BB00083: Ziyarat for Friday and Thursday nights

Part 1: “When you are in the presence…”

In the Name of God, the Most Unapproachable, the Most Holy

When you are in the presence of the Point of the Bayan or one of the Manifestations on a Thursday night or Friday, purify yourself from all that your heart abhors. For when a servant allows his nails, body hair, moustache hair, head hair, or facial hair to grow, and does not trim them when they become excessive—if he is able to trim them and maintain them well but does not do so—then that thing shall ask God to take vengeance upon its owner. This applies whether it pertains to the servant himself or to his nails, which should not exceed nineteen, and likewise to his ears and the exterior and interior of his body—anything that can be refined but is not. The same principle applies as mentioned at first.

If it is his custom to maintain part of his head, he must clean it with something that removes the particles that gather at the ends of the hair, like a comb or similar implement. Likewise with beard hair—he should maintain it as best he can, improving and beautifying it. If something is found at its roots that cannot be removed when washing, he should use a comb or something to refine it.

If this is the case for the physical body, how much more for the essential body! If upon that body there exists any love other than for the Six Manifestations, or if there remains any trace of the Letters of Negation, the body is not pure. The same applies to souls, spirits and hearts.

When the servant manifests from his first mention to his final appearance, then purifies his body and adorns what he wears of all things—even to the innermost garment—such that not even a mustard seed’s weight of oil stain remains, he must cleanse it of that. For God loves nothing in the Bayan as much as refinement, lightness, cleanliness and purity, so that whoever enters the Bayan may find delight in all possible aspects.

God has created Thursday night and Friday for His servants’ delight, relieving them during these hours from occupations that might burden them and veil them from their pleasures—each according to what they find delightful: those who glorify through their glorification, those who sanctify through their sanctification, those who unite through their unification, those who magnify through their magnification, those who eat through their eating, those who drink through their drinking, those who beautify through their beautification, those who take pleasure in what God has ordained for them, and those who refine through their refinement—each according to what brings them delight.

Indeed, God has guaranteed that whoever refrains from his work on Friday for the sake of refinement shall receive a thousandfold what he would have earned that day through his work. This is the day when God loves that people should arise and attend gatherings, honoring one another in their coming and going, and commemorating the tragedy than which God knows none greater, neither before nor after, for all tragedies before it have returned to it. And if there be tragedy in a future Manifestation, then all joy and sorrow of that day shall return to that Manifestation. Otherwise, before its appearance, all joy and all sorrow in that Bayan shall appear. Let them call to remembrance the Point and the Manifestations of the Living, and what befell Them and Their followers for love of Them; and let them entreat God for Their might and inviolability, Their succour and exaltation. Then let them implore God to send down every retribution upon those who acted with pride towards them and committed against them that which the pen cannot write, nor the ink record, nor the tablets enumerate. Let those who are able arise from their seats for this purpose and chant the verses of God in the beloved plaintive tone whereby souls, spirits, hearts and minds are attracted.

Or let them recite from the words of God or remember that which God hath revealed in the Bayan concerning Him Who shall be made manifest. Otherwise, after He manifesteth Himself, let them recite in His seat of glory and His house of unity that which delighteth His heart. And God loveth that on the eve and day of Friday ye should manifest His bounties unto yourselves according to your capacity, for each day correspondeth to one of the letters of the Seven Letters. On Friday is perfected the manifestation of the word of Unity in affirmation and the word of Divine proof in the Seven Letters, the essence of the Bayan.

Therefore hath God commanded in the Bayan that they should not wait regarding their children after eleven years have passed from their age, or fifteen years, or nineteen years—if unable at the first time, then the second, and if not, then the third. This is so that the conditions of limitation may be observed, otherwise whoso wisheth to seek the good-pleasure of the Beloved and is assured of what God hath promised to those who follow His command—that they shall be enriched through His bounty—will not wait beyond eleven, nay nine, nay nineteen, nay ten, nay nine of ten.

For all this is so that none who hath entered the Bayan should be diminished in any aspect of divine bounty. In every aspect that the servant witnesseth in God’s commands, as he observeth, let him know God’s purpose in that aspect. Then the one who knoweth God will look to the fruit of the commands and not be veiled by anything from what God desireth therein.

And verily the Seven Letters, until the final manifestation thereof, attendeth the places wherein mention is made of Its own Self and the tribulations of those martyred in Its path. No soul rejoiceth, nor is there anything in the Bayan that reacheth its ultimate perfection, except that the Seven Letters rejoiceth thereat and praiseth its Lord. And no soul in the Bayan grieveth, or is diminished in aught that preventeth it from attaining its perfection—even as seeing an unsharpened pen causeth grief, for its perfection in God’s sight is that it be sharpened—but that It witnesseth what It loveth to witness and rejoiceth thereat, for that thing in the Bayan hath entered Paradise.

