# Surah of Sorrows (Suriy-i-Ahzan)

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Bahá'u'lláh, Surah of Sorrows (Suriy-i-Ahzan), Tehran: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1968, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Surah of Sorrows (Suriy-i-Ahzán)
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh
> 
> Juan Cole, translator
> published in Athar-i Qalam-i A`laVol. 4, pp. 75-98
> 
> Tehran: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1968
> 
> This is the Surah of Sorrows, which was revealed by
> the All-Merciful to the one who hath turned his face
> toward the All-Praised at this time, when all have forsaken
> the shadow of God and his compassion, and have taken
> Satan unto themselves as a helper.
> 
> In the name of God, the Inaccessible, the most Holy, the most Mighty,
> the All-Glorious.
> 
> You who swim in the realm of divine unity, plunge into the
> ocean of grandeur that became manifest with My name, the most
> glorious. Thereupon were launched the arks of eternal life, which
> were boarded by those servants who detached themselves from the
> world. They soared with the wings of holiness into the expanse of
> these gales, which appeared in this heaven that was exalted in the
> cloud of the unknowable essence. Thus did the grace of your Lord
> encompass them, that they might give thanks to God and be of those
> who were recorded in the tablets as among the grateful.
> 
> Ye should, in truth, say: "In the Name of God" and "By God,"
> and then enter into the deluge of this ocean. For those near to God
> have failed even to attain its shores, much less to plunge into it. Yet
> the tongue of the beloved hath thus commanded you. Fear no one and
> put your trust in Him, and He will safeguard you, as He protected
> those who came before you. He is powerful over all things.
> 
> By God, the Eternal Truth! Today is your day. Emerge from
> behind the veils of silence, and speak forth between the heavens and
> the earth. Apprise the people of the glad-tidings of this
> announcement, whereby the earth of haughtiness was split, the heavens
> of resistance were cleft asunder, the mountains of malice were leveled,
> and the edifice of rancor was razed--leaving the hosts of the blind
> idolaters shuddering in terror. Gaze at those who joined partners with
> God, and at what issued from their lips.
> 
> One among them asks, "Hath God become manifest, and hath
> the sun risen from the horizon of sanctity?"
> 
> Say: Yes, by My lord, it hath risen by virtue of a sovereignty
> that hath encompassed the worlds. As for you, O blind ones of the
> earth, open your eyes that you might behold it dawning forth, radiant
> and effulgent. It will, in truth, remain visible in the center of the
> heavens with the power of grandeur, might and splendor, and can
> never be eclipsed by the rejection of those who turn away, or the
> idolatry of those who join partners with God. Thus was the truth of
> the Cause apparent.
> 
> Another says, "That is the one who utters falsehoods
> concerning God!"
> 
> Say: Woe unto thee, fickle worshipper of many gods! Is this
> anything but an inspired revelation, which God taught Him at the
> Lote-tree beyond which there is no passing, when He beheld the signs
> of his lord? By God, his feet will never stumble on anything created
> between the heavens and the earth. At one time He speaketh in the
> tones of `Ali (the Bab) in the farthest realm, at another in the melodies
> of Muhammad in the kingdom of creation, and at yet another after the
> manner of the Spirit (Jesus) in the heavens of eternal life. Then He
> speaketh with the accents of grandeur in this beauty that hath dawned
> forth on all things. By virtue of his effulgence, the forms of all things
> took on the shape of "There is no God but Him." Verily, He is the
> beloved in the heart of the adored one, and He is the one who is
> worshipped in all that was and shall be. But most of the people are
> veiled from Him, even after He manifested himself with all the verses.
> That which appeared with Him was a witness for Him.
> 
> Would that you were present at this moment before the throne,
> and that you had heard how the melodies of immortality issue from the
> human temple of Baha'. By God, the Eternal Truth, should the ears of
> all contingent beings become purified, and should they hear even one
> such song, they would, one and all, swoon dazed upon the earth in the
> presence of your lord, the almighty, the Bestower. When, however,
> they rose in opposition to God, He caused them to be deprived of the
> wonders of His grace. Before your lord, at this time, they are no more
> than handfuls of cast-out clay. If you will contemplate what issued
> from their lips, by God, you will hear what was never heard from the
> Jews when we sent Jesus with a perspicuous book. Such words were
> not voiced by the community of the Gospel when we caused the sun of
> everlasting life to dawn upon them from Mecca, sending Him to them
> with clearly visible lights, nor by the people of the Qur'an when the
> heavens of mystical insight were cleft and God came in the shadows of
> His name, the All-Merciful, in the beauty of `Ali (the Bab) with the
> truth.
