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June 12, 2018

Lawh-i Ridvánu’l-‘Adl (Paradise of Justice) – by Baha’u’llah

--- provisional translation by Adib Masumian

This is the Paradise of Justice, which hath appeared as a token of God’s grace and been adorned by Him with glorious and wondrous fruits.

In the Name of the All-Just, the All-Wise.

This is a Tablet in which God hath raised up His Name, ‘The Just’, and from which He hath breathed the Spirit of Justice into the mortal frames of all that dwell on earth, that they may arise to rule over themselves and over others with pure justice – a justice from which they shall not deviate by one jot or one tittle. 

O this name! We, verily, have made thee one of the suns of Our most excellent names between earth and heaven. Shed thou thy mighty and wondrous splendour upon the whole of creation that perchance they may gather together beneath thy shadow, cast the ways of oppression behind their backs, and be illumined by thy hallowed and resplendent light.

O this name! We have indeed made thee the very source of Our justice amidst such among Our servants as are near unto Us. Through thee We have manifested the justice of every just one, and have adorned the sincere ones among Our servants with thine ornament.

O this name! Beware lest this station deceive thee and prevent thee from showing humility before God, the Almighty, the Most Powerful. Know thou that thy relationship unto Us is the same as any other relationship; no distinction is there between thee and all else besides thee that have been created in heaven and on earth. For when We ascended the throne of justice, We fashioned all created things through a single word from Our side. Thy Lord is the All-Wise, and His wisdom encompasseth all things. We have exalted certain names to the kingdom of eternity as a token of Our grace, and I verily am the Most Powerful, the Most Exalted, the Mighty, the Incomparable.

Say: No relationship is there between God and His creation. Sanctified is He from whatsoever He hath created, and from the remembrances of such among His servants as make mention of Him. Indeed, the relationship which is attributed to Him and mentioned in the Tablets hath been revealed through the decree that was sent down from the Heaven of the Divine Will, Which was brought into being through My all-pervading and all-compelling behest. Nevertheless, We have singled thee out and exalted thee in this Tablet, that thou mayest render thanks unto thy Lord, and be of them that are rid of all attachment to any one but Him. Beware lest the loftiness of thy name debar thee from God, thy Lord and the Lord of all worlds.

Verily, We exalt whomsoever We will through Our behest. We have, from eternity, been powerful to do what We have willed, and to ordain what We have pleased. Behold naught within thyself but the radiance of the Sun of the Word of Revelation, which hath shone forth above the horizon of the Will of thy Lord, the Compassionate, the Merciful. In like manner, behold naught within thine essence any power, any strength, any movement, or any tranquility unless it be bidden by God, the Sovereign, the Almighty, the All-Powerful. Be thou animated by the breezes of thy Lord, the Most High, the All-Glorious, and not by that which wafteth from the precincts of passion and desire. Thus biddeth thee the Pen of the Most High, that thou mayest be reckoned with them who observe Our precepts.

Beware lest thou follow the example of the one We adorned with the ornament of names in the kingdom of creation – the one who, when he looked upon his own self and perceived the loftiness of his name, repudiated God, Who created him and sustained him, and thereupon fell from the most exalted station to the depths of degradation. [1]

Say: The Names are as raiments; We adorn those of Our servants We desire with them, and We take them away from whomsoever We will through Our behest. I am the All-Powerful, the Ordainer, the Omniscient. We take no counsel with Our servants before divesting them of this bounty, even as We consult them not before We bestow Our blessings upon them. Know, then, the command of thy Lord, and be of them who possess manifest certitude. The power We hold over all things can never be wrested from Us, neither can the Hands of Our power ever be chained up, couldst thou but understand.

Say: The station of every name that knoweth his Lord, and doth not transgress his limit, shall wax greater at every moment, and the Day-Star of the tender mercies of his Lord – the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Generous – will shine upon him continually. He shall ascend the ladder of detachment until he reacheth a station none can describe, save the One Who created it. He speaketh not except by the leave of his Lord, and moveth not unless it be ordained by Him. He is, in truth, the Almighty, the Just, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

O this name! Pride thyself in this, that We have made thee the dawning-place of Our justice amidst all people. The day is approaching when We shall raise up manifestations of thee upon the earth, through whom We shall roll up the standard of oppression and unfurl the banner of justice between the heavens and the earth. It is through them that God shall blot out every trace of injustice from the earth, and adorn the whole of creation in every land with these names. All beings, both seen and unseen, shall rejoice at their advent, for they are the mirrors of My justice amidst My servants, and the daysprings of My names amidst My creation. Through them, the hands of oppression shall be severed, and the arms of command strengthened. Such is the decree We have set forth in this holy and preserved Tablet.

