The Journal of Bahá'í Studies

THE JOURNAL OF BAHÁ’Í STUDIES La Revue des études bahá’íes/La Revista de estudios bahá’ís

Volume 29, number 3 Fall 2019

A Publication of the Association for Bahá’í Studies–North America THE JOURNAL OF BAHÁ’Í STUDIES LA REVUE DES ÉTUDES BAHÁ’ÍES/LA REVISTA DE ESTUDIOS BAHÁ’ÍS Volume 29 Number 3 Fall 2019 Publications Mail Registration No. 09448

EDITOR John S. Hatcher POETRY EDITOR Peter E. Murphy EDITORIAL COORDINATOR Nilufar Gordon EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Roshan Danesh, Nilufar Gordon, Mehran Kiai, Pierre-Yves Mocquais, Bahhaj Taherzadeh

French translation: Louise Mailhot and Juliette Goudreau Spanish translation: John S. Hatcher

The Journal of Bahá’í Studies (USPS #013-468) is published by the Association for Bahá’í Studies–North America. The views expressed in this Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the Editorial Board or Executive Committee of the Association for Bahá’í Studies, or authoritative explications of Bahá’í teachings.

Periodicals postage paid at Champlain, NY, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Address changes should be sent to IMS of NY, 100 Walnut St. #3, P.O. Box 1518, Champlain, NY, USA 12919-1518. For details call IMS at 1(800) 428-3003.

Articles in The Journal of Bahá’í Studies are available on EBSCO Publishing’s aggregated database. This journal is abstracted in Science of Religion Abstracts, Religion Index One: Periodicals, Index Islamicus, and Index to Book Reviews in Religion, and catalogued at American Theological Library Association and the Institut de L’Information Scientifique et Technique.

Annual subscription fees (in Canadian funds):

Individual subscriptions: Canada $70; United States: $80; International: $90. Institutional subscriptions: $100. Single copies: $20/issue. Details available at Correspondence regarding subscriptions should be addressed to Association for Bahá’í Studies, 34 Copernicus Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 7K4 Canada. E-mail: . Tel.: 613-233-1903. Address editorial correspondence to .

Printed in Canada on recycled paper. ISSN 0838–0430

© Association for Bahá’í Studies 2019. All rights reserved. Many articles published in The Journal of Bahá’í Studies allude to the institutions and central figures of the Bahá’í Faith; as an aid for those unfamiliar with the Bahá’í Faith, we include here a succinct summary excerpted from http://www.bahai.org/ beliefs/bahaullah-covenant/. The reader may also find it helpful to visit the official web site for the worldwide Bahá’í community (www.bahai.org) available in several languages. For article submission guidelines, please visit http://bahai-studies.ca/ the-journal-of-bahai-studies-submission-guidelines/.

ABOUT THE BAHÁ’Í FAITH

The Bahá’í Faith, its followers believe, is “divine in origin, all-embracing in scope, broad in its outlook, scientific in its method, humanitarian in its principles and dynamic in the influence it exerts on the hearts and minds of men.” The mission of the Bahá’í Faith is “to proclaim that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is continuous and progressive, that the Founders of all past religions, though different in the non-essential aspects of their teachings, “abide in the same Tabernacle, soar in the same heaven, are seated upon the same throne, utter the same speech and proclaim the same Faith” (Shoghi Effendi).

The Bahá’í Faith began with the mission entrusted by God to two Divine Messengers— the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. Today, the distinctive unity of the Faith They founded stems from explicit instructions given by Bahá’u’lláh that have assured the continuity of guidance following His passing. This line of succession, referred to as the Covenant, went from Bahá’u’lláh to His Son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and then from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to His grandson, Shoghi Effendi, and the Universal House of Justice, ordained by Bahá’u’lláh. A Bahá’í accepts the divine authority of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh and of these appointed successors.

The Báb (1819-1850) is the Herald of the Bahá’í Faith. In the middle of the 19th century, He announced that He was the bearer of a message destined to transform humanity’s spiritual life. His mission was to prepare the way for the coming of a second Messenger from God, greater than Himself, who would usher in an age of peace and justice.

Bahá’u’lláh (1817-1892)—the “Glory of God”—is the Promised One foretold by the Báb and all of the Divine Messengers of the past. Bahá’u’lláh delivered a new Revelation from God to humanity. Thousands of verses, letters and books flowed from His pen. In His Writings, He outlined a framework for the development of a global civilization which takes into account both the spiritual and material dimensions of human life. For this, He endured 40 years of imprisonment, torture and exile.

In His will, Bahá’u’lláh appointed His oldest son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (1844-1921), as the authorized interpreter of His teachings and Head of the Faith. Throughout the East and West, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá became known as an ambassador of peace, an exemplary human being, and the leading exponent of a new Faith.

Appointed Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, His eldest grandson, Shoghi Effendi (1897-1957), spent 36 years systematically nurturing the development, deepening the understanding, and strengthening the unity of the Bahá’í community, as it increasingly grew to reflect the diversity of the entire human race.

The development of the Bahá’í Faith worldwide is today guided by the Universal House of Justice (established in 1963). In His book of laws, Bahá’u’lláh instructed the Universal House of Justice to exert a positive influence on the welfare of humankind, promote education, peace and global prosperity, and safeguard human honor and the position of religion. THE JOURNAL OF BAHÁ’Í STUDIES

LA REVUE DES ÉTUDES BAHÁ’ÍES/LA REVISTA DE ESTUDIOS BAHÁ’ÍS Volume 29 Number 3 Fall 2019

Contents

3 J S. H From the Editor’s Desk The Ascent of Mount Carmel: Celebrating the Bicentenary of the Birth of the Báb

8 You Might Also Like to Read . . .

9 J S. H, A H, E H Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih

43 Bahá’u’lláh’s “Ode of the Dove”: A Provisional Translation by J S. H, A H, E H

67 M Z The Lawh-i-Tibb (Tablet to the Physician): Beyond Health Maxims

83 T L Genesis in King Lear: Joseph’s Many-Colored Coat Suits Shakespeare

Poems

97 A E. L What to Pack in Case of Exile 98 A E. L White Roses

Illustrations

99 Biographical Notes

The Báb’s prayer beads 3

That evening, He placed the Báb’s From the Editor’s remains in a marble sarcophagus in Desk the middle room. According to Shoghi Eﬀ endi,

