Risálah fi’s-Sulúk ilá Alláh (The Spiritual Journey towards God) – by the Báb [1]

-- provisional translation by Todd Lawson

“In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate” (Qur’an) [2]

Be steadfast, O seeker of piety, in the station of affirming the divine unity. As God, exalted be He, has said:

“As for those who say ‘our Lord is God’ then continue steadfast, the angels descend upon them saying ‘fear not, nor be grieved, and receive good news of the Garden which ye were promised!’” (Qur’an)

Know ye that “the paths to God are as numerous as the breaths of the creatures” yet, there is “no Soul but One” (Qur’an) and there is no religion but the one religion, and it is the “Cause of God and our Command is but a single Act” (Qur’an)

“So set thou thy face steadily towards the True Faith – the Nature made by God – in which He has made men. There is no altering in God’s creation.” (Qur’an)

Verily, Religion is supported by four pillars:

1) Affirming the divine unity

2) Prophethood

3) Guardianship, and

4) The community of true believers

These are four gates, none of which is of any use without the others.

And all of this is the “Face of God which never perish” (Qur’an). And this is the love of the Family of God which is the same as the love of God. This is the Hidden Treasure to which the Prophet, upon Him and His family be peace, openly alluded when He said: “Above each good is another good until one loves us, and when one loves us there is no good higher.” (Qur’an)

The Persian Bayan (the introductory portion) – by the Báb

-- provisional translation

In the Name of God, the Inaccessible, the Most Holy

Praise and sanctification are due to the regal substance of holiness, glory, and majesty, Who has existed eternally and will continue to exist in the being of His own Essence, Who has always been and always will be exalted in His own eternity, far above the comprehension of all things. He did not create the sign of His knowledge within any other being other than by means of the incapacity of all things to know Him; nor did He shine forth upon any other thing other than through His own Self. He has, therefore, always been lifted high above association with any other thing, and He brought all things into existence in order that they might all confess before Him on the Day of Resurrection within the being of their true selves that He has neither peer nor equal, nor rival, nor likeness, nor similitude.

No, He has been and remains alone in the dominion of His own Godhood. He has been and remains glorified in the sovereignty of His own Lordship. Nothing else has ever recognized Him as He deserves to be recognized, nor can anything ever hope to do so, for whatever mention of existence they might apply to Him would itself have already been created by the sovereign power of His own Will, and He Himself would already have shone forth on it with His own Self upon the exalted heights of His Throne. He created the sign of His knowledge within the depths of all things in order that they might be sure that He is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden, the Creator and the Sustainer, the Powerful and the Knowing, the Hearing and the Seeing, the One Who Buries and the One Who Raises the Dead, the Giver of Life and the Giver of Death, the Mighty and the Inaccessible, the Exalted and the All-Highest. He it is Who has never guided and will never guide anyone unless it be to the exaltation of His glorification and the sublimity of His praise and the inaccessibility of His Oneness and the elevation of His magnification.

Lawh-i-Maryam (Tablet to Maryam) [1] - by Bahá’u’lláh

-- provisional translation by Julio Savi and Faezeh Mardani Mazzoli

He is sorrowful in My sorrow.

O Maryam! The wrongs which I suffer have blotted out the wrongs suffered by My First Name (the Báb) from the Tablet of creation [2] and the showers of affliction rained at all times upon this veilless Beauty from the clouds of God’s decree.

My expulsion from My country was for no other reason except My love for the Beloved, and my removal from My land was for no other motive but My willing submission to the Goal of all desire (ridáy-i-maqsúd).

In the summons of God’s decree I was even as a kindled and shining lamp and in the time of heavenly trials I was as steadfast (thábit) [3] as a mountain.

In the revelations of grace I was even as a raining cloud and in restraining the enemies of the King of Oneness like a blazing fire.

The tokens of My might have become a cause of the envy of My enemies and the effulgences of My wisdom have turned into instruments of the perfidy of the malicious.

There was not a night during which I rested in a safe place, not a morning in which I lifted My head from My couch with ease.

I swear by the Beauty of God! Husayn wept for the wrongs I have suffered and the Friend (Abraham) cast himself into the fire for My grief.

