Buck Symbol Secret.Pdf

iii Posted with permission of author and publisher Kalimát Press; Scanned by Duane Troxel; Proofread by Jonah Winters and Lynn Jaluvka; formatted for the web by Jonah Winters. Further proofread by Bobbi Lyons and Christopher Buck (2012). Please support this online re-printing by ordering a copy of the book. See also the following reviews of this book: Review by Frank Lewis, in Baha’i Studies Review, vol. 6 (1996) Review by Jonah Winters, in Iranian Studies 32:1 (1999) Review by Jonah Winters, in Journal of Baha’i Studies 9:3 (1999). See also “An Introduction to Bahá’u’lláh’s Book of Certitude” and “Dating Bahá’u’lláh’s Book of Certitude” (offsite). iv [p. iv] MANUSCRIPT ORIGINAL The opening page of the original manuscript of the Kitáb-i Íqán in the handwriting of ‘Abdu’l- Bahá, produced in 1278 A.H. (1861–1862 C.E.). Minor marginal additions were made by Bahá’u’lláh himself. The manuscript was given to Ḥájí Mírzá Sayyid Muḥammad in Baghdad, in reply to his questions, and remained in his family until 1948, when it was donated to the Bahá’í World Centre. (Courtesy of the Bahá’í World Centre.) v [p. v] STUDIES IN THE BÁBÍ AND BAHÁ’Í RELIGIONS VOLUME SEVEN General Editor ANTHONY A. LEE SYMBOL AND SECRET: QUR’AN COMMENTARY IN BAHÁ’U’LLÁH’S KITÁB-I ÍQÁN By CHRISTOPHER BUCK Visiting Assistant Professor, Michigan State University, [email protected] KALIMÁT PRESS LOS ANGELES vi [p. vi] Copyright © 1995, 2004 by Kalimát Press. All rights reserved. First Edition. Reprint 2004. Manufactured in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data (Revised for vol. 5) Studies in Bábí and Bahá’í history. Vols. 5-has title: Studies in the Bábí and Bahá’í religions. Includes bibliographies. Contents: v. 1 [no title]-v. 2 From Iran east and west / edited by Juan R. Cole and Moojan Momen-[etc.]-v. 7. Symbol and Secret: Qur’an commentary in Bahá’u’lláh’s Kitáb-i Íqán / by Christopher Buck. 1. Baha’i Faith-History. 2. Babism-History. I. Momen, Moojan. II. Cole, Juan Ricardo. III. Smith, Peter, 1947, Nov. 27- . IV. R. Jackson Armstrong-Ingram. V. Title: Studies in the Bábí and Bahá’í Religions. BP330.S78 1982 297.89 83-227 ISBN 0-933770-16-2 (v. 1) ISBN 0-933770-78-2 (v. 7, casebound) ISBN 0-933770-80-4 (v. 7, paperbound) vii [p. vii] Yet, shouldst thou reflect upon these statements [Rev. 1:16–17], thou wouldst find them to be of such surpassing eloquence and clarity as to mark the loftiest heights of utterance and the epitome of wisdom. Methinks it is from them that the suns of eloquence have appeared and the stars of clarity have dawned forth and shone resplendent. … Know then that He [Jesus] who uttered these words in the realms of glory meant to describe the attributes of the One Who is to come in such veiled and enigmatic terms as to elude the understanding of the people of error. Bahá’u’lláh Gems of Divine Mysteries, 52–53; 54–55. [p. viii] [This page intentionally blank.] viii [p. ix] CONTENTS Foreword by Juan R. I. Cole#xi Acknowledgements#v Introduction#xix Chapter One Bahá’u’lláh and the Book of Certitude#1 Chapter Two Exegesis and Ideology: The Doctrinal Content of the Book of Certitude#51 Chapter Three Beyond Islam: Hermeneutical Terminology in the Book of Certitude#81 Chapter Four Exegetical Techniques in the Book of Certitude#109 Chapter Five Conclusion: The Other Side of the Bridge#233 Bibliography#305 Appendix: Qur’an verses cited in the Íqán#325 ix [p. x] FINAL PAGE OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT of the Kitáb-i Íqán in the hand of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Note that the term “revealed” (al-manzúl) ap- pears in Bahá’u’lláh’s own colophon. (Courtesy of the Bahá’í World Centre.) x [p. xi] FOREWORD Bahá’u’lláh (1817–1892), the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í religion, penned an enormous number of works, but it can be argued that the 1862 Book of Certitude (the Kitáb-i Íqán) is his masterpiece. Christopher Buck has, in this well-argued book, advanced our understanding of the context, literary techniques, and interpretive aims of Bahá’u’lláh’s Book of Certitude, pro- ducing the first book-length academic study devoted entirely to a major work of Bahá’í scripture. No reader of the Book of Certitude can fail to be struck by how much of it consists of commentaries and references to verses of the Qur’an. Its first audience was after all a Shiite Muslim, an uncle of Bahá’u’lláh’s predecessor, the Báb (1819–1850). The traditions and sciences of the Qur’an commentary constitute one of the more important branches of Islamic learning. It is the virtue of Symbol and Secret that it takes