O this name! We, verily, have made thee an ornament of the sovereigns. Blessed are they that adorn their bodies with thee, act with equity and complete sincerity towards their subjects, and decree for them what God Himself hath decreed in His mighty and everlasting Book. No better adornment is there for them than thee, for it is through thee that their sovereignty is made manifest, their praise is glorified, and their names are remembered in the Kingdom of God, the Almighty, the Most Great. Whoso depriveth himself of thee would indeed be as one denuded before the entire creation, though outwardly he be clothed in the finest garments of silk.

O concourse of rulers! Crown your heads with the diadems of justice that the regions of every land may be illumined with their light. Thus have We bidden ye in token of Our grace unto you.

O concourse of kings! Erelong will God make manifest on earth kings who will recline on the couches of justice and will rule amongst men even as they rule their own selves. They, indeed, are among the choicest of My creatures in the entire creation.

Adorn yourselves, O people, with the raiment of justice, inasmuch as the exercise thereof befitteth all mankind, did ye but know it. Thus have We enjoined courtesy and equity upon you in most of Our Tablets, that ye may be of them who comprehend. The Almighty ordaineth naught for a soul unless it be what is best for him, and what shall profit him in this world and in the world to come. He, verily, is independent of the doings of every doer, and of the knowledge of every man of discernment and understanding.

Through this name, God hath shed His splendour upon all things in this Tablet. Well is it with them who are illumined with its light and have attained thereunto, for they are the truly devoted among Our servants. With the Hands of Our power, We have planted trees of justice in this Paradise, and have watered them with the waters of Our grace. Every one of those trees will, erelong, bear fruit. Such is the irrevocable decree We have set forth, for truly We are potent to command.

O ye who are the embodiments of justice! When the breezes of power have wafted over all things, summon ye the people of the Bayān, and call their attention to this Great Announcement.

Ask of them: O people! By what proof have ye believed in ‘Alī [the Báb], but denied the One Who brought you glad-tidings in all the Tablets? Ponder this, O concourse of foolish ones, and fear ye God, O assemblage of the heedless.

Do ye claim to believe in the One Who heralded Mine advent though you have repudiated Me, the All-Powerful, the All-Wise? Ye are even as the ones who believed in John the Baptist, who summoned men to the Kingdom of God, yet when Christ, the Word Himself, appeared unto them, they rejected Him and condemned Him to death.

The curse of God be upon the oppressors! At all times, and in the loudest voice, that herald imparted glad-tidings unto men. He exhorted them to swear fealty unto Christ, and informed them of His imminent advent. At last, out of his love for Christ, he yielded up his spirit to Him, the Almighty, the Wondrous.

And when the veil of concealment was rent asunder, and the Word of God appeared unto men, they cavilled at Him and protested, saying: ‘This Man hath violated the decree of John the Baptist!’ Thus did their souls prompt them in such wise that they were deprived of the Presence of their Lord, the Almighty, the Most Powerful.

One of the infidels among them said: ‘The thing for which the son of Zechariah [John the Baptist] came to this world hath not yet come to pass, neither hath his law been established amongst men. Unseemly indeed would it be for any one to appear until that law is established’. Such was the reasoning by which they waxed disdainful before the Spirit of God [Jesus Christ] and rejected His Truth. Still others among them said: ‘John the Baptist baptised men with water. The One Who hath appeared unto us, however, doth baptise with the Holy Spirit, yet He associateth with the sinful!’

And now ye hear the same arguments made by the people of the Bayán in these days. They repeat that which the followers of John the Baptist said aforetime; nay worse, they utter such things as have never been uttered before. Woe betide them that follow these infidels!