> 
> Now that We have arrived at the mention of this blessed,
> inaccessible, exalted and hallowed Name, which was wondrous in very
> truth, two powerful emotions have invaded My breast. I behold My
> heart ablaze with the flames of sorrow over what befell the Beauty of
> the All-Merciful at the hands of the people of the Qur'an. It is as if My
> entire frame is aflame at this moment with a fire that, if it had its way,
> would consume all who are in this mortal realm. God is to this My
> witness. Likewise, I see that my eyes are weeping--nay, all My
> members, to the extent that teardrops are streaming from each hair of
> My head, at the calamities rained down upon Him by the wicked, who
> slew God and knew Him not. At a time when they were taking pride
> in one of His names, they suspended Him in the air and riddled Him
> with the bullets of their malice.
> 
> Would that the universe had never been created, the world
> never brought into being, no Prophet sent nor any Messenger
> dispatched, no Cause established among God's servants, no name of
> God manifested between the heavens and the earth, no scriptures,
> Books, Psalms, Tablets or Writings revealed--and that the Ancient
> Beauty had never been afflicted among the sinful, nor suffered at the
> hands of those who openly proclaimed their unbelief and perpetrated
> what no one in all the worlds had ever perpetrated. By God, the
> Eternal Truth! O `Ali, if thou gazest at all My limbs and members, at
> My heart and My breast, thou wilt find the marks of the bullets that
> struck the Temple of God! Alas, alas, thus hath the Revealer of verses
> been prevented from sending them down, this Ocean been prevented
> from surging, this Lote-tree from bearing fruit, this Sun from shining,
> and these heavens from rising high. Thus hath the matter been
> ordained at this time.
> 
> Would that I were as nothing, that My mother had never borne
> Me, and that I had never heard what befell Him at the hands of those
> who worshipped Names and slew their Revealer, Creator, Fashioner
> and Sender. Woe be unto them, inasmuch as they followed the
> prompting of their passions, and committed that which caused the
> Maids of Heaven to swoon in their chambers. Then the Spirit's face
> was soiled in the dust because of what those wolves wrought toward
> the Lord of lords. Thus, all things weep at the tears I shed for Him,
> and all lament at My wailing for My separation from Him. I have
> reached the point in My bereavement where the hymns of everlasting
> life will never be sung by My lips, nor will the spiritual breezes waft
> from My heart, and were it not for the invulnerability of My soul My
> mortal frame would have been cleft in two and I would have been
> annihilated.
> 
> Behold, the Manifestation (the Bab) Who preceded Me doth
> weep, and addresseth thee, saying, "O`Ali, by God, the Eternal Truth!
> If thou wilt but look upon My heart and My breast, upon what is
> concealed within Me and what is manifest, upon My internal state and
> My outward condition, thou wilt discover scars from the darts of
> rancor that struck My later Manifestation. By My Name, the All-
> Glorious! Thus do I bewail, and all who are in the Concourse on High
> mourn at My weeping for Him. I groan, and all who are in the
> canopies of Names lament. I cry aloud, and the denizens of the cities
> of eternity break into tears at My grief for this Wronged One, Who
> hath fallen among the people of the Bayan. By God, they have done to
> Him what the community of the Qur'an never perpetrated against Me.
> Alas, alas for what hath befallen Him at their hands! Then did all
> beings whether in the mortal realm or in the kingdom of heaven, fall
> distraught upon the earth at what had overtaken that Beauty, Who was
> seated upon the throne of nearness to God. Woe unto them and what
> their hands wrought at morn and eve!"
> 
> Behold, the Ancient Beauty crieth: O Pen of the Most High,
> change the subject of Thy discourse from this mournful theme that
> hath saddened all contingent beings and everything that can be said to
> exist. Make mention of aught else, and show mercy to the people of
> the Concourse on High. By God, the Eternal Truth, the Throne in all
> its grandeur hath well nigh collapsed, as hath the Seat in its
> loftiness.
> 
> When We heard this call, We ceased our recounting of sorrows
> and returned to Our previous theme, that thou mightest be informed
> thereof. O `Ali, be not dejected at the misfortunes that rained down
> upon Our former Manifestation, and then upon Our latter one, which
> We have recited for thee. Gird up thy loins to aid the Cause of God,
> and arise for this purpose with an invincible power and rectitude.
