From a photo of Mirza`Ali Aqa taken in England
Lawh-i Mirza`Ali Aqa Muvaqqir al-Dawlah (d. XXXX),
the father of Hasan Balyuzi (18XX-1980).
The father of the Baha'i Hand of the Cause Hasan Balyuzi (d. London 1980) was addressed as Mirza `Ali Aqa by Baha'-Allah in a late `Acre period, largely Persian scriptural Tablet to him which has twice been published. A two or three page Tablet, it appeared at the commencement of the 1970 book `Edward Granville Browne and the Baha'i Faith' (London [Oxford]: George Ronald, 1970) as cleaned up image of the Persian original. More than forty five years later Hasan Balyuzi's slightly more detailed Persian version or `translation' of the English 1972 original edition appeared entitled `Edward Granville Browne va Diyanat-i Baha'i (ed. Moojan Momen, Hofheim [Germany]: Baha'i Verlag, 173 B.E., 2016). The largely Persian text of the Lawh-i Mirza `Ali Aqa is thus found in:
- (1) The 1972 book `Edward Granville Browne and the Baha'i Faith', frontispiece.
- (2) The 2016 translation of the above in facsimilie (on page 114) as well as in a typed version found on pages 115 and 116. (ms. between the typed version).
The Tablet opens with mention of the addressee, Jinab-i Mirza `Ali Aqa, upon him be Baha'-Allah (The Glory of God) then qa succinct neo- "He is" [God] commencement:
Huwa al-muhaymin `ala al-asma'
( He is the Help in Peril by virtue of the Names [of God]!
The Persian text proper opens with the following theological proclamation which cites or echoes a phrase in the Khutba al-Tutunjiyya ascribed to the first twelver Imam, `Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 40/661) as well as indicating that Baha'-Allah and/ or his religion constitute the neo-qur'anic الصراط المستقيم al-sirat al-mustaqim, the "Straight Path" (Q. 1:6; 11:56, etc) and the "mighty" or "great" (al-`azim) eschatological naba' or "Announcement" (see Q. 78:2 Ar. النباء العظیم) :
This Day the Speaker on the Mount [Sina'i] (mukallim al-tur) crieth out in the Kingdom of the Bayan such that all are summoned unto the Straight Path (sirat-i mustaqim) and the Mighty Announcement (naba'-i azim).
