I put my trust in the Lord, the God al-Ḥākim, exalted above all by sanctification and praise; and I give thanks to His servant, the Imam, the Lord Messiah.
From the humble and sincere servant, the possession of the Messiah, the Imam, who worships the Lord, the God al-Ḥākim, the Messiah: an admonition to Constantine son of Romanos, ruler of the Romans, and to those who belong to his dominion and adhere to the religion of baptism. In former times they professed the denial of nonexistence and the affirmation of [divine] reality, but have forgotten the beliefs of their apostolic ancestors, who understood the existence of the eternal divinity. They have departed from the way of the saints through their resemblance, in the earlier ages, to Muslims and Jews.
Peace upon whoever knows his Messiah and his Lord, answers His call and summons, and submits to His command before reaching the end of his allotted term.
Now then: praise belongs to al-Ḥākim, the Lord God, exalted above every intellectual cause; beyond nonexistence, eternity [as a category], and modality; unique in His might beyond magnitude, whatness, and quantity; transcending the expressions employed of substances and the most subtle objects of conception. He is exalted above opposite, limit, and description, and above every property that can be enclosed within time and duration.
Pure intellects, unable to grasp even the most surprising elementary objects without proceeding through premises to conclusions, testify that He is the One worshipped throughout all ages and cycles, the Eternal of eternities and the One who gives duration to the ages. Through His command He brought into being the One who forms the worlds: the Imam of imams, the Messiah of the ages, the Guardian of the states [of being], the Blower of the Trumpet, the Qāʾim of the age, and the possessor of the cry of manifestation. The Lord appointed him as a banner and a way for revealing the meanings of tawḥīd, a blazing lamp amid the dense darkness of ignorance, a means for abolishing associating religious laws, breaking the necklaces of idols, destroying fabricated orientations of worship, and cutting off the codes of those devoted to nonbeing, unbelief, and tyranny. He is a decisive argument against those who deny, and a sufficient explanation for Christian worshippers who bow and prostrate.
Awaken, Christians, before the convulsion of souls and minds, before the terrible cry arrives, the written term reaches its end, the Beast of the Earth appears, and the veil is lifted. The cycles have drawn close to completion; the time for severing the bonds and bringing the matter to its end approaches. Lend your ears, brethren, to the truthful word. Awaken, heedless people, to the days of judgment and the opening of the way by the Messiah's apostle. John, the golden-mouthed apostle, has appeared to make straight the Lord's paths; the horizons shine with light through the rising of the Messiah, devoted to the worship of the Lord God al-Ḥākim, the Creator.
If you, community of saints, seek refuge in what John the Golden-Mouthed inscribed in his Gospel, have certainty in what the leaders of your denomination agreed upon, and believe the three hundred and eighteen whom, you say, the Holy Spirit caused to speak at Constantinople, then consider your profession of faith. In spite of the differences between your various Christian parties, you consider this formula indispensable to every sacrament, and you insist that without it neither religion nor the offering can be complete. Give me your understanding, therefore, and reflect upon what your priests say at each offering, upon your waiting for Jesus the Messiah to return for the salvation of the people, and upon your confession that 'he is prepared to come again to judge the living and the dead.' This is indeed true for whoever knows, through tawḥīd, the coming of the appointed day.
Your profession of faith bears witness against you for heedlessness and negligence. The leaders of the Christian community, its patriarchs, metropolitans, bishops, and clergy, agreed upon it, saying that the Holy Spirit spoke through the three hundred and eighteen. Though your denominations dispute other matters, they do not dispute this text. Their religion and offering, as they understand them, cannot exist without it. The text is as follows:
'We believe in God the Father, possessor of all things and maker of the visible and invisible; and in the one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, firstborn of all creation, not created, true God of true God, of his Father's substance, through whom the worlds were established and everything created. For us human beings and for our salvation he descended from heaven, became incarnate by the Holy Spirit, became human, was conceived and born of Mary the Virgin. He suffered and was crucified in the days of Pontius Pilate, was buried, rose on the third day, ascended into heaven, and sat at his Father's right hand. He is prepared to return to judge the living and the dead. We believe in the one Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who proceeds from his Father, the life-giving Spirit; and in one baptism for forgiveness of sins and transgressions; in one holy, apostolic, catholic congregation; in the resurrection of our bodies and eternal life for ever and ever.'