Were thou to examine carefully the matter, the eyes of might are weeping behind the Tabernacle of sinlessness and the people of glory are moaning in the precincts of loftiness. Unto this beareth witness the Tongue of truth and glory. 

Functioning of the Universal House of Justice – by ‘Abdu’l-Baha

-- provisional translation by Moojan Momen

He is the All-Glorious!

O you who are clinging fast to the hem of Covenant, your letter was read and your detailed questions were noted. Although calamities, like deadly poison, have affected my limbs, my members and my joints, such that my pen is prevented from writing and my tongue from speaking, and my tasks are so many that it is not possible to describe them, yet nevertheless, out of the great love that this servant has for that gentleman, a spiritual answer will be given, which will be compatible with Divine wisdom, concise and illuminating, perfectly explaining the matter. It will be a comprehensive explanation concerning this question and will contain acceptable and sought-after insights such that by this explanation, clarification, analysis, allusion, commentary and spiritual interpretation, one hundred doors will be opened up by each of its doors. Otherwise, were the horizons to become pages, it would not be enough to encompass [this theme].

You have asked about the wisdom of assigning some of the important legislation (ahkám) to the House of Justice. The first [point to be made] is this that this divine cycle is purely spiritual (rawhání), divine (rahmání) and moral (vujdání). It is not so much concerned with the physical (jismání), the worldly (mulkí) or with the stages of material existence (shu’ún-i násutí). Similarly, the Christian cycle was purely spiritual and in the entirety of the Gospels, there is nothing except the prohibition of divorce and an allusion to the lifting of the [law of the] Sabbath. All of the laws (ahkám) are spiritual and the morals divine. Just as it is said: “The Son of Man did not come to judge the world but to give it life.” [cf. John 3:17; 12:47] Now this great cycle is also purely spiritual and is the giver of eternal life, for the fundamental basis of the religion of God is to adorn [people] with good character, to improve them with virtuous conduct and to regulate their interactions. The intention is this that beings who were veiled [from the light] might attain to the vision [of His Beauty] and that darksome reality might become filled with light.

Commentary on the first few words of the thirtieth Súrah of the Qur'án: the Súrah of al-Rúm (Rome) – by ‘Abdu’l-Baha

-- provisional translation by Moojan Momen

(please see some background information at the end of the Tablet)

He is the All- Glorious!

Praise be to Thee, O Lord! O my God! Out of Thy Bounty and Mercy, Thou hast caused the waters of existence to descend from the heaven of Thy Oneness and Thou hast caused the showers of Thine Eternal Bounties to rain down from the clouds of the heaven of Thy Mighty Oneness until, through this most mighty Beneficence, the rivers of Thy most wondrous Grace flowed forth upon the soil of all possible existent realities in Thine act of Creation. All lands and regions were watered by these streaming, heavenly rivers. Every hill and city was inundated by these torrential celestial floods. And then there shone forth upon them the sun of Thy Mercy from the horizon of Thy holy Might. And the grains, O my God, of Thine Exalted Word and Thy Most Mighty Verses were sown in the earth of human capacity by Thy great Grace and Favour.

These existent realities, however, became differentiated and diverged through the effulgences of the Sun of Thy most great Name. Some of them, O my God, just as Thou hast reckoned according to Thy secret knowledge, are pure and refined hearts upon which that Sun imprinted its signs and from which there appeared traces of its effulgence. It hath stirred up and fertilized their soil and there hath grown forth from them the myrtles of love and knowledge of Thee. They have been adorned by the sacred blossoms of yearning for and attraction towards Thee as like a blessed and fertile land. Some, however, O my God, were soiled hearts obscured by the rust of their vain imaginings, veiled from their Lord by the veils of darkness. No trace appears among them of the effulgences of that sun nor of the signs of the One Who hath created and ordained it. Upon their soil, the grain of the mention of their Lord is as upon desolate and barren land. Thou art not, however, O my God, neglectful in Thine effulgences upon the creation and the appearance of Thy signs among existent realities, as Thou hast said, and Thy word is the truth: “No fault canst thou see in the creation of the All-Merciful” (Qura’n 67:3) and “Your creation and your resurrection is but as a single soul (Qur’an 31:28).

