al-Ziyāra al-jāmi'a al- şaghīra ("The Lesser Visiting Tablet") of the Bab.
Introduction and Translation al-Ziyāra al-jāmi'a al- şaghīra ("The Lesser Comprehensive Visiting Tablet") of the Bab (c.1843-1845).
Stephen Lambden
In progress 2017.
Extant mss. al-Ziyārat al-jāmi`a al-saghīra of the Bāb.
At this point I shall note the following two ms.
- [1]One `separate' ms. is listed by MacEoin : Tehran INBA 5006C "page 2 line 29 top left corner " (Sources, p.203)
- [2] Another complete example is found towards the beginning of the Majlis Lib. ms, of a volume from the Library of a certain Babi-Baha'i named Baqir Naraqi (see PDf. on the `Haykal' page on this website).
Texts may also occur as Pt.I of the Arabic Risala Furu al-`Adliyya of the Bab (see MacEoin Sources 196).
- INBA 3006C: 148-82 -Persian Trans. only
- INBA 5010C : 82-166 - Arabic text + Persian trans.
- INBA 6011C : 81-130 - Persian trans. only.
It is the Tehran Majlis Library manuscripts of the ZJS and ZJK (in Tehran: Majlis Library ms. No. 12448 unpaginated) that has been consulted (with other manuscripts) in preparation of this webpage In his Sources MacEoin registers details of very few other manuscripts of the al-Ziyāra al-jāmi`a al-saghīra (e.g. Tehran, INBA 5006C). He does not, however, cite its opening or closing lines and asserts its position as the first chapter of the Risāla furū` al-'adliyya of the Bāb (see p. 203). This needs to be confirmed.
The Bāb wrote a considerable number (perhaps twenty or more) Ziyāra or sacred visitation texts for twelver Shī`ī and other worthies and notables as well as certain of his major followers, some of whom were martyred before he himself suffered this fate in July 1850.[1] The lesser or shorter ZJS of the Bāb differs considerably from its Shī`ī counterpart and, though rare, is extant in several mamuscripts.[2] It is about four pages long; each page being of 15 lines in the Tehran Majlis ms. It is thus several times the length of its Shī`ī counterpart. The date of the composition of the probably very early (1843-4?), Ziyārat al-jami'a al-saghira and al-kabīra of the Bāb, is currently unknown (cf. MacEoin, Sources, pp. 45-6; Amanat, Resurrection, p.138). It is not mentioned in the Kitāb al-fihrist (Book of the Index) of the Bāb (precisely dated at 21st June 1845) though neither is the KS itself which is, as noted, probably to be dated slightly earlier than this work.
The ZJS of the Bāb is considerably shorter than his (roughly) twenty-five page longer ZJK (see below). It opens with the standard Islamic basmala and continues with a verse of testimony, then various beatitudes upon the Prophet and the Imams, incorporating a few of the clusters of qur’ānic isolated letters prefixed to the reference to the Shī`ī family (āl) of God:
O my God!
May blessings be upon Muhammad and the [Shī`ī] family of Muhammad. Peace be upon thee O [Shī`ī] family of God (āl Allāh), and the Mercy of God and His Blessings (barakāt)! Peace be upon thee O [Shī`ī] family of Ṭ-S-M (=Ṭāʾ-Sīn-Mīm, Q. 28:1, abjad = 109) and the Mercy of God and His Blessings (barakāt)! Peace be upon you O [Shī`ī] family of Ṭ-H (=Ṭāʾ-Hāʾ, Q. 20:1, abjad = 16) and the Mercy of God and His Blessings (barakāt)! [3] Peace be upon you O [Shī`ī] family of Y-S (= Yāʾ-Sīn, Q. 36:1, abjad = 70) and the Mercy of God and His Blessings (barakāt)! (Tehran: Majlis Library ms. No. 12448 unpaginated [pp. 141-2]).
In summary, the shorter al-Ziyāra al-jāmi`a al-saghira of the Bāb to some degree echoes its Imami Shi`i counterpart, opening with a succession of taslim sentences... It also has deeply esoteric and theological dimensions to its high imamological beatitudes and evocations. The Imams become the loci of the sevenfold unitative nexus of cosmological Reality.
The al-Ziyārat al-jāmi`a al-saghīra of the Bāb.
Translation Stephen Lambden - 2017.
IN PROGRESS - last uploaded 9-01-2017.
Opening lines from the Tehran Majlis Baqir Naraqi ms.
I
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
[1] I bear witness that there is no God except God alone. [2] There can be no doubt about this. [3] And I testify that Muhammad is indeed His servant, and His Messenger (rasul).
II
[1]
O my God!
May blessings be upon Muhammad and the [Shī`ī] family of Muhammad.
[2[ Peace be upon thee O [Shī`ī] family of God (āl Allāh), and the Mercy of God and His Blessings (barakāt)!
[3] Peace be upon thee O [Shī`ī] family of Ṭ-S-M (=Ṭāʾ-Sīn-Mīm, Q. 28:1, abjad = 109) and the Mercy of God and His Blessings (barakāt)!
[4] Peace be upon thee O [Shī`ī] family of Ṭ-H (=Ṭāʾ-Hāʾ, Q. 20:1, abjad = 16) and the Mercy of God and His Blessings (barakāt)!
[5] Peace be upon thee O [Shī`ī] family of Y-S (= Yāʾ-Sīn, Q. 36:1, abjad = 70) and the Mercy of God and His Blessings (barakāt)!
ADD TRANS. .
(Tehran: Majlis Library ms. No. 12448 unpaginated [p 141ff)..
The concluding lines of the al-Ziyārat al-jāmi`a al-saghīra of the Bāb (Majlis ms. unpaginated) are as follows:.
... O prople of the Divine Bounty (ahl al-fadl)! Thou art related to Him [him] by virtue of the Divine Power (al-qudrat) and the sphere of al-Jabarut, the realm of Divine Might. Wherefore when I utter the words `Thou art Husayn, Husayn in every possible mode' (fi kull al-sha'n)' and` Praised be unto God' (subhan Allah) thy existence is way beyond whatsoever anyone might [confidently] describe. Then praised be unto God, the Lord of all the worlds (translated from the unpaginated Tehran Majlis ms.)