This whole profession, however, was not commanded in this form by the Lord, the Messiah of the Ages, nor did He command people to regard the acts of incarnation mentioned by these leaders as grounds for worshipping idols. Rather, He commanded that its meanings be recited to the apostles and explained to the spiritual elect. They established those meanings in the Gospels and bore witness to them after explaining their purposes to the Unitarians. We know these things among the recording guardians, written in their places in the four Gospels of the apostles John, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We must identify their places in those four Gospels, so that all may know the true distinctions between what is forbidden and what is permitted, and so that you may recognize—though you have not understood it—your likeness to those who worship nonexistence, deny the truth, and stand at the outward appearance of words rather than their realities.
You say in the doxology appointed for the offering that he 'suffered and was crucified in the days of Pontius Pilate, was buried, and rose on the third day.' This is established in the second chapter of John's Gospel, where Jesus says to the Jews: 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I shall raise it.' They denied that a temple could be built again in three days. He was speaking about the temple of his body; afterward his disciples remembered his words and believed the scripture and the saying.
Know, community of saints, that the 'three days' of absence refer to successive times of his rising with truth and summoning creation to truthful tawḥīd. The first concerns his disclosure to the nations that he is the true God—meaning that the Creator, exalted in power, is existent among His creatures and manifests Himself to them, according to their condition, in forms resembling theirs, so that the proof of His existence is established against all creation and He is not represented as a nonentity. Reflect upon this assertion and seek success through the Guardian of guidance.
The second day is the manifestation of the Paraclete, whom Jesus announced. In the Gospel of John, Jesus foretold another whose coming would be known, the Paraclete, whom he identifies as Muḥammad, one of the possessors of the religious codes, together with Noah, Abraham, and Moses, who appeared before the Messiah. He cites Jesus' statement: 'If you loved me you would rejoice that I am going to my Father, because my Father is greater than I. I have told you before it happens so that, when it comes, you may believe.' And: 'I shall not speak with you much longer, for the ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in me.' The saying concludes: 'so that the people may know that I love my Father.' The world did not recognize the meaning. The ruler of this world is not the Creator. The point is to establish the proof against each cycle of humanity when the people fail to carry out the message of tawḥīd, turn back, and resume imitation and worship of nonbeing. That ruler has nothing in Jesus' message: he does not summon creation to the unity of the existing Worshipped One as the Messiah summoned you.
The third day is the appearance of the Guide—peace upon him—with his call to the inward meaning of the four scriptures that point the people of truth toward tawḥīd: the Psalms, Torah, Gospel, and Qurʾān. His letters and proofs have reached Constantine, ruler of the Christians in this time; they must have been written down by the leaders of learning among them. His call differs from that of the possessors of religious codes, for he announces the Last Day and the manifestation of the One to whom it points. If an intelligent reader considered the Guide's appearance and his call to the inward meanings of the four books in the time of the first Constantine, and the Lord Messiah's summons to tawḥīd in the time of the second Constantine, that reader would find in it an admonition and an example.
The 'last day' completes the first. The Gospel of John bears witness where Jesus' brothers say, 'Leave this place so your disciples may see the works you do. No one does anything in secret while seeking to be known. Show yourself to the world.' His brothers did not believe in him. Jesus answered that his time had not yet come, while theirs was always ready. His time, when he would disclose the word of tawḥīd, had not been completed. It would be completed upon his promised coming again. Jesus also says, in the Gospel passage invoked here, that he came down from heaven not to do his own will but the Father's, and that whoever sees the Son and believes possesses everlasting life; 'I shall raise him on the last day.'