JOHN S. HATCHER When all was fi nished, and the earthly remains of the Martyr- T A M C: Prophet of Shíráz were, at long last, C B safely deposited for their everlasting B B rest in the bosom of God’s holy mountain, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Who had cast aside His turban, removed His To commemorate the Bicentenary of shoes and thrown off His cloak, bent the Birth of the Báb, our cover is graced low over the still open sarcophagus, by the photo “Terraces of Light, Light His silver hair waving about His upon Light.” The title refers to the dark head and His face transfi gured and nights the Báb spent imprisoned in the luminous, rested His forehead on mountain fortress of Mahku, where He the border of the wooden casket, was not allowed even a candle. and, sobbing aloud, wept with such The nineteen terraces, which ascend a weeping that all those who were the holy mountain and embrace the present wept with Him. That night Shrine of the Báb, were fi rst envisioned He could not sleep, so overwhelmed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, then instigated by was He with emotion. (God Passes Shoghi Eff endi, and fi nally designed By 276) and completed by renowned architect Fariborz Sahba, in consultation with The room where the Bab’s casket lies the Universal House of Justice. Natu- is in the second row of six rooms with- rally, the focal point of the terraces is in the modest building, constructed of the Shrine of the Báb, the “Queen of stone from a nearby site. “Every stone Carmel,” which contains the sacred of that building, every stone of the road remains of the “Primal Point” and His leading to it . . . I have with infi nite young companion Anís, who were tears and at tremendous cost, raised martyred together in 1850, in Tabriz. and placed in position” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The spot for this edifi ce was chosen qtd. in God Passes By 276). In 1929, by Bahá’u’lláh Himself, during a tr ip three more rooms were built behind to Mount Carmel with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. the second row, thereby placing the It wasn’t until the 21st of March 1909, remains of the Báb and Anís at the pre- however, that the Báb’s remains were cise center of the nine-room structure. fi nally laid to rest within the simple In 1921, the remains of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá structure erected by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá were interred in the middle room, next Himself. to the Báb’s resting place, until such 4 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

time as an appropriate shrine could more abstruse and important Súrihs be built for Him alone. As announced of the Qur’án, summarize all previous this year (176 BE) in the Ridván letter divine Revelation during the Prophetic from the Universal House of Justice, (or Adamic) Cycle. The Báb is thus the the site for the Shrine of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá point of confl uence between these two has already been selected, the architect important periods in the advancement chosen, and pictures of the model are of civilization and humanity’s spiritual available for all to see. evolution. The idea of nine terraces leading up While symbolism is plentiful relat- to the Shrine of the Báb and the nine ing to the Báb, the Shrine of the Báb, ascending from it to the top of Mount and the terraces that ascend Mount Carmel was instigated by Shoghi Carmel, for the purposes of this intro- Eff endi, who also guided architect duction, let us examine three deeper Sutherland Maxwell in constructing meanings that are especially apt in this a beautiful domed superstructure to Bicentenary year. The fi rst of these— house the original stone shrine. and relatively unknown to most con- The whole story and evolution of temporaries—is the symbolic allusion the Shrine of the Báb and its terraces to climbing this holy mountain as a has yet to be told in full. Mysteries of mystical act of ascending to God. This signifi cance and meaning could lead idea was popularized in a work by us to wonder, for example, why the St. John of the Cross in the sixteenth Shrine of the Báb is the focal point century.1 of the Bahá’í gardens on Mt. Carmel, St. John of the Cross was a Spanish while the Qiblih (Point of Adoration) Catholic mystic and poet. He com- of the Bahá’í Faith is the Shrine of posed a poetic treatise titled Ascent of Bahá’u’lláh—which is currently a Mount Carmel, which portrays how simple garden house outside the city the individual can—through intense of ‘Akká. One answer is that this is prayer, refl ection, and adherence to the what Bahá’u’lláh Himself desired and ascetic life—attain the presence of, or designated. Another answer lies in the union with, the Beloved (Christ, in the Báb’s own declaration that He was the context of St. John’s masterpiece). long-awaited Qá’im of Islam, as well as the herald of a worldwide Resur- rection prophesied in all the Abra- O night that guided me hamic religions. His station is that of O night more lovely than the dawn the “Primal Point,” the beginning of O night that joined a new era—the Bahá’í Era—as well as a new Cycle in human history des- 1 The sacred importance of Mount tined to last no less than fi ve hundred Carmel can be traced back to the fi fteen thousand years. In addition, the Báb’s century BCE, and it plays a part in Juda- Writings, many of which explain the ism, Christianity, Islam, and the Bahá’í Faith. From the Editor’s Desk 5

The Beloved with the lover hermits who lived on Mount Carmel in Lover transformed in the Beloved the thirteenth century. The similarity in tone and imagery Upon my fl owery breast of St. John’s verses to the “Ode of the Which I kept whole for himself Dove”—a poem Bahá’u’lláh composed alone while He was dwelling in the moun- There he stayed sleeping tains of Sulaymáníyyih (and which is and I caressed him, translated and included in this issue)— And the fanning of the cedars might seem remarkable. However, made a breeze there seems to be a common theme and spiritual process within mystic poetry, The breeze from the turret no matter to what religion, gender, or While I was parting his locks culture its authors belong. This can be With his gentle hand seen in the poems of Rumi regarding He was wounding my neck “the Friend,” in the poems of Ṭáhirih And causing all my senses to be regarding the Báb, and in the verses suspended of Bahá’u’lláh regarding the Ḥúríyyih (the Maid of Heaven). I remained myself and forgot St. John’s verses are also reminis- myself cent of many of Bahá’u’lláh’s state- My face I reclined on the lover, ments that comprehension of the mys- All ceased and I abandoned tic or hidden signifi cances of scripture myself is ultimately a matter of “purity of Leaving my cares heart” rather than intellect alone: “The forgotten among the lilies.2 understanding of His words and the comprehension of the utterances of the Birds of Heaven are in no wise Because this magnifi cent opus is simi- dependent upon human learning. They lar to Persian and Arabic mystic poetry depend solely upon purity of heart, written around the same period, one chastity of soul, and freedom of spirit” could imagine some Islamic or Moor- (Kitáb-i-Íqán ¶ 233). ish infl uence here, especially since St. A second important meaning of John lived in those parts of Spain that Mount Carmel relates to Shoghi Ef- had been governed by the Caliphate of fendi’s description of the nature of Cordoba. But the main reason for his this holy site as the symbolic center of symbolic use of the ascent of Mount the earth. In a letter written 29 March Carmel was his membership in the 1951, Shoghi Eff endi states that “just Carmelite Order, a monastic order as in the realm of the spirit, the reality that be traced back to a community of of the Báb has been hailed by the Au- thor of the Bahá’í Revelation as ‘The 2 Trans, P. Silverio de Santa Teresa and Point round Whom the realities of the ed. E. Allison Peers, 10. 6 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

