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`Abd al-Bahā' - Select Writings and Discourses + PDfs..

 

عباس افندی

   آثار حضرت عبد البهاء

Writings of `Abd al-Bahā’, `Abbas Effendi (1844-1921 CE).

Stephen Lambden, UCMerced.  In progress and under revision, 1980s-2017.

IN PROGRESS

Last updated 27-01-2017.

Some Introductory books and bibliographies consulted here:

  • 1914/1924. ‘Abd al-Husayn Ayatī (b. 1288/1871- d. 1332 Sh./1953) known through his poetic pen-name or takhalluṣ as (among other things) Avārih ("the Wanderer"), Kavakib al-Durriyya fi'l-maʾāther al-bahāʾiyya, vol. II. Cairo: al-Matba‘ah al-Sa‘āda. 1914; Arabic trans. by Aḥmad Fāʾiq, Cairo: XXXX, 1342/1924. He left the Baha'i religion around 1343/1924 having been a zealous missionary, writer and devotee. He was highly praised by `Abd al-Baha' as were the two vols. of his Babi-Baha'i history. For some details see the 1987 [2011] article on him by Iraj Afshār in Encyclopedia Iranica, III:133.  
  • 1959 [1968]. Marzieh Gail (1908-1993), The sheltering branch. (Reprinted.).  Oxford [London]: George Ronald, 1959 + 1968 + Wilmette, Ill., BPT., 1970 ... many reprints (Collins, 82-3).
  • 1962+1973. Moʾayyad, Dr. Ḥabīb Moʾayyad (XXXX), Khātirāt-i Ḥabīb, 2 vols. Tehran: MMMA., 1962, 1973.
  • 1971. Balyuzi, Hasan (b. Shiraz, 1908-d. London, 1980), `Abdu'l-Baha. London: George Ronald. 1971.
  • 1972. Faydī, Muhammad ʿAlī. Ḥayāt-i ḥadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahāʾ, Tehran: MMMA., 1972.
  • 1976. Banani, Amin (b. Tehran, 1926 - d. 2013).  1976 `The Writings of Abd-al-Baha,' in The Baháʾí World XV, 1968-73, Haifa: Baha'i World Centre, 1976, pp. 780-84.
  • 1988. Bausani, Alessandro (d. Rome, 1988) + Denis. MacEoin, art. `ʿABD-AL-BAHĀʾ' in Encyclopedia Iranica, Originally Published: December 15, 1982:
  • http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abd-al-baha
  • 1990. William, P. Collins, Bibliography of English-Language works, on the Babi and Baha'i Faiths. 1844-1985. Oxford: George Ronald, 1990. Pt. III The Writings of `Abdu'l-Baha, pp. 9-17.
  • Denis MacEoin, `The Babi and Bahá'í Religions: An Annotated Bibliography' Part. 2. 'Abdu'l-Bahá' . Before 1997.
  • 2009. Firuz Kazemzadeh `‘Abdu’l-Bahá ‘Abbás (1844–1921)'  © 2009 National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. An article for the Bahá’í Encyclopedia Project. http://www.bahai-encyclopedia-project.org (accessed 3rd Jan. 2017).

For further Biographical Materials see this website:

`Abbas Effendi, `Abd al-Baha' (1844-1921 CE), Some Biographical Notes and Studies.

A loosely chronologically organized List of Select Major, titled and untitled Writings of `Abd al-Bahā’ `Abbas (1844-1921 CE), with some registering of  the text of public and private speeches and compilations of recorded addresses. Also listing select references to original Arabic and Persian mss. and/or printed texts, some in PDf.

PRIMARY SOURCES.

آثار حضرت عبدالبهاء

 

THE SECRET OF DIVINE CIVILIZATION - Persian 1292/1875.

A call for Persian awakening during the Qajar era and subsequent modernization.

رساله مدنيه =  Risāla-yi madaniyya = (Lit.)   `The Treatise on Civilization'; `The Mysterious Forces of Civilization' or `Secret of Divine Civilization` (= SDC).

  • 1882.  Jild al-awwal min asrār al- ghaybiyya li asbāb al-madaniyya. Bombay, 1882
  • 1911 [=1882 Rep. as]. Risāla-yi madaniyya. Cairo, 1911.
  • XXXX. Risāla-yi madaniyya
  • 1986. al-Risāla al-madaniyya. Rio de Janeiro, 1986. Trans. B. Kuylyk (Gulick). Has a foreword by Soheil Bushru’i.
  • Persian printings. PDfs.
  • SELECT TRANSLATIONS:
  • 1910. The Mysterious Forces of Civilisation. Written in Persian by an eminent Bahai philosopher ['Abd al-Bahā ibn Bahā Allāh], and now first put into English by Johanna Dawud. London : Cope & Fenwick, 1910.
  • 1918. The Mysterious Forces of Civilisation. [ Rep. as above]. Chicago: Baha'i Publishing Society, 1918. Copyrighted by Laura Dreyfus-Barney, Paris, France, 131 pp,
  • 1957. The Secret of Divine Civilization. Trans. Marzieh Gail. Wilmette, Il: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1957 XI,116 pp.
  • 1970. The Secret of Divine Civilization. Trans. Marzieh Gail. Wilmette, Il: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 2nd ed. 1970. xi, 126 pp.
  • 1979. The Secret of Divine Civilization. Trans. Marzieh Gail. Wilmette, Il: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 3rd ed. 1979. ix, 126 pp. Rep. 1975,1979,1983 ... 
  • SEE FURTHER
  • Moojan Momen, “The Baha’i Influence on the Reform Movements of the Islamic World in the 1860s and 1870s,” Baha’i Studies Bulletin II/2, (Newcastle) September 1983, pp 47-65.
  • J. Cole, `Iranian Millenarianism and Democratic Thought in the Nineteenth Century Middle East,' IJMES 24, February 1992, pp. 1-26.
  • Sen McGlinn, `RESĀLA-YE MADANIYA' (July 15, 2009) in Encyclopedia Iranica : 
  • http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/resala-ye-madaniya.

A TRAVELLER'S NARRATIVE - c. 1303/1886

A Traveller's Narrative ( = Trav. Narr. ) Maqālah-i shahṣī-i sayyāḥ, written c. 1303/1886.

مقاله شخصی سيّاح  

  • PDf. Sayyah.pdf
  • 1308/1890/2-3. Maqālah-i shahṣī-i sayyāḥ. Bombay lithograph printing in the hand of Mishkin Qalam. 1890.
  • 1891 vol. I = Persian text, = E. G. Browne ed. A traveller's narrative written to illustrate the Episode of the Báb, vol. I Persian text. 211pp. (see below). Edited in the original Persian, and translated into English, with an introduction and explanatory notes, by Edward G. Browne ...
  • 1891 vol. II. English trans. + E. G. Browne, A traveller's narrative written to illustrate the Episode of the Báb II English translation and notes. 447 pp.
  • 1891. A traveller's narrative written to illustrate the episode of the Báb ; composed A.D. 1886 by 'Abbás Effendi, son of Behá'u'lláh, being an authentic description of the Persian Bábí movement, Babism, c. 1884 - 1886 ; Persian text, reproduced after the manuscript and translated into English, with a critical introduction, extensive explanatory notes and other texts and documents, and an index = (Maḳála-i-shakhṣí sayyáḥ). E. G. Browne ed. and trans. 2 vols. 1891.
  •  1891 [1975]. A Traveller's Narrative written to illustrate the Episode of the Báb. [By 'Abd al-Bahā ibn Bahā Allāh.] Edited in the original Persian, and translated into English, with an introduction and explanatory notes, by E. G. Browne. Cambridge : University Press, 1891. Rep. Amsterdam : Philo Press, 1975. 2 vols. in 1. LIII, 447, 211 pp.
  • 13XX/XXXX. Maqālah-i shahṣī-i sayyāḥ. Bombay and Tehran printings.
  • 1962/119 BE., Maqālah-i shahṣī-i sayyāḥ. Tehran: MMMA
  • 1975. A traveller's narrative = Maqála-i-shakhṣí sayyaḥ : written to illustrate t he episode of the Báb : composed a.d. 1886, being an authentic description of the Persian Bábí movement, Babism, c. 1844-1886 ... Rep. Amsterdam : Philo Press, 1975. Translation of Maqālah-ʼi shakhṣī-i sayyāḥ kih dar qaz̤īyah-ʼi Bāb nivishtah ast. Reprint of the 1891 ed. published by Cambridge University Press, London in 2 vols. with with a biographical note by Michael Browne. liii, 447,  212. pp.
  • A traveller's narrative written to illustrate the episode of the Báb ; composed A.D. 1886 by 'Abbás Effendi, son of Behá'u'lláh, being an authentic description of the Persian Bábí movement, Babism, c. 1884 - 1886 ; Persian text, reproduced after the manuscript and translated into English, with a critical introduction, extensive explanatory notes and other texts and documents, and an index = (Maḳála-i-shakhṣí sayyáḥ).
  • 1980 A Traveller's Narrative... trans. E. G. Browne, A New and Corrected Edition, Wilmette, Illinois: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1980.
  • 2001. Maqáliyyih Shakhsí Sayyáh : ki dar tafsíl-i qadiyyah Báb nivishtih ast = "A Traveller's Narrative" : written to illustrate the episode of the Báb. [Germany] Hofheim : Bahái-Verlag, 159 BE/ 2001. 112pp. Persian text with useful preface detailing previous Baha'i printings. A few pages of introduction by Dr. Muhammad Afnan are included (pp. Per. chih-ha).
  • 2013. A Traveller's Narrative Written to Illustrate the Episode of the Bab.  Paperback, [n.p. London?] HardPress Publishing, January 28, 2013 (not seen). 226 pp.

