Haqiqatul-Wahi (The Philosophy of Divine Revelation) — Page 903
CONCLUSION 903 properties from them. They cast them away and forced them to aban- don the vast shade of prosperity. They were exiled from their home- land for several years. The cruel enemy persecuted them in the worst possible manner. Nobody, except God the Most Merciful, took pity on them. Then Allah returned some villages to my father during the British rule, so that he came upon a drop, or even less, from the ocean of lost properties. Therefore, in sum, my ancestors died in the bitterness of discomfi- ture and regrets, after being like a tree laden with lush fruits and after days that were like ornate and embellished virgins. Their life history left for me a lesson the mere thought of which fills my eyes with tears. When I imagine their situation, sadness overtakes me and I weep and cry, so much so that I tell myself that this life has been faithful to none. It is doomed to end in frustration and ruin. The narrowness of this worldly life pained me deeply. It was then that it was inspired into my heart that I should not give way to the outward shine of this world. God Almighty, by this, saved me from falling in love with this worldly life and from longing to stare at its apparent beauty or inclin- ing towards its ephemeral trees and fruits. I came to prefer seclusion and lack of renown and tried to keep away from gatherings and occa- sions of conceit and pretence. Yet, God Almighty brought me out of my seclusion and made me well known among the people, despite the fact that I never wanted to be famous. He raised me to be the Khalifah [vicegerent] of the Latter Days and the Imam of the time. He vouchsafed to me so many of His verbal revelations, of which I hereby mention a few. I believe in them as I believe in the Books of God Almighty, the Creator of the universe. These revelations are given below. ¹ 1. In the original Al-Istifta', Haqiqatul-Waḥi, these revelations were given in orig- inal Arabic or in Arabic translation; here we are presenting only the English translation. The revelations in their original words are given above on pages 89-97. It may be noted that the footnotes in this section are from Ḥaqiqatul- Waḥi, Rūḥāni Khazā’in, vol. 22, p. 707-714, published in 2008. [Publisher]