These are the Messiah's announcements to everyone possessed of sound understanding. He has now come as he promised, appearing to the Unitarians whom he raises on the Last Day. Do not become like the people to whom John says that light came into the world but people loved darkness more than light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light and avoids it lest his deeds be exposed, while whoever practices truth approaches it so that his deeds may be shown as done in God.
Another proof, from the tenth chapter of John, is the saying: 'I am the good shepherd. I know my flock and my flock knows me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep not of this fold. I must bring them too; they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. For this my Father sent me, and I lay down [my life].' The earlier flock refers to the people instructed after the law of Moses, when the prophets were rejected, and the 'other sheep' with the religious law of Muḥammad, which was likewise promised a period of rule and then an end.
He also warned in the ninth chapter: 'We must do the works of Him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no human being can work.' By this I mean that the religious law of the code is like a dark night without light. The summons of those who established religious laws led people away from the command of the Creator, toward illusion, nonbeing, associationism, and error. These are the Lord Messiah's good tidings, by which the argument has reached you through this humble, sincere servant.
The Messiah taught the world that his future coming would summon it to the unity of the existing Creator and forbid the worship of a missing nonentity. Do not imitate those who follow the codes and doubt; do not turn back after recognizing the Worshipped One. You possess antecedents of a true religion. Do not deny the returning Messiah after knowing him.
Reflect also upon the passage where Jesus says: 'I have come into the world so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.' The priests who were with him asked whether they too were blind. Jesus replied: 'If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, “We see,” and therefore your sin remains.' Those who claim knowledge but turn away when the one they profess to know comes to them are the blind. Those who once said they recognized him become blind when they refuse the religion and truth he promised. Do not inflict upon yourselves the very acts you condemn.
Matthew likewise records the warning: 'Many will say to me on the Day of Resurrection: “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and drive out devils in your name?” But I shall tell them: “Depart from me, workers of injustice. I never knew you.”' This saying concerns those who refuse knowledge of the returning Messiah when it is offered them. The Messiah also foretold that what happened at the beginning would happen at the end. John had announced him before his first coming and summoned the children of Israel to recognize his light, but they rejected what they heard and did not practice what they professed.
John also called himself 'the voice crying in the wilderness: Make straight the paths of the Lord.' The caller has now called, the voice has risen, the people of realities have answered, the roads of doubt have been cleared, and the paths away from love were closed. You, saints who once followed the traces of the apostolic ranks, could regain their station by gratitude, remembrance, and answering the Lord Messiah's call to the unity of al-Ḥākim. You would truly be His children. If you refuse, the shaking calamity approaches and the hosts of the tribes hurry toward you. They have recognized Him and affirmed the truth of what they awaited. The hour has come when, as promised, He no longer speaks to them in parables but explains the matter openly. He says: 'I have spoken to you in figures, but an hour is coming when I shall no longer speak in figures and shall tell you plainly of the Father. On that day you shall ask in my name.'
My purpose is not to refute the realities of Christianity. I am following the command to make known to the learned and devout among its people the true meanings of divine matters, and to show them from the express wording of the Gospel the error they have committed. They have been deceived in what they imagined and believed. When summoned to recognize the existent God whom they worship, they treated Him as nonexisting; they did not distinguish the meaning of the Word united with the Lord Messiah.
This letter is written to them all as a warning, as the establishment of proof, and as the removal of excuses. The Lord instructed people to gird themselves and keep their lamps ready, to remain awake so that when the Word comes it finds them prepared. I have made this address brief, clarified realities to people of intelligence, advised the community of saints, and invited them back to the stations of those who went before.
I shall also explain the answer to all the associating denominations whose beliefs differ from those of the Christian community, cutting away their claim that their laws resemble the Messiah's summons to the eternal word of tawḥīd. This argument abolishes the codes of those who worship nonbeing and destroys the deceptions they have decorated for the nations. I shall answer them through one verse of the Qurʾān, through whose interpretation the Muslim community has claimed supremacy over the peoples of other religions. That verse overturns the laws of the makers of religious codes and shows their inability to bear the Word united with the ancient Spirit of Truth. Its meaning is subtle, established upon the substance of soul and intellect; it exalts the Creator above injustice and confirms the reality of justice.
