hose who lived in the days of Muhammad, be
regarded as being actually one and the same people? Moreover, those whom
they had formerly known were Moses, the Revealer of the Pentateuch, and
Jesus, the Author of the Gospel. Notwithstanding, why did Muhammad say:
"When He of Whom they had knowledge came unto them"--that is Jesus or
Moses--"they disbelieved in Him?" Was not Muhammad to outward seeming
called by a different name? Did He not come forth out of a different city?
Did He not speak a different language, and reveal a different Law? How
then can the truth of this verse be established, and its meaning be made
clear?

Strive therefore to comprehend the meaning of "return" which hath been so
explicitly revealed in the Qur'an itself, and which none hath as yet
understood. What sayest thou? If thou sayest that Muhammad was the
"return" of the Prophets of old, as is witnessed by this verse, His
Companions must likewise be the "return" of the bygone Companions, even as
the "return" of the former people is clearly attested by the text of the
above-mentioned verses. And if thou deniest this, thou hast surely
repudiated the truth of the Qur'an, the surest testimony of God unto men.
In like manner, endeavour to grasp the significance of "return,"
"revelation," and "resurrection," as witnessed in the days of the
Manifestations of the divine Essence, that thou mayest behold with thine
own eyes the "return" of the holy souls into sanctified and illumined
bodies, and mayest wash away the dust of ignorance, and cleanse the
darkened self with the waters of mercy flowing from the Source of divine
Knowledge; that perchance thou mayest, through the power of God and the
light of divine guidance, distinguish the Morn of everlasting splendour
from the darksome night of error.

Furthermore, it is evident to thee that the Bearers of the trust of God
are made manifest unto the peoples of the earth as the Exponents of a new
Cause and the Bearers of a new Message. Inasmuch as these Birds of the
Celestial Throne are all sent down from the heaven of the Will of God, and
as they all arise to proclaim His irresistible Faith, they therefore are
regarded as one soul and the same person. For they all drink from the one
Cup of the love of God, and all partake of the fruit of the same Tree of
Oneness. These Manifestations of God have each a twofold station. One is
the station of pure abstraction and essential unity. In this respect, if
thou callest the