Prophets and Messengers revolve,’ so, of the spiritual infl uence emanating on this visible plane, His sacred remains from this sacred spot concludes with constitute the heart and center of what ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s observation that “the may be regarded as nine concentric tomb itself housing this dust” is the circles, paralleling thereby, and adding “spot round which the Concourse on further emphasis to the central position high circle in adoration” (95). accorded by the Founder of our Faith to A third meaning of this sacred spot One ‘from Whom God hath caused to is conveyed by the terraces that em- proceed the knowledge of all that was anate from the Shrine of the Báb, as and shall be,’ ‘the Primal Point from conceived of by architect Fariborz which have been generated all created Sahba. In one sense, Sahba’s plan en- things’” (Citadel of Faith 97). compasses both aspects of the sym- Of greater interest still is the detail bolism just described. The terraces with which Shoghi Eff endi describes rise majestically from the base of the what each of these nine concentric mountain to the summit, drawing pil- circles represents. The ninth or “out- grims’ hearts and minds toward God. ermost circle” represents “the entire Like the steps in the mystic ascent planet”; the eighth is the “Holy Land,” portrayed in the treatise of St. John what ‘Abdu’l-Bahá referred to as “the of the Cross, or the successive stages Nest of the Prophets”; the seventh en- of spiritual growth in Bahá’u’lláh’s circles Mount Carmel, “the Vineyard Seven Valleys, each terrace is unique, of the Lord”; the sixth contains “the a special experience for the wayfarer. extensive properties permanently ded- Some off er a retreat, a place of rest and icated to and constituting the sacred refl ection amid the fl owers and foun- precincts of the Báb’s holy Sepulcher”; tains. Yet the steps beckon us onward, within these properties is the fi fth cir- urging us to continue this journey of cle, containing “the most holy court, heart and spirit, drawing ever nearer to an enclosure comprising gardens and the Queen of Carmel. Once we have at- terraces”; the fourth is “the mausole- tained that sacred point, we are not fi n- um of the Báb”; and within “the shell ished with our journey, but must climb designed to preserve and adorn” it is ever higher, approaching the summit the fourth circle, the “chambers which from which we can gaze across the Bay constitute the tomb itself, and which of Haifa towards the Qiblih, the thresh- were constructed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá”; old of “Him Whom God would make the third circle is “the vault wherein re- Manifest,” the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh at poses the most holy casket”; the second Bahjí. designates “the alabaster sarcophagus” The water that fl ows alongside the within that vault; and, fi nally, within stairs circulates like blood in the body. that sarcophagus lies “that inestimable The descending water refreshes the jewel, the Báb’s holy dust” (Citadel gardens at each terrace, and, having of Faith 95). His detailed overview reached the bottom, returns to the top From the Editor’s Desk 7 reinvigorated, so that it may once again The second essay is a discussion descend and make the entire design a of the well-known Lawh-i-Tibb, living, life-giving creation. Bahá’u’lláh’s tablet to a physician. Perhaps the most clear and compel- While there is not yet any authorized ling meaning is off ered by the shape translation of the work, the maxims it of the terraces seen from a distance. contains regarding health are often cit- The eighteen terraces represent the ed. This discussion by Dr. Misagh Ziaei eighteen Letters of the Living, the fi rst reviews the tablet’s historical context, disciples of the Báb. Sabha has shown as well as some of its guidance regard- their spiritual relationship visually. ing the study and practice of medicine, The lower terraces curve up, while including the attributes its practitioners the top terraces curve down, forming must acquire and maintain. concentric circles that ripple outward The fi nal article is Tom Lysaght’s from the Shrine of the Báb. Similar creative comparison of the biblical to the concentric circles described by fi gure of Joseph and the character of Shoghi Eff endi, the terraces appear to Edgar in Shakespeare’s King Lear. be generated by the Shrine of the Báb, Lysaght, a student of drama, does a with the Shrine itself, and the gardens fascinating and useful job in uncov- surrounding it, forming the nineteenth ering how these two at-fi rst disparate terrace and the focal point—or “Primal fi gures must endure similar challenges Point”—of the entire design. in order to become their true selves With these meanings in mind, this and serve society. In addition, because issue contains three articles that delve Joseph is central to works such as the into the symbolism contained in three Qayyúmu’l-Asmá, this comparison en- of Bahá’u’lláh’s works. The fi rst arti- courages us to examine his story and cle, “Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of allusions more thoroughly, in light of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih” analyzes some of the Báb’s and Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings. the meanings behind the appearance Indeed, we are calling for more cre- of the Veiled Maiden, as alluded to by ative studies of the sacred Bahá’í texts, Bahá’u’lláh in His letters, and as por- including the Writings of the Báb, trayed in detail in such works as the Bahá’u’lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, as well as Súriy-i-Haykal. Following this, and in the Guardian’s letters, histories, and keeping with the theme of mysticism commentaries. For while individuals at the heart of all divine Revelation, we cannot produce authoritative transla- have published a provisional translation tions or interpretations of the Bahá’í of Bahá’u’lláh’s famous poem “Ode of Writings, all are encouraged to dive the Dove.” Here, Bahá’u’lláh presents into the vast ocean of this Revelation— a lengthy dialogue between Himself (as and to share the beautiful pearls of wis- persona/narrator) and the Ḥúríyyih— dom they fi nd in those depths. the Maid of Heaven (a personifi cation of “the Most Great Spirit”). 8 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

