Selections From the Writings of the Báb

Thou hath named thyself ‘Abdu’ṣ Ṣáḥib [servant of the Lord]. Yet, while God hath, in very truth, made thy Lord manifest, and thou didst set thine eyes upon Him, thou didst not recognize Him, even though thou hadst been called into being by God for the purpose of attaining His presence, didst thou but truly believe in the third verse of the chapter entitled ‘Thunder’.1

Thou contendest, ‘How can we recognize Him when we have heard naught but words which fall short of irrefutable proofs?’ Yet since thou hast acknowledged and recognized Muḥammad, the Apostle of God, through the Qur’án, how canst thou withhold recognition from Him Who sent thee the Book, despite thy calling thyself ‘His servant’? Verily He doth exercise undisputed authority over His revelations unto all mankind.

Wert thou to come unto Us while divine revelation is descending upon Us, haply God will change thy fire into light. Verily He is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Generous. Otherwise that which hath been revealed is decisive and final and will be faithfully upheld by all until the Day of Resurrection... If divine revelation ceaseth, thou shouldst write a petition to Him Whom God shall make manifest, imploring that it be delivered into His presence. Therein thou must beg pardon of thy Lord, turn unto Him in repentance and be of them that are wholly devoted to Him. Perchance God will transform thy fire into light at the next Resurrection. He, of a truth, is the Protector, the Most Exalted, the Ever-Forgiving. Unto Him bow down in worship all that are in the heavens and on the earth and whatever lieth between them; and unto Him shall all return.