Say: O people of the Bayán! Blush before the beauty of your Lord, the All-Merciful, Who appeared in the midmost heart of the world with a clear and irrefutable proof. The One Who came unto you aforetime by the name of ‘Alí informed you of Me and heralded unto you My coming, and He moved not except through His love for Me, and breathed not except to make mention of Me, the Most Powerful, the Most Wondrous. He proclaimed unto you that every luminous one would be eclipsed by His splendour, that every woman that hath a burden in her womb would cast her burden, [2] and that every bearer of a trust would cast it aside. Such is the decree that hath descended from the Heaven of the Will of your Lord, the Most High, the All-Knowing.

The appointed Hour came upon you in your heedlessness, for when the Beauty of the Beloved shone forth above the horizon of the Will of your Lord – the Almighty, the All-Powerful – you turned away from Him, cavilled at Him, rejected His signs, and ascribed partners unto Him, and in this heedlessness you persisted until you resolved to shed His blood – the blood of the Most Holy, the Most Pure, the Most Powerful, the Most Luminous.

Say: O people! Fear God, and confine not His command to your own limitations. He, verily, ordaineth as He pleaseth through His behest, and He is indeed the Help in Peril, the Almighty, the Most Powerful.

Say: I swear by God that He speaketh in My breast, calleth out to My spirit, and giveth utterance through My tongue. It is He that hath wakened Me with the breezes of His command, and hath caused Me to speak between heaven and earth.

Say: I swear by God – the Almighty, the Most High – that I am in your midst, and hear from you that which no ear hath heard before. Nevertheless, God hath, in truth, made Me manifest, and I have been bidden not to worship any one but Him, and to remind you of that which is better for you than all that is in the kingdoms of earth and heaven. Had it been in My power, I would have never consented to manifest Myself unto these makers of mischief. Yet, the Almighty is unconstrained in His bidding; He doeth as He willeth, and ordaineth as He pleaseth.

Look not upon Me, O people, with your eyes, or with the eyes of your leaders. I swear by God that this would avail you not, even were you to seek the aid of the former and the latter generations.

Say: O people! Behold My beauty with Mine eye, for if you look upon Me with any other sight, you will never recognize Me. Thus hath it been sent down in the Tablets of God, the Almighty, the All-Powerful, the All-Wise.

Say: O people! It is neither through Mine own Self nor for Mine own Self that I cry aloud unto you; rather, God crieth out as He willeth through His own Self for His servants, and unto this do My groaning, and My wailing, and the lamentation of My heart bear witness, if ye be of them who judge fairly.

This indeed is the Leaf that hath been stirred by the winds of the Will of God. Hath it any power of its own to remain still? No, by the One Who hath caused Me to speak in truth! The winds move as they will, and God indeed is powerful over whatsoever He pleaseth. The movement of that Leaf, and the manner in which it stirreth, bear witness to its truth, would ye but understand.

Consider, O people, the Flute that resteth beneath the fingers of the Will of His Lord, the All-Merciful, and how He doth breathe His sanctified breath into it. Can that Flute remain silent in its inmost self? Nay, by your Lord, the Almighty, the Beneficent! He will, rather, make manifest from it diverse melodies as He willeth, and He verily is the All-Powerful, the Ordainer, the Omnipotent. Can the sun that riseth above the horizon of Revelation shine aught but light from itself? Is it able, moreover, to deprive anything of its light? Nay, by the essence of glory! And unto this doth every fair-minded and discerning one bear witness.

Say: O people! Verily, it is the fingers of your Lord – the Most High, the All Glorious – that move this Supreme Pen. This is not My doing, rather is it the bidding of God, your Lord and the Lord of your forefathers. And do ye, O concourse of infidels, protest this Pen? Or do ye cavil at the One Who hath caused it to move through His sovereignty?

Say: Woe betide you! The dwellers of the Realms above are astonished by your deeds. The Eye of Justice weepeth sore over Me, and the Reality of Justice bewaileth the harm I have sustained and the calamities I have endured. It bemoaneth, moreover, that which hath befallen Me at the hands of them who were created through My Will, who pride themselves in standing in My Presence and seek blessings from the dust that My feet – the feet of the Blessed, the Almighty, the Sublime – have trodden.