Tablet of visitation in honor of Khadíjih Bagum, the wife of the Báb – by Bahá’u’áh

-- provisional translation approved by the Universal House of Justice for inclusion in the book: 'Leaves of the Twin Divine Trees' (by Baharieh Rouhani Ma’ani)

He is the comforter of the sorrowful!

O Pen! Verily Thou hast been visited by a great calamity, an immense affliction, which hath caused the inhabitants of the highest Heaven and most lofty Paradise to lament. Through this affliction sorrow hath ascended until it seized the hem of the robe of the Merciful. Blessed be the man who arose to render her service in her lifetime and visited her grave after she winged her flight and ascended to the world beyond. Blessed likewise be the handmaiden who betook herself to her shrine and through her drew nigh unto God.

The glory shining from the horizon of My luminous Brow, and the splendour of the light manifested from the heaven of My Name, the Most Glorious, be upon thee, O thou the fruit of the divine Lote-Tree, the blessed and luminous leaf, the consort of the One through Whose revelation the kingdom of immortality and the realm of creation were wreathed in smiles! I testify that thou art in truth the first leaf who attained the cup of a sure union and the last fruit who offered up her soul because of her separation from Him. Thou art the one whose inner being was consumed, whose heart melted, and whose limbs were set aflame by reason of thy remoteness from the presence of the One Whom God hath made to be the Dawning-place of His Signs, the Dayspring of His Proofs, the Manifestation of His Names, the Source of His laws, and the Seat of His Throne.

O My leaf and the fragrance of the paradise of My good pleasure! Thou art with the Supreme Companion, and this Wronged One maketh mention of thee in the prison of 'Akká. Thou art she who, before the creation of the world of being, discovered the fragrance of the garment of the All-Merciful. Thou wert honoured with meeting Him, attained union with Him, and drank the wine of nearness from the hand of His bestowal. I testify that in thee two signs have been conjoined: The sign of union revived thee in the beginning and the sign of separation encompassed thy death in the end. How many a night did thy sighs ascend because of thy love for God and thy tears flow at the mention of His Name, the Most Glorious! He hath verily been with thee, witnessing thy burning, thy fervour, thine eagerness, thy yearning, and hearing the lamentation of thy heart and the wailing of thine inner being.

Tablet of visitation for the martyrs of Nayriz, Iran – by 'Abdu'l-Bahá

-- provisional translation

He is God!

O Divine Breezes, wafting over that Most Luminous Spot, convey the fire of the love of my heart, the longing of my soul, the deep attachment of my spirit and the ardent desire of my heart yearning to be at that place where the fallen heads were crowned with the greatest martyrdom adorned with jewels shedding light upon the ages and centuries past as they were separated from their bodies in the Path of God.

Say: May the bright lights shining from the Abha Kingdom Illuminate that brilliant sepulcher. May the soft breezes blowing from the gardens of the Most Sublime Paradise waft over that Most Luminous Spot. That verdant garden, that sublime meadow was honored by you.

O heads severed in the Path of your Lord! O faces illuminated by the light of the Sun of Guidance! O eyes brightened by turning towards the Splendor of the Daystar of Thy Revelation! O ears made receptive by listening to the Call of the Lord! O nostrils invigorated by inhaling the pure breath of the Guidance of God! O palates refreshed by tasting every bitterness yet sweetened in the path of the Love of God!

May my spirit be a sacrifice for you! May my being be a sacrifice for you! May my reality be a sacrifice for you!

Surih-i-Sabr, or Lawh-i-Ayyub (Surih of Patience) - by Baha'u'llah

--- Provisional translation by Khazeh Fananapazir

[“… revealed as far back as the year 1863, on the very first day of His arrival in the garden of Ridvan … (Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah) “… the ‘Suriy-i-Sabr’ (Surih of Patience), revealed on the first day of Ridvan which extols Vahid and his fellow-sufferers in Nayriz …” (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By)]

This is the City of Patience. Strive ye to enter it, O concourse of the patient ones!

In His name, the Exalted One, He Who is the Most Exalted.