account of several overlapping intellectual traditions in elucidating the Book of Certitude’s approach to Islamic scripture. The author shows an awareness of the main schools of Muslim Qur’an commentary, and also of contemporary academic scholarship on the subject. It is the latter, especially the work of scholars such as Wansbrough and Rippin, that provide the author with the analytical leverage to illuminate for us the place of the Qur’an in the Book of Certitude. Buck succeeds in demonstrating how important academic training and a knowledge of Islamics are for a profounder appreciation of Bahá’í scripture. [p. xii] As soon as it was penned, friend and foe recognized the Book of Certitude as an extraor- dinarily powerful book, written in a crisp and straightforward style (commented on favorably by the Cambridge Orientalist E. G. Browne in his A Literary History of Persia). It exhibits a lucid and tantalizing view of sacred history, theology, and the mystical path that attempted to vindi- cate the Bábí movement and yet to prepare the way for the emergence from it of something new. It was authored only a year or so before Bahá’u’lláh’s initial declaration of himself as the promised one of the Báb at the Garden of Necip Pa$a (the “Garden of Ri%ván”) in Baghdad. There is little doubt that the early Bahá’í community in Iran considered it their most central text of scripture, and it was perhaps the first Bahá’í book to be printed, in Bombay, around 1882. Bahá’u’lláh himself referred to it, in a letter to the Zoroastrian agent in Tehran, as the “Lord of Books” (sayyid-i kutub), and he put forward its framework for the understanding of xi universal religious history as a way of reconciling the “prophetologies” of Hinduism, Christi- anity, Zoroastrianism, and Islam. The eminent Bahá’í scholar Mírzá Abu’l-Fa%l Gulpáygání (1844–1914) initially refrained from writing anything about the Bahá’í religion, after adopting it in 1876, feeling that such works of Bahá’u’lláh as the Book of Certitude made any further discussion unnecessary. Even once he was prevailed upon to begin writing on Bahá’í spirituality and doctrine, Mírzá Abu’l- Fa%l referred frequently to this book. He wrote to a correspondent in 1888: “It is therefore in- cumbent upon you to cup your hand and drink from the spring of certitude [the Kitáb-i Íqán] that has flowed from the pen of the All-Merciful throughout these times. It is, for all its con- ciseness, the key to the psalms and tablets, and is the interpreter of the books of God, Who dispels the darkness at each dawn. Thereby have the seals of the prophets been broken and the abstrusities of the allusions of past scriptures [p. xiii] been resolved. Exert yourself to the ut- most and reflect on this holy book, that you might be inspired to the correct understanding of every chapter.” Mírzá Abu’l-Fa%l’s own masterwork, his 1898 Fará’id (Priceless Things) was devoted to the rebuttal of an attack on the Book of Certitude by a Shiite cleric resident in Tiflis (Tiblisi), Georgia. The salience of the Book of Certitude has not lessened with time. An English translation by Ali-Kuli Khan, published in New York in 1904, became popular in the nascent American Bahá’í community of the early twentieth century. The work’s continued significance for those from a Christian background is no doubt related to the attention Bahá’u’lláh gives to the Gos- pel verses and prophecies, discussion of which occupies some one-fourth of the book. Bahá’u’lláh’s great-grandson, Shoghi Effendi Rabbání (1896–1957), the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, published a fresh translation of the Book of Certitude in 1931 and elsewhere called it “foremost among the priceless treasures cast forth from the billowing ocean of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation.” He adds: “Well may it be claimed that of all the books revealed by the Author of the Bahá’í Revelation, this Book alone, by sweeping away the age-long barriers that have so insurmountably separated the great religions of the world, has laid down a broad and unassailable foundation for the complete and permanent reconciliation of their followers.” Juan R. I. Cole Ann Arbor, Michigan 9 February 1995 xii [p. xiv] [This page intentionally blank.] [p. xv] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Without the encouragement and expertise of my advisor, Professor Andrew Rippin, this book would not have been possible. All of the essential theoretical elements were crystallized under his direction. His strong editorial hand shaped the final draft.

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