O thou who art the embodiment of justice! I complain unto thee concerning them who have disbelieved in Me and ascribed partners unto Me, even after Mine advent hath been promised in every Tablet – and in the Tablet, too, that God hath preserved in His inviolable treasuries, which He hath safeguarded from even the most discerning ones among His creation.

Say: O people! Ye have entered Paradise, and have attained unto a Rose. Inhale it, then, if ye find its fragrance to be sweet. Fear ye God, and be not of them who gainsay Him, nor of them who recognize Him and then disclaim Him. Ye would indeed be numbered with the infidels for such an act. Were a person with a keen sense of smell to be found, he would, of a certainty, be able to detect – among all the things that are made manifest from Me – the fragrance of the Most Holy, the Most Powerful, the Most Generous.

O ye who are the embodiments of Justice! Ye were called into being through My behest, and were risen up by My command. Beware lest your rank prevent you from humbling yourselves before your Lord – the Almighty, the Omniscient – on the day when He shall come down unto you overshadowed with clouds and invested with a mighty sovereignty. On that day, He shall breathe the spirit of life into the entire creation; adorn the whole of Paradise with My Name, the Name of the Almighty, the Beneficent; regenerate mankind with the ornament of the All-Merciful; and attire all things with the raiment of names that belongeth to the Wondrous Creator. That indeed is a day for which ye have been created. Fear ye God and take heed, lest ye deprive yourselves of so great a bounty.

O ye who are called by this Name! Let not the names deceive you on that day. Hasten ye to the court of grace, even if the clouds of Revelation should rain down the darts of wrath upon you. Take heed that ye not tarry for less than a single moment. On that day, none shall have any possessions to their name, for command on that day will be with God, the All-Powerful, the All-Wise.

Say: Be ye faithful, O people, to the Testament of God, and break not the Covenant of the One with Whom you covenanted from time immemorial in the Presence of God, the Almighty, the All-Powerful, the Omniscient.

Say: Open your eyes! I swear by the One True God that He hath been made manifest on this day, at this very moment, and that He hath come overshadowed with clouds. [3] Blessed is God, the Quickener, the All-Powerful, the Most Lofty, the Almighty.

Thereupon were the inmates of heaven and earth stricken with terror, and the entire company of the Concourse on High moaned, except for them who were seized by the Hand of the All-Glorious, invested with the sovereignty of the Most Powerful, the Most Exalted, the Most High – the Hand Whose Finger of decree hath rent asunder the veil before their eyes, and hath delivered them from the company of the ones who doubted the Presence of God, the Sovereign, the Almighty, the All-Glorious.

Say: By God! Every name hath been changed, every thing hath cried out in lamentation, and every soul hath become perturbed, save them who were quickened by the breezes of sanctity that wafted from the precincts of your Lord, the All-Merciful – the breezes that awakened them from their slumber, and cleansed them from the defilement of the infidels.

Alter thou these verses, O Tongue of Eternity, for the ears of men are incapable of hearing that which hath been sent down from the firmament of Thine Essence and the heaven of Thy Will. Impart unto them, in accordance with their capacity, that which Thou dost possess, for this verily is manifest justice.

O people of the earth! Know ye that justice consisteth of innumerable degrees and incalculable meanings, yet We have given you only a sprinkling from this Ocean, that it may cleanse you from the defilement of oppression and cause you to be numbered with the sincere ones. Know verily that the essence of justice and the source thereof are both embodied in the ordinances prescribed by Him Who is the Manifestation of the Self of God amongst men, if ye be of them that recognize this truth. He doth verily incarnate the highest, the infallible standard of justice unto all creation. Were His law to be such as to strike terror into the hearts of all that are in heaven and on earth, that law is naught but manifest justice. The fears and agitation which the revelation of this law provokes in men’s hearts should indeed be likened to the cries of the suckling babe weaned from his mother’s milk, if ye be of them that perceive. Were men to discover the motivating purpose of God’s Revelation, they would assuredly cast away their fears, and, with hearts filled with gratitude, rejoice with exceeding gladness.

Say: If the autumn winds strip the trees of their vernal adornment (ṭarāz), this is only to allow for the emergence of another adornment. Thus hath it been decreed by the Almighty, the All-Powerful. It is through justice that every one is rendered his due, even as ye behold this in the manifestations of the world of being; it is not as most of the people imagine. Ponder, then, that ye may understand the purpose of what was revealed by the Wondrous Pen.

