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Such was the fate that overtook both Shi'ih and Sunni Islam, in the two countries where they had planted their banners and reared their most powerful and far-famed institutions. Such was their fate in these two countries, in one of which Baha'u'llah died an exile, and in the other the Bab suffered a martyr's death. Such was the fate of the self-styled Vicar of the Prophet of God, and of the favorite ministers of the still awaited Imam. "The people of the Qur'an," Baha'u'llah testifies, "have risen against Us, and tormented Us with such a torment that the Holy Spirit lamented, and the thunder roared out, and the clouds wept over Us... Muhammad, the Apostle of God, bewaileth, in the all-highest Paradise, their acts." "A day shall be witnessed by My people," their own traditions condemn them, "whereon there will have remained of Islam naught but a name, and of the Qur'an naught but a mere appearance. The doctors of that age shall be the most evil the world hath ever seen. Mischief hath proceeded from them, and on them it will recoil." And again: "Most of His enemies will be the divines. His bidding they will not obey, but will protest saying: 'This is contrary to that which hath been handed down unto us by the Imams of the Faith.'" And still again: "At that hour His malediction shall descend upon you, and your curse shall afflict you, and your religion shall remain an empty word on your tongues. And when these signs appear amongst you, anticipate the day which the red-hot wind will have swept over you, or the day when ye will have been disfigured, or when stones will have rained upon you."
(102:2)
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