THE TABLET OF THE CELESTIAL SPHERES.

Lawh-i Aflakiyya (The `Tablet of the Celestial spheres'/ `Tablet of the Universe').

SELECT EARLY AND LATER TABLETS OF SCRIPTURAL EXEGESIS.

Islam and the exegesis of the Qur'an and of Islamic Hadith texts or traditions.

See further `Abd al-Baha' on Abrahamic, Islamic and other world religions

The Commentary on the "I was a Hidden Treasure..." Hadith Qudsi (Divine Tradition). c. 1860?

Lawh-i Sharh / Tafsir Kuntu Kanz an Makfiyy an  (`Tablet in exposition of the [Hadith Qudsi, `Sacred (Non-Qur'anic) Tradition', for the Israelite king David], "I was a Hidden Treasure..."). Written for the Ottoman notable `Ali Shawkat Pasha [Turkish, XXX Şevket Paşa] (XXXX-XXXX) and perhaps dating to the late 1850s or early 1860s.

  • Arabic text from Makatib-i Hadrat-i `Abdu'l-Baha', Vol. 2:2-55 : Typescript PDf. Makatib II:2-55.pdf
  • Momen Trans. BSB 3:4 (Dec. 1985), pp.4-64. rev. and corrected, 1996, 2005. Pdf.  MM-Hidden Treasure.pdf
  • Farid Radmehr, شرح حدیث کنت کنز از حضرت اعلىٰ (A Study in the Báb’s Commentary on "Hidden Treasure") in سفينه عرفان دفتر دهم, (Safina-yi `Irfan, vol 10), pp. 38-73 (© 2007, ‘Irfán Colloquia). PDf. Radmehr-Treasure.pdf

       

The Tafsir Basmala, Commentary on the Qur'anic-Islamic `Bismillah al-rahman al-rahim' ("In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate").

The Tafsir Surat al-Rum or Tablet Expository of a few verses at the commencement of the Qur'anic Surat al-Rum (`Surah of the Byzantines/ Byzantium), Q. 30: 2-4 in around forty brief pages.

Ghulibat al-rum = "The Byzantines have been defeated"... Q. 30:2.

A Tafsir or Scriptural Tablet of `Abd al-Bahā' commenting upon the motif of the eschatological "splitting of the moon" (Ar.  انشقاق القمر ,  al-inshiqaq al-qamar; see Q. 54:1f) and a miracle attributed to the Prophet Muhammad.

"The Hour hath drawn nigh and the moon hath been split asunder (anshaqqa al-qamar)" (Q. 54:1).

A Tafsir or Scriptural Tablet of `Abd al-Bahā' commenting upon Qur'an 53:11:

"The inmost heart al-fū'ād) does not lie about what it visions [sees]".

A Turkish Scriptural Tablet of `Abd al-Bahā' commenting upon Qur'an 53:1f.

"By the Fig and By the Olive"

Turkish text and translation :

  • 200X. Necati Alkan

♦

THE TREATISE ON POLITICS - 1893.

رساله سياسيه

Risāla-yi sīyāsiyya = `The Treatise on Politics' (Persian). 

  • رساله سياسيه Risāla-yi sīyāsiyya. Cairo-Bombay. 1893.
  • رساله سياسيه Risāla-yi sīyāsiyya. Tehran: Muhammad Labib, 1934,
  • SELECT TRANSLATIONS: English Translations of the Persian Risāla-yi sīyāsiyya:
  • 19XX. Juan Cole,
  • 2005. Sen McGlinn. trans. in “Church and State, a Postmodern Political Theology,” PhD dissertation, University of Leiden, 2005. pp 379-402.

THE TABLETS OF 1,000 VERSES - 1315/1897-8.

This Lawh-i Hizar Bayti (Tablet of One Thousand Verses) was written for a certain Jalil-i Khu'i - in the mid. 1890s an "agent" of the covenant breaker Jamal-i Burujirdi (d. XXXX) - and was orally delivered to him in person in Tabriz (in Adhirbayjan, NW Persia) by the disciple of Abd al-Baha', Mīrzā Maḥmūd Zarqānī (c.1875-1924).

Mīrzā Maḥmūd Zarqānī (c.1875-1924).

SOME ANSWERED QUESTIONS : 1904-1906.

Some Answered Questions ( = SAQ = Per.) Mufawadat ("Graces")/ al-Nūr al-abha fī mufāwaḍat ʿAbd al-Bahā... (The Most Splendid Light expressing the Graces of `Abd al-Baha'"). World Cat. "94 editions published between 1900 and 2014 in 8 languages and held by 1,054 WorldCat member libraries worldwide". A compilation of  brief addresses given by `Abd al-Baha whilst resident in Acre, Palestine, between 1904 and 1906 with French or English translations. These collected talks were translated from the Persian of ʻAbdul-Baha by Laura Clifford Barney or Laura Dreyfus-Barney (1879-1974) whose husband translated the collection of his wife into French.

The original Persian : PDf.

  • al-Nūr al-abha fī mufāwaḍat `Abd al-Bahā : guft-gū bar sar-nāhār. / Bā-ihtimām-i Klīfūrd Bārnī Āmrīkāniyya ...`Abduʾl-Bahá, 1844-1921. London : Kegan Paul, 1908.
  • Mufāwaḍāt [-i] ʿAbd al-Bahā. Cairo: Faraj-Allāh Zakī al-Kurdī, 13XX-X /1920.
  • Mufāwaḍāt `Abd al-Bahā’ . Pakistan, Karachi, n.d. [198?].

English and French Translations

  • 1908 [English] Some Answered Questions. Collected and translated from the Persian ... by Laura Clifford Barney. London : Kegan Paul & Co., 1908. Google PDf. 
  • 1908 [French] Les Leçons de Saint Jean d'Acre. Recueillies par L. Clifford Barney. Traduit du persan par H. Dreyfus. Paris, 1908.
  • 1918. Some Answered Questions ... Chicago : Bahai Publishing Society, 1918. xiv+350 pp.
  • 1918. Some Answered Questions ... An Appendix to London 1908 edition of Some Answered Questions ... Subject: Strikes. Chicago : Bahai Publishing Society, 1918.
  • 1946. Some Christian Subjects. (Part II of “Some Answered Questions.”) Collected and translated from the Persian of 'Abdu'l-Bahá by Laura Clifford Barney, etc. London : Bahá'í Publishing Trust,  1946.
  • 1961. Some Answered Questions. Collected and translated ... by Laura Clifford Barney. London : Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1961.
  • Some Answered Questions. Collected and translated from Persian by Laura Clifford Barney. Wilmette, IL: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1981.

Revised Baha'i World Centre Translation.

  • Some Answered Questions. Collected and translated from the Persian by Laura Clifford Barney. Newly Revised by a Committee at the Baha'i World Centre. Haifa : Baha'i World Centre, 2014. i-xviii (Rep. Laura Clifford Barney preface + Table of contents),  1-360 (= 84 questions and answers arranged under five headings) +361-283 (Index), pp.
  • Persian original = see above.