Y . . . The article “Concealment and Reve- lation in Bahá’u’lláh’s ‘Book of the As a service to our readers, we are River’” by noted Bahá’í scholar Nader including the hyperlinks to articles re- Saiedi examines and counters a thesis lated to the subjects presented in this previously proposed by Juan Cole that issue. These are articles that have been Bahá’u’lláh did not consider himself previously published in the Journal and a Manifestation of God until a short are available for free on our website. time prior to His Ridván declaration and that Bahá’u’lláh experience in First is a piece by Paula A. Drewek the Siyáh-Chál was not really a divine titled “Feminine Forms of the Divine revelation. Saiedi refutes this thesis in Bahá’í Scriptures.” The article re- by examining the text of the “Book of sponds to feminist research in reli- the River” in terms of “the dialectic of gious studies, but from a Bahá’í per- concealment and revelation that char- spective and answers the resurgence of acterizes Bahá’u’lláh’s early writings.” interest in a feminine divine in several religions by oﬀ ering examples of the https://bahai-studies.ca/wp-content/ interaction between male and female uploads/2014/05/9.3-Saiedi.pdf principles in Bahá’í sacred writings. Finally, there is an article by our editor https://bahai-studies.ca/wp-content/ John S Hatcher, “Unveiling the Húrí uploads/2014/05/5.1.Drewek.pdf of Love,” which attempts to explain a parallel relationship between (1) the The article “Metaphor and the Lan- means by which the essentially un- guage of Revelation” by Ross Wood- knowable intelligence we call “God” man asserts that metaphor is the literal employs the intermediaries of extraor- language of the soul. He explains that dinary beings (Manifestations) to run to enter the realm of metaphor as the physical reality, and (2) the means by language of the soul is to come into which the essentially unknowable in- direct contact with the Word as the telligence we call the human “soul” originating power of creation, and in employs the intermediary of an ex- his discussion he explores the meta- traordinary creation (the human brain) phorical language as the language of to run our physical bodies. The abiding Revelation and the richer unveiling of theme of this discourse is the attempt its meaning that can be found in the to understand how the Creator’s love writings of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. is the motive force instigating and sus- taining these parallel systems. https://bahai-studies.ca/wp-content/ uploads/2014/05/8.1-1Woodman.pdf https://bahai-studies.ca/wp-content/ uploads/2014/05/15.1-4.Hatcher.pdf 9

Résumé Bahá’u’lláh’s « Ḥúríyyih », terme tirant son origine du Coran (44-54, 52:20, 56-22 et 55:72), fait Symbolic Use référence aux fi gures féminines angéliques of the Veiled qui résident au paradis et accompagnent les croyants. Dans les Écrits bahá’ís, ce Ḥúríyyih mot a souvent été traduit par « la céleste Houri », une personnifi cation symbolique de la réalité divine de Bahá’u’lláh. Dans JOHN S. HATCHER, cet article, les auteurs explorent com- AMROLLAH HEMMAT, ment Bahá’u’lláh utilise ce procédé méta- EHSANOLLAH HEMMAT phorique pour illustrer les forces à l’œuvre dans le contexte de son apparition comme Manifestation de Dieu. En particulier, ils Abstract examinent le rôle symbolique crucial que “Ḥúríyyih,” a term whose roots can be le dévoilement de la céleste Houri joue par found in the Qur’án (44–54, 52:20, 56–22, rapport au dévoilement progressif de la and 55:72), refers to angelic female fi gures mission de Bahá’u’lláh. Alors que certains that reside in paradise and accompany the lecteurs pourraient croire que cette fi gure believers. In the Bahá’í Writings, the word est une représentation littérale de l’Esprit has often been translated as “the Maid of Saint apparaissant à Bahá’u’lláh, les au- Heaven,” a symbolic personifi cation of the teurs espèrent démontrer que Bahá’u’lláh divine reality of Bahá’u’lláh. In this arti- a plutôt créé une représentation fi gurative cle we explore how Bahá’u’lláh employs ou symbolique de la façon dont Il révèle this fi gurative device to portray the forces progressivement ses instructions pour cette at work in the context of His appearance époque tant attendue de l’histoire humaine, as a Manifestation of God. In particular, ce « jour des jours », le point culminant de we wish to examine the crucial symbolic toutes les révélations précédentes. En ter- role the unveiling of the Ḥúríyyih plays in mes simples, les auteurs sont d’avis que relation to Bahá’u’lláh’s gradual unfolding l’image de la céleste Houri ne représente of His mission. While some readers might pas une force distincte de Bahá’u’lláh, believe the portrayal of this fi gure to be a mais constitue plutôt une expression de literal depiction of the Holy Spirit appear- l’Esprit Saint agissant par l’intermédiaire ing to Bahá’u’lláh, we hope to demonstrate de la capacité spirituelle inhérente propre that Bahá’u’lláh has, instead, created a à une Manifestation de Dieu. fi gurative or symbolic portrayal of how He gradually reveals His guidance for this long-awaited era in human history—the Resumen “Day of Days,” the culmination of all pre- “Ḥúríyyih,” a un término cuyas raíces se vious revelations. Put simply, we feel that pueden encontrar en el Qur’án (44–54, the image of the Ḥúríyyih does not rep- 52:20, 56–22, and 55:72), se refi ere a fi g- resent a force separate from Bahá’u’lláh, uras femeninas angelicales que residen en but rather an expression of the Holy Spirit el paraíso y acompañan a los creyentes. En operating through the inherent spiritual ca- los Escritors de la Fe Bahá’í, la palabra a pacity unique to a Manifestation of God. menudo se ha traducido como “la Doncella 10 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019 del Cielo,” una personifi cación simbólica personifi es the Holy Spirit emanating de la realidad divina de Bahá’u’lláh. En through Bahá’u’lláh: este artículo exploramos cómo Bahá’u’lláh emplea este dispositivo fi gurativo para re- the “Most Great Spirit,” as desig- tratar las fuerzas en el trabajo en el contex- nated by Himself, and symbolized to de su aparición como una Manifestación in the Zoroastrian, the Mosaic, de Dios. En particular, deseamos examinar the Christian, and Muhammadan el papel simbólico crucial que la revel- Dispensations by the Sacred Fire, ación del Ḥúríyyih juega en relación con el desarrollo gradual de Su misión por par- the Burning Bush, the Dove and te de Bahá’u’lláh. Aunque algunos lecto- the Angel Gabriel respectively, res podrían creer que la representación de descended upon, and revealed it- esta fi gura es una representación literal del self, personated by a “Maiden,” to Espíritu Santo apareciendo a Bahá’u’lláh, the agonized soul of Bahá’u’lláh. esperamos demostrar que Bahá’u’lláh, en (100) cambio, ha creado una representación fi gu- rativa o simbólica de cómo Él revela grad- Let us examine how this fi gurative de- ualmente Su guía para esta era tan esperada vice is developed by Bahá’u’lláh in the en la historia humana: el “Día de los Días”, unfolding of His revealed works as it la culminación de todas las revelaciones is employed in the chronology of His anteriores. En pocas palabras, sentimos ministry. que la imagen del Ḥúríyyih no representa una fuerza separada de Bahá’u’lláh, sino más bien una expresión del Espíritu Santo T I A que opera a través de la capacidad espiri- Ḥ tual inherente única de una Manifestación de Dios. From the perspective of the Bahá’í authoritative texts, the Maid of Heaven is a symbolic or allegorical mystical con- T Ḥ P cept intended to convey various levels “ M G S”1 of meaning. Consequently, this trope is open to multiple interpretations. For In God Passes By, Shoghi Eff en- while the principal “intended” mean- di, quoting from the Súriyi-Haykal, ing, according to Shoghi Eff endi, is the renders the Arabic word ḥúríyyih as Holy Spirit being channeled through “Maiden” and states that this character Bahá’u’lláh, we can hardly pretend to 1 We wish to express our gratitude decipher in any comprehensive man- to the Bahá’í World Centre for providing ner the totality of what it represents. the authorized translation of the Lawḥ-i- Indeed, the depth and breadth of its Ru’yá (Tablet of the Vision) in advance of meaning call to mind Bahá’u’lláh’s ob- its publication, as well as our thanks to Dr. servation, “How great the multitude of Vahid Rafati for introducing us to addition- truths which the garment of words can al sources, and to Dr. Sasha Dehghani for never contain! How vast the number of sharing his thoughts on this topic. Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 11

