THE
QAYYŪM AL-ASMĀ'
OF THE BĀB.
Part XIV [14]
سورة القدس
Sūrat al-Quds
(The Surah of Holiness)
on
Qur'ān 12:13
1982-2015 (UNDER REVISION)
INTRODUCTION :
Stephen N. Lambden UCMerced -in progress
Part XIV of the provisional translation of the Qayyūm al-asmā’ (= QA) of the Bāb (mid. 1844/1260) with brief introduction and selective notes consists of a full versified English translation of the Sūrat al-Quds (The Surah of Holiness). This translation was done in the early 1980s though not from any critical edition. I simply consulted several good mss. The versification of the surahs of the QA remains uncertain. It is included for the sake of reference and commentary. The Bāb himself stated that there should be forty two verses in each surah (abjad of (Ar.) lī (= l+y = 30+10, "before me", +2 = 42 Q.12:4b) of the QA though I cannot always see quite how this figure is arrived at. The division into only 36 verses in QA14 is largely speculative. It would often seen that the versification of the surahs at forty two appears more symbolic than the concrete, clear cut existence of 42 bayts (verses) of rhymed prose (saj`).
QA 14 opens with the basmala followed by the citation of Q.12:13 upon which it briefly comments in rewritten fashion in the course of the Surah of Holiness (Sūrah al-Quds). X isolated letters