> Look, then, upon the state of those persons, and what issueth from
> their lips in these days, wherein the sun hath dawned forth with all its
> rays and every trustworthy seeker hath been illumined thereby. By
> God, thou hearest from them what no one hath ever heard from
> anyone, for they seek to establish their cause by appealing to verses
> which We Ourselves revealed to Him Whom We sent with the truth,
> Whom We made a mercy to all who abide in this mortal realm. Yet
> when verses greater than any they heard aforetime are recited for
> them, they oppose them and flee away. If they find the power within
> themselves, they then slay whoever relateth these verses to them.
> Know well their station, that thou mightest gain insight into that which
> is with them.
> 
> Say: O people, He in Whom ye have seen the power, dominion,
> epiphany and grandeur of God, and in Whom lie wondrous might and strength
> that ye have not discerned--He hath revealed from the heavens of His grace
> the equivalent of all that was sent down in the Bayan. Fear God, O
> people, and strive for piety in this Cause. Do ye idly dispute with Him,
> by virtue of Whom the suns shone forth, the moons were illumined, the
> stars were embellished, rivers flowed, oceans billowed forth, the sky was
> raised aloft, the earth of holiness was spread out, and the trees brought
> forth their fruit? Woe be unto you, and to him who commanded you to deny
> God and to join partners with the Beauty of Him Who ascended the Throne
> with a sovereignty that encompassed the worlds. By God, O thou who gazest
> toward God! There hath befallen Me at their hands that which ears have
> not heard, nor eyes witnessed. Behold, the eyes of all contingent beings
> weep for Me, all the tribes in the kingdom of names and attributes lament
> for the harm that hath overtaken Me, and tears flow from the eyes of
> grandeur behind the veils of the All-Glorious, the Inaccessible.
> 
> When he who fleeth from foxes and hideth his face behind earthen
> jugs in fear for himself perceived that We had raised aloft the Cause of
> God with the authority of Power and Might, and that the Names of God had
> become renowned in the East and the West, he then repented of having lain
> in concealment. He emerged from behind the veil with a burning hatred and
> consulted one among My servants about accomplishing My murder. He desired
> to spill this blood, which, were but a droplet thereof to be sprinkled
> upon the contingent beings, all of them would repeat, "Verily, I am God;
> there is no God but He." Thus did he conspire within himself, after We
> raised him and instructed him morning and evening. When the hosts of
> God's revelation descended upon Us and safeguarded Us from his evil and
> his plotting, he then arose to implement another scheme, such as perplexed
> the inhabitants of the realm of names, and the Concourse on High. God
> standeth witness to what I say. He attributed things to Me which,
> shouldst thou but hear them from a man of insight, would amply inform thee
> of what hath befallen this Wronged One at the hands of those who arose
> against him with a tryanny, the magnitude of which all the Tablets attest.
> 
> O Pen of the Most High, make mention to Thy beloved of that which
> one of Satan's party cried out in the land of Iraq, saying "O People of
> Baha! Why do ye teach the Cause of God, your Lord, and call the people to
> God, who created all things by His command? For the utmost rank the
> servants can attain is that of Azal. Since he steppeth down from his
> station and faileth to seize what he hath been given, how will your
> teaching and recitation profit God's servants?" Thus did his carnal self
> deceive him, and he spoke words that roused the fury and wrath of God
> against him and against all those who speak as he doth, thus depriving
> themselves of attaining to the shore of mystical insight.
> 
> Say: "Woe be to thee, thou joiner of partners with God, because
> of what thou hast imagined in regard to the Name of Azal. Verily, We
> created him, as We created all the names, that they might point to their
> Creator and Fashioner, and persevere in the Cause of their Lord. For God,
> all Names are equal. He giveth and taketh, and is not asked concerning
> what He willeth. He knoweth all things with wisdom. Any excellence ye
> may have discovered in any soul resideth in his faith in God, his
> acceptance of His Manifestation, and his turning in that direction, which
> was beloved from all eternity. Explain, O thou wretch, how it is that
> Dayyan could become abased, if no one else could? O thou of the one eye,
> consider thine own self. Dost thou perceive the faults of others while
> remaining heedless of what is in thine own self? Woe unto thee, inasmuch
> as thou hast been taught by Satan, who disbelieved in God, and whose
> manifestation We have made an object lesson for all creatures."