Say: That justice which causeth the pillars of tyranny to quake and the foundations of misbelief to crumble is the recognition of this Revelation in this resplendent dawn, wherein the Sun of Bahá shineth with manifest sovereignty above the horizon of eternity. And whoso believeth not therein hath abandoned the stronghold of justice, and his name is recorded among the oppressors in God’s mighty and guarded Tablets. Even if a man were to strive until the end that hath no end and bend every possible effort to deal equitably with others, if he should ever hesitate in his recognition of this Cause, he would verily have committed an injustice against his own self, and would be regarded as one of the oppressors.

Bestir yourselves, O people, in anticipation of the days of Divine justice, for the promised hour is now come. Beware lest ye fail to apprehend its import and be accounted among the erring.

Say: O people! Adorn your bodies with the ornament of justice. Enjoin ye that which God Himself hath enjoined, and be not of them that transgress their bounds.

Say: Should anyone drink even a drop of water in accordance with My command, it verily would be preferable to the acts of worship and devotion offered by the entire creation, for God doth not accept an act from any one unless it be adorned with the ornament of My leave amidst all people.

Act ye, O people, in accordance with what We have bidden you in the Tablets that were sent down from the Kingdom of God, the Help in Peril, the Almighty, the All Powerful. He whose sight is restored through the sweet savours that waft from the raiment of My Name – the Name of the All-Merciful – shall discern in all things the signs of his Lord, the Just, the All-Wise. [4]

O Supreme Pen! Raise up the servant who was named ‘Ridá after Nabíl’, [5] and cause him to be one of the embodiments of justice in this contingent realm. Verily, his justice is his faith in God, and it is a justice unmatched by any other.

O servant! Hearken thou unto the shrill voice of the Pen of the Most High, and gather all men upon the shore of the Most Mighty Ocean, which hath emerged through this Most Ancient and Everlasting Name. Protect thou the servants of the All-Merciful, lest the blows dealt by the evil suggestions of the manifestations of Satan transform the faces of them that have recognized their Lord. Such is the commandment of thy Lord – the Almighty, the Beneficent – unto thee. Act thou in accordance with what the All-Powerful, the Beauteous, hath bidden thee.

Be thou a barrier between the forces of unbelief and the hosts of the All-Merciful, lest that blasphemous horde transgress their bounds. [6] Thus hath the decree been sent down from the Kingdom of the judgment of thy Lord, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. We, verily, have made thee a means of Our remembrance amidst Our servants, and a fortress for Our creation in this world, that thou mayest shelter them from the darts of doubt and draw their attention to this Announcement, through which the temples of names have trembled, the faces of men have been changed, the earth of vainglory hath been cleft, [7] and the fruit hath fallen from every lofty and wondrous tree. Blessed art thou for having utterly abolished the idol of vain imagination through the power of thy Lord, for having cast off from thy body the robe of blind imitation, and for having adorned it instead with the raiment of Divine Unity through this Name, the Most Holy, the Blessed, the Most Exalted, the All-Encompassing.

Know thou, then, that the People of the Bayán cavilled at their Lord, and rejected the One in Whom they had already believed, and this after We had admonished them in all the Tablets not to let anything betwixt earth and heaven prevent them from recognizing Me in the hour of Mine advent. Some among them have repudiated Me even as they read My Words, and others glory in the Book that was revealed aforetime through My power.

Say: If, in this day, the whole earth were to be filled with the knowledge contained in prized and precious books, yet from these books neither the sweet-smelling savours of My command nor the fragrances of My love could be detected, then this knowledge would not be worthy of mention in the Presence of God, thy Lord and the Lord of all worlds.

Say: Woe betide you, O people! The purpose of all that hath descended from the Kingdom of the Bayán was to make mention of Me and celebrate My praise, did ye but know it.

Say: Fie upon you for having broken the Covenant of God and cast it behind your backs! In so doing, ye have returned unto your abode in the nethermost hell.

O My name! I am left alone amidst the people of the Bayán in the absence of the One Who revealed that Book only to make mention of Me, the Wronged One, the Incomparable.