And whoso desireth to gladden the Point of the Bayan should gladden It in Its latter manifestation, for that which hath been attributed to It of the joy and sorrow of those in the Bayan is like the sun attributing to itself the heat of the sun in mirrors, though it be from it, yet what reacheth these reacheth not the throne of the Point. It is an inner reality which none can comprehend save through Its manifestation, even as Muhammad, the Apostle of God, before. After His sun of manifestation had set, He was gladdened only by His Beloved in His kingdom, and He witnesseth those who followed His religion and beseecheth God for forgiveness and mercy for them, and He witnesseth those who entered not His religion or disobeyed His command.

Let him place himself before God and implore from his Lord what he deserves. No one knows his station, for he has set in the city and risen in the land of Fa. Before anyone knows himself, he knows all and bears witness to them, yet none knows him—neither his father, nor his mother, nor his brother, nor his sister, nor those related to him, nor those in his land. Even the divines in his land judge according to the religion prescribed for them, yet they know him not. Perhaps when they see him they will not bow before him, though night and day they prostrate to him. Thus are you […]

Let all of you deal kindly with all, and some of you with others, for they who manifest you see you and bear witness to you, though you know not and perceive not. And likewise should the Letters of the Living watch over the manifestations of the signs in your hearts, spirits, souls, bodies, and all that indicates God their Lord. For none but the Point knows himself, but all are in the dominion of his mother. Let all of you deal kindly with all, that none among the Letters of the Living be grieved through you. Let all of you deal kindly with all, that the Letters of the Living witness only what God has revealed in the Bayan from His presence, for on the Day of Resurrection you shall be questioned concerning this.

If you act according to what you have been commanded from God’s Book if you are able, and if not, grieve not to the extent of a mustard seed in the Bayan. For if what you love diminishes from you, God has angels who will complete from His Book what you love if you find no way to it. And God will grant you the reward of what you have loved from His presence—He is indeed the Generous, the Bountiful. When the servant is content […] when God knows that a soul is not capable of anything […] for this is the utmost that the servant loves to perform that deed, and harm not any soul, whether small or great, exalted or mighty or sublime, with that which whispers therein of what is not loved. For that will never harm the believer to any degree. Should anyone find this within himself, let him say:

“God, God is my Lord, in Him I have placed my trust, and in God let the believing servants place their trust.”

It is as though nothing has occurred to his soul that would sadden him, and that is from the loftiness of the servant’s soul where he is not content that there should occur in his heart what God does not love in him.

Part 2: “And for all who love aught…”

And for all who love aught in the Bayan and are prevented from their love by what they are powerless over, God will multiply their reward from His bounty lest any soul in the paradise of the Bayan be saddened. He is indeed the Bestower, the Bountiful. There is no God but God, there is no God but He, the All-Bountiful, the All-Subtle.

When you present yourself before God, or have presented yourself, and have submitted to what was revealed before, then walk behind and sit in your place and recite what delights your heart—all that is to prepare you for the day of the manifestation of Him before whom you have presented yourself. Enter not into partnership with Him, nor rise against Him, but enter unto Him as you entered unto Him in His dust. Let him reckon according to the measure of his certitude, such that when the servant desires to know at the time he is taken how much of his Lord’s dominion his knowledge has encompassed—for that is among that for which the servant thanks his Beloved and praises Him for what He has bestowed from the treasuries of His bounty—and let him preserve what he reckons regarding what has been revealed, what is raised up, that his knowledge may encompass it, for He loves.

God hath ordained in the Bayan and pledged that He will not call anyone to account if they render account of what God their Lord hath bestowed upon them. If one is precise in accounting, not a grain’s weight escapeth His Pen, for this causeth souls to be exact and establisheth them, that they might learn the science of accounting. This is of God’s bounty unto whosoever entereth that Paradise until the Day of Reckoning, whether male or female. This is the first manifestation of Him Whom God shall make manifest. He exalteth what He willeth and abaseth what He desireth. None hath power to seize or to bestow except by His command. He doeth what He pleaseth and writeth what He willeth. He shall not be questioned about what He doeth, but all things shall be questioned.