> 
> Say: "O denier of God, would that thou hadst seen and known him
> whom thou hast taken as a lord apart from God. By God, the Eternal Truth,
> hadst thou set eyes on him and recognized him, thou wouldst have fled a
> thousand miles or more away from him! God well knoweth this. Say: O
> thou ignorant man! We preserved him and trained him up, praised him and
> admonished him, to which thou art a witness. Yet he hath warred with Me
> and rejected My verses. It behooveth thee, then, to oppose him, rather
> than rising up against the One Who created thee and him from base water.
> Ask him by what proof he believed in the Primal Point, and, before Him,
> the Messenger of God, and by what proof he denied Him Who became manifest
> with all the signs, and plotted His murder, and mightily shunned Him.
> 
> "Apart from all that, O thou idolater, it hath ever remained Our
> wont to take and to give. Hast thou not seen the stone about which We
> commanded Our servants to circumambulate, how We divested its form of the
> robe of acceptance, and bestowed this grace upon another Spot? Would that
> ye did but know it. Therefore, be fair in thyselfPthough We well know
> that thou art never equitable, and with Us is a knowledge of the heavens
> and the earth. We know what thy father taught thee night and day, what he
> whispered in thy breast and the spirit he breathed into thee, whereby all
> men are transformed into fools. Then ask from the one whom thou hast
> taken as thy lord, apart from Me, saying: `O thou who hath turned away!
> Be just within thyself. Hast thou heard of any Manifestation in the world
> of creation greater than the OneWho hath become manifest and Who speaketh
> at this moment from the center of eternity? He saith, `Verily, I am your
> Lord, the Exalted, the Most High, upon this sanctified and glorious
> horizon.
> 
> "Hast thou seen any words greater than these, revealed in truth
> from the realm of immortality by this Youth, who giveth utterance in these
> vast heavens? Nay, by My beauty that hath dawned forth upon and illumined
> the worlds! Nevertheless, thou hast followed him who was created by the
> motion of My Pen, and who conspired against My life after We safeguarded
> him throughout the months and years. O thou who art sighted and yet
> blind, in such wise that thou seest thyself but shalt never witness thy
> Lord, by Whose command the names and their kingdom, the attributes and
> their realm, and all created things were brought into being! Hast thou
> ever looked into mirrors that turn away from the sun shining upon their
> faces, that turn away from light, illumination and reflection? Nay, by My
> Self, the All-Merciful, wert thou among the insightful! Likewise, gaze
> into the mirrors of the names. It is incumbent upon them to enter into
> the shadow of their Lord, to receive the effulgences that emanate from the
> sun of immortality, and to become illumined with its lights and radiance.
> Otherwise, they shall be deprived, and shall remain bereft of the radiance
> that shone forth by virtue of the Eternal Truth.
> 
> "Didst thou not witness in My former manifestation, how the
> divines who flourished in this world and mounted the stages of mystical
> insight, worshipping God night and day, were declared idolaters and
> unbelievers, and had the cloak of faith torn from about their shoulders?
> Yet house-cleaners who were anonymous to all were invested by God with the
> mantle of guardianship and prophecy. Therefore, behold the power of thy
> Lord, and be not an overbearing wrongdoer. Did it behoove those on the
> earth to raise objections against God, asking "If they who built up the
> religion of God, who worshipped, prostrated themselves, and obeyed His
> Command, becoming great scholars in the land, were consigned to hellfire,
> then how shall we ever attain an exalted station?"
> 
> Say: "O thou who joinest partners with God! Thou speakest as the
> idolaters spoke aforetime, in the dispensation of each Manifestation.
> Thou wilt never realize what thou sayest. Rather, the angels of
> retribution will be dispatched by the Almighty, the All-Powerful, to
> smight thee upon thy mouth. Then know that at the time of the
> Manifestation, all names subsist in a single region. Whoso ascendeth unto
> God meriteth the attribution to him of all Our most beautiful names, and
> whoso halteth upon the path shall never be mentioned in GodAs presence.
> Thus have We revealed this matter in all the Tablets, wert thou but
> informed thereof. Should We desire to take a handful of clay, to breathe
> into it the spirit of life, and to render it a manifestation of all the
> names and attributes, We would be able to do so, nor is this a difficult
> matter for God. It would remain in this station as long as it clove to
> the shadow of its Lord. The moment it departed therefrom, however, all
> that was bestowed upon it would be withdrawn and it would be returned to
> the dust in mighty affliction.
> 
> "O thou foolish man! Thou has failed to inform thyself of the
> essence of the matter. Shouldst thou encounter that which thou graspest
> not, ask Him from Whose Pen flow the oceans of knowledge and meaning, that
> He might elucidate for thee the wonders of knowledge of which thou wert
> heedless, that thou mightest persevere in the Cause of thy Lord."