This is the remembrance of God in the City of Patience regarding Job, Our servant, Whom We sheltered under the shade of that Holy Tree planted in His heart, to Whom We demonstrated the fire ignited in His Own Essence, and to Whose Self We revealed Our Own Self by His Own Self. We called Job from this sacred Spot whose environs are sanctified with this call, "Verily, He is God, Thy Lord and the Lord of all things. He is All-Powerful over all things, the Self-Subsisting One." When Job's face was illumined by the fire burning in the sacred Tree, We clothed Him with the garment of Prophethood and commanded Him to instruct men in the essence of graciousness and bounty and to invite the people to the holy and beloved Shore. We established Job on earth and caused the waters of divine munificence to descend on Him so that through riches He became independent of all the inhabitants of the earth. We conferred on Him a bounteous fortune and made Him very wealthy in the kingdom. We caused Him to receive a portion of all wealth and strengthened His back with great power. We gave Him sons from his loins and established an exalted station for Him in all the lands.

Commentary on the Islamic Tradition "I was a Hidden Treasure and loved to be known. Therefore I created the Creation that I might be known." (Tafsír-i-Hadith-i-Kuntu Kanzan Makhfíyyan) – by ‘Abdu’l-Baha

--- provisional translation by Moojan Moomen

[Prelude]

. . . And to continue: To him who looks understands these indications, it is well known with respect to the request of that traveller upon the paths of guidance, that bondsman of the King of Divine Authority, that seeker of the hidden Divine secrets, that knower of the secret Heavenly signs, that lover of the household and family of his holiness Mustafa [i.e. Muhammad], the favoured friend of the wayfarers and he who has clung to the Firmest Handle of God [urwatu'llah al-wuthqa] and to the Strongest Rope, `Ali Shawkat Pasha son of the late Agha Husayn Pasha (may God designate for him whatever He wishes), that he has wished this wayfarer upon the Path to write a brief explanation and a short beneficial commentary upon the Holy Tradition [hadith-i qudsi]: "I was a Hidden Treasure and loved to be known. Therefore I created the Creation that I might be known."

In the pearl of each word of this divine song and this heavenly melody, there undoubtedly lie hid unnumbered pearls of hidden knowledge and in the existence of every letter of it, limitless oceans of meaning are concealed. But a sprinkling from that ocean of waves and a drop from that sea may be disseminated on account of the request of friends. And I hope that the explanation of these holy words and heavenly signs may contain the hidden confirmations of the Lord of Might and that His Assistance and unseen Mercy may be made manifest; verily He is the King, the Helper. In the hidden treasures and store-houses of these Heavenly words, the secrets of created things, the cause of the creation of existing things and the raising up of Contingent Being [6] lie concealed.

Tablet of the Uncompounded Reality (Lawh-i-Basit al-Haqiqa) – by Baha’u’llah

--- provisional translation by Moojan Momen

He is God, exalted be He in Might and Greatness!

Concerning what the questioner has asked regarding the statement of the philosophers (hukamá) that "the uncompounded reality [1] is all things", say: know that what is intended by "things" in this context (lit. station, maqám) is none other than being (wujúd) and the perfections (kamalát) of being in so far as they are existent [and not privative] [2]; and by "all" is meant the obtainer (al-wájid). [3] This "all" contains no plurality and no part of it can be compared to the whole. The meaning is that the uncompounded reality, insofar as it is uncompounded in all respects, is the obtainer and gatherer of all the infinite and endless perfections. [4] As it has been said: "His works are limitless." 

In the Persian language, it may be said that what the philosopher means by the word "things" in the afore-mentioned expression is the perfections of being in so far as these are existent [and not privative]; and by the word "all", is meant possession (dárá'í) that is to say obtaining -- the gathering together of all of the limitless perfections, in an uncompounded manner. They have mentioned similar things throughout their discourse on the Divine unity (tawhíd), power (quwwat), and intensity (shiddat) of existence. 

The meaning of the philosopher was not that the Necessarily Existent [God] has become dispersed among (resolved into, lit. dissolved into, munhal) the innumerable existent things. No! Praised be He! Exalted is He above that! Even as the philosophers themselves have stated: "The uncompounded reality is all things, but is not any one thing." 

