Sūrat al-damm (The Surah of Blood). c. 1864-5.
of Mirza Husayn `Ali Nuri, Baha'-Allah
Introduction
Stephen Lambden UCMerced.
The several page Edirne [Adrianople] period Arabic Sūrat al-Damm (The Surah of Blood) dates to around 1864-5 and was written for Mulla Muhammad Zarandi, Nabil-i A`zam (d. 1892 CE).
Mss. and printed texts :
- AQA IV:
Translations
Shoghi Effendi,
- Gleanings sect. XXXIX [39] = AQA IV: 64-5.
Juan Cole
- Internet posted trans of the Surat al-damm.
- See also Cole,`I am all the Prophets': The Poetics of Pluralism in Baha'i Texts by Juan R. I. Cole (Department of History, University of Michigan), in Poetics Today 14, no. 3 (Fall 1993):447-476.
Completed translated Stephen Lambden
In progress 05-11-2015.
This is the Surat al-damm (The Surah of Blood)
It was indeed sprinkled down from the Ocean of the Unseen (bahr al-ghayb) to the end that it be a sign of My Manifestation [Theophany] (zuhuri) betwixt all the worlds.
He is the Eternal (al-baqa')
Enthroned (fi'l-`arsh) He is by virtue of My Name, the Glorious, the All Glorious (al-bahiyy al-abha).
O Muhammad [Nabil-i Zarandi]
Hearken ye unto the Call of thy Lord! from this location (al-maqam) which the hands of all existing things (al-mumkinat) have never attained neither the inmost hearts within all the realms of existence (af'ida al-mawjudat), neither the realities of such as have slumbered to the least degree regarding the ...
The section translated by Shoghi Effendi GWB XXXIX [39]:
Praise be to Thee, O Lord My God, for the wondrous revelations of Thy inscrutable decree and the manifold woes and trials Thou hast destined for Myself. At one time Thou didst deliver Me into the hands of Nimrod; at another Thou hast allowed Pharaoh's rod to persecute Me. Thou, alone, canst estimate, through Thine all-encompassing knowledge and the operation of Thy Will, the incalculable afflictions I have suffered at their hands. Again Thou didst cast Me into the prison-cell of the ungodly, for no reason except that I was moved to whisper into the ears of the well-favored denizens of Thy Kingdom an intimation of the vision with which Thou hadst, through Thy knowledge, inspired Me, and revealed to Me its meaning through the potency of Thy might. And again Thou didst decree that I be beheaded by the sword of the infidel. Again I was crucified for having unveiled to men's eyes the hidden gems of Thy glorious unity, for having revealed to them the wondrous signs of Thy sovereign and everlasting power. How bitter the humiliations heaped upon Me, in a subsequent age, on the plain of Kárbilá! How lonely did I feel amidst Thy people! To what a state of helplessness I was reduced in that land! Unsatisfied with such indignities, My persecutors decapitated Me, and, carrying aloft My head from land to land paraded it before the gaze of the unbelieving multitude, and deposited it on the seats of the perverse and faithless. In a later age, I was suspended, and My breast was made a target to the darts of the malicious cruelty of My foes. My limbs were riddled with bullets, and My body was torn asunder. Finally, behold how, in this Day, My treacherous enemies have leagued themselves against Me, and are continually plotting to instill the venom of hate and malice into the souls of Thy servants. With all their might they are scheming to accomplish their purpose....
Grievous as is My plight, O God, My Well-Beloved, I render thanks unto Thee, and My Spirit is grateful for whatsoever hath befallen me in the path of Thy good-pleasure. I am well pleased with that which Thou didst ordain for Me, and welcome, however calamitous, the pains and sorrows I am made to suffer.