> 
> Nay, by My Life, O `Ali! They had no desire to discover what was
> veiled from them. Verily, thou seest them ambling along like sheep who
> know not their shepherd. Or rather, if thou discernest them with the eye
> of thine innate nature, thou wilt find that they are wolves who wish to
> scatter GodAs flocks and to lap up their blood. Thus have We reckoned
> their cause in this Tablet, which hath descended from the exalted realm of
> glory. Thou shouldst protect thyself from them, then speak forth with the
> melodies of everlasting life between the earth and the heavens. Make
> mention of this Most Great Name, whereby the heaven of names was cloven in
> two. Fear no one and put thy trust in God, and He shall preserve thee
> from every cast-out idolater. He will confirm thee in His Cause, the
> spirit will speak in thy breast, and the gales of paradise blowing from
> the abode of they Lord, the All-Merciful, will cause thee to tremble. He
> doth, verily, call thee to account. Beware not to grow despondent over any
> matter. For We have not forgotten thee, and yearn to see thee. We
> beseech God to bring us together in truth. Verily, He answereth those who
> call upon Him.
> 
> Would that thou wert with Us in prison, and that thou didst know
> what hath befallen this Wronged Beauty at the hands of those who shall
> never be able to speak a word in My presence, whose very essences were
> brought into being by the will of My Pen. Thus woulds thou witness what
> is now concealed from thee. Hearken to that which the Pen of the Most
> High enjoineth upon thee, and sit not in thy home, nor rest within
> thyself. Enter into the abode of the idolaters among the people of the
> Bayan with the Announcement of God and His Cause. Say: O people, I have
> come unto you in truth with a mighty proof. If ye possess a greater one,
> produce it, and if ye have witnessed with your own eyes anything more
> awesome than the power and sovereignty of God that we have beheld, set it
> forth without a momentAs delay. If, however, ye perceive yourselves to be
> incapable of meeting this challenge, then fear God and refrain from idly
> disputing with Him through Whom the Cause of God was raised aloft, your
> names were exalted, and that Proof appeared to which ye yourselves appeal
> in vindicating the truth of your cause. Fear God, and be not sinful
> unbelievers in this mortal realm.
> 
> O thou who swimmest in the sea of meaning, at this time the ocean
> of grandeur hath billowed forth in My name, the All-Glorious, and casteth
> up for all contingent beings the pearls of the mention of thy Lord, the
> Exalted, the Most High. By God, the eye of creation hath never seen their
> like, nor hath the vision of GodAs handiwork witnessed their peer. Would
> that We could find a trustworthy soul into whose keeping We could give
> them, or a man of keen sight, to whom We could show them, or an expert to
> whom We could describe how they sparkle and gleam with effulgences.
> Behold, when We ascended into the heaven of the divine decree, We saw no
> one, and we remained perplexed and sorely grieved within ourselves. Be
> thou joyous at the droplets of this sea that have been sprinkled upon
> thee. For thereby wast thou purified from the odors of those in whose
> faces thou wilt discern naught but the soot of hellfire, who disbelieved
> in God in every age and time, and who were deprived of the breezes of the
> All-Merciful.
> 
> Say: These rivers run to the sea of pre-existence, just as they
> branched out from it. Blessed is he who hath quaffed from them and
> thereby been enabled to dispense with all who dwell upon the earth.
> Verily, the sea of pre-existence along with what issueth from it and what
> mergeth with it, is but one wave of the Ocean of Grandeur, which was
> created by My Name, the Most Glorious. Thus do We reveal to thee one of
> the mysteries that were hidden from the eyes of the worlds. Upon the
> shore of this sea a wilderness was brought into being such as no one hath
> traversed from beginning to end. Therein the call of God was raised up
> from every side, and no Prophets of Messengers passed by save that the
> gentle fragrances of God captivated Them in this valley. When They
> subsequently attained to the Dome of the Most Glorious, which was
> fashioned from the light of the Divine Essence in the center of that
> valley, They fell dazed upon their faces in the earth. They thus
> submitted themselves to the authority of that Beauty, Who became manifest
> with the truth in this mantle. Therein, the sincere ones perceive the
> perfume of the All-Merciful. Thus was the matter decreed.
