Extracts from the Khutba prefacing select mss. of the Tafsīr Sūrat al-Baqara (Commentary upon the Surah of the Cow = Q.II)
Trans. Stephen N. Lambden, UCMerced.
In progress - last revised and updated 07-03-2020.
[I]
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
[1] Praised be to God Who manifested himself (tajalla) unto the spheres of existent Being (al‑mumkināt) through the ornament of the disengaged Point (bi‑ṭaraz al‑nuqṭat al‑mumfaṣilat) sprung out of the Abyss of Origination (lujjat al‑ibdā’) unto, in and towards Existent Being... [3] Through it He created Dual modality (zawjiyya) and He created "I‑ness" [Individuality] (al‑aniyya). [4] And the Divine Will (al‑mashiyya) was mentioned through the Dhikr of the Eternal [Cosmic] alphabet, (bi‑dhikr al‑handasah al‑azaliyya) which is other than God. [5] And it, it is indeed (fa‑hiya hiya) the Primordial Eternity (al‑azaliyya al‑awwaliyya) without termination of eternality. [6] Nay rather! It, it is [indeed] the Dawning Place of the Sun of the Divine Oneness (shams al‑ahadiyya) glistening forth from the Eternal Perpetuity (al‑ṣamadāniyya al‑bāqiyya) through the Eternity of the Divine Ipseity (bi‑baqā’ al‑huwiyya) [which is] of the Empyreal domain (al‑jabarūtiyya).
[II]
[1] So Oh! Truly wondrous Ornament (fa‑ya na`ma al‑ṭarāz) of the snow‑white [letter] "A" (alif al‑bayḍā’) coming into being subsequent to the [primordial phenomenon of the] differentiated Point [itself sprung] out of the Creative Reality. [2] Thus, it, it is indeed of the Ornament of Bahā’ ("Glory‑Beauty") (al‑ṭarāz al‑bahā’) in the Pillar of Laudation (rukn al‑thanā’)! [3] Then indeed it, it is assuredly the yellow Ornament (al‑ṭarāz al‑safrā’) in the snow‑white Pillar (rukn al‑baydā’)! [4] Wherefore indeed it, it is the Ornament of Origination (al‑ṭarāz al‑badā’) in the green Pillar (rukn al‑khuḍrā’)! [5] Then [also] it is assuredly the Ornament of Origination (al‑ṭarāz al‑badā’) in the Logos-Soul [Persona] of the Crimson Pillar (fī nafs al‑ḥamrā’)! [6] Shouldst thou say Crimson (al‑ḥamrā’) then would it be ornamented [coloured as] yellow through the [effect of the] snow‑white (al‑safrā’ bi’l‑bayḍā’) [reality]. [7] And shouldst thou say green (al‑khuḍrā’) it would [indeed] be ornamented [coloured as] snow‑white (al‑bayḍā’) through the [effect of] the crimson (bi’l‑ḥamrā’) [reality].
[III]
[1] So Oh! Blessed be this [Reality] for it, it is [the power] of pre-eternal reddenning (muḥammirat azaliyya), the [power] of perpetual whitening (mubayyiḍat ṣamadiyya), [the] originative greenness (mukhaḍḍirat a[i]badiyya) and the [power] of heavenly yellowing (muṣaffirat malakūtiyya). [2] Again, It, it is assuredly the reiteration of the Point in the outstretched [letter] "A" through the pre‑existent creative Power. And "no God is there except Him"...
(INBMC 69/II:2‑3).
Nuqţa in the Tafsīr Sūrat al-baqara (Q.II), Dhu’l-Qadah 1259/Nov-Dec 1843- completed Pt,1 Jan-Feb 1844.
The Tafsīr Sūrat al-baqara of the Bab dates in part from before his May 22nd 1844 declaration before Mulla Husayn Buhrū’ī (d. 1849). In some mss. It has an important loosely six page Khuţba (“Discourse”) which contains five important centrally cosmologically important uses of the word Nuqtā. It is at the end of this preliminary Khuţba that there is a dream-vision of the Bab in which the passing and successorship of the then Shaykhī leader Sayyid Kazim al-Husaynī al-Rashtī (d.1259/1843) was symbolically expressed by the piecemeal – (Ar.) dharrat an dharrat an - deconstruction of the arḍ al-muqaddas (the “Sacred Land” including, KARBALA and/or Sayyid Kazim Rashti in Karbala, his house-or person) and its consonant materialization and translocation to SHIRAZ, the birthlace-residence-person of the Bab. In illustration of the Nuqţa references of the Bab here we may note –personal trans. INBMC 60:1-6 :
[I]
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.
