الصبحة الكائنة
I have placed my trust in our Lord, the Forgiving, the Righteous, the Judge of judges, the Mighty, the Most High, the Exalter and Subduer, whose remembrance is exalted above the description of every tyrannical king. “In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful”: the ranks of His chosen servant.
From the servant of our Lord al-Ḥākim, the One, the Unique, the Self-Sufficient, who has taken neither consort nor child and is exalted above spouses and equals, and His servant Ḥamza son of ʿAlī son of Aḥmad, Guide of the Responders, Imam of the Unitarians, chosen servant of the Creator of the worlds, who takes vengeance upon unbelievers and polytheists through the power of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—and the sword of His retribution, His strength and might, and the righteous among the ranks of His Call. Exalted is His remembrance and mighty His name, and none besides Him is worshipped.
To Muʿānid and those with him in detention, who have suffered among the world of error.
Know—may the Lord guide you to the realities, keep you from calamities and misfortunes, and make known to you in our time the persons of the Foundation and Speaker and the forms of the Follower and Preceder, so that the tawḥīd of our Lord, the Creator and Provider, may become manifest to you—that although our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—is not subject to any name and is not embodied in a body, each person apprehends Him according to his own condition and the utmost reach of his intellect. His veiled divinity is exalted above us, and His humanity is manifested to us. He appeared to His creation in a form like their own, through their creation and in the condition in which He created them. He does not enter imagination or become known through thoughts and understanding. Glorified and exalted is He far above what polytheists and heretics say of Him.
Now then: a note has reached me from Abū al-Qāsim Mubārak son of ʿAlī, the Caller—may the Lord support him in obedience—expressing thanks for you. He mentioned that he had met the son of Muʿānid and his servant—may the Lord preserve them—and that they carried a note asking about me and mentioning the Divine Presence, which needs no reminder and from which no report can be concealed.
I therefore wrote these lines to you, so that you might understand them, rest content with the subtleties of their meanings, and recognize the light of the Imamate and its guidance. The Imamate cannot be divided between two persons at the same time, for it is a single universal, radiant light. It cannot be divided, no opponent can defile it, and no adversary can change it. Since it appeared in humanity only under the name of the Imamate, we know that this is the noblest of the names applied to the Lord—mighty is His power—even though the Imam is the most excellent and exalted of His servants, His deputy, and the guide to His worship.
There is none among you whom I have not advised concerning guidance to His Call. Some responded and then broke their pledge, like ʿAlī son of Aḥmad al-Ḥabbāl, who was my Authorized Instructor and through whose hand Nashtakīn al-Darazī responded, and like al-ʿAjamī, al-Aḥwal, Khutlukh Mājān, and others like them for whom we wrote the covenant.
They sold the religion in the marketplaces and inclined toward passions and worldly attachments. Our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—therefore exacted retribution from them. We did not wrong them; rather, they wronged themselves.
As for you, Muʿānid, Abū Manṣūr al-Bardhaʿī, and Abū Jaʿfar al-Ḥabbāl, there is none among you whom I did not call to the tawḥīd of our Lord—glorified is He. You refused, except for Abū Jaʿfar al-Ḥabbāl, who had responded to Mubārak son of ʿAlī the Caller—may the Lord support him. His son ʿAlī prevented him. I had trusted him because I knew his religious conviction and the state he was in; may the Lord help and strengthen him. You, however, inclined toward the perishable debris of this world and gave him the title “Master of the Guides.” This is nothing but unbelief and associationism.
I ask the Lord—mighty is His power—not to take you to task, and to hear your plea concerning your former sins. You, Muʿānid, and those arrogant men of ʿAkkā with you heard the Lord—mighty is His power—address you outwardly: “Do not increase dissension. I shall suffice you.”
When you came to me and I advised you, you told me that, because of what you had heard from the Lord—exalted be His remembrance—you would not return to any of those activities. I told you and those present that the Qāʾim of the Age cannot bring the Resurrection against the people of unbelief and tyranny except through the sword of our Lord and His manifest strength. I explained that you were destroying yourselves and burning yourselves in fire, and that the smoke from you would reach the excellent Responders. This exchange between us took place on the night before the morning of the event.
There is no cause for wonder in the power of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—over us and you. Falsehood has perished, and a cloud has poured upon the world the complete spiritual knowledge like a downpour of rain. He has honored whom He wills and humbled whom He wills. In His hand is the dominion of all things, and He has power over everything.
On the day of the event you numbered approximately five hundred men, armed and fully equipped, and were at the sanctuary. About forty of you were killed, and whoever could flee fled. Had it not been for the mercy of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—none of you would have escaped. Yet you killed none of the enemy and did not struggle through hardship and suffering as you had displayed abuse during comfort and prosperity. The smoke from you reached us, as I had told you it would, before the event occurred, through the support of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance. To Him alone belong praise and thanks.
On the second day, which was Thursday, not one of the troops remained behind, whether eastern or western, Persian or Arab. Every horseman mounted, and every foot soldier pressed forward. All sought our blood, bringing naphtha, fire, ladders, and tools for breaching the wall. I had only twelve men with me that day, five of whom were unfit for fighting. We killed three of the polytheists and wounded an uncountable multitude with arrows. We did not defeat them by our own strength; rather, they perished through the strength of our Lord—glorified is He.
You have heard what happened concerning our strength in the trench until we emerged from it. Now the support of our Lord—glorified is He—continues to reach me, and His mercy and favor, outward and inward, are manifest upon me. All my companions among the Responders are honored and respected. Their needs are fulfilled among the police, the provincial administration, and the officials of the postal service, unlike the rest of the people.
My messengers carry letters and documents to the Divine Presence, from which nothing is hidden, whether in secret or in public. The Lord—mighty is His power—has promised me something outwardly in addition to His true promises of support. He fulfills His promises whenever He wills, without anyone setting a time for Him. If our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—wills, I shall mention you. Nothing of your affairs is hidden from the Divine Presence; but the nature of human beings called for an answer to your question. So rejoice and know that relief is near, faster than the blink of an eye; the apostate hypocrites shall know whose is the final abode.
Peace be upon you all, and the mercy and blessings of the Lord.
Written in Shaʿbān, in the second year of the service of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—by His chosen servant Ḥamza son of ʿAlī son of Aḥmad, Guide of the Responders, who takes vengeance upon the polytheists through the sword of our Lord—exalted be His remembrance—and the strength of His sovereignty. Praise belongs to our Lord alone in prosperity and adversity, hardship and ease. He suffices me and is the best Helper and Supporter.