As to the woman in the Revelation of Saint John, chapter 12,
who fled into the wilderness, and the great wonder appearing in the
heavens—that woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet: what is
meant by the woman is the Law of God. For according to the terminology of the
Holy Books, this reference is to the Law, the woman being its symbol here. And
the two luminaries, the sun and the moon, are the two thrones, the Turkish and
the Persian, these two being under the rule of the Law of God. The sun is the
symbol of the Persian Empire, and the moon, that is, the crescent, of the
Turkish. The twelve-fold crown is the twelve Imáms, who, even as the Apostles,
supported the Faith of God. The newborn Child is the Beauty of the Adored One,
[1] come forth out of the Law of God. He then saith that the woman fled into
the wilderness, that is, the Law of God was carried out of Palestine to the
desert of Ḥijáz, where it remained 1260 years—that is, until the advent of the
promised Child. And as is well known, in the Holy Books, every day is accounted
as one year.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (‘Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’)
[1] The Báb, cf. Some Answered Questions, chap. XIII
