hath been explicitly
revealed in the Book of God! God hath prohibited unto men the drinking of
wine, and the unlawfulness thereof hath been revealed and recorded in the
Book of God,(35) and the doctors of the age (may God multiply the like of
them) have unanimously prohibited unto men this abominable action; yet
withal do some commit it. Now the punishment of this action falls on these
heedless persons, while those manifestations of the glory of sanctity
[continue] holy and undefiled: unto their sanctity all Being, whether of
the unseen or the seen, testifieth.

"Yea, these servants [of God] regard God as 'doing what He pleaseth and
ordering what He willeth.'(36) There is no retreat nor way of flight for
anyone save unto God, and no refuge nor asylum but in Him. And at no time
hath the caviling of men, whether learned or unlearned, been a thing to
rely on, nor will it be so. The [very] prophets, who are the pearls of the
Ocean of Unity and the recipients of Divine Revelation, have [ever] been
the objects of men's aversion and caviling; much more these servants. Even
as He saith: 'Every nation schemed against their apostle to catch him. And
they contended with falsehood therewith to refute the truth.'(37) So
likewise He saith, 'There came not unto them any apostle but they mocked
at him.'(38) Consider the appearance of the Seal of the Prophets, the King
of the Elect (the soul of the worlds be His sacrifice); after the dawning
of the Sun of Truth from the horizon of the Hijaz what wrongs befell that
Manifestation of the Might of the Lord of Glory at the hands of the people
of error! So heedless were men that they were wont to consider the
vexation of that Holy One as one of the greatest of good works and as the
means of approaching God Most High. For in the first years the doctors of
that age, whether Jews or Christians, turned aside from that Sun of the
Highest Horizon; and, at the turning aside of those persons, all, whether
humble or noble, girt up their loins to quench the radiance of that Light
of the Horizon of Ideals. The names of all are recorded in books: amongst
them were Wahb ibn Rahib, Ka'b ibn A_sh_raf, 'Abdu'llah [ibn] Ubayy, and
the like of these persons; till at length the matter reached such a point
that they convened a meeting to take counsel as to the shedding of the
most pure blood of that Holy One, as God (glorious is His mention) hath
declared: 'And when those who misbelieved plotted against thee to co