Suriy-i-Damm (Chapter of Blood)

1 This is the Surah of Blood, which we have derived from the ocean of the unseen, so that it may serve as a sign of my manifestation to all creatures.

To Mullá Muḥammad-i-Zarandí (Nabil-i-Azam aka Nabil the Great)

2 Oh Muhammad, hear the call of your Lord from this position, which the hands of those who can [reach] and the hearts of those who exist will not reach, nor the truths of those who are heedless in less than an instant in this sacred, noble, and hidden matter.

The Call of the Lord, Part 1

3 Say, O people, hasten to the sanctuary of God, and His abode, and the House of God, and His buildings, and the manifestations of God, and His sovereignty, and do not be among those who mention God with their tongues, and then oppose His signs. Say, O people, this is the place where those who revolve around it, the inhabitants of the highest assembly, then the people of the pavilion of eternity, then those who dwell behind the waves of majesty, if you understand. Say, this is the site of God, and His shore, and the face of God, and His greatness.

4 O people of the divinity, then O people of the sites of power, then O people of honor in the banners of kingship and dominion! Come out of your places to visit the [location] achieved only by those who cut themselves off from everyone in the heavens and the earth and from everything that bears a name, an image, a direction, or an indication, if you truly know.

5 Say, O people, this is the position of Allah and its end, then the pleasure of Allah and His paradise, then the hiddenness of Allah and His innermost secret. Beware that you do not turn to any other than Him, so hasten towards Him, perhaps you will be nourished by the fruits of the spirit and turn blue. O people, this is the position in which the righteous have paused, and those who circled around the Throne just as you are witnessing.

Act According to What You are Commanded

6 Indeed, you are Muhammad, so do what your Lord’s tongue advises you at that time. Then act according to what you are commanded by Allah, the Supreme, the Mighty, the Beloved. Firstly, break the barriers of imagination from the face of your heart with my powerful and mighty authority. Then enter the Egypt of the Merciful in my glorious and exalted name, and do not pay attention to what has been and what will be. Even if you witness that Satan is sitting at the gate, preventing you from entering, close your eyes to him and seek refuge in my blessed, dominating, and beloved beauty. Beware not to sit with those whose traces of anger are like the trace of heat in summer or like the trace of cold in poison. Indeed, flee from them and their likes, do not look at them or what they have, but rather look at my command, which is better than everything if you only knew. If you want to pass through the countries, enlighten them with the light of your Lord, and reflect upon what you see of your Lord’s creation, so that you may be among those who contemplate. Be characterized by my morals so that if someone extends a hand of injustice to you, do not pay attention to it and do not confront it. Leave its judgment to your Lord, the Mighty, the Ever-Living. Be oppressed in all circumstances, for verily, this is my attribute and it is not known except by the sincere. Then know that the groaning of the oppressed when they endure is dearer to Allah than any deed, if only you knew. Be patient with what befalls you and trust your Lord in all matters, for He is sufficient to protect you from the harm of His creation and to preserve you in the protection of His command and His fortifications. There is no god but He; to Him belong the creation and the command, and everyone seeks His help. If your soul gossips about you, do not do to it as it did; otherwise, you become like it. Then turn away from it and head toward the hidden sanctuary in this sacred and exalted tent. Be like the musk among people so that the fragrance of holiness emanates from you to attract them to the annihilation of their beloved sanctuary. If you find a source of support for yourself among Allah’s beloved, befriend them in every dusk and dawn, in every year and month. Follow Allah in all matters as your supporter. Then walk among the people with dignity and tranquility, and convey to them the command of their Master according to what they are capable of hearing.