Largely Untitled Tablets /Lawh (pl. alwah) of `Abd al-Baha'. Persian, Arabic and Turkish+ English and Other Translations.

Almost all Baha'i publications contain one or more letters or scriptural Tablets (alwah) of `Abd al-Baha'. Revatively few original facsimile mss. have been made available as photocopies or e-texts. These sacred writings amount to around 25-30,000 books, treatises and letters, only a portion of which have been published. Many were compiled by their recipients or members of the family to whom they were originally addressed.  Compilations are numerous of both Persian and/or Arabic as well as Turkish writings which are mostly addressed to individuals. A few major texts have been titled by their author but mostly by  his devotees or members of the Baha'i community. At present there is no systemtic printing of the writings of `Abd al-Baha'.  Many texts have been printed in their Persian and/or Arabic originals, occasionally  with their translation(s).  Numerous Baha'i compliations include texts from both Baha'-Allah and his son `Abdu'l-Baha'. Select examples are listed below in a loosely chronological and thematic manner.

 Makātīb vol.1 +  Makātīb vol. 3 (opening pages)

Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'.

The following eight vols. consist of compilations of Persian and Arabic texts  or scriptural Tablets alwah (sing. lawh) of `Abd al-Baha'. The first three vols. bear the title Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahāʾ and were published in Cairo through Faraj-Allāh Zakī al-Kurdī between 1910/1912 and 1922 .The Baha'i  compiler and editor Faraj-Allāh Zakī al-Kurdī, was at times resident in Cairo, Egypt, during the lifetime of `Abd al-Baha' who himself approved of these early Cairo printings.

  • Vol. I.  Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'.  Faraj-Allāh Zakī al-Kurdī, Cairo: Maṭbūʻāt Kurdistan al-`Ilmiyya [Press],  1328/1910. 488p + i-viii+i-viii (Indexes). Select later reprints supplement this with a further 84 page index.
  • PDf. BWC-retyped. Makatib-I.pdf
  • Vol. II. Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'. Faraj-Allāh Zakī al-Kurdī, Cairo: Maṭbūʻāt Kurdistan al-`Ilmiyya [Press],  1330/1911-12. 336 p. +1-7+1-8 (Indexes).
  • PDf. BWC-retyped. Makatib-II.pdf
  • Vol. III. Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'. Cairo : Maṭbūʻāt, Kurdistan al-`Ilmiyya Press, Faraj-Allāh Zakī al-Kurdī, Day of Kamal of the month of Jalal, 79 BE/ 20th Sha`ban 1340/ 18th April 1922. 512p.
  • PDf. BWC-retyped.
  • PDf. Makātīb III. Pdf.  --  Pdf. [CD] original printing : 
  • Vol. IV. Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'. Tehran : Muʼassasa-yi Millī-i Maṭbūʻāt-i Amrī, 1343 Sh./1964. PDf.
  • PDf. Makātīb IV. Pdf.  --   Pdf. [CD] original printing : 
  • PDf. BWC-retyped.
  • Vol. V.  Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'. Tehran: Muʼassasa-yi Millī-i Maṭbūʻāt-i Amrī, 1344 Sh./1965.PDf.
  • PDf. Makātīb V. Pdf.  --   Pdf. [CD] original printing :
  • PDf. BWC-retyped. 
  • Vol. VI. Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'. Tehran: Muʼassasa-yi Millī-i Maṭbūʻāt-i Amrī, 1345 Sh./1966. PDf.
  • PDf. Makātīb VI. Pdf.  --   Pdf. [CD] original printing : 
  • PDf. BWC-retyped.
  • Vol. VII. Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'. Tehran: Muʼassasa-yi Millī-i Maṭbūʻāt-i Amrī, 1346 Sh./1967. PDf.
  • PDf. Makātīb VII. Pdf.  --   Pdf. [CD] original printing: 
  • PDf. BWC-retyped.
  • Vol. VIII. Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'. Tehran: Muʼassasa-yi Millī-i Maṭbūʻāt-i Amrī, 1347 Sh./1968-69. PDf.
  • PDf. Makātīb VIII. Pdf.  --  Pdf. [CD] original printing : 
  • PDf. BWC-retyped.

In summary, the Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā', vols. IV-VIII were also published in Tehran: Mu`assa-yi Milli-yi Matbu`at-i Amri, 121-134 BE/1966-6/78. A CD printing of scanned images of all of the above listed eight vols. appeared within the 2000 dated CD Rom with the heading, `Makatib-i-`Abdu'l-Baha' )See above original printing PDFs).

Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas, Chicago 1909-1916 (= TAB I-III).

Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas (= TAB I-III).  Comp. Albert R. Windust, 3 vols., Chicago : Bahai Publishing Society, 1909, 1915, and 1916, respectively. English Translations of letters or scriptural Tablets received by early Baha'is and Baha'i institutions in America and Canada. Compiled by  Albert R. Windust (1874- 1956) in 3 volumes. Windust was an early publisher of the Baha'i writings in translation in America and founder of the periodical Star of the West.

  • 1909. Tablets of Abdul Baha Abbas. Vol. I. Chicago: Bahai Publishing Society, 1909 + 1912 + 1919. viii, 238 pp.
  • 1915. Tablets of Abdul Baha Abbas. Vol. II. Chicago : Bahai Publishing Society, 1915 +1919, pages 239-484.
  • 1916. Tablets of Abdul Baha Abbas. Vol. III. Chicago : Bahai Publishing Society, 1916 +1919, pages 485-730.

A second printing of the three above mentioned vols. took place in the 1930s and 1940s (see Collins 3.152 page 15).

  • PDf. Retyped [uncorrected] version of the Windust comp. : TAB I-III.pdf.

ʻAbd al-Ḥamīd Ishrāq Khāvarī, Māʼidah-i āsmānī. Comp. late 1960s-early 1970s.

مائده آسمانى 

Māʼidah-i āsmānī ("The Heavenly Table" cf. Q. 5:112) is a compilation of the writings of the three central figures of the Baha'i religion, Baha'-Allah, `Abd al-Baha' and Shoghi Effendi. They were first published in Tehran in nine volumes Ma'ida-yi asmani,  between 128-129 BE., (= Baha'i Era) or 1972-4 CE, (supplemented by an index vol.10 ). Three of the vols, contain writings or alwah of `Abd al-Baha - the others consisting of the writings of Baha'-Allah (vols. I+IV+VII) and Shoghi Effendi (vols.     ):

  • مائده آسمانى جلد ۲ Māʼidah-i āsmānī vol II.  Tehran : Muʼassasah-i Millī-i Maṭbūʻāt-i Amrī, 128 BE/1971-2.
  • Māʼidah-i āsmānī, Vol. V. Tehran:Muʼassasah-i Millī-i Maṭbūʻāt-i Amrī, 129 BE/1972-3.
  • Māʼidah-i āsmānī, Vol, IX.  Tehran: Muʼassasah-i Millī-i Maṭbūʻāt-i Amrī, 129 BE/1972-3.
  • Reprint :

Selections from the Writings of `Abdu’l-Bahá trans. Marzieh Gail : = SWAB., 1978.

I am placing this compilation here because it partially retranslates, supercedes and replaces the three volume Windust compilations listed above.

  • 1978. Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha. Comp. Research Department of the Universal House of Justice and trans. committee at the Baha'i World Centre and by Marzieh Gail. Wilmette, IL: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1978. 309pp.
  • منتخباتى از مکاتىب حضرت عبد البهاء .1979. Muntakhabātī az makātīb-i ḥadrat-i ʻAbd al-Bahāʼ. Wilmette, Ill. : Bahá'í Pub. Trust, ©1979. 309pp. Original Persian and Arabic texts of the above (1978 English trans.).  Contains 237 partial or complete texts of  Persian and Arabic letters or alwah.
  • 1996. Selections from the Writings of `Abdu’l-Bahá. Comp. Research Department of the Universal House of Justice and trans. committee at the Baha'i World Centre and by Marzieh Gail. Wilmette, IL: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1996.
  • PDf. BWC-E-text : Selections-SWAB.pdf

منتخباتى از مکاتىب حضرت عبد البهاء.

Muntakhabāti az Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'.