> 
> O `Ali, by God, the call of God, thy Lord, the Exalted, the Most
> High, hath never ceased and shall never cease in that wilderness. At all
> times there is heard from its gardens and its hills the saying, "There is
> no God but Him; and He Who became Manifest in My Name, the All-Glorious,
> is the Beloved of all the creation and the Adored One of the Concourse of
> Eternity. He hath ever been and ever shall be, and of this is God well
> aware." Blessed, then, is the man who walketh therein, and the ear that
> heareth the melodies that emanate from every side, perceiving the
> mysteries that repose therein. For these remain veiled behind the
> pavilions of splendor. Would that there were a lover who might turn his
> face in its direction, an upright person who might persevere therein, or
> one possessed of a heart who might make haste and detach himself from all
> the worlds.
> 
> O `Ali, by God, this Cause is great beyond mention; it is too
> manifest to remain concealed, and too exalted to be affected by being
> shunned by those who turn away, or the plotting of any obdurate schemer.
> Say: O people, disgrace not yourselves, and feel shame before God, Who
> desireth only to bestow His grace upon you. He hath, at all times, sent
> down upon you from the Lote-tree of holiness ripe and glorious fruits.
> Eat of GodAs bounty as ye will. Fear God, wreak not corruption in the
> land, and be not remote from the seats of nearness unto God. By God, the
> nightingale shall never be prevented from warbling his melodies, neither
> by the panting of all the dogs upon the earth nor by the howling of all
> the wolves. Thus did we send down the verses in turth, as a revelation
> from the Mighty, the All-Wise. Whoso, in this day, denieth this Cause
> shall bring upon himself the malediction of every atom, even that of his
> own soul, essence, hand and tongue. He is deaf within himself, and shall
> never hear, inasmuch as the veils of heedlessness have covered his ears.
> Thus doth the matter appear at this time from the horizon of the divine
> decree.
> 
> Happy are ye, insofar as ye shall never find for yourselves anyone
> to share in these fruits that came forth from the Lote-Tree of thy Lord,
> the Exalted, the Most High. God hath singled you out for them, as He has
> all those who turn toward them with pure and sincere hearts. Taste thou
> of these fruits, be grateful for the wonders of they LordAs grace that
> have been bestowed upon thee, and let thy joy be manifest. God hath
> reserved them for those of His servants who are nigh unto Him, and hath
> caused those who join partners with Him to be deprived thereof. We have
> caused the gentle gales of the All-Merciful to blow upon thy breast,
> spirit and heart from the right hand of the All-Praised. Thus mightest
> thou live by virtue of His life, endure forever in His immortality, speak
> forth His praise, make ention of His Name, turn toward His countenance,
> and gaze upon His beauty. Verily, His grace to thee hath ever continued
> to be great, wondrous, invincible and sublime.
> 
> Grandeur, majesty and glory be upon thee from the Visage of
> everlasting life that hath appeared in His Name, the most Glorious.
> Thereby hath every object been exalted, everyone of high rank brought low,
> every existent annihilated, and every lost one endowed with life. Through
> this Countenance, every sun was darkened and every moon eclipsed, every
> star fell, everyone endued with certainty was disturbed, every exalted one
> vanished, every steadfast believer was shaken, everyone at rest was set in
> motion, every fire was extinguished, and all ashes burst into flame!
> Every praised one became reprehensible and every evil one became
> praiseworthy. Thus, all that was concealed became manifest, all that had
> been secluded was unveiled, all curtains were rent, all embers were
> reborn, every door was knocked at, every crown spoke and every proof was
> endowed with grandeur. Owing to that blessed Face, every patient was
> cured, every ill one was purified, every sickly one found his remedy,
> every blind one saw, every treasure was uncovered, every earth quaked, and
> every heaven was cleft. In this wise, every upright man was corrupted and
> every villain became just, every scholar was made a fool, and every
> ignorant became learned. Every person of courage fled and every coward
> discovered his valor, and every parched one quenched his thirst. Then
> every trumpet was sounded, every Hour struck, every horn blasted, every
> ray of light was replaced by gloom, and every fruit fell to the earth.
> All fertile land grew dry and all dry land turned green. The breeze of
> God wafted, whereby all contingent things were given life aforetime, and
> whereby all beings shall be revived afterwards. Thus hath the grace of
> God encompassed thy soul, they spirit, thy physical body, and thine
> ethereal body.
> 
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> Views12612 views since posted 1998; last edit 2025-03-19 03:04 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../bahaullah_surih_ahzan;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> — *Surah of Sorrows (Suriy-i-Ahzan) (Used by permission of the curator)*