In this verse the first person narrator is God the Creator speaking with authority, commanding humankind in no uncertain terms to pay heed to the new Revelation.
Behold, my resistless Faith[1]
has once more become manifest;
It is the binding commandment,
the subduing verses.[2]
Cast off the garments of old laws,
of outworn traditions!
Immerse yourself in the sea
of my bounteousness!
How long in this world,
rabid with passion and corruption,
will you remain so remote from your true purpose,
so pitifully far?
From but two letters, B and E,[3]
Our Faith has appeared again.
You need only respond: `from God’
and `to Him shall we return’.[4]
[1] Amr means `command’ but has also been translated in the Bahá’í writings as `Faith’ (as in Bahá’í Faith), `Command’ as in the `World of Command’. We have chosen `Faith’ here, though `Command’ would work quite as well.
[2] Áya: Sign, scripture (the word sign in Arabic has been used for `verse’ and `scripture’ – e.g. the verses of the Qur’án are the signs of God. In the Bahá’í writings the word signs (áyát) also means `signs of God’ in terms of `holy scripture’.
[3] Káf and nún, the two letters that when combined make the word kun meaning `Be’. It refers to the creation of man by God when God said Kun (Be) and there it was (fayakún). (Qur’án 3:52) Creation in the context of this poem is the spiritual regeneration of humanity through the advent of a new Faith. The term is seen in the Qur’án in this context prophesying the Day of Resurrection:
And it is He who hath created the Heavens and the Earth, in truth, and when He saith to a thing, `Be’, it is.
His word is the truth: and His the kingdom, on the day when there shall be a blast on the trumpet: He knoweth alike the unseen and the seen: and He is the Wise, the Cognizant. (6:72–3)
[4] This alludes to a passage from the Qur’án: `Verily we are God’s [from God], and to Him shall we return.’ (2:151) In the writings of the Báb we find: `All men have proceeded from God and unto Him shall all return.’ (The Báb, Selections, p. 157)
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