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.