The Ziyarat-Nama (Visitation Supplication) of Sayyid `Ali Muhammad Shirazi, the Bab (d. 1850 CE) for Shaykh Aḥmad ibn Zayn al-Din al-Aḥsā’ī (d.1241/1826).
Trans. Stephen Lambden
Last uploaded and corrected 18-05-2016.
The Ziyarat for Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa'i, upon him be baha'-Allah (Glory-Splendor of God)!
He is the Exalted (al-`alī), the Mighty (al-mutakabīr), the Highest (al-rafī`).
In His Name,
the Hidden (al-maknūn), the Mighty Lord (al-rabb al-`aẓīm).
[Thou Shaykh Aḥmad/Muhammad are] A Quintessence of Peerless Abstraction (jawhar mujarrad), a Pure, Camphorated, Midday Ornament (ṭarz kāfūran ṭahran ẓahran), a Light (nūr) which hath risen up and radiated forth, then scintillated and flashed lightening (abraq), then [generated], furthermore, a gleaming radiance of fathomless depth, then [nay rather a] a radiant brilliance (ḍiyā’) which was raised up aloft beyond the lights (anwār) of the Beauteous Glory of Sanctity (bahā’ quds), the very Garment of the Dawning-Place of that Sacred Presence (haḍrat) which is Unique (aḥad), Peerless (farḍ), Singular (wāḥid), Perpetual (samad). Such was the very Sacred Presence (haḍrat) of Muhammad (cf. Aḥmad), may the blessing of God be upon him and upon His servant, [for he is] the Genesis of Numeration (awwal al-`addad) in the world of Eternity (`ālam al-abad), [through] the Manifestations of the Logos-Self of His Beloved (maẓāhir nafs ḥabīb).
May the quintessences of the eras (jawhariyyāt al-midad) in the world of Ṣarmad [Perpetual Eternality] (fī `ālam al-ṣarmad) [the Imams] be upon thee [Shaykh Ahmad], O Light of Glory-Beauty (nūr al-bahā’), the Dhikr-Remembrance of Regeneration (dhikr al-inshā’) and Mystery of Accomplishment (sirr al-qiḍā’), the Secreted Mystery of Realization [Fatality] (mustasirr al-imḍā’), the Camphor of the Sinaitic Mount (kāfūr ṭūr al-sīnā’), the theophany of the Crimson Pillar (ẓuhūr rukn al-ḥamrā’) and mid-most Locus of my inmost heart (buḥbūḥat fū`ādī) which is most beloved (aḥabb) of God, My Lord.
So indeed may [all] this [laudation] be upon thee [Shaykh Aḥmad] O Point of the Gates (nuqṭat al-abwāb), and Reality of the Book (ḥaqīqat al-kitāb), Word of the Generous One (kalimat al-wahhāb), Sign of the Garment [surrounding the household of the Prophet Muhammad] (ayāt al-thawāb), Centre of the Circle of the Quṭbs (Points of Authority) [the Imams+] (markaz dā’irat al-aqṭāb), the very Dawning-Point of the [messianic] Proof (al-ṭal`at al-ḥujjat) in the House of the Veil [of Concealment] (bayt al-ḥijāb)