Successive Persian and Arabic German printed compilations of the writings of `Abd al-Baha':

  • منتخباتى از مکاتىب حضرت عبد البهاء. These vols.  seem to be viewed as a continuation of the above (SWAB).
  • ADD Here.
  • 19XX. Muntakhabātī az makātīb-i Ḥaḍrat-i ʻAbd-al-Bahāʼ. Lajna-yi Millī-i Na shr-i Āthār-i Amrī bi Lisān-i Farsī wa ʻArabī.  Lānginhāyn - Ālmān =  Hofheim Baháʼí-Verlag,
  • 1984. Muntakhabāti az Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā', Vol.II [Contains this note]"Compilation  from the Persian writings of `Abdu'l-Baha (mostly unpublished)". [Haifa]:Baha'i World Centre, 1984. 285pp. [Index = pp. 271-285]. Printed in Great Britain [the UK.], Bungay, Suffolk: Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press Ltd). This volume consists of the Persian and Arabic originals of English language 1978 volume `Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha' (= SWAB  see above). The original texts here are numbered 1-378.
  • 1992. Muntakhabātī az makātīb-i Ḥaḍrat-i ʻAbd-al-Bahāʼ. vol. 3., Lajna-yi Millī-i Na shr-i Āthār-i Amrī bi Lisān-i Farsī wa ʻArabī.  Lānginhāyn - Ālmān =  Hofheim Baháʼí-Verlag, 1992. 228+12 pp.
  • 2000. Muntakhabātī az makātīb-i Ḥaḍrat-i ʻAbd-al-Bahāʼ. vol. 4., Lajna-yi Millī-i Na shr-i Āthār-i Amrī bi Lisān-i Farsī wa ʻArabī.  Lānginhāyn - Ālmān =  Hofheim: Baháʼí-Verlag, 157 BE/2000. 300+ (Index)17 pages.
  • 140BE/1984. Vol. IV. Muntakhabāti az Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'. Vol. IV.  Lānginhāyn, Ālmān-i Gharbī [Langenhaim: West Germany] : Lajnah-i Millī-i Nashr-i Āthār-i Amrī, 157 BE/2000.  300 pp. +xvii [Index] pp.
  • 2003. Muntakhabātī az makātīb-i Ḥaḍrat-i ʻAbd-al-Bahāʼ. vol. 5., Muʼassasa-yi Maṭbūʻāt-i Amrī. Lānginhāyn - Ālmān =  Hofheim: Baháʼí-Verlag, 159 BE/2003. 227+ Index (= pp. 231-242). 
  • 159 BE/2003. Vol V. Muntakhabāti az Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'. Vol. 5.  Lānginhāyn, Ālmān-i Gharbī [Hofheim, Langenhaim: West Germany] : Lajnah-i Millī-i Nashr-i Āthār-i Amrī bih lasan-i farsi va `arabi, 159 BE/2003.  242 pp. including 14/16 pp. index.
  • 2005. Muntakhabātī az makātīb-i Ḥaḍrat-i ʻAbd-al-Bahāʼ. vol. 6., Lajna-yi Millī-i Na shr-i Āthār-i Amrī bi Lisān-i Farsī wa ʻArabī.  Lānginhāyn - Ālmān =  Hofheim Baháʼí-Verlag. 510pp.

♦

Select Miscellaneous Tablets and Talks of `Abd al-Baha Published in the West between 1894 and 1910.

Myron H Phelps (1856-1916) and his 1903-4 Vol.

Myron H Phelps; ʻAbd-al-Bahā' - 1903+4, 1912..

  • Life and Teachings of Abbas Effendi: a study of the religion of the Babis ... With an introduction by E. G. Browne.Myron H. Phelps. New York ; London : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1903.
  • Life and teachings of Abbas Effendi : a study of the religion of the Babis, or Beha'is founded by the Persian Bab and by his successors, Beha Ullah and Abbas Effendi. New York London : Putnam's Sons, 1904. With an introd. by Edward Granville Browne, Prof. Cambridge. xliii, 259 pp.
  • Life and Teachings of Abbas Effendi ... Second, revised, edition. Myron H. Phelps. New York ; London : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1912.
  • 1905+6. Tablet to the Beloved of God of the Occident.  Translated by M. A. Esphahani. 1905. 16 pp. Here Aḥmad Eṣfahānī = Mirza Aḥmad Sohrab.
  • 1906. From Abdul Baha to a lady who visited Acre in February, 1906. Translated by his daughter Monever Khanum from the original Persian. Edinburgh: T. & A. Constable, c.1907. 7pp.

Tablet  to E. E. Wrestling Brewster, c. 1907.

The Tablet  to E. E. Wrestling Brewster (XXXX) regarding Emanuel Swedenborg (b. Stockholm, Sweden, 1699 - d. London, 1772) or the relation between the "Revelation(s) of Swedenborg and those of Baha'-Allah. c. 1906-7.

This Persian Tablet is among those addressed to E. E. Wrestling Brewster, "a Swedenborgian attached to the New Jerusalem Church" who became a Baha'i in 1906 and privately published this text in 1907, just prior to its delayed inclusion in the Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas (see vol.- pp. XXX-XXX). The Persian original was printed in volume III of the Faraj Allah Zaki al-Kurdi, Cairo printed Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'  on the 18th April 1922 (see above). Therein `Abd al-Baha' probably referred to Emanuel Swedenborg and/or the Bab (? according to Shoghi Effendi) as an important mubashshir "herald of the second coming of Christ"  and munad  "announcer or  herald of the Babi-Baha'i religion(s), the "Pathway of the Kingdom" (munadi-yi tariq-i malakut; refer Makatib III: 251, image cited above). This is parallel to the way in which he referred to the biblical scholar T. K. Cheyne (d.1915) as an important  (Ar. + Per.) munadi "announcer" (or again) "herald" of the Babi-Baha'i relgions. 

Swedenborg greatly promoted the spiritual or allegorical interpretation of biblical scripture as is clearly evident in his scores of Latin writings, many volumes of which have repeatedly been translated into English. In  this Tablet Swedenborg is most likely the one referred to as an "Em[m]anuel" who "was indeed the Herald of the Second Coming of Christ, and a Summoner to the pathway of the Kingdom". Shoghi Effendi wrote at least one letter identifying the (possibly biblical) Emmanuel (spelt with two letter "m"s in the 1611 Authorized, `King James` version Isaiah 7:14) here, with the Bab. This latter interpretation may  also have been suggested by some early Baha'i writers and publishers.

Persian text and translations:

  • 1922. Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'. Cairo : [Kurdistan `Ilmiyya Press], Faraj-Allāh Zakī al-Kurdī, (Day of Kamal of the month of Jalal, 79 BE/ 20th Sha`ban 1340/ 18th April 1922)  pp. 249-252. PDf. L-W B-Makatib III.pdf 
  • 1907 [1979]. Persian text of the Tablet of `Abd al Baha' to E. E. Wrestling Brewster as printed in منتخباتى از مکاتىب حضرت عبدالبهاء. Muntakhabātī az makātīb-i ḥadrat-i ʻAbd al-Bahāʼ (Wilmette, Ill. : Bahá'í Pub. Trust, 1979 = SWAB-Per. 1979), Sect 31. pp. 59-64. PDf. Wrestling Brewster [Swedenborg].pdf 
  • 1907. Tablets from Abdul Baha to E. E. Wrestling Brewster. Washington, D.C., I907. Trans. Mirza Ahmad Esphahani [= Ahmad Sohrab] on March 6th, 2 a.m. 1907 in Washington D.C.  8 pp. PDf Trans. Westling Brewster.pdf
  • 1925. The above translation is also published in Reality Magazine (New York, 1st editor H.G. Dyar; began 1919) Vol. III (May 1925) No.1 pp.13-16 under the heading The Descent of the New Jerusalem' and with the `Editor's Note' on page 16 reading, `His highness Emanuel refers to the brilliant scientist and religious teacher Emmanuel Swedenborg'. See PDf. below :
  • https://books.google.com/books?id=TQ4YAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA4-PA13&lpg=RA4-PA13&...
  • 1978. Marzieh Gail trans, in Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, section 29. pp.    PDf.
  • Sen McGlinn trans, `Tablet regarding Emanuel Swedenborg'

In the above notes I have largely relied on the detailed researches published by Sen McGlinn in his  blog :

Tablet in explanation of the Symbol of the Greatest Name (al-ism al-a`zam) inscribed upon Baha'i Ringstones. c. 1911.