When thou desirest to go forth, say: “Glory be unto Thee, O my God! There is none other God but Thee. Verily Thou art the First and before Thee there was naught, or from that First for which there is no beginning, which hath ended in Thy manifestation in the Bayan. Since before there were none save the Seven Letters who attained unto the truth, O my God, bless them with glory and power. And verily Thou art the Last and after Thee there is naught, for all that is possible of Thy manifestation after that Manifestation is in that Manifestation itself, and there was none after the Seven Letters who sought truth in that Manifestation from anyone. And verily Thou art the Outward and there is none besides Thee exalted and perceiving, and I witness none besides the Seven Letters in that Manifestation manifesting Thy exaltation above all that is exalted and perceiving. And verily Thou art the Inward and there is none besides Thee mighty and glorious, and I witness no manifestation of Thy might besides the Seven Letters in that Manifestation above all that is mighty and glorious.

For Thou hast judged those who entered not the Bayan as being without truth, and if Thou knewest truth from before, how couldst Thou judge […] in the Bayan contrary to what Thou didst reveal therein, even if in that Manifestation Thou hadst with Thee […] to reveal it.

Glory be unto Thee! There is none other God but Thee. Thou hast no beginning nor end. Thou wert eternally First before all things and Thou wilt eternally remain after all things. Creation and Command are Thine alone. There is none other God but Thee. In every Manifestation Thou dost raise up […] of Thy Will as Thou pleasest, through what Thou pleasest, when Thou pleasest, and Thou choosest for Him Letters of the Living as Thou willest, through what Thou willest, when Thou willest. I bear witness at this moment, and all things witness, that I have known no truth after the revelation of the Bayan except in it, and I behold no manifestation of Thy truth in another Manifestation, that Manifestation which none can repel from Thy presence. But before Thou didst manifest what Thou didst manifest, I knew not Thy good-pleasure save from the Seven Letters in the Bayan.

Glory be unto Thee! Verily Thou art the One worthy of worship in truth, and verily Thou art the Intended […]. I have worshipped none but Thee and I have recognized none besides Thee. My knowledge of Thee is not like the knowledge of those who all speak saying “We stand firm in Thy Manifestation.” Verily Thou art the Unseen that cannot be perceived and the Eternal that cannot be described. Yea, Thou art too glorious to be perceived and too exalted to be described. But I have worshipped none besides Thee, for Thou wert the Worshipped One before and after, and I have recognized none besides Thee, for Thou wert the Beloved in the glory of eternity. No soul can ever perceive the Essence of the Unseen through Thy manifestation, for He is He.

It is incumbent upon whoso hath recognized Thee to turn unto Thee, for there is no God to be worshipped besides Thee, and no Object of desire save Thee. Indeed, I am convinced that Thy Manifestation hath no beginning, and after it shall come Thy Manifestation in the other world—a hidden manifestation following this first creation. Yet throughout all this, nothing was witnessed besides Thee, nor any hidden essence save Thine own. How can any remembrance other than Thee occur to my heart? How can I succeed in unifying Thee, sanctifying Thee, glorifying Thee, and magnifying Thee? If I worship Thee with pure and sincere devotion, Thou alone art God. Glorified art Thou! There is no God but Thee. All things stand firm by Thy command, and verily Thou art too exalted and glorious to be comprehended by any save Thyself or to be unified by aught except Thee. Yet to the extent possible in creation, I shall worship Thee, unify Thee, sanctify Thee, and magnify Thee.

No thing can be conceived above Thee, nor below Thee, nor before Thee, nor after Thee. Rather, should I ascend unto the limitless realms, that would be manifestation after manifestation, manifestation following manifestation, wherein nothing is seen in any manifestation except Thee alone, there is no God but Thee, just as nothing was seen in the manifestation before Thee, and before that, unto a mention that hath no beginning in Thy knowledge, except Thee alone, there is no God but Thee. None hath glorified Thee save Thyself, none hath sanctified Thee save Thyself, none hath unified Thee save Thyself, and none hath magnified Thee except Thyself. Yet all shall glorify Thee, all shall sanctify Thee, all shall unify Thee, all shall magnify Thee, all shall exalt Thee, all shall honor Thee, and all shall extol Thee to the extent possible within them in every manifestation, through that which Thou hast revealed unto them through them.

And though they be veiled in Thy later manifestation, yet they worship Thee in Thy first manifestation. But since Thou hast loved to be worshipped on that Day through the Bayan by what Thou hast revealed unto it, therefore Thou hast not decreed anything for those who worship Thee in the manifestation before Thee, just as Thou didst decree after Thy manifestation in the Furqan for those who […] O my God […] in every manifestation, for this is what […] Thou art the All-Knowing, the All-Powerful, the Almighty.