الجميهيرية
I place my trust in our Lord, the good and all-knowing Creator, and give thanks to His servant, the guiding Imam.
From the servant Bahāʾ al-Dīn, the tongue of the believers, support of the Unitarians, the devoted and submissive al-Muqtanā, the left wing, the last, least, fourth rank, to the noble emirs, the chosen and sincere Āl Tanūkh, the shaykhs and Callers. Peace upon whoever has been granted the grace of submission to his guiding Imam, the Guardian of the Age, and has opened the eye of his insight to recognize the ranks and signs of tawḥīd and proof. May the Creator's mercy and blessings rest upon my brethren who reach Him through true devotion.
Now then: tawḥīd, reverence, glorification, exaltation, submission, sanctification, transcendence, and acknowledgment are the guardians of obedience to the Lord, the God al-Ḥākim, the Mighty, exalted above everything imagined by thought and fancy, beyond the refinements of language and the reach of sight when it attempts to comprehend His irresistible might. He has made the inability of pure intellects to delimit Him both an acknowledgment of His unity and a test. Those who stop at negation and denial are left exhausted and bewildered between realities and doubts, their judgments overturned and cast down. Exalted is the Lord who has made His guiding Guardian a cause [of guidance], who watches over every soul and all it earns and cannot be evaded by anyone He seeks.
Shaykhs, meet the lights of the realities with the precious substances of your souls and keep those souls from imitating this inverted world. Your predecessors in religion have distinguished deeds: do not annul them. They have taken part in struggles for truth: do not suspend that work. They have inherited a noble lineage of faith: preserve and make it genuine. Do not lapse into weakness alongside people of doubt and contradiction. What is hidden in hearts has been exposed, and the decisive proof has prevailed over all humanity.
Brethren, the gate of the lofty palace has been opened for you, and the birds of Paradise have sung within it of strange praises and miraculous tawḥīd. The abandoned well has gushed forth, flowing with sweet, clear water, while the stagnant well attributed to the false Messiah has been drained. The corrupted well sickens souls, presenting accidental qualities as though they were the precious substances of truth, and corrupting noble knowledge with dissolution and contradiction. Through wickedness, stupidity, and lack of discipline, they bring blindness, deafness, and abasement where elevation should be. They linger in filthy garments because of the stubborn opposition and hypocrisy they have committed, because they have approved the spreading of lies and fabrications about the Guardians of truth, and because they have claimed the right to disobey their orders and flee their service.
Iblīs has strung his bows against you and shot at you from close by with schemes and treachery. He has said, in effect, 'Because You have led me astray, I will lie in wait for them on the roads and in the inhabited places. I will divide them through different beliefs and sects, and cause them to take turns drinking from unbelief and associationism.' Thus your company was scattered when you differed in doctrines and beliefs, imagined misfortune where assistance and benefits lay, and drew strangers near while abandoning your own kin.
People of tawḥīd, be sincere in affirming†1 the ranks of religion and submitting to the orders they receive through the Guardian of Truth. Help your certain and believing brethren in prosperity and adversity. Do not make yourselves instruments for confirming Iblīs's wishes or contradicting the Guardian's commands. Do not resemble those who fled from clear proofs, invented burdens and shackles for themselves, and retreated from truth.
You, discerning emirs and company of Unitarians, are the bright ornaments of the firmly established verses, the jewels of fruitful branches, and successors to the Callers of tawḥīd tested in obedience, who gave their very lives to protect the community of Unitarian men and women. They attain the exalted assembly through the height of their degrees and remain within the sanctity of purity and the place of lights. They shall appear with the Guardian of Truth at the completion of the cycles and the fullness of the moons, witnessing the reward of the sincere and the punishment of wicked sinners for their assaults upon the Unitarians and their repudiation of the guardians of truth, against whom they had become adversaries and enemies.
Be heirs and successors worthy of your pure ancestors. Strengthen one another in the guiding Call so that you may attain the stations of truthful Callers and raise the word of truth so that your deeds may match the nobility inherited from your ancestors. Consider the afflictions that have fallen upon arrogant nations who refused to support their brethren and remained inactive in tawḥīd and faith. Seek refuge with the Guardian of Truth from the causes of arrogance. Purify yourselves through submission to the mighty Lord al-Ḥākim. Require yourselves to be humble toward the members of your tribes who preceded you in religious conviction. Care for His covenant and for the spiritual ranks whom you follow. Be one hand against opponents and apostates. You will be asked about the words you have uttered and called to account for the looks by which you have offended them.