such verities as no expression can ad- This description parallels what equately describe, whose signifi cance Bahá’u’lláh depicts in His epistle to can never be unfolded, and to which Násíri’d-Dín Sháh when He says, “O not even the remotest allusions can be King! I was but a man like others, made!” (Gleanings 89:3). asleep upon My couch, when lo, the Perhaps the most illuminating ex- breezes of the All-Glorious were waft- planation of the term is Shoghi Ef- ed over Me, and taught Me the knowl- fendi’s statement that the Maid of edge of all that hath been. This thing is Heaven as portrayed by Bahá’u’lláh not from Me, but from One Who is Al- in His description of the dream vision mighty and All-Knowing” (Summons He experienced in the Siyáh-Chál2 1:192). “personifi ed the Spirit of God within Thus, while the intermediary reality Him [Bahá’u’lláh]” (God Passes By of the Maid of Heaven is personifi ed 121). Accordingly, in various of the in the form of an immanent corporeal works by Bahá’u’lláh, the Ḥúríyyih image, Bahá’u’lláh emphasizes that represents an intermediary fi gure who this appearance is a means whereby imparts to the Manifestations of God He can provide His followers with a that which the Creator wishes to con- sense of the experience He undergoes vey to humankind for a specifi c era or as His revelation is conveyed to Him, dispensation. something we can understand solely by Bahá’u’lláh Himself writes in the metaphorical or allegorical representa- Kitáb-i-Badí’ (1867) that “the Holy tions. Consequently, the image is re- Spirit spoke in My heart and the plete with symbolic detail and actions, Most Great Spirit3 uttered through and in His recounting of this experi- My tongue. This is not from me, ence, He treats this allegorical personi- but from that Powerful One whose fi cation with utmost respect, inasmuch power encompasses all things.”4 as She is assigned a station belonging to the loftiest realm, the transcendent 2 “The Black Pit,” an infamous sub- domain of the Divine. terranean dungeon in which Bahá’u’lláh Using as a starting point the appear- was imprisoned in 1852. ance of the Ḥúríyyih in the Writings, let 3 A defi nitive distinction between these two spiritual realities is not possible, us examine the distinction between ac- but the “Most Great Spirit” can be thought cepting the Maid of Heaven as an actu- of as an allusion to the essential reality of al being and viewing Her as a symbolic Bahá’u’lláh Himself, and the “Holy Spirit” fi gure that Bahá’u’lláh has devised for represents the spiritual infl uence emanat- our benefi t—that we might understand ing from that reality, like rays emanating in simpler terms a most ephemeral, from the sun. mystical, and spiritual process. For ex- 4 This and all other provisional ample, in Judaism, Moses claims that translations in this article are by the au- God speaks to Him through the burning thors—John S. Hatcher, Amrollah Hem- bush; after this experience, His words mat, and Ehsanollah Hemmat. 12 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