[1] Praised be to God Who manifested himself (tajalla) unto the spheres of existent Being (al‑mumkināt) through the ornament of the disengaged Point (bi‑ṭaraz al‑nuqṭat al‑munfaṣilat) sprung out of the Abyss of Origination (lujjat al‑ibdā’) unto, in and towards Existent Being...
p.2 [X] So it, it is (fa-hiya hiya) indeed the First-Genesis of the Dhikr by virtue of the One Remembering (dhākir), no God is there except Him. Then Praised be unto God Who originated all existence (al-mawjūdāt) through the ornament of the Hidden [letter] Alif (“A”), standing upright within itself (nafsihā). By means thereof was originated, through the causuality of the Nuqţa which preceded it (the A), the essential locus of the aforementioned Divine Will (bi-dhātiyyat al-mashiyyat) …
p.2 [3] Through it He completed Dual modality (zawjiyya) and He created "I‑ness" [Singularity-Individuality] (al‑aniyya). [4] And the Divine Will (al‑mashiyya) was mentioned through the Dhikr of the Eternal [Cosmic] alphabet, (bi‑dhikr al‑handasah al‑azaliyya) which is side from God / except God” (illa Allāh).
[5] And it, it is indeed (fa‑hiya hiya) the Primordial Eternity (al‑azaliyya al‑awwaliyya) without termination of eternality. [6] Nay rather! It, it is [indeed] the Dawning Place of the Sun of the Divine Oneness (shams al‑ahadiyya) glistening forth from the Eternal Perpetuity (al‑ṣamadāniyya al‑bāqiyya) through the Eternity of the Divine Ipseity (bi‑baqā’ al‑huwiyya) [which is] of the Empyreal domain (al‑jabarūtiyya).
[II]
[1] So Oh! Truly wondrous Ornament (fa‑ya na`ma al‑ṭarāz) of the snow‑white [letter] "A" (alif al‑bayḍā’) coming into being subsequent to the [primordial phenomenon of the] differentiated Point [itself sprung] out of the Creative Reality.
[2] Thus, it, it is indeed of the Ornament of Bahā’ ("Glory‑Beauty") (al‑ṭarāz al‑bahā’) in the Pillar of Laudation (rukn al‑thanā’)! [3] Then indeed it, it is assuredly the Yellow Ornament (al‑ṭarāz al‑safrā’) in the snow‑white Pillar (rukn al‑baydā’)! [4] Wherefore indeed it, it is the Ornament of Origination (al‑ṭarāz al‑badā’) in the Green Pillar (rukn al‑khuḍrā’)! [5] Then [also] it is assuredly the Ornament of Origination (al‑ṭarāz al‑badā’) in the Logos-Soul [Persona] of the Crimson Pillar (fī nafs al‑ḥamrā’)! [6] Shouldst thou say Crimson (al‑ḥamrā’) then would it be ornamented [coloured as] yellow through the [effect of the] snow‑white (al‑safrā’ bi’l‑bayḍā’) [reality]. [7] And shouldst thou say green (al‑khuḍrā’) it would [indeed] be ornamented [coloured as] snow‑white (al‑bayḍā’) through the [effect of] the crimson (bi’l‑ḥamrā’) [reality].
[III]
p.3 [1] So Oh! Blessed be this [Reality] for it, it is (hya hiya) [the power] of pre-eternal reddenning (muḥammirat azaliyya), the [power] of perpetual whitening (mubayyiḍat ṣamadiyya), [the] originative greenness (mukhaḍḍirat a[i]badiyya) and the [power] of heavenly yellowing (muṣaffirat malakūtiyya). [2] Again, It, it is assuredly the reiteration of the Nuqţa-Point in the outstretched [letter] "A" through the pre‑existent creative Power. And "no God is there except Him” Then Praised be unto God who disclosed His Glory (tajallī) [revealed Himself] unto all existent Being through the Ornament of the isolated, disengaged Letter B (ţaraz al-bā’ al-būniyya al-munfasilat) through the pliable letter “A” (al-alif al-liniyya) circumambulating around the Nuqţa-Point of Proto-Genesis (nuqţat al-abdā’iyya), [revealed Himself] unto it, in it and towards it…