This important Persian explanation of one of the Baha'i graphical symbols of the al-ism al-a`zam ("Greatest Name of God") was written in responce to an question from a Parisian enquirer (an jinab dar paris, `that eminent one in Paris' [not Angelman?]). The symbol, probably devised by `Abd al-Baha' himself, has multiple Arabc letter B's ( beh) and letter H's  (ha ) spelling out the Arabic-Persian word بهاء , Baha' (Glory, Splendour) in four directions, flanked by two five pointed stars (haykals or pentalphas = ✩ ) symbolizing the Bab and Baha-Allah.This Lawh al-ism al-a`zam of `Abd al-Baha' has several times been printed in small calligraphic handwriting inside and adjacent to the larger greatest Name symbol. A framed calligraphic printing signed `Ayn  - `Ayn (=`Abd al-Baha' Abbas) and by Nur al-Din Zain (?) is dated 1330/1911-12. This Tablet with a decorative and ornate Persianate framing has several times been made available. The straightforwardly printed Persan text has also been printed a number of times :

Persian printed text :

  • 1971. Rep. XXXX  `Abd al-Hamid Ishraq Khavari, Ma'ida-yi asmani. Vol. II, pp. 11-103. Pdf.
  • TRANSLATIONS :
  • 191X.  Portion of a Tablet Explaining the Inscription of the Ring-Stone. n.p., n.d. [after 1913]. See Collins 1990. No. 3.90. 5 (page 12) where we read, "Dittoed compilation of Tablets regarding the Greatest Name and the ringstone symbol. Includes an essay by Thornton Chase entitled 'Greatest Name'."
  • 19XX. Tablets of Abdul Baha Abbas. Vol. X. Chicago: Bahai Publishing Society, 19XX, pp.
  • 1923 + 8: Baha'i Scriptures. ed. Horace Holley. New York Brentano's Inc., 1923 (the trans. is slighly abridged = pp. 478-479, No.914). Rep. Baha'i Publishing Committee, 1928.
  • 1945+1971. Baha'i World Faith.
  • 1994. Denis MacEoin. Rituals In Babism and Bahaism: Cambridge: Centre of Middle Eastern Studies, 1994. Appendix XXII, pp. 143-144. PDf.

The Tablet of the Seven Candles or Lights of Unity. 19XX.

This is an expository A Tablet written for Mrs Jane Elizabeth Whyte (1857-1944), wife of the renowed biblical scholar  Dr. Alexander Graham Whyte. `Abd al-Baha visited this couple and others at 7 Charlotte Square in Edinburgh in January 1913 (he stayed in Edinburgh from 6th-10th Jan. 1913).

  • The seven candles of unity - Persian text in SWAB Per. Ar.  PDf.
  • Trans. in 1978. Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 32.
  • Anjam Khursheed. The Seven Candles of Unity: Story of Abdul-Baha in Edinburgh.  London: Baháʾí Publishing Trust, 1991. 288 pp.
  • See also PDf : http://bahaistudies.net/bahaiworks/edinburgh.pdf

♦

Miscellaneous Tablets and Speeches of `Abd al-Baha' delivered between 1910 and 1921.

Star of the West, ed. Howard McNutt. 1910-1924.

Numerous letters or scriptural Tablets and talks of ʿAbd-al-Bahāʾ can be found in the many volumes of Star of the West. The Bahaʾi Magazine, vols. 1-14 (1910-24) which was reprinted in 1978 by George Ronald Publshers (Oxford), in 8 vols.

  • 1910>
  • Rep. 1978.

Abdul Baha in Egypt. 1st ed. 1929.

  • Abdul Baha in Egypt. [With a portrait.] New York : J. H. Sears & Co.,  1929.
  • 'Abdu'l-Baha's journey west : the course of human solidarity / edited by Negar Mottahedeh. Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

  • 1910. The True Gardener. From words spoken by Abdul Baha. London : Unity Press, c.1910.

EUROPE AND AMERICA - 1911-1913.

Talks or Addresses (Khiṭábát) delivered in the West, Europe and America, 1911-1913.

Select Original  Persian and ArabicTexts can be found in :

  • 1340/1921. [Vol.1] Khiṭābāt ḥadrat ʻAbd al-Bahāʼ fī Ūrubā wa Amrīkā : al-juzʼ al-awwal fī safarah al-awwal ilá Ūrubā. [Addresses Delivered during the first journey to Europe]. [Egypt] Cairo : Faraj Allāh Zakī  al-Kurdi ,1340/1921. 288 pp.
  • 127BE./1970-1971. [Vol.2] Khiṭābāt-i mubāraka-i ḥadrat-i ʻAbd al-Bahāʼ dar safar-i Amrīkā. [Addresses Delivered during the first journey to Europe] Tehran: MMMA, 347+21 pp.
  • XXX/XXX [Vol.3]. Khaṭābāt-i asfār-i Urūpā va Imrīkā va Miṣr va Ard-i Aqdas (Addresses delivered during the journey to Europe and America as well as Egypt and the Holy Land). 108+4 pp. [see the 3 vol.  compilation below, Pt. 3].
  • 140 BE/1984. مجموعۀ خطابات حضرت عبد البهاء = Majmūʻa -ʼi khaṭābāt-i Ḥadrat-i ʻAbd al-Bahāʼ. Lānginhāyn, Ālmān-i Gharbī [Langenhaim: West Germany] : Lajnah-i Millī-i Nashr-i Āthār-i Amrī, 140 BE/1984.  790 pp.  This sizable German printed Persian text is actually 3 volumes in constituting, 1: Khaṭābāt-i safar-i avval-i Urūpā (Addresses delivered during the first visit to Europe); 2. Khaṭābāt-i safar-i Imrīkā va Kānādā -- (Addresses delivered during the journey to America and Canada) and 3. Khaṭābāt-i asfār-i Urūpā va Imrīkā va Miṣr va Ard-i Aqdas (Addresses delivered during the journey to Europe and America as well as Egypt and the Holy Land).
  • Earl Redman, `Abdu'l-Bahá in Their Midst. Oxford: George Ronald Ltd., 1984. 384pp. The story of the journeys of 'Abdu'l-Bahá to Europe and North America between 1911 to 1913.

PARIS TALKS (= PT), 1912.

During his stay in Paris at 4 Avenue de Camoens and elsewhere in 1912, `Abd al-Baha' gave short early morning Persian talks which were translated into French then subsequently (with his blessing) translated into English and published. This volume was also published under the title, The Wisdom of ʿAbd-ul-Bahāʾ. The original Persian transcripts of many of these`Paris Talks'  addresses appear to have been lost.

  • Talks by Abdul Baha given in Paris. East Sheen : Unity Press, 1912.
  • Talks by Abdul Baha given in Paris. London : G. Bell & Sons, Ltd. 1915.
  • Talks by Abdul Baha given in Paris. 4th ed. London : G. Bell & Sons, Ltd. 1920. 171pp.
  • Paris Talks… London. BPT. 1961.
  • Paris Talks: Addresses Given by 'Abdu'l-Balui in Paris 1911-1912. 11th ed. London: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1969.

ENGLAND BRITISH ISLES [UK]: LONDON, ETC `Abd al-Baha' was in the UK  between

`Abd al-Baha' in London,

Abdul Baha in London: Addresses, & notes of conversations, 1912.

  • Abdul Baha in London. Addresses, and notes of conversations. With an introduction by Eric Hammond. East Sheen : Unity Press, 1912. xiv+134 pp. Rep. London: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1982. PDf.
  • ʿAbduʾl-Bahá in London - Searchable Project Gutenberg EBook : AB-London.pdf
  • `Abd al-Baha' In Oxford.

AMERICA [USA] AND CANADA

`Abd al-Baha' in America : http://centenary.bahai.us/

For useful details regarding `Abd al-Baha's 239 days in America see:

  • Allan L. Ward, 239 days : ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's journey in America. Wilmette, Ill. : Bahá'í Pub. Trust, 1979. xii, 218 pp.
  • See further the excellent `239 Days in America, a Social Media Documentary' : http://239days.com/page/10/

`Abd al-Baha arrived in New York on April 11, 1912.

The Promulgation of Universal Peace (= PUP). 1911-1913. 2 vols., Chicago, 1921/2-1925. 

  • The Promulgation of Universal Peace (= PUP). 

Howard MacNutt comp.