are considered to have divine authority. an otherwise “uninformed” Messenger. In Christian scripture, the appearance Such depictions, however, are allegor- of the fi gure of the dove as a simile for ical and—like many other similar uses the Holy Spirit descending upon Jesus of metaphorical imagery in the scrip- when He is anointed by John the Bap- tures of all religions—are intended to tist signals the beginning of Christ’s illustrate realities that cannot be ade- ministry, but the dove does not con- quately expressed in a literal form.6 tinue to represent the Holy Spirit or an Bahá’u’lláh, in fact, states unequiv- intermediary between God and Christ. ocally that everything the Manifesta- From that moment forward, instead, tions say or do is of Their own devis- He frequently alludes to Himself as the ing, has authority, is carrying out the intermediary between God and human- will of God, and is explicitly for our kind: “For I have not spoken of myself; benefi t: “The essence of belief in Di- but the Father which sent me, he gave vine unity consisteth in regarding Him me a commandment, what I should say, Who is the Manifestation of God and and what I should speak” (John 12:49). Him Who is the invisible, the inacces- However, in Islam, the Angel Gabriel sible, the unknowable Essence as one as intermediary is much more signif- and the same. By this is meant that icant. Gabriel is understood by most whatever pertaineth to the former, all Muslims to be a literal intermediary His acts and doings, whatever He or- between Allah and Muḥammad, the daineth or forbiddeth, should be con- untutored recipient of the revelation.5 sidered, in all their aspects, and under As we can observe, the beginning of all circumstances, and without any res- every Dispensation is depicted as an ervation, as identical with the Will of “announcement” by the Holy Spirit God Himself” (Gleanings 84:166). informing the Prophet that He is the Let us keep this relationship in Chosen One to carry out that particular mind as we expand our research into stage in God’s plan for the education Bahá’u’lláh’s utilization of the fi gure of humankind. The act of revelation of the Ḥúríyyih as a representation of itself (as in Muḥammad’s example) is the spiritual force and impact of the often portrayed as the simple transmis- Holy Spirit being communicated to us sion of the Word of God by means of through the Manifestation, even as was 5 Quite possibly because Muḥammad the fi gure of Gabriel for Muḥammad: appeared among unlearned warring tribes, He employed this sort of benign artifi ce to main- Wrapped in its stygian gloom, tain their belief, something He seemed to breathing its fetid air, numbed by confi rm and perpetuate by going into a its humid and icy atmosphere, His form of trance or seizure when revealing what became the suras of the Qur’án. In 6 For an ampler discussion of this other words, the presumption by those theme—which is outside the purview of present was that Gabriel was speaking to this article—please see Hatcher, The Face Him with Divine Authority. of God among Us, especially chapter 7. Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 13

feet in stocks, His neck weighed Bahá’u’lláh’s initial references to the down by a mighty chain, surround- Ḥúríyyih are found principally in the ed by criminals and miscreants of works He revealed in Baghdad and Su- the worst order, oppressed by the laymáníyyih. For example, we encoun- consciousness of the terrible blot ter allegorical references to a heavenly, that had stained the fair name of chaste, and luminous female fi gure in His beloved Faith, painfully aware the Qaṣídiy-i-Izz-i-Varqá’íyyih (“Ode of the dire distress that had over- of the Dove”), the Hidden Words, the taken its champions, and of the Lawḥ-i-Ḥúríyyih, the Lawḥ-i-Ḥúr-i- grave dangers that faced the rem- ‘Ujáb,7 the Lawḥ-i-Subḥana Rabbíu’l nant of its followers—at so critical A‘lá, the Lawḥ-i-Hili Hili Yá Bishárat, an hour and under such appalling the Lawḥ-i-Malláḥu’l-Quds (Tablet of circumstances the “Most Great the Holy Mariner), the Lawḥ-i-Bulbul- Spirit,” as designated by Himself, i-Firáq, and the Lawḥ-i-Ghulámu’l- and symbolized in the Zoroastri- Khuld, all of which except for the “Ode an, the Mosaic, the Christian, and of the Dove” were revealed in Bagh- Muhammadan Dispensations by dad after Bahá’u’lláh’s return from His the Sacred Fire, the Burning Bush, two-year retreat to the mountains of the Dove and the Angel Gabriel Sulaymániyyih. respectively, descended upon, and The Maid of Heaven continues to revealed itself, personated by a appear in some of the tablets revealed “Maiden,” to the agonized soul of after the Baghdad period. For exam- Bahá’u’lláh. (Shoghi Eff endi, God ple, She appears in the Súriy-i-Qalam Passes By 100) and in the Ishráqát, the Lawḥ-i-Ru’yá, and most importantly in the Súriy-i- S F A Haykal8 in which Bahá’u’lláh’s experi- Ḥ ence and conversation with Her in the Siyáh-Chál is described in its totality. The exalted station of the Ḥúríyyih is As we will discuss later, in these clearly evident in Bahá’u’lláh’s obser- works the fi gurative images of the vation that the “Holy Spirit Itself hath Ḥúríyyih and the hurís can assume dif- been generated through the agency of ferent meanings in diff erent contexts. a single letter revealed by this Most Yet the allusions to these personifi ca- Great Spirit, if ye be of them that tions are not entirely limited to these comprehend” (Summons ¶50). The works, nor are they limited to the transcendent nature of the Ḥúríyyih is works of Bahá’u’lláh. For example, thus an essential characteristic of this ‘Abdu’l-Bahá refers to the “maid of personifi cation, and Her importance symbolically is demonstrated in a 7 Khávarí, Risáliy-i-Ayyám-i-Tisìh number of works of Bahá’u’lláh where 251–54. She is mentioned or discussed. 8 Originally revealed in Adriano- ple, as we will explain later. 14 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

