This is the City of Patience. Strive ye to enter it, O concourse of the patient ones!
In His Name, the Exalted One, He Who is the Most Exalted.
This is the remembrance of God in the City of Patience regarding Job, Our servant, Whom We sheltered under the shade of that Holy Tree planted in His heart, to Whom We demonstrated the the fire ignited in His Own Essence, and to Whose Self We revealed Our Own Self by His Own Self. We called Job from this sacred Spot whose environs are sanctified with this call, “Verily He is God, Thy Lord and the Lord of all things. He is All-Powerful over all things, the Self-Subsisting One.” When Job’s face was illumined by the fire burning in the sacred Tree, We clothed Him with the garment of prophethood and commanded Him to instruct men in the essence of graciousness and bounty and to invite the people to the holy and beloved Shore. We established Job on earth and caused the waters of divine munificence to descend on Him so that through riches He became independent of all the inhabitants of the earth. We conferred on Him a bounteous fortune and made Him very wealthy in the kingdom. We caused Him to receive a portion of all wealth and strengthened His back with great power. We gave Him sons from His loins and established an exalted station for Him in all the lands.
Job was amongst His people many years, counseling them with the hidden gems of the knowledge We taught Him, and He reminded His people of the days of God that were truly to come. He said, “O my people! In truth, oceans of knowledge are contained within the Self of God Who hath arisen to establish justice. Hasten ye therefore that ye may find a way unto it. Verily, the Sun of God’s loving kindness continues to shine forth from the midmost zenith and the beauty of the Countenance of God hath appeared from behind the Holy Tabernacles. Attend unto His presence that haply He may bestow upon you portions of His much-loved splendor. The heavens of grandeur are uplifted and have become adorned with constellatons of knowledge and wisdom. Thuis hath God’s holy cause dawned forth from the sanctified horizon. O my people! Before Me Messengers came with the divine Word and they all anounced unto you that which will turn you towards the exalted and glorious shore. The divinely appointed time hath come upon you and the Lights of God’s justice hath shone forth, the Immortal Bird hath sung, the Dove of Revelation has warbled, the clouds of God’s illumination have become uplifted, and the oceans of divine bounty have poured forth. O people of the earth! Ye are deprived of all this. Fear ye God, corrupt not the earth of God’s wisdom, and hearken unto these words which are descending from the heaven of God’s nearness.”
Excerpt from Surah of Patience/Tablet of Job, revealed by Baha’u’llah on this day, Ridvan 1/April 21, 150 years ago.