The knowing Creator originated the worlds and bestowed guardianship upon humanity. He did not abandon the peoples or leave them without direction; at every time and age there is an existent caller to tawḥīd and guidance, an Imam free from error, associationism, and desire, so that proof is established over every people, and the Creator is exalted through the manifested Word of unity. The trust of tawḥīd was conveyed to the peoples, and no prophet or messenger was sent to them without being bound to that trust and the word of truth.
I have written in this letter a proof of the abrogation of the religious law of Islam, and await your response by obedience to the Word of tawḥīd and disclosure of the matter. The verse is: 'We offered the Trust to the heavens, the earth, and the mountains; they refused to bear it and feared it; but the human being bore it. Truly he was unjust and ignorant' [Qurʾān 33:72]. It is among the most powerful proclamations of the Qurʾān, and a decisive key to interpretation and proof.
'Heavens,' 'earth,' and 'mountains,' mean the Speakers who made religious laws and codes, together with their Foundations, Proofs, and Callers who summoned people to service, associationism, and confusion. They failed to fulfill the obligation of tawḥīd, turned backward, and abandoned it. The Messiah of the Ages, the Imam of creation, stood alone in the Word of unity. The Creator is too exalted and just to offer the trust of tawḥīd to literal heavens, earth, mountains, or inanimate things; the verse signifies their intelligent counterparts named above. Those charged with the codes denied the Trust, hid what they had been commanded to disclose, and deceived humanity by substituting associationism and falsehood.
If an adherent of these denominations objects that the Trust was offered as a choice rather than imposed as an obligation, the reply is that he does not understand the Creator's command. The divine command is an offer and choice; His prohibition is admonition and warning. Had commands and prohibitions operated as inescapable compulsion, all people would have been equal in faith and belief, and rewards and punishments would have lost their meaning. Reason itself rejects that conclusion. The custodians of the Trust betrayed it, denied it, and abandoned the word of tawḥīd.
As for 'the human being' who accepted the Trust and proved unjust and ignorant, he is the individual Satan referred to in the Qurʾān, not an ordinary human being; he is the maker of the religious code of Islam. He was brought to witness the divine unity and then covered his nakedness with words other than the truth. For it is said: “Has there come upon man a span of time when he was not a thing mentioned?” He then turned away when the blind man came to him, as the address declares: 'He frowned and turned away because the blind man came to him. And what would tell you? Perhaps he might purify himself, or remember, and the reminder benefit him. As for the man who thinks himself self-sufficient, you attend to him—though it is not upon you if he does not purify himself. But as for the one who comes to you striving, in fear, from him you turn aside. No! It is a reminder; whoever wishes may remember.'
If you awaken from heedlessness and receive the teachings of the Lord Messiah, the annulment of the fabricated religious codes will become clear. You will truly become His servants. The call of your ancestor Isaac, which passed from Esau to Jacob among Abraham's children, will be restored to you; mercy, blessing, and the light of the angelic apostles will descend among you. Through obedience to the call of tawḥīd you will rise to the heights, and people from the regions and islands will come to you, so that you may be supporters and a center of the one religion and its teachings. But if you turn away from the answer and reject what is right, the messenger's duty is only to communicate openly and advise every believing Unitarian.
I have also annulled the form of religious law which you follow, by showing the weakness and denial that have affected it. After a long time of uncertainty you recognized those who gathered the profession of faith for you as authorities, despite your belief in the truthfulness of the Lord's apostles, who possessed the authority to forbid and permit. You sought another testimony instead of theirs and returned to the religious code, though those apostles bear witness against you in the Gospel itself.
Reflect on what Jesus told those who asked when the kingdom of the children of Israel would return and religion become manifest. He said that he would come like a thief and that they would not know the hour of his coming; whoever came before him would be made a pillar in the house of his God. He thus likened his return to that of a thief who comes while people are heedless. Praise belongs to the person who remains alert and hastens to meet him. And he said: 'Enter by the narrow gate, not the wide one, for there is destruction in the wide gate.' The narrowness signifies the difficulty of tawḥīd.
