Note 1

1. the sweet-smelling savour of My garment # 4

This is an allusion to the story of Joseph in the &Qur'an and the Old Testament, in which Joseph's garment, brought by his brothers to Jacob, their father, enabled Jacob to identify his beloved long-lost son. The metaphor of the fragrant "garment" is frequently used in the &Baha'i Writings to refer to the recognition of the Manifestation of God and His Revelation. &Baha'u'llah, in one of His Tablets, describes Himself as the "Divine Joseph" Who has been "bartered away" by the heedless "for the most paltry of prices". The &Bab, in the &Qayyumu'l-Asma', identifies &Baha'u'llah as the "true Joseph" and forecasts the ordeals that He would endure at the hands of His treacherous brother (see note 190). Likewise, Shoghi Effendi draws a parallel between the intense jealousy which the preeminence of &Abdu'l-Baha had aroused in His half-brother, &Mirza &Muhammad-'Ali, and the deadly envy "which the superior excellence of Joseph had kindled in the hearts of his brothers".