The effulgence of the rays of the Sun of Truth is abundant
and the favours of the Blessed Beauty surround the women believers and the
handmaidens who have attained unto certitude. At every moment a bounteous
bestowal is revealed. The handmaidens of the Merciful should seize the
opportunities afforded in these days. Each one should strive to draw nigh unto
the divine Threshold and seek bounties from the Source of existence. She should
attain such a state and be confirmed with such a power as to make, with but the
utterance of one word, a lowly person to be held in reverence, initiate him who
is deprived into the world of the spirit, impart hope to the despondent, endow
the portionless one with a share of the great bestowal, and confer knowledge
and insight upon the ignorant and the blind, and alertness and vigilance on the
indolent and heedless. This is the attribute of the handmaidens of the
Merciful. This is the characteristic of the bondsmaids of God's Threshold.
- ‘Abdu’l-Baha (From a Tablet, The Compilation of Compilations, vol. II, Women)