  • 1921-2. 1st ed. Vol.1 The promulgation of universal peace : discourses. Comp., ed. with an introduction by Howard MacNutt. Chicago : Published by Executive board of Bahai Temple unity, 1922. Contains English (pp. i- vii) and Persian rev. thirty page Introd. based on the McNutt. trans. at the direction of `Abd al-Baha' and dated Haifa, 1920. 232pp. + Index pp.i-xii.
  • Vol. 2 The promulgation of universal peace : discourses. Comp., ed. with an introduction by Howard MacNutt. Chicago : Published by Executive board of Bahai Temple unity, 192X,    pp.
  • 1921-2. PDf from Princeton Theological Seminary Library: https://ia800204.us.archive.org/9/items/promulgationofun01abdu/promulgat...
  •  
  • The promulgation of universal peace : talks delivered by 'Abdul'-Bahá during his visit to the United States and Canada in 1912 / compiled by Howard MacNutt. ʿAbduʾl-Bahá, 1844-1921. Wilmette : Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1982. xx, 513 pp.
  • 1982. The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by 'Abdu'l-Baha during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912. Comp. Howard MacNutt. 2nd.,Rev. ed. Wilmette, IL: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1982.
  • PDf. Typed electronic version : http://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/promulgation...

Mīrzā Maḥmūd Zarqānī  (c. 1875-1924). 

محمود زرقاني

Mīrzā Maḥmūd Zarqānī was a "Persian Bahá’í travel teacher and chronicler of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s travels in the West. In his youth Mahmud made travel teaching trips around Iran. From 1903 he began to go to India, where he traveled for several years and learned Urdu. During this period he went on pilgrimage to Haifa, where he was responsible for transcribing Tablets, and from there he accompanied ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on His journey to Europe and America.” From [trans.]- Mahmud’s Diary, 453.

  •   كتاب بدائع الاثار في اسفار مولى الاخيار الى ممالك الغرب بالعزة والاقتدار
  •   = Kitāb badāʼiʻ al-āthār fī asfār Mawlá al-Akhyār ilá mamālik al-gharb bi'l-ʻizzat wa-al-iqtidār = (The Book of the Wonders of the Effects pertaining to the Travels of the Incomparable Master unto the Dominions of the West with might and power"). Transliterations vary...
  • 1332/1914. Kitāb badāʼiʻ al-āthār ... (1st ed. ), Vol.1 Bombay: Matbu`at-i Elegant Litho[graph] Press. 1332/1914. Persian text  in the hand of Shaykh Husayn Shahabadi 432pp.
  • 1340/1921. Kitāb badāʼiʻ al-āthār ...(1st ed.), Vol. 2 [Bombay: Karimi Press. 1340/1921. Persian text... in hand of Shaykh Husayn Shahabadi..... 392pp.
  • Kitáb-i Badāʼ-yi al-āthār / Kitab Badāʼ-i al-āthār ... The Diary of Mírzá Maḥmúd-i Zarqání. Bombay: XXX, 2 vols. 1914, 1921.
  • 1982. Rep. Badáyiʻu'l-áthár : travels of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to the West. 1. Hofheim-Langenhain : Bahá'í-Verl., 1982. Reprint of Vol.1 of the Bombay ed. of 1914.
  • 1982. Rep. Kitáb-i-badáyiʻuʼl-át̲h̲ár [sic.] travels of ʻAbduʼl-Bahá to the West. Hofheim-Langenhain Baháʼí-Verlag, 1982. Reprint of the 1921 printing of vol.2 of the original.
  • Translations :
  • 1996. ʿAbduʾl-Bahá in America : Agnes Parsons' diary, April 11, 1912-November 11, 1912, supplemented with episodes from Maḥmúd's diary / annotated and edited by Richard Hollinger ; with a foreword by Sandra Hutchinson. Agnes S. Parsons, 1861-1933. Los Angeles : Kalimát, 1996.
  • 1998. Mahmud's Diary: The Diary of Mirza Mahmud-I-Zarqani - Chronicling Abdu'l-Baha's Journey to America. Oxford: George Roland, 1998. 
  • Maḥmúd's diary : the diary of Mírzá Maḥmúd-i-Zarqání, chronicling 'Abdu'l-Bahá's journey to America / translated by Mohi Sobhani with the assistance of Shirley Macias. Maḥmūd Zarqānī. Oxford : George Ronald, 1998.

See further :

Foundations of World Unity : compiled from addresses and tablets of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. 1955.

A Compiation of English translations of speeches or addresses and tablets of `Abd al-Baha'.

  • Foundations of World Unity. Comp. Horace Holley. Wilmette, IL: Baha' i Publishing Trust, 1955+1958,1971+2.
  • Foundations of World Unity. Comp. Horace Holley. Wilmette, IL: Baha' i Publishing Trust, 1979. 112pp.
  • PDf+ Project Gutenberg, 2006..

ʻAbduʼl-Bahá's journey West : the course of human solidarity. 2013.

  • ʻAbduʼl-Bahá's journey West : the course of human solidarity. ed. Negar Mottahedeh. New York, NY : Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.  "This edited volume of specially commissioned essays marking the centenary of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's journey to the West documents the uniqueness of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's vision of human solidarity and peace in the context of twentieth century modernity and show the moral impact of his principled positions on the emergent Civil Rights movement in America." xii, 196 pp. Contents : 1. Introduction; Negar Mottahedeh - 2. Laura Dreyfus-Barney and 'Abdul-Bahá's Visit to the West; Mona Khademi - 3. An Analysis of 'Abdul-Bahá's Visit to North America in 1912; Robert H. Stockman - 4. 'Abdul-Bahá's Critique of Nationalist Amnesia; Nader Saiedi - 5. A Troubled Modernity: W.E.B Du Bois, 'The Black Church, ' and the Problem of Causality; Guy Emerson Mount - 6. 'Abdul-Bahá's 1912 Howard University Speech: A Civil War Myth for Interracial Emancipation; Christopher Buck - 7. Orientals Meeting in the West: Foes Become Friends; Mina Yazdani."     

CANADA = `Abd al-Baha' was in Canada, Montreal, August 30 -September 9., 1912.

HUNGARY - `Abd al-Baha' WAS in Hungary, April 8th-18th, 1913.

MEMORIALS OF THE FAITHFUL - c. 1915. ‏تذكرة الوفآة في ترجمة حياة قدماظ الاحبآء

تذكرة الوفاء

Memorials of the Faithful =  تذكرة الوفاء  Tadhkirat al-wafāʼ.. short talks delivered in 1915. Pub. 1924.

Persian originally orally transmitted accounts of the diverse lives of select early Babi and Bahaʾi believers all of whom died before 1916.  The first Haifa 1342 / 1924 printing of the compilation of these discourses in Persian (see below) is very rare. Copies exist, for exmaple, in a few libraries in Israel and in Leiden University Library. 

  • Persian texts and printings of تذكرة الوفاء : PDfs.
  • Tadhkirat al-wafāʼ fī tarjama ḥayāt qudamāʼ al-aḥibbāʼ .Printing financed by Muhammad Husayn `Ali Akbar Yazdi... Haifa, 1924. 312pp.
  • تذكرة الوفاء في ترجمة حياة قدماء الاحباء 1924 = Tadhkirat al-wafāʼ fī tarjamat ḥayāt qudamāʼ al-aḥibbāʼ : dar bayān-i ḥāl-i qudamāʼ-i yārān ... Haifa [Ḥayfā] : al-Maṭbaʻat al-ʻAbbāsiyya Press, 1342/1924. 316 pp. 
  • Rep. 197?. Tadhkirat al-wafāʼ fī tarjamat ḥayāt qudamāʼ al-aḥibbāʼ. Tehran: MMMA., 316pp.

  • PDf/  BWC = http://reference.bahai.org/fa/t/ab/   (item 4). PDf.  BWS-Per Tadhkrat al-vafa.pdf
  • ‏تذكرة الوفآة في ترجمة حياة قدماظ الاحبآء = Tadkirat al-wafa' fi tarjamat hayat qudama' al-ahibba' : dar bayan-i hal-i qudama'-i yaran ... "Memorials of the faithful".  Hoffheim / Hufhaym [Germany] : Mu'assasat-i Matbu'ati-i Amri-i Alman, 2002. 5, 222, [14] pp. . 
  • Tadhkiratu’l-Vafa – “Memorials of the Faithful” = Tadhkirat al-wafāʼ fī tarjama ḥayāt qudamāʼ al-aḥibbāʼ...  2002. 232p.

ARABIC TRANS. HUSAYN RUHI 1950 REPRINT 2004.

  

Select English Translations:

THE TABLET(S) TO THE HAGUE, 1919-1920.

Lawh-i Laha = `Tablet(s) to the Hague'.

