Surat al-Ridwan II

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رضوان‎‎

Riḍwān

The Sūrat al-Riḍwān of the Bāb.

رِضْوَنٍۢ

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The Sūrat al-Riḍwān of the Bāb.

Translation Stephen Lambden

^{November 2011 Under revision - last revised 11-09-2016}

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

[1] Praised be to God Who, in very truth, sent down the verses (al-ayat) unto His servant (`abd) [the Bāb] perchance the people might believe in the verses of thy Lord. [2] Follow then the decree which We, on behalf of God, have cast upon thee to the end that He might inform the people of the decree of thy Lord from a locale nearby [= Shiraz?] [3] Such [revelations] originate from the Progeny of the Unseen [the Imams?] (anbā’ al-ghayb) which We do reveal (waḥy) unto thee, perchance the people might believe in the verses of their Lord, find being in the religion of God, and be numbered indeed among such as are rightly guided.

[4] This Book was assuredly sent down on the part of thy Lord at the genesis [commencement] of Riḍwān (bad` al-riḍwān) just as thou were promised. [5] This indeed is the Ṣirāt (Path) of Thy Lord throughout the heavens and the earth for He does recite unto thee the verses of the [scriptural] Tablet (āyāt al-lawḥ). [6] This to the end that thou do assuredly attain the Encounter with God (liqā’Allāh) and be such as are assured in faith. [7] God, thy Lord, hath indeed promised for the assured in faith among thee, such Paradises (al-jinnāt) the comprehension of which no soul can possibly encompass. [8] This is from the Bounty of thy Lord (faḍl Allāh) unto thee to the end that the people of God be established within the religion of God (dīn Allāh) and indeed be numbered among such as are befittingly prostrate.

[9] Say: when such persons attain unto its Gate (bāb) they, with the permission of their Lord, will find all the scriptural Tablets (al-alwāḥ) therein, its earth being even as the surface of the watery expanse [reflected] within mirrors (ki-wajh al-mā’ fī al-mīrāt). (10) And when they enter the House of their Lord (bayt rabbika) they will indeed observe its heaven (samā’) [radiant] in every direction [with] the Light of God (nūr Allāh). [11] Above it hath a Sun (shams) been established through the Grandeur of the Dhikr (Remembrance) of the Name of thy Lord (jalāl dhikr ism rabbika), “The Life Generating” (al-ḥayawān). ¹

[12]

Never indeed! have eyes ever visioned its like!

[13] From the [Sinaitic] Tree [Bush] on the Mount (min shajarat al-ṭūr) there shall thus be proclaimed, “There is no God save Him”! [14] And when they do make its [his] [celestial] Throne (`arsh) known it is such that Houris [Maidens] can be observed glancing thereon through the Light of their Lord (nūr rabbika). [15] Wherefore can their faces be seen to have glistened even as the surface of that Glass (wajh al-zujāja) within the Glass which is Snow-white (fī al-zujāja al-bayḍā’). [16] It is thus as if they are brilliant stars (al-kawākib al-durrī) set ablaze [ignited] from the Yellow Tree (al-shajarat al-safrā’), `No God is there save God’.

[17]