, and the
Expounder of the hidden and ancient wisdom. Thus it is related in the
"Biharu'l-Anvar," the "Avalim," and the "Yanbu'" of Sadiq, son of
Muhammad, that he spoke these words: "Knowledge is twenty and seven
letters. All that the Prophets have revealed are two letters thereof. No
man thus far hath known more than these two letters. But when the Qa'im
shall arise, He will cause the remaining twenty and five letters to be
made manifest." Consider; He hath declared Knowledge to consist of twenty
and seven letters, and regarded all the Prophets, from Adam even unto the
"Seal," as Expounders of only two letters thereof and of having been sent
down with these two letters. He also saith that the Qa'im will reveal all
the remaining twenty and five letters. Behold from this utterance how
great and lofty is His station! His rank excelleth that of all the
Prophets, and His Revelation transcendeth the comprehension and
understanding of all their chosen ones. A Revelation, of which the
Prophets of God, His saints and chosen ones, have either not been
informed, or which, in pursuance of God's inscrutable Decree, they have
not disclosed,--such a Revelation these mean and depraved people have
sought to measure with their own deficient minds, their own deficient
learning and understanding. Should it fail to conform to their standards,
they straightway reject it. "Thinkest thou that the greater part of them
hear or understand? They are even like unto the brutes! yea, they stray
even further from the path!"(182)

How, We wonder, do they explain the aforementioned tradition, a tradition
which, in unmistakable terms, foreshadoweth the revelation of things
inscrutable, and the occurrence of new and wondrous events in His day?
Such marvellous happenings kindle so great a strife amongst the people,
that all the divines and doctors sentence Him and His companions to death,
and all the peoples of the earth arise to oppose Him. Even as it hath been
recorded in the "Kafi," in the tradition of Jabir, in the "Tablet of
Fatimih," concerning the character of the Qa'im: "He shall manifest the
perfection of Moses, the splendour of Jesus, and the patience of Job. His
chosen ones shall be abased in His day. Their heads shall be offered as
presents even as the heads of the Turks and the Daylamites. They shall be
slain and burnt. Fear shall seize them; dismay and alarm shall strike
terror into their hearts. The earth shall be dyed with their blood. The