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June 9, 2013

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!

O brilliant faces! O heavenly souls! O celestial severed heads! O orbs of oneness! O divine soldiers! Blessed are ye! Well done! Glory be upon you! Blessed are you for what you have done. You offered up your possessions, your kindred and your souls in the path of the Glory of God for the love of His Most Exalted Beauty. Praised be Thy Most Glorious Lord as He hath created you, and hath called you into being and hath raised you up from the tombs of self and desire and hath enlisted you under the banner of the Praise of God at the hour when the Most Great Resurrection came to pass.

Then they were gladdened, when the earth was shaken by the great quake and they were cheered by the Glad Tidings. They were delighted, when the Call of God rose from the Highest Pinnacle, and they heard: “Am I not your Supreme Lord?” and they responded: “Yes, our Lord!” And they sacrificed their possessions, and they gave whatever was due to them in this bright and luminous path.

They were torn to pieces by the hands of the ruthless. Their bodies were scattered on the earth. Their heads were severed from their bodies, and hurled to the ground. Then their heads were speared and carried aloft. Their families were exiled to the town where the birth of the Primal Point had taken place, where the heads were raised aloft on spears, and were sent to this blessed and verdant land.

May my spirit be a sacrifice for you! May my being be a sacrifice for you! May my self be a sacrifice for you! May my essence be a sacrifice for you!

O ye, noble heads of men, martyrs in the Path of God, O happy and blissful in this world and in the world to come! Upon you be His Glory. Upon you be His Praise. Upon you be the assistance and the bounty of your Supreme Lord.
- 'Abdu’l-Baha 
(source: http://www.nayriz.org; original Tablet in ‘Awakening: A History of the Babi and Baha’i Faiths in Narriz’, by Hussein Ahdieh and Hillary Chapman)