The Tablet of Unity (Lawh-i Ittihád) – by Baha’u’llah

--- provisional translation by Moojan Momen

He is God! Exalted be He in Wisdom and Exposition!

A letter has been received by this Wronged One from one of the Sayyids [1] who have turned towards God, have listened and responded to their Lord, the Compassionate, the All-Bountiful. All [of them] have been remembered in the presence of this Resplendent Beauty and I ask God (Haqq) to confirm[them] all in that which will cause them to be remembered for ever.

Thou hast asked about unity (ittihád). The first kind of unity is unity in religion. This unity has always been the cause of the victory of the Faith of God in every age and century. Togetherness is the mystic sword of God.

For example, should a government see that most of the people of the country have rent asunder the veils and are turning towards the horizon of Divine revelation, it should remain silent and should listen to what is said. Each person who is attentive attains to the knowledge of God, except those who are utterly distant from the Mercy of God. They indeed are fully deserving of anger and vehement opposition. Such persons are, in any case, forbidden and barred.

Tablet of the Bell (Lawh-i-Náqús) - by Baha’u’llah

--- provisional translation by Stephen Lambden

He is the Almighty.

This [Tablet] is the Meadow of Paradise wherein the melody of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting, hath been exalted. Therein hath Houris [Maidens] of Eternity (huriyyát al-khuld) been empowered whom none hath touched save God, the Almighty, the Sanctified. Therein doth the Nightingale of Eternal Subsistence warble upon the branches of the Lote-Tree of the Extremity (sidrat al-muntahá) with such a melody as hath bedazzled discerning souls (al-‘uqúl). Therein is that through which the poor and needy (al-fuqará’) are made to approach the shore of independent self-sufficiency (shatí al-ghaná’) and the people obtain guidance unto the Word of God (kalimát Alláh). Such, indeed, is the certain Truth!

In Thy Name “He” for Thou, verily, art “He,” O “He”!

O Monk of the Divine Unicity! (ráhib al-ahadiyya) Strike the Bell! (al-náqús) for the Day of God hath been realized and the Beauty of the Divine Might (jamál al-‘izz) been enthroned upon a Throne of Luminous Holiness. So Praised be Thou O “He”! O Thou Who art “He” Who is “He”! O Thou besides Whom there is none other than “He.”

Tablet of the Universe (Lawh-i-Aflákiyyih) – by ‘Abdu’l-Baha

-- provisional translation

Praise be to God Who hath ever caused His Names and Attributes to penetrate the degrees of existence; Who hath made the effects of those Names and Attributes to shine resplendent and their signs to be firmly established in both the hidden and manifest worlds. By them He hath made the holy realities that are informed by His grace and are the recipients of His outpourings to be the sole revealers of all that pertaineth unto Him, and hath caused them to move through the firmament of perfection in arcs of descent and ascent. He hath ordained these Names and Attributes to be the first and foremost origin and cause of being in the world of creation and the source of the different grades of realities in the degrees of existence. When, through its power of attraction and propagation, the Day-Star of Names and Attributes shone upon the hidden realities in the heart of the unseen realm, they issued forth, were spread abroad, scattered about, set in order, became the recipients of the grace of God and His outpourings, and were made to be the sole manifestations of the Divine conditions and Eternal signs. Emerging from behind the veils, they appeared clothed in raiments of light, moving in the firmament of the unity of God, in orbits of sanctity and circles of glorification.

Thus the suns of the praise of the one true God moved resplendent in a vast, infinite space, capable neither of being defined by limits nor contained within the compass of signs and allusions. All praise be to Him Who was its Author and Creator, Who spread it out, and adorned it with countless lamps and never-fading luminaries: 'None knoweth the hosts of thy Lord save Him' (Qur'an, 74:31). He made the circuits of these luminous divine orbs to be their lofty and celestial spheres; and He made the bodies of these spiritual spheres to be subtle and soft, flowing and liquid, undulating and vibrating, in such manner that these refulgent orbs swim in the circumferences of the spheres, and move in their vast space by the aid of their Creator and Maker, their Ordainer and Fashioner.