature to know and recognize the one true God -- exalted be His glory. This gift giveth man the power to discern the truth in all things, leadeth him to that which is right, and helpeth him to discover the secrets of creation.
(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 194)
• The sacred Writings also remind us that this gift of understanding, especially in relation to the Word of God, does not depend upon “human learning”. It depends “solely upon purity of heart, chastity of soul, and freedom of spirit.”:
The understanding of His words and the comprehension of the utterances of the Birds of Heaven are in no wise dependent upon human learning. They depend solely upon purity of heart, chastity of soul, and freedom of spirit. (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 210)