Say: Fear ye God, O people! I swear by Him that the Primal Point breathed not except to make mention of Me, and spoke not unless it was to celebrate My praise, and that the Beloved of His heart was none other than My luminous and resplendent Beauty.

O My name! Know thou that the infidels ascribed oppression unto the One through Whom the embodiments of justice were raised up, and from Whom the light of grace shone forth. Such is the manner in which those oppressors acted against Me. Erelong will the cruelty of these oppressors change this earth and frustrate the affairs of men. Thus informeth thee the Tongue of Him that speaketh the truth and is the Knower of all things.

The tablets of fire have been spread throughout every land, and the manifestation of Satan passeth you by with a book in hand. Then say: O servants of the All Merciful! Cast it behind your backs, and turn your faces towards the Word of God, the Mighty, the Wondrous. Verily, nothing that hath ever been revealed from the beginning that hath no beginning, or will ever be sent down from the supreme and glorious firmament, can compare with a single letter of that Word.

O My name! Cleanse My servants of every fragrance that is not of Me, attract them with the wonders of My melodies and My words, and cause them to soar in the atmosphere of My nearness and good-pleasure, that perchance they may attain unto the sanctuary of My glory and the habitation of My grandeur. This is what hath been sent down in truth, and it verily is a thing sent down by thy Lord, the Exalted, the Omniscient.

Do thou forbid them to shed blood. We, verily, have made this unlawful unto them in all the Tablets, yet they have treated the Laws of God with scorn. They have abandoned the stronghold of command, and are accounted among the wayward. The harmful effect of their deeds hath redounded upon the very Root of the Tree; such is the decree, if only thou wouldst hear it. They who dispute with and wage war against men have indeed forsaken the Paradise of Justice, and have been numbered with the oppressors in the sublime and preserved Tablets.

As for them who suffer martyrdom in the path of God in these days, they are the most exalted among the entire creation. They make mention of their Creator openly, and the multitude of their enemies are powerless to prevent them from the remembrance of their Lord, until such time as they are martyred and attain the Object of their desire. And when their souls ascend, the entire company of the Concourse on High shall stand ready to receive them bearing the banners of this Cause. Such is the decree that hath, in truth, been set forth at the behest of the Most Powerful, the All-Wise.

Say: O My Lord and My Master! Thou art the One Who hath planted the trees of justice in the Paradise of Thy Revelation and Thy Wisdom. Shelter them, O My God, from the raging storms of fate and the rolling thunder of calamity that their boughs and their branches may grow and develop beneath the shade of Thy bounty and the canopy of Thy mercy. O My God! Cause them who are the chosen ones amongst Thy creatures and the truly devoted amidst Thy servants to abide beneath the shadow of their leaves. Thou verily art powerful over whatsoever Thou willest, and Thou verily art the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.

We have, in truth, created the Paradise of Justice through Our strength and power, and have sent it unto Thee with a glorious and wondrous fruit. Taste, then, the fruits of these trees, and rest beneath the shadow of their leaves that thou mayest be protected from the fire of the infidels.

Thus have We perfected this Bounty unto thee, that thou mayest render thanks unto thy Lord and be accounted among the grateful. Praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds.

Notes
[1] Muhammad Afnan, notes in ‘Majmú‘i-yi Maqálát, p. 626, that this is likely a reference to Iblis (Satan), particularly as his downfall is depicted in Qur’án 7:11–18, and is probably also applicable to Mírzá Yahyá.
[2] A reference to Qur’án 22:2.
[3] Cf. Qur’án 2:210
[4] This appears to be a reference to Jacob, whose sight was restored when the garment of Joseph was cast over his face. Cf. Qur’án 12:96.
[5] A reference to Áqá Siyyid Muhammad-Ridá Shahmírzádí, the recipient of this Tablet. ‘Nabíl’ and ‘Muhammad’ share the same value in the Abjad system, and the two names are often used synonymously in the Bahá’í writings.
[6] Cf. Qur’án 18:94, 21:96.
[7] Cf. Micah 1:3–4 and Qur’án 50:44
(Format slightly modified from the original source in ‘Baha’i Studies Review, Vol. 20’)