جواب كتاب السادة
If instruments could convey what wills and intentions contain, I would wish the noble brethren, who hold fast to obedience to the Guardian and Judge, to enjoy lives whose blessings continually rise, whose fruits ripen in the good of Unitarian devotion, whose plants and trees grow, and whose happiness endures with security multiplied. We would then devote ourselves to their noble letter, which is so dear to us that we would kiss it again and again, until its lines were impressed upon our lips. We would make it a beacon to guide us in the darkness as lights do. But our chief appeal to the Guardian who grants blessings is for the gathering of our fellowship and the fulfillment of what we long for.
Our community read the letter, and it refreshed breasts that distance had set aflame and watered souls that separation had made thirsty. We delighted in the beauty of its poetry and prose, and in the remarkable manner of its prohibitions and commands. The noble brethren made no mention of their longing for us or their sorrow at our separation without stirring in us the anguish of the heart and tears flowing from the eyes like water poured from a vessel. Even rivers could not convey that anguish away, nor seas of repeated words entirely submerge it.
Its arrival coincided with a time of obscurity affecting all the nations, except those whom the Creator has protected from error and whose darkness He has illuminated. The present moment obliges the discerning Unitarian to grasp his religion as one grasps a glowing coal, because the Proof is absent and the clear path has been effaced.
So I say to you, worthy, pure brethren: what your souls have recognized, what your inward thoughts have contained, what has entered your flesh and blood—as though what had been impending has already occurred and what was hidden has been brought into the open—has indeed become known through every region and land. The Qāʾim of the Age has appeared in the farthest Yemen, and what was distant has drawn near. What has come to us and you of the wisdom suffices to preserve its secret. So long as you preserve agreement and receive the favor properly, you have recognized the path through the proof that has been established against us.
May your word, brethren, be one; may your fellowship be gathered, and your discussions of the faith continue. Whoever forgets the Guardian of Truth forgets the Day of Return itself; by what he has committed against himself, he becomes a witness against himself. It was for a time like yours that you were promised and threatened, that you preserved wisdom and prepared yourselves.
It is as though the light of your night had already risen like a full moon, its morning had opened, and its brilliant star had shone forth. Then the hypocrite and apostate will say: “Where is there any escape? No! There is no refuge. To your Lord that Day is the place of final rest.”
This much is sufficient, brethren, for one who looks and reflects, knows and thinks, and lifts the veil from his insight so that he may see.
We entrust your community to the One who does not allow His friends' trusts to be lost, and who will not neglect to vindicate you against His enemies and yours. Our community sends yours, those far away and those nearby, its fullest greetings and peace. The time has grown too short for correspondence and replies; through its severity speech and discourse have been cut off.
Completed through God's support and aid.