Take My Book to the Cities of God

7 Indeed, you are the Hoopoe of Saba, and I ask you to take my book to the cities of God. And if birds ask you about the sacred bird say, “I had left it when it was under the fangs of denial and the wicked’s vendetta, and it had no supporter but God, who created and perfected it and made it a lantern of His beauty between the heavens and the earth if you believe. And if you find one of my beloved, and he asks about me, say, ‘By God, I left the city of imprisonment when Hussein was thrown to the ground and the knee of the oppressor was on his chest and he wanted to behead him. And the spear was standing by him, waiting to be raised and put on the spear.’ So was the matter in the secret of the secrets if you feel it. In that state, I saw his lips moving, looking at the heavens with a glance that would break hearts, and behind it, the heart of God, the dominant, the mighty, the everlasting. And when I brought my head close to his lips, I heard him say,”O people, by God, I do not speak from desire but what was spoken by the holy one in my pure heart. By God, you cannot doubt the signs of God in anything that has been ordained in the power of fate and what was in the hereafter and the first place. And you, the people of polytheism, breathe in these signs. Find the scent of Joseph’s shirt. Have mercy on him, and do not kill him with the swords of hatred if you bear witness with the eyes of fairness. O people, by God, I sat silent for twenty years so that nothing would come out of my lips that would ignite the fire of hatred in your hearts. And so the tongue of greatness bears witness. The command was recorded on the holy and preserved tablets. And you, O people, I am Ali and this is the second time after the first one when I have shown you greater miracles than before from the source of greatness and glory, the cache of elevation and glorification with the signs that have never appeared in the universe before. And this tablet is my proof among you and for you. O people, by God, I was dwelling in silence without any melodies, but the spirit shook me and made me speak the truth. You could see the traces of it on my face if you looked at my beauty. I closed the doors of speech for many years, but the tongue of God opened my tongue if you know. Will you kill the one who, by His command, raised the heavens, stirred up the seas, caused the trees to bear fruit, uncovered the secrets, and let the beauty of the chosen one appear from behind the veils? O people, by God, I am not one of those who deny the signs of God. And even if you killed me with all the swords or with every single arrow at any time, I would still be speaking in the kingdom of heavens and earth and fear no one. This is my way if you feel it. By God, this is the way of all the Messengers and what has been revealed to Ali on all the tablets. I don’t know what path you are taking. And when the tunes of holiness reached this level, it fell silent because of its weakness. In that state, he opened his eyes, looked up towards the heavens, and said, “O Lord, praise be to You for the wonders of Your judgments and the comprehensiveness of Your provisions. Sometimes you handed me over to the hands of Nimrod, then to Pharaoh. Then you imprisoned me among the polytheists, and then you beheaded me by the hands of disbelievers. Another time you raised me to the cross. Always and even so, You, my God and my Beloved, have placed me under the hands of these polytheists. O God, witness me upon the dust and under the swords of Your enemies, and by Your might, my Beloved, I thank You in that state and for all that has come upon me for Your pleasure. And I am satisfied with You and with the wonders of Your trials. But, O my God, I beseech You by Your hidden names and Your apparent, veiled beauty, laid upon the dust of humiliation, to enter into the hearts of Your servants, Your love, and then establish them, O my God, on the carpet of Your mercy. Then let them dwell in the shadow of the tree of Your oneness, and do not deprive them of the gentle breeze of Your holiness that blows from the pleasure of Your beauty and emanates from the direction of Your grace. Indeed, You are the Mighty over whatever You wish, and indeed You are the Dominant, the Self-sustaining.

8 Indeed, O Muhammad, recognize the value of the gems of secrets that We have bestowed upon you. Then contemplate what We have taught you of the wonders of Our knowledge, which was hidden behind veils of light, so that you may look upon what has come upon us and be among those who have insight into the mysteries of the matter. Then say in the language of your spirit, in your secret,“Is there any helper who will help the beauty of the First in the appearance of the Last, and is there any supporter who will support the point of the Last in its resplendent beauty?” Perhaps by that, God will send someone to help the youth in these days, in which the inhabitants of heaven and earth, except those who have been to the proximity of the beauty, have become intoxicated. But, O Muhammad, by God, you will find the reluctance of those who turn away, their arrogance, and their standing in opposition to this youth on all sides, except as your Lord, the Mighty, the Everlasting, wills.

9 Oh Mohammed, listen to what the signing pen commands you in the enormity of the judgment in this air that God has sanctified from the temples of hatred and purified from the touch of the polytheists and the recognition of the wrongdoers. You are the one who gloriously praises. Then see from the east of the matter with a clear authority. Then announce among the people of this shining, precious, and enlightening beauty. Then approach the name of God, and cast upon him what the spirit of God, the Almighty, the Exalted, the Generous, has cast upon you. Perhaps he will remember in his mind and be devoted to his Lord and be among the guided ones.

The Call of the Lord, Part 2

10 Say, O servant, verily we have sent down to you tablets and scriptures, which none knows except Allah, and in them is that which will suffice you from all that has been created in the process of creation, and from what is in the heavens and the earths, but we have not sent it to you because we have found no fragrance of the Most High in this Arab boy who is evident to all. Say, by Allah, what you have will vanish and nothing will remain except what is with your Lord, behind the veil of a mighty fortress. Leave this world to its people, and then cut off from what has been created therein, and then turn your face to your Lord, the Most Gracious, the Ancient. Say, verily this is Ali, who has appeared in truth once again in this Most Holy, Most Pure, and Most Luminescent Beauty and who speaks with the authority of the Almighty in the realm of everlastingness and the kingdom of the supreme, if you are among the listeners.

11 Say, you who are masters of eloquence, the spirit of clarification will not speak in your hearts except after you love me, and this is from the essence of religion if you are among the believers.

12 Say, O people of the Criterion, by Allah, the truth has come to you, and it distinguishes between religions and separates the truth from falsehood. Fear Allah and do not be among those who turn away.

13 Say, O people of the churches, do not strike the bells, for the greatest bell has appeared in this chime that has appeared on the temple of signs between the earth and the heavens, and it is true in this name, the shining, the apparent, the radiant. Say that He is the one who has sent down the signs by His command and inscribed all the tablets by His permission, and what is emanating from this musk that has flowed from the eye of camphor by this ancient pen bears witness to that. Say, it speaks at all times with verses that the minds of the wise and the knowledge of the learned and the hearts of the mature cannot comprehend. Say, this is what you were promised in the books of God if you are among the knowledgeable, and this is what the truth has established in the eternity of the past and will establish it until the eternity of the eternities.

Enter the Fortress of the Almighty Lord

14 O Muhammad, close your eyes to everything in the heavens and the earth so that you may enter the fortress of your Most Generous, Almighty Lord. Kindle from this fire in the trees of possibilities so that all will speak with what the fire expressed in the form of light during its manifestation. Thus, the beauty of eternity will bless you and command you over the matter, so that you may cut yourself off from everything and cling to a powerful and fortified support. The spirit, greatness, and glory be upon you and those who hear your words in this great news.