heaven” as representing the “new Jeru- of stone and mortar does not descend salem,” and the “angelic company” as from heaven and is not renewed, but fi gures announcing to the universe the that what is renewed is the religion news that the prophecies in the book of of God” (Some Answered Questions Revelations regarding the advent of the 13:3). kingdom of God on earth have actually been fulfi lled: T P A L T Ḥ O ye beloved of God! O ye chil- dren of His Kingdom! Verily, As most students of the literary tradi- verily, the new heaven and the tions of Persian and Arabic mystical new earth are come. The holy poetry are aware, portrayals of love City, new Jerusalem, hath come relationships are frequently employed down from on high in the form of to symbolize the overwhelming long- a maid of heaven, veiled, beaute- ing of a seeker or wayfarer to attain the ous, and unique, and prepared for presence of the Beloved, the Friend, or reunion with Her lovers on earth. the Divine—each of which represents The angelic company of the Ce- some form of the love of God. With lestial Concourse hath joined in a Rumi, for example, his adoration of call that hath run throughout the “the Friend” is often captured in what universe, all loudly and mightily seems to be his portrayal of the aff ec- acclaiming: “This is the City of tion, adoration, respect, and obeisance God and His abode, wherein shall he expresses for his spiritual teacher, dwell the pure and holy among Shams of Tabriz. On a symbolic level, His servants. He shall live with however, the “Friend” in his poems rep- them, for they are His people and resents not a literal personal relation- He is their Lord.” (Selections 3:1) ship, however powerful and important this was for his spiritual edifi cation, Here, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explains the but rather his awareness of and longing Ḥúríyyih’s appearance in the Book to attain union, or reunion, with “the of Revelation—a reference He eluci- Beloved”—the “Perfect Man,” One dates more fully in Some Answered who, like Muḥammad, manifests as Questions—as the new Law revealed perfectly as is possible in human form by Bahá’u’lláh in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas: the attributes or “names” of Allah, or of “Clearly, the New Jerusalem which the transcendental Divine reality that is descends from heaven is not a city of the spiritual realm. stone and lime, of brick and mortar, Similarly, in His mystical work The but is rather the religion of God which Seven Valleys, Bahá’u’lláh represents descends from heaven and is described the seeker’s longing for the Beloved as new.” He continues, “For it is ob- through the symbolic story of Majnun vious that the Jerusalem which is built (the “insane one”) and his tireless quest Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 15 to attain the presence of the hidden or attention is paid to the detailed portray- concealed Layli. This traditional story al of Her beauty, focusing on a variety from Persian and Arabian lore—cele- of specifi c physical attributes relevant brated most famously by Niẓámí9—is to what was considered evocative in a good example of the Súfi use of an the cultural context in which the poem intense and all-consuming human love was composed. More specifi cally, each to symbolize the intensity of the way- of the physical attributes of beauty in farer’s quest for divine love in a rela- the portrayal of the feminized Divine tionship with “the Friend.” The trage- most often represents a corresponding dy of Shirin and Farhad is a similarly spiritual virtue or power. symbolic love story that represents the Thus, in His own utilization of intense, unrelenting desire of the lover these traditions, Bahá’u’lláh employs or seeker to attain the presence of his images of the beauty and glory of the beloved—the same longing portrayed Ḥúríyyih to dwell on those physical by Bahá’u’lláh in His description of the attributes that are most emblematic of “Valley of Love” in The Seven Valleys. Her beauty—Her form, a beauty mark, It is worthwhile to note that in these Her brow, the grace of Her movements symbolic or allegorical stories the Be- and gestures. Likewise, these portraits loved (the One who is sought) is female of female allure and sensuality are of- and the wayfarer or seeker is male, ten accompanied by stark and dramatic even though the Deity (God or Allah) emotional scenes characterized by im- is always alluded to in terms of a male mense sorrow, joy, and aff ection. What identity. The feminization of the Di- becomes unmistakably apparent when vine or the Beloved doubtless derives one studies Bahá’u’lláh’s use of this from passionate human love being the fi gurative imagery is that He utilizes most immediately evocative trope or it to convey spiritual and metaphysical analogical experience to which we can attributes—His objective is never to relate such intense love, longing, and create sensational or sensual imagery passion. In most romantic literature, for its own sake. The ecstatic longing, the beautiful woman is portrayed as the object of love (the Beloved), and the and the even more ecstatic sensation of male is portrayed as the lover seeking attaining the presence of the Beloved the object of his aff ection. are never meant to be ends in them- Consequently, because the Beloved selves—they are not the attainment of has a female persona in these and ecstasy for its own sake. This distinc- numerous other poetic works, great tion is extremely important in light of the emphasis that some contemporary 9 Niẓámí Ganjaví (12th century translators of Rumi have placed on the CE) is considered by the generality of literal story, even going so far as to scholars to be the greatest Persian poet to attribute some literal or physical love write in the tradition of the romantic epic relationship to the poet/persona and his (Sajjádi). 16 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

friend Shams of Tabriz.10 it pertains to the appearance of the Clearly, Bahá’u’lláh’s utilization of Ḥúríyyih. these fi gurative images has a spiritual Perhaps the most obvious and yet intent. Therefore, in Bahá’í texts, when surely one of the most important al- the reader encounters allusions from lusions to the veil is the relationship traditional mystic Persian literature re- between the Ḥúríyyih being veiled garding the body of the Ḥúríyyih (for and subsequently becoming unveiled. example, locks and ringlets of hair, the This important action—though possi- hair’s enthralling fragrance, and the bly barely noticeable to most—plays entrancing beauty of the face, fore- a central role, both in symbolizing the head, eyebrows, beauty marks, hands, appearance of the Manifestation, and in and breasts) and the various attributes the subtle and often gradual stages by commonly associated with the portray- which Bahá’u’lláh reveals His station, al of the feminine “Beloved,” we are His essential nature, and His purpose assured that our job is to discern their in revealing Himself to humankind. underlying or veiled meaning. Other imagery that also assumes importance in the portrayal of the T S I Ḥúríyyih concerns Her attire. For ex- V ample, in the Commentary on the Sura of Joseph, the Báb refers to various There are countless other important qualities of Her veil and attire as be- images in mystical Persian and Ara- ing beautiful, or coarse, or of silk (Qa- bic literature—particularly allusions yyúmu’l-Asmá’ 126–27). Or, as we will to certain aff ective behaviors, such discuss later, in the Sura of the Pen, as smiling, crying, weeping, graceful Bahá’u’lláh addresses Her by these movements, coyness, and amorous words: “Come forth as thou willest, glances in the poetry of the Sufi tra- and array thyself as thou pleasest with dition. However, important as these the broidered robe of names and the images are in understanding the vari- silken vesture of immortality” (Days ous intended meanings of the Bahá’í of Remembrance 23:14). However, one Writings, for the purposes of this can hardly address the image of the present study, it is most essential that Ḥúríyyih without also addressing other we focus on the symbolism latent in images that, on the surface, seem to be Bahá’u’lláh’s reference to the veil as portraying an intense physical love re- 10 See, for example, Barks, The Soul lationship—an embrace, the separation of Rumi, and Lewis, Rumi. Barks tends of the lover (Bahá’u’lláh) from His to read this relationship in literal terms— Beloved (the Ḥúríyyih), and the sorrow Shams himself is the “Friend” or the “Be- caused by the lover’s constant pursuit loved” to whom Rumi alludes, whereas of the seemingly unattainable presence Lewis explains these allusions as being of the Beloved. poetic or allegorical portrayals of Rumi’s adoration of Allah. Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 17

