Hidden Word, Arabic 12: With My Hands I Made Thee

The twelfth Hidden Word in Arabic gives one of the most tender images in the entire collection. The making of the human soul is described in the language of close, deliberate craft.

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> O SON OF BEING! With the hands of power I made thee and with > the fingers of strength I created thee; and within thee have I > placed the essence of My light. Be thou content with it and > seek naught else, for My work is perfect and My command is > binding. Question it not, nor have a doubt thereof.

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The verbs name a different kind of creation than the casual calling-into-being of cosmologies. The soul was made *with the hands of power.* It was created *with the fingers of strength.* There is intentionality in the image — the patient, attentive work of a Maker who is laying out a creation by hand.

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What the Maker placed within the soul is *the essence of My light.* Bahá'u'lláh does not say *a small portion* or *a partial share.* He says *the essence.* The light by which the soul sees its Maker is the very same light by which the Maker can be seen. The seer and the seen meet through the same window.

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The closing imperatives — *Be thou content with it and seek naught else; for My work is perfect and My command is binding* — are pastoral. The soul is being instructed to trust its own making. Many of the soul's wanderings come from a refusal to be satisfied with the gift one has been given. Bahá'u'lláh names this refusal directly and meets it with reassurance.

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The Hidden Word is read often at occasions of recommitment — at the entry of a new believer into the Faith, at the re-dedication of one's life after a season of difficulty. It gives the soul a foundation to stand on that no external trial can shake: the soul was *made by hand.*

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