Consider, saints, the truth of these arguments. Return to what is right before the Messiah's manifestation ends the time for excuses. With the support of the Guardian I have also defeated the religious law of fabricated signs and falsehood through a single overwhelming proof. It is among the signs of the Messiah of the Ages, who returns after an absence of trial and fulfills what he promised his chosen apostles: coming again for judgment between the worlds.
Awaken from your heedlessness. Ask the leaders of your denominations what Jesus instructed his apostles. He called them to tawḥīd and sanctification, warned them away from ritual acts containing alteration and confusion, and did not establish a religious law in the manner of those who imposed the older codes.
He also answered the Jews when they said: 'Our father is Abraham.' Jesus told them that Abraham had not performed their works, and that they were not able to understand his word or endure hearing it. 'You are from your father the devil, and you wish to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning; he did not stand in the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he speaks falsehood, he speaks from himself, for he is a liar and the father of lies.' Jesus repeatedly referred to his word, not his acts: the lie is the inherited system of religious codes, and the Jews' claimed religious descent from Abraham does not justify it.
Jesus goes on to say: 'Truly, whoever keeps my word will never see death.' He does not say 'whoever performs my deeds.' The true word is the word of tawḥīd. For that reason his apostles baptized people with water: water is a sign of true knowledge and religious understanding. The places where baptism takes place are called the church and the altar. The altar's 'slaughter' signifies the killing of false beliefs and associationist doctrines, so that people may be placed upon the straight road of unity. The church signifies the pledge, oath, and covenant taken from everyone who answered the call to the Word united with the Messiah. The substance of the Messiah had become united with the substance of the word of tawḥīd; he did not embody the works of a law-bound code or command the fabricated innovations of the legal religions.
Thus it is false to say that each prophet who instituted a law brought the same Word that was united with the Messiah. The people who came later confused the laws of associationism with the holy Word of unity. Their Christian leaders gathered together the profession they use for their offerings, imitating the makers of deceptive codes because they were distant in time from their apostolic predecessors and failed to understand the spiritual ranks.
Now, saints, examine this address and acknowledge its true explanation. The one Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, has appeared to bring forgiveness of sins through a single holy community that endured trials in obedience to him and believed in the resurrection and everlasting life. The rights and distinctions of the wicked will be overturned and the light of the word of tawḥīd illuminates the horizons for those who see clearly, while the ornaments of the wicked dwindle before its rising.
Awaken, Christians: the sower rejoices together with the reaper. The Word of truth has established the proof against unbelievers and deniers. We have gathered the seed of the fruits of life and begun uprooting the tree of tyrannical Pharaohs. As the Messiah said, look upon the fields: they have ripened and the harvest draws near. The appointed sign of tawḥīd has appeared and the promised time is near. Where will you go? The opponents have been confounded and impostors exposed. Truthful Unitarians have prevailed, while those who neglected their duty are put to shame.
Awaken from sleep and heedlessness. The cycles have turned, the times of the religious codes have expired, and the peoples remain distracted, making no preparations for the day that cannot be averted. The sun rises from the sphere of lights, and the command of al-Ḥākim becomes manifest surrounded by pure spiritual angels, with troops possessing wings and lights, led by the Messiah of the nations across the ages and cycles. Heaven has opened its gates to assist him; the valleys of the earth shake before his awe and power. The seal of honor and permanence has been struck for him, and blessed is whoever receives its keys before the final manifestation.
By the truth, you are certain to encounter what you have been promised. Every term has its appointed decree; you shall know. You will remember what I say to you. I consign my affair to the Guardian of Truth, whose reward is not cut off.
Written when seven days remained in Ṣafar, in the eleventh year of the Qāʾim of the Age and at the completion of the seventh year of the absence of trial.
Completed. Praise belongs to our Lord al-Ḥākim alone, and thanks to the Lord of the nations and their Guide, His servant.