T V These appearances are powerful poetic U D renderings of the Manifestation’s emo- tionally charged experiences with the The tablets of Bahá’u’lláh that include Holy Spirit, despite Bahá’u’lláh’s tran- references to the Ḥúríyyih and the scendent station and foreknowledge of hurís (the plural form of the word), all He must endure. In particular, this while clearly allegorical in nature, fi rst act symbolizes the agony He will might be likened to mystical or spiritu- experience in concealing Himself, His al dramas—something like the English powers, authority, and message until morality plays of the fourteenth and fi f- such time as His followers are ready to teenth centuries in the Western literary receive His unfolding of the Word. tradition. With this in mind, one may The appearances of the Ḥúríyyih in well fi nd it useful and enlightening to those tablets we designate as “the sec- approach the appearance—and partic- ond act” are a mixture of the heights of ularly the unveiling—of the Ḥúríyyih joy and the depths of foreboding and by examining the chronology of these even sorrow. The lover is no longer dis- images as if they were three successive dained by the Beloved and experiences acts in the unfolding drama that rep- a taste of nearness and a closer rela- resents three successive stages in the tionship to the Holy Spirit. At the same Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. time, in several tablets, Bahá’u’lláh re- However, in considering such an ap- veals to the reader the trials, betrayals, proach, one must be careful not to con- physical hardships, and pain He must fuse these “acts” with the more obvious endure. and commonly recognized divisions of The concluding act, the complete the Baghdad period, the Adrianople unveiling of the Ḥúríyyih, is, in a fi gu- period, and the ‘Akká period. Neither rative sense, accomplished as Her true are these equivalent to the three Dec- identity and purpose are made plain, larations of Bahá’u’lláh—fi rst in the even as is the mission of Bahá’u’lláh. Siyáh-Chál, secondly in the Garden of The most prominent portrayal of Riḍván, and thirdly in His letters from this fi nal act occurs in ‘Akká when Adrianople announcing His station to Bahá’u’lláh has the Súriy-i-Haykal the world’s kings and rulers. Instead, combined with fi ve of His letters to the three parts in this drama, portraying rulers into a calligraphic pentangle. As the gradual symbolic unveiling of the we will demonstrate, this added sym- Ḥúríyyih, correspond to the progres- bolic gesture gives us the opportunity sive unfolding of the station and power to appreciate in full the story behind of Bahá’u’lláh and His Revelation. the metaphorical devices that have, un- In brief, the acts begin with the ear- til this point, characterized the Ḥúríyy- liest appearances of the Ḥúríyyih, in ih. What has heretofore been only which She is veiled, remote, and osten- hinted at in such works as the Tablet sibly aloof from the narrator/persona. to Nasíri’d-Dín Sháh is unleashed in 18 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

the Súriy-i-Haykal’s narrative of the Bahá’u’lláh revealed these verses in Ḥúríyyih’s dialogue with Bahá’u’lláh response to a request by local Sufi s in the dream vision experienced in the who had come to revere Him and His Siyáh-Chál. Thus, the trope comes full remarkable and unfathomable knowl- circle, ending where it begins, with edge. They thus exhorted Bahá’u’lláh Bahá’u’lláh’s fi rst intimations of His to compose a poem in the style of the ministry. famous Qaṣídih Ṭá’íyyih Kubrá of Ibn-i-Fáriḍ, reputed to be one of the A O: greatest Súfi poets the Arab world T E A had produced.13 To their amazement, Ḥ Bahá’u’lláh proceeded to compose a poem of two thousand couplets in that The poem Qaṣídiy-i-Izz-i-Varqá’íyyih identical style, though He allowed only 11 (“Ode of the Dove”) was revealed 127 of these to be preserved. during Bahá’u’lláh’s sojourn in the We must take into account mountains of Kurdistan (1854–56). Bahá’u’lláh’s self-imposed exile from Since He had left Baghdad to avoid His family and from the Bábí commu- becoming the cause of further con- nity in Baghdad, alongside the style 12 tention among the Bábís, the tone of and language appropriate to the mysti- this poem alludes to the deep sorrow cal tenor of the Súfi verse He was em- He has experienced, as well as the ulating. Then, we can appreciate both further diffi culties He will be made to the sorrowful tone of the poem and the endure. It is also valuable to note that mystical and philosophical themes so 11 Bahá’u’lláh, Áthár-i-Qalam-i-A‘lá prevalent throughout the work. These 321–39. A provisional translation by John themes allude to the fact that, onto- S. Hatcher, Amrollah Hemmat and Ehsa- logically, the spiritual or transcendent nollah Hemmat of this poem is published in reality is essentially unknowable and this issue of the Journal of Bahá’í Studies. likewise unattainable by those abiding 12 Though Mírzá Yahyá had been in the realm of creation—the physical appointed by the Báb to help conduct the aff airs of the Bábí community, he never 13 Though little acknowledged in fulfi lled this duty. Instead, he hid and dis- the West, Ibn-i-Fáriḍ is considered to be on guised himself so that authorities might par with Rumi as a writer of Súfi mystical not associate him with the Bábís or, lat- verse. His most famous works are “The er, with the Bahá’ís. However, whenever Poem of the Súfi Way” and “The Wine Bahá’u’lláh made an eff ort to assist the Ode.” The former explains at great length believers by explaining the teachings or the mystical experience as an arduous and texts of the Báb, Mírzá Yahyá would com- demanding spiritual journey, while the plain and characterize these actions as an latter employs the metaphor of the intox- attempt by Bahá’u’lláh to usurp his author- ication of wine to represent the ecstasy of ity, even though he himself never lifted a being in