During those days when Shaykh Ahmad was preparing to depart
from Yazd, Siyyid Kázim-i-Rashtí, that other luminary of Divine guidance, set
out from his native province of Gílán with the object of visiting Shaykh Ahmad,
ere the latter undertook his pilgrimage to Khurásán. In the course of his first
interview with him, Shaykh Ahmad spoke these words: “I welcome you, O my
friend! How long and how eagerly have I waited for you to come and deliver me
from the arrogance of this perverse people! I am oppressed by the shamelessness
of their acts and the depravity of their character. ‘Verily, We proposed to the
heavens, and to the earth, and to the mountains, to receive the trust of God,
but they refused the burden, and they feared to receive it. Man undertook to
bear it; and he, verily, hath proved unjust, ignorant.’”
(Chapter 1, ‘The
Dawn-Breakers)