Make satisfaction and submission the emblem of your community and the means by which you seek the Lord's mercy through His Guardian. Your drink will be purified and you will return to the cleanest and noblest element. Concord will spread the sheltering wing of its honor over you; greatness will extend the streams of its grace and sufficiency. Under the Guardian's shade you will possess overpowering authority and an enduring, established glory; you will be kings over the necks of the Arabs and rulers among them according to the noble origin and descent promised you. This will happen if you cast aside resentments and grudges, approach one another clothed in obedience and submission, act together against the people of rebellion and stubbornness, and forgive one another with clean hearts and unmixed affection.
Brethren, seize the teachings of the signs of tawḥīd and these moments of safety. Seek out the appointed understanding before its time passes. The moment has approached when veils will be lifted and the hidden contents of books will appear. Thunder has roared to open the heavy clouds, lightning heralding the manifestation has flashed and called down showers of rain, the trees of realities have ripened and prepared their flowers and fruit. The jewels of light have gleamed in their natural elements, shone with abundant radiance, and advanced toward fullness. The east wind has blown upon those who behave like children, while the south wind has turned against those who persist in error. The souls of the truthful have been separated out for their recompense, and the treacherous, lying lover has been stripped of his claim.
By God, the wakeful night has kept them sleepless and they have been returned to the lowest, defeated condition. The rules of falsehood have been raised while duty was left idle.
Brethren in religion, distinguish the narrow paths into which the apostates have entered, the changes in the minds of those who fail, the revelation of the hidden intentions of deceivers, and the flaws in the words of impostors who invent lies. May the souls of all of you agree upon the truth of certainty and gaze through the eye of reality at the honor of religious knowledge. Then the worthless ornament of the sinners will diminish beside your excellences, and your insight will rise higher as you seek union with the precious substance. The gates have opened for establishing proof through tawḥīd before humanity, the cycles have been completed, and the appointed time has reached its end. We belong to the Lord; through Him we gain strength, trusting in His promise to His friends and disavowing His adversaries and enemies.
Brethren, consider the parables I have set before you and the enclosed counsels I have written for you. By the truth of the Truth, these are teachings whose foundations have been firmly established. Only a short time is left before the term appointed for the associating nations comes to its close. Awaken to this reminder and admonition and consider the signs I have inserted into this letter to stir you from sleep. The Knower of the unseen and of every secret, acquainted with what hearts conceal, knows that I have not neglected you carelessly or abandoned correspondence with you out of forgetfulness or indifference. News of you reaches me in ways you do not know. You are watched over, safeguarded, and kept in remembrance through the Guardian of Truth.
The emir, Nurturer of the Realities, has written to me about what he has established and confirmed with the emir Abū al-Faḍāʾil ʿAbd al-Khāliq, relating his gratitude and praise, the excellence of which rises beyond description. This was supported and corroborated by a letter from the excellent shaykh Abū al-Faḍl al-Murtaḍā, Protector of Religion and Chosen One of the Unitarians. It was further confirmed by the good character of the two distinguished leaders, Abū al-Ḥasan Yūsuf ibn Muṣayyiḥ and Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm ibn ʿAbd Allāh, the two noble emirs. In addition I received a report from Abū al-Faḍāʾil praising the community and commending them in generous terms. Thus his request for a proclamation of good news to everyone has been granted, accompanied by his eloquent prayer. I hastened to send this letter to rouse the community before the appointed hours, so that they might obtain their abundant reward before the Day of the Meeting.
To the One who transcends limit and illusion, holy beyond confinement within knowledge, we offer praise and invoke His transcendent protection. Through the guiding Guardian, to Him I make my appeal: may He inspire those who summon others to tawḥīd and those who are summoned to it with fear of God; may He bring them and all the Unitarians to the highest, noblest degree. He is able to do this and knows and sees all things.
Written on the first day of Jumādā al-Ākhira, in the tenth year of the Guardian of Truth.
Praise belongs to our Lord alone, and thanks to Him for the favor He has bestowed upon His friends through His servant, the guiding Imam.
TEXTUAL ENDNOTES — EPISTLE 50
†1. The printed Arabic has fa-lā takūnū (“do not be”), although the surrounding exhortation appears affirmative. The English follows the contextual sense; the printed negative and the unresolved textual question are explicitly recorded here (historical register U-0271).