O servant of God! We have noted what thou didst write to
Jináb-i-Ibn-‘Abhar, and thy question regarding the verse: ‘Whoso layeth claim
to a Revelation direct from God, ere the expiration of a full thousand years,
such a man is assuredly a lying impostor.’
The meaning of this is that any individual who, before the
expiry of a full thousand years—years known and clearly established by common
usage and requiring no interpretation—should lay claim to a Revelation direct
from God, even though he should reveal certain signs, that man is assuredly
false and an impostor.
This is not a reference to the Universal Manifestation, for
it is clearly set forth in the Holy Writings that centuries, nay thousands of
years, must pass on to completion, before a Manifestation like unto this
Manifestation shall appear again.
It is possible, however, that after the completion of a full
thousand years, certain Holy Beings will be empowered to deliver a Revelation:
this, however, will not be through a Universal Manifestation. Wherefore every
day of the cycle of the Blessed Beauty is in reality equal to one year, and
every year of it is equal to a thousand years.
Consider, for example, the sun: its transit from one
zodiacal sign to the next occurreth within a short period of time, yet only
after a long period doth it attain the plenitude of its resplendency, its heat
and glory, in the sign of Leo. It must first complete one full revolution
through the other constellations before it will enter the sign of Leo again, to
blaze out in its full splendour. In its other stations, it revealeth not the
fullness of its heat and light. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, ‘Selections from the Writings of
‘Abdu’l-Baha’)