The Tablets to the Hague (Netherlands), Comittee,`The Central Organization for a Durable Peace' : [1] December 17th 1919. [2] July 1920. For some details see Balyuzi, `Abdu'l-Baha (London: George Ronald),1971: 438f. Cf. Central organisation for a durable peace ... Manifesto. The Hague: The Organisation, 1915. 2pp. + A durable peace. Official commentary on the minimum-program. The Hague, c. 1917. 46pp.

These Tablets of `Abd a-Baha' were precipitated by a correspondance between the Central Organization for Durable Peace at the Hague and the Persian Baha'is Aḥmad Yazdānī and Mirza `Ali Muhammad, the `Hand of the Cause' Ibn-i Asdaq (b. Mashshad 1850, d. Tehran 1928). In 1919 ʿAbd-al-Bahāʾ gave  these two Baha'is the responsiblity of delivering his Tablet(s) addressed to the Central Organization for a Durable Peace.

  • The Original Persian texts. PDf.
  • The Tablet to the Hague Translations :
  • 1919. Abdul-Baha's letter to the Central Organization for a durable peace at The Hague.  Translation of Abdul-Baha's Letter to the Central Organization for a durable peace at The Hague by Shoghi Effendi. et. al, 24pp.
  • 1920 `Letter and tablet from Abdul-Baha to the Central Organization for a Durable Peace, The Hague'. Chicago: Bahai Publishing Society, 1920. 15pp.
  • 1970. `From alienation to world peace -- Interchage: letters ... The tablet to the Hague / by Firuz Kazemzadeh in  World Order Magazine. Willmere, Ill. : National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States, ©1970.
  • 1979. `Tablet to the Hague : a letter written by 'Abdu'l-Bahá to the Central Organization for a Durable Peace, The Hague, 17 December 1919.'  London : The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'is of the British Isles, c.  1979.
  • SEE ALSO : http://bahaiteachings.org/abdul-bahas-program-for-a-durable-peace-1919

THE FOURTEEN TABLETS OF THE DIVINE PLAN (= TDP). 1916 and 1917.

Written in two, two monthly periods (March-April) between March 26th 1916 - March 8th 1917,

Eight `Tablets' dating to 1916  and six to 1917. 

Tablet to the Western States April 1, 1916.

UNDER REVISION

Original Postcard texts and printed edition Makatib III :

 

UNDER REVISION = IN PROGRESS,,,

  • Persian printing: Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'. Vol. III. Cairo : [Kurdistan `Ilmiyya Press], Faraj Allah Zaki al-Kurdi, the day of Kamal of the month of Jalal, 79 BE/ 20th Sha`ban 1340/ 18th April 1922. 2-63/ [Pt. I = Eight Tablets] pp. 2- 35  + [Pt. II = Six Tablets] 36-63. PDf. TDP = Makatib III: 2-63. TDP Makatib III.pdf

 A Successive listing and Chronological  dating of the Tablets of the Divine Plan in Makatib III is as follows :

First Section  =  Eight Tablets.

  • [1] `Tablet Revealed for the Baha'is of the  Northeastern States [of America] : for the Bahá’ís of nine Northeastern States of the United States: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Bahji, Monday morning, March 26th 1916. Makatib III:3-5. 
  • [2]  `Tablet for the Baha'is of the Southern States [of America] : the Bahá’ís of the sixteen Southern States of the United States: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Bahji, March 27th 1916. Makatib III:5-6.
  • [3]  `Tablet for the Baha'is of the 12 Central States [of America] :  for the Bahá’ís of twelve Central States of the United States: Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. Bahji, March 29th 1916. Makatib III: 7-9.
  • [4]  `Tablet for the Baha'is of the 11 Western States [of America] : for the Bahá’ís of eleven Western States of the United States: New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, California, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Bahji, on April 1st 1916. Makatib III:10-12.
  • [5] `Tablet for the Baha'is of Canada and Greenland' : Bahá’ís of Canada—Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Mackenzie, Keewatin, Ungava, Franklin Islands—and Greenland. Bahji on April 5th 1916, Makatib III:12-14.
  • [6] `Tablet for the Baha'is of the [twelve] Central States [of America] and Canada : for the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. Bahji, April 8th 1916. Makatib III:15-19
  • [7] `Tablet  for the Baha'is of the United States and Canada.  Bahji, April 11, 1916. Makatib III: 19-26.
  • [8] `Tablet  for the Baha'is of the United States and Canada. Bahji, Tuesday-Friday, 19th, 20th 22nd April, 1916. Makatib III: 27-35. 

Second Section  = Six Tablets [9-14].  

  • [1] [Pt.II: 1 = 9] `Tablet Revealed for the Baha'is of the Northeastern States [of America] : for the Bahá’ís of the nine Northeastern States of the United States: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Haifa, Residence of Ismá’íl Áqá,  Friday morning 2nd Feb. 1917. Makatib III: 36-40.
  • [2] [Pt.II: 2 =10] `Tablet Revealed for the Baha'is of the Southern States [of America]: for the Bahá’ís of the sixteen Southern States of the United States: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Haifa, Residence of Ismá’íl Áqá, Saturday morning 3rd Feb. 1917. Makatib III: 40-44.
  • [3] [Pt.II  3 =11] `Tablet Revealed for the Baha'is of the  Central States [of America]: the Bahá’ís of the twelve Central States of the United States: Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas. Acre, House of Abbud, February 8th 1917. Makatib III: 44-48.
  • [4] [Pt. II 4=12] `Tablet Revealed for the Baha'is of the Western States [of America] : for the Bahá’ís of the eleven Western States of the United States: New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, California, Wyoming, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Acre, House of Abbud, February 16th 1917  Makatib III: 49-53.
  • [5] [Pt.II  5=13] `Tablet Revealed for the Baha'is of Canada and Greenland': the Bahá’ís of Canada—Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia, Yukon, Mackenzie, Keewatin, Ungava, Franklin Islands—and Greenland. Acre, House of Abbud, February 21st.,1917. Makatib III: 53-37.
  • [6] [Pt. II 6= 14] `Tablet Revealed for the Baha'is of the United States [of America] and Canada', Haifa, Ismá’íl Áqá’s room in  ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá’s house in Haifa  March 8th 1917. Makatib III: 58-63.

TRANSLATIONS: 

  • Baha'i Scriptures. ed. Horace Holley. New York Brentano's Inc., 1923. (TDP = pp.     ) Rep. Baha'i Publishing Committee, 1928 (TDP= pp. 505-552).
  • 1939 in The Baha'i World, A biennial International Record... Vol. VII April 1935-1938 A.D. New York: Baha'i Publishing Committee, 1939 (TDP = pp. 189-212, under the headng `America's Spiritual Mission - Teaching Tablets Revealed by `Abdu'l-Baha').
  • Baha'i World Faith (1st ed. 1946), pp.      .
  • Tablets of the Divine Plan, Revealed by 'Abdu'l-Bahd to the North American Bahd'is during 1916 and 1917. Wilmette, IL: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1977, 1993.
  • Tablets of the divine plan : revealed by ʿabduʹl-Bahā to the North American Baháʹís. ʿAbduʾl-Bahá, 1844-1921. Wilmette, Ill. : Baháʹí Pub. Trust, 1977.
  • 1997. Diffusing the Divine Fragrances, Prayers and Excerpts from the Tablets of the Divine Plan. Presented by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States in Commemoration of the Establishment of Regional Baha'i Councils. Evanston Ill. : National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States / American Baha'i Media Services, 1997. 14pp. A richly illustrated and selective printing containing (pp.12-13) colored reproductions of four of the original 1916 framed postcards in the handwriting of `Abd al-Baha'.
  • BWC-Typescript.  TDP.pdf.
  • http://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/tablets-divi...
  • http://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/tablets-divi...

THE LAST TABLET TO AMERICA- Dated 14th November 1921.

Opening lines-Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā' III: 410.

The so-called `The Last Tablet to America' of `Abdu'l-Baha' dates to the end of his life and expresses his deep concern for unity amongst the American Baha'is in the light of repeated episodes of `covenant breaking' or attempts to disrupt and destroy the Baha'i religion. It has several times been printed in translation, first in `Star of the West' ( Vol. XIII. No.1, March 21st 1922, pp. 19-25), then in  the Horace Holley edited compilation `Baha'i Scriptures' (1923 +1928) and its revised and edited replacement, the 'Baha'i World Faith' (1st ed., NSA of the Baha'is of the US., 1943) of which a  5th printing of the 1956 edition was pubilshed in 1971 (see pp. 429-438). The `Star of the West' printing (see PDF below) contains the reproduction of a handwritten note by Shoghi Effendi which reads, `This has been translated after the dear Master's Ascension & the three Seals affixed to the original text after him,  Shoghi [Effendi] 23.1. [19]22' (see SW XIII:25). This latter `Star of the West' translation (from Persian and Arabic) was done by one woman and two men, Mrs Henrietta Emogene Martin Hoagg (d. Charleston,15th December, 1945), `Ali Muhammad Baqir and Rouhi Mohsen [Effendi] Afnan  (d. 1971).   

  • Persian-Arabic text :
  • Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā' , Vol. III Cairo : Maṭbūʻāt, Kurdistan al-`Ilmiyya Press, Faraj-Allāh Zakī al-Kurdī, Day of Kamal of the month of Jalal, 79 BE/ 20th Sha`ban 1340/ 18th April 1922, pp. 410-423. PDf. : LTAmerica-Makatib III.pdf

Translations :

  • 1922.`Star of the West' ( Vol. XIII. No.1, March 21st 1922, pp. 19-25.
  • Baha'i Scriptures', ed. Horace Holley, 1923 +1928)
  • 1943. Baha'i World Faith (1st ed., NSA of the Baha'is of the US., 1943) of which a  5th printing of the 1956 edition was pubilshed in 1971 (see pp. 429-438).
  • 1950. The Covenant of Baha'u'llah. 1st ed. Manchester [UK]: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1950. This compilation by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the British Isles,  includes the `The Last Tablet to America' of `Abdu'l-Baha' on between pages 140-154 (No.7).
  • Translations: PDf. [1] Star of the West: America - Last-SWxiii.pdf ;  [2] PDf.  Baha'i World Faith 1956/1971: America-Last-BWF.pdf

THE TABLET TO Dr. FOREL- Dated Haifa 21st September 1921.  

Auguste Forel (1948-1931)

The Tablet to the Swiss psychiatrist, neuroanatomist, myrmecologist and social reformer, Dr. Augste-Henri Forel  (b. Sept. 1, 1848, LaGracieuse, near Morges, Switz. — d. July 27, 1931, Yvorne, Switzerland,  1931).

  • The letter of Forel  to`Abd al-Baha' which led to the writing of this Tablet  is dated 28th December 1920 [28th July 1920] and can be found in the 1978 Mühlschlegel book detailed below (pp 1-5).
  • The Persian Test of the Tablet to Dr. Auguste Forel. Forel-Makatib III 474-491.pdf
  • `Tablet to Dr. Auguste Forel' in Makātīb-i Hadrat-i ʿAbd-al-Bahā'. Vol. III. Cairo : Maṭbūʻāt, Kurdistan al-`Ilmiyya Press, Faraj-Allāh Zakī al-Kurdī, Day of Kamal of the month of Jalal, 79 BE/ 20th Sha`ban 1340/ 18th April 1922, pp. 474-491. 
  • Persian Text as typed BWC: PDf. Forel.pdf
  • The Tablet to Dr. Forel. Annotated Translation.
  • http://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/tablet-augus...
  • 1976 in The Baha'i World, A biennial International Record... Vol. XV (April 1968-1973). Haifa : Baha'i  World Centre, 1976, pages 37-43 under the headng `Tablet to Dr. Auguste Henri Forel'.
  • 1978.  In the book of  Peter Mühlschlegel entitled `Auguste Forel and the Baha'i Faith' (Oxford: George Ronald, 1978), the translation of this Tablet is printed on pages 6-28. It is preceded by the letter of Forel  to`Abd al-Baha' dated December 1920 which led to the writing of this Tablet (seepp. 1-5), and followed by a commentary thereon by Mühlschlegel (pp. 29-58).
  • 1984. Vader, John Paul , For the Good of Mankind - August Forel and the Bahá'í Faith (Oxford, UK: George Ronald, 1984).  For the Translation see Appendix I: Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to August Forel' (pp. XX-XX).
  • See further, Osiro, S., Gielecki, J., Matusz, P. et al., August Forel (1848-1931): a look at his life and work. Springer-Verlag  2011. Abstract : https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22179429

THE WILL AND TESTAMENT OF `ABD AL-BAHA'

الواح وصاياى مباركه حضرت عبدالبهاء

 

In three  parts written between 1901-1908. First made known and read 3rd January 1922.

Ālwāḥ vaṣāyā-yi mubāraka-ʼi Ḥadrat-i ʻAbd al-Bahāʼ (Lit. `Blessed Tablets and Testament of His Holiness ʻAbd al-Bahāʼ).

  •  الواح وصاياى مباركه حضرت عبدالبهاء
  • الواح وصاياى مباركه حضرت عبدالبهاء
  • Persian text Pts I-III. PDf. BWC-Will & Test.pdf
  • Translation(s)- Shoghi Effendi. Several times very slightly revised. 
  • 1925., The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. New York: XXX, 1925.
  • 1935. The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. New York: Baha'i Publishing Committee. 20pp. Rep. 1940.
  • 1945. The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Excerpts made by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada, etc. National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United States and Canada. London : Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1945.
  • Will and Testament. Wilmette, IL: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1971.
  • The Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Mona Vale, N.S.W. : Bahá'í Publications Australia, 1992. 76pp
  • See further Collins III:16-17.
  • 1992. Reprint of 1932 with select Transliteation and Clarificatory Notes:  `The Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Baha'. 
  • Typed Version of the Shoghi Effendi translation: PDf. Will & Testament.pdf

On the Will and Testament.

  • Abdul Baha's Alleged Will is Fraudulent. An appendix to The Bahai Religion and its enemy the Bahai Organization. Ruth White of the Bahai Movement. Rutland, Vt. : Tuttle Co., 1930. An anti Shoghi Effendi polemic of little value.
  • Correspondence between the High Commissioner of Palestine and Ruth White, regarding the alleged will of Sir Abdul Baha Abbas.Ruth White, of the Bahai Movement. ff. 11. New York, 1932. 1932.
  • A commentary on the Will and Testament of ʿAbduʾl-Bahá. David Hofman. London : George Ronald. 1943.
  •  David Hofman, A commentary on the Will and testament of ʻAbduʼl-Bahá. Oxford: George Ronald, 1982. 53pp.
  • The child of the covenant : a study guide to the will and testament of ʿAbduʾl-Bahá by Adib Taherzadeh. Adib Taherzadeh. Oxford : Ronald, 2000.

MUNAJAT - DU`A -  زيارة‎‎ ZIYARAT :

Compilations and examples of Prayers, Supplications and Ziyarat-Nama of `Abd al-Baha' of varying dates.

`Abd al-Baha' was the author of many thousands of sometimes lengthy devotional prayers, supplications and Ziyarat-nama (Tablet[s] of Visitation) for Babi-Baha'i and other worthies and dignitaries. His thousands of letters or (for Baha'is) scriptural Tablets (alwah) often include or conclude with a prayer or supplication for the person addressed or for other individuals or groups. We can only list here a few compilations of such devotional texts along with select examples of western and oher language printings or translations of these seminal texts.

Munajat + : Persian and Arabic Compilations.

مجموعه مناجاتها حضرت عبدالبهاء

  • مكاتيب حضرت عبدالبهاء جلد ۱
  • مناجاتهاى حضرت عبدالبهاء جلد ۲
  • مناجاتهاى حضرت عبدالبهاء جلد ۳

مناجاتهاى حضرت عبدالبهاء - چاپ هند

Munajatha-yi Hadrat-i `Abd al-Baha' : Indian Printings (2 vols.).

  • هوالله جلد ١
  • هوالله جلد ٢

ZIYARAT-NAMA (TABLETS OF VISITATION).

Like his father and the Bab, `Abd al-Baha' wrote many shrine visitation  scriptural tablets for Muslims, Babis, Baha'is and others. Only a few examples can be listed here.

  • Ziyarat-Namah for the Georgian eunuch Chongur Enakolopashvili and [crypto-] Babi renamed Manuchihr Khan Gurji, the Georgian (d. 1847), Mu`tamid al-Dawla, a one time Governor of Isfahan. He was buried at the Fatima Ma`suma shrine in Qum, Persia /Iran.

Western and other translations of Prayers or Supplicatios of `Abd al-Baha'.

 

 

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