Ṣaīfa bayn al‑ḥaramayn from TBA. Ms. 6004c, 348.
Sahifa bayn al-haramayn (The Epistle Betwixt the twin Shrines).
Select texts and translations.
Stephen N. Lambden
1980s- 2015
Introductory Note
During the course of his pilgrimage the Bāb wrote several important works and a large number of epistles, several of which are listed in his Kitāb al‑fihrist (add URL). Foremost among the writings of this period is the Ṣaḥīfa bayn al‑ḥaramayn (Epistle between the two Shrines) datng to Muḥarram 1261/ mid‑January 1845. This Arabic work was in part composed in reply to questions posed by Mīrzā Muhammad Ḥusayn, Muḥīṭ‑ i Kirmānī (a prominent Shaykhī) ( ADD) to whom the Bāb had announced certain claims near the ḥajar al‑aswad (black stone) in the Ka`ba on the 15th of Dhu'l‑Ḥijja 1260 (December 25th 1844). In this work the Bāb refers to himself as the Dhikr-Allāh (remembrance of God) and the fatā al‑`arabī (Arabian youth) as well as the kalimat al‑`amā'ayn ("doubly beclouded theophanic Word") and "the khaṭṭ al‑qā'im ("Upright trace") between the worlds subject at all times to inspiration from the Spirit" (al‑rūḥ) (Ḥaramayn, F7 (9): fol6f). Apart from discussions of such subjects as the paths of the stars and the science of talismans, the Ṣāḥifa bayn al‑ḥaramayn contains a fair amount of material illustrative of the Bāb's marked interest in `ilm al‑fiqh (jurisprudence). Throughout his ministry the Bāb set forth in great detail sometimes novel regulations to be observed by the (ultra‑) pious adherent of what, by 1848. had evolved into the revolutionary new Bābī shari`a.
