Paragraph 114

Furthermore, by sovereignty is meant the all-encompassing, all-pervading power which is inherently exercised by the Qá’im whether or not He appear to the world clothed in the majesty of earthly dominion. This is solely dependent upon the will and pleasure of the Qá’im Himself. You will readily recognize that the terms sovereignty, wealth, life, death, judgment and resurrection, spoken of by the scriptures of old, are not what this generation hath conceived and vainly imagined. Nay, by sovereignty is meant that sovereignty which in every dispensation resideth within, and is exercised by, the person of the Manifestation, the Day-star of Truth. That sovereignty is the spiritual ascendancy which He exerciseth to the fullest degree over all that is in heaven and on earth, and which in due time revealeth itself to the world in direct proportion to its capacity and spiritual receptiveness, even as the sovereignty of Muḥammad, the Messenger of God, is today apparent and manifest amongst the people. You are well aware of what befell His Faith in the early days of His dispensation. What woeful sufferings did the hand of the infidel and erring, the divines of that age and their associates, inflict upon that spiritual Essence, that most pure and holy Being! How abundant the thorns and briars which they have strewn over His path! It is evident that wretched generation, in their wicked and satanic fancy, regarded every injury to that immortal Being as a means to the attainment of an abiding felicity; inasmuch as the recognized divines of that age, such as ‘Abdu’lláh-i-Ubayy, Abú-‘Amír, the hermit, Ka’b-Ibn-i-Ashraf, and Nadr-Ibn-i-Hárith, all treated Him as an impostor, and pronounced Him a lunatic and a calumniator. Such sore accusations they brought against Him that in recounting them God forbiddeth the ink to flow, Our pen to move, or the page to bear them. These malicious imputations provoked the people to arise and torment Him. And how fierce that torment if the divines of the age be its chief instigators, if they denounce Him to their followers, cast Him out from their midst, and declare Him a miscreant! Hath not the same befallen this Servant, and been witnessed by all?

The uncle of the Bab has asked a very good question. Where, he wonders, is the sovereignty of the Bab seen? If He is the Promised One, why haven't we witnessed this sovereignty that is supposed to be His?

It's a great question, and one that Baha'u'llah spends considerable time answering.

To do this, He has us reflect on the past, once again. You may remember from Part One that He regularly has us "consider the past", "reflect", "ponder". This is now the foundation upon which He can answer this very important question.

Throughout this response, He will remind us of the sufferings of the Messengers of the Past, hearkening back to paragraph 6. Remember paragraph 6? That is where He said "the more closely you observe the denials of those who have opposed the Manifestations of the divine attributes, the firmer will be your faith in the Cause of God." As the whole point of this book, indeed, it's very name, is about enhancing our certitude, this is a very important point.

He will also demonstrate how Their sovereignty has always manifested itself over time.

Here, though, He is looking at Muhammad, and how some of the people of His day treated Him. It's a rare example of His use of actual names. Why? Why the names? Because they are remembered for having denied Muhammad. Perhaps He is reminding the uncle, and by extension us, that we don't want to be remembered for such lamentable behaviour.

It is also worth noting that at the beginning of this paragraph He says "that the terms sovereignty, wealth, life, death, judgment and resurrection, spoken of by the scriptures of old, are not what this generation hath conceived and vainly imagined". He spent a good deal of Part 1 of this book offering us many definitions of the terms used by Jesus in Matthew 24. It seems as if this was all in preparation for His response to this very question. His redefining of terms is exactly what He prepared us for.

When we consider the past, we can readily see that the Jewish people expected the Messiah to come riding on a horse and wielding a flaming sword, conquering the Romans as He went. Today, many Christians expect Jesus to come down on a cloud and take over the planet. This has always been the expectation, the literal conquering of the oppressors of the day, and the people have always failed to see Their true sovereignty until much time has passed.

Also, His use of the examples of what befell Muhammad would have been strikingly familiar to the uncle of the Bab. The mullahs and religious leaders of that day called the Bab an impostor. They had doctors sent in to interview Him to see if they could have pronounced Him a lunatic. They labelled Him a calumniator. Each and every one of these accusations which was thrown against Muhammad was similarly hurled against the Bab. And it was the divines of that day who did this. They were the ones who denounced Him and cast Him out from their midst. Then, to top it all off, they also had Baha'u'llah imprisoned and exiled.

The parallels must have been very obvious to the uncle, and this paragraph must have just driven it all home.

Finally, there is a one last thing that catches our attention, and that is Baha'u'llah's mention of "the thorns and briars which they have strewn over His path". This reminds us of the crown of thorns that Jesus wore. It is as if those very thorns that were thrown in His path, which must have caused Him untold sufferings, became that very crown that symbolized His sovereignty. This just goes right back to paragraph 6, and helps us become even firmer in our faith.