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TB Lawh-i Baha' Introd.

Commencement of the Lawh-i Baha' in INBMC 35

 Lawh-i Baha'

(The Surah of Baha' - Resplendent Glory (c. 1865-6? )

Stephen Lambden UC Merced - last updated 01-12-2021

Introduction

Stephen Lambden

The Lawh-i Baha' (The Surah of Baha' = Glory-Splendour dates to around the early (January, 1866 CE) or middle of the Edirne or Adrianople period (c. 1865-6? ), just before the `Most Great Separation' beween Mirza Yahya and Baha'u'llah. Ishraq Khavari, however, dates the Lawh-i Baha'  to around the time of the exile from Baghdad to Constantinople-Istanbul (Ganj No. 18). This Tablet  commences in Arabic but also has a  following Persian section. It was addressed to Khatun Jan Qazviniyya, the daughter of Hajji Asad-Allah Farhadi Qazvini (see Mazandarani, Athar al-asrar, II:89-90).

The Lawh-i Baha'  commences with the following introductory prelude,

This is the Lawh al-Baha' which was revealed from the Empyrean of Eternity (jabarut al-baqa'). So recite it then!, O concourse of the Theophanic Cloud (mala' al-`ama'),  perchance ye might soar up unto the heaven of the Cause of God (sama' al-amr) in this atmosphere, and thus be firmly established within the Cause of thy Lord, the All-Merciful. 

The huwa ("He is") formula is then set forth: "He is the All-Eternal" (huwa al-baqi [baqa]).

Then the female figure Khatum Jan is addressed as follows:

O Maidservant of God (amat-Allah)!

Be patient under all circumstances and mindful of the fact that the robe of this Youth (qamis al-ghulam) was dyed crimson with the blood of enmity betwixt earth and heaven. At every moment he crieth out with a soul-saddending  cry (bi-nida' hazin). All of his associates that have attempted to succour him found themselves assailed by the swords of emnity (suyuf al-hasad)....

 

Mss. and printed editions of this scriptural Tablet can be located, for example, in

  • INBMC 35: 70-81.
  •  

Some attention has been paid to this scriptural Tablet by `Abd al-Hamid Ishtraq Khavari in his Ganj-i shayigan and Adib Taherzadeh  in his The Revelation of Baha'u'llah (vol. 2:171-60).