A Companion to the Study of the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf

CONTENTS Foreword, by Hooper C. Dunbar

vii

Acknowledgements x

Introduction

1

A Summary of Epistle to the Son of the Wolf

13

Annotations

31

Bibliography

527

Notes and References

537

About the author

565

¶ 22 – ¶ 27

By ‘divines’, whom Bahá’u’lláh admonishes, ‘is meant those men who outwardly attire themselves with the raiment of knowledge, but who inwardly are deprived therefrom’. He asks them why they ‘wear the guise of the shepherd, when inwardly ye have become wolves, intent upon My flock?’ He castigates them as heedless, occupied with worldly matters, outwardly virtuous but inwardly corrupt.

Conversely, He praises ‘those divines who are truly adorned with the ornament of knowledge and of a goodly character’; they are ‘as a head to the body of the world, and as eyes to the nations’. ¶ 28

Bahá’u’lláh is aware that the Shaykh has turned against Him, and has ‘bidden the people to curse’ Him. He expresses His willingness to sacrifice His life: ‘I fear no tribulation in [God’s] path.’ ¶ 29

He reveals a third prayer for the Shaykh to ask God to grant him forgiveness and mercy, and admonishes him: ‘Set thine heart towards Him Who is the Kaaba of God.’ ¶ 30 – ¶ 31

God has fulfilled His promise and unsealed the Choice Wine of His Revelation. It is therefore futile for the divines to study ‘arts and sciences’ that begin and end with words. He reminds the Shaykh that God in the past transformed unlearned individuals and made them effective promoters of His Faith.

Man-made learning cannot be made a standard of truth. ¶ 32 – ¶ 36

Description of events and Bahá’u’lláh’s sufferings following the attempt on the life of the Shah and false accusations against Him; His detention and imprisonment in the Síyáh-Chál; and the fierce ensuing

persecution. Following His release He set Himself the task of regenerating the faith of the Bábís.

Bahá’u’lláh’s intimations of His Revelation in the prison of Tehran, and God’s promise: ‘Verily, We shall render Thee victorious by Thyself and by Thy Pen . . .’

His subsequent exile to Baghdad. ‘We exhorted all men, and particularly this people, through Our wise counsels and loving admonitions, and forbade them to engage in sedition, quarrels, disputes and conflict. As a result of this, and by the grace of God, waywardness and folly were changed into piety and understanding, and weapons converted into instruments of peace.’ ¶ 37 – ¶ 53

The essentials of faith – some of the moral and ethical laws Bahá’u’lláh revealed in Baghdad designed primarily to transform the character of the Bábís but also addressed to the ‘peoples of the earth’.

He enjoins honesty and piety. What harms Him is when His followers forget their high calling and make mischief. They must exemplify purity, patience, awareness of the presence of God, chastity, respect for the property and privacy of others, and must wage war in the path of God with the armies of wisdom and utterance, of a goodly character and praiseworthy deeds. Contention and conflict are forbidden. The peoples are forbidden to revile one another, for He has come ‘to unite and weld together all that dwell on earth’. He forbids the shedding of blood, and abrogates the law to wage holy war (allowed by earlier Dispensations including that of the Báb).

His followers are to pursue art and sciences that profit humanity.

The civil and religious leaders must uphold religion, for it is ‘the chief instrument for the establishment of order in the world, and of tranquillity amongst its peoples’.

He pleads: ‘Strive that haply the tribulations suffered by this Wronged One and by you, in the path of God, may not prove to have been in vain.’

¶ 54 Bahá’u’lláh teaches that the individual should not consider the things that

profit him but instead what profits mankind, and choose for his neighbour that which he wishes for himself. Humility exalts man, whilst pride abases him. He lauds the greatness of His Day, and warns that ‘ears that are defiled with lying tales have never been, nor are they now, fit to hear’ the Voice of God. ¶ 55 – ¶ 57

He invites the rulers to establish the Lesser Peace to ensure the tranquility of the nations: ‘convene an all-inclusive general assembly’ to establish unity and concord, and thus avoid the need to maintain excessively large armies. The exercise of justice is ‘a powerful force’ that conquers the ‘hearts and souls of men’, reveals truths, and is ‘the standard-bearer of love and bounty’.

He refers to knowledge ‘concealed in the treasuries of the knowledge of God’ which ‘when applied, will largely, though not wholly, eliminate fear’ but advises that this knowledge should be ‘taught from childhood’. ¶ 58 – ¶ 62

Assailed from all sides, Bahá’u’lláh reiterates that He has never desired earthly leadership. His sole aim has been the betterment of the world and to suppress the causes of contention and disunity of the nations, ‘so that all men may be sanctified from every earthly attachment . . .’ He warns against misrepresenting the truth and recounting miracles and prodigies as proof of His Cause.

He acknowledges that ‘all are earnestly striving to put out this glorious and shining light’, including the dissemination of false reports by Mírzá Yahyá’s followers in Istanbul (Constantinople) designed to cause difficulties for the prisoners in ‘Akká, for example, that Bahá’u’lláh has been receiving vast amounts of money from Persia when in fact the ‘Akká exiles are ‘denied the barest means of subsistence.’

He prays that God may protect His loved ones, and aid them to be patient and long-suffering. He promises that although the Ark of God has been battered by waves, the dawn will break and the storms will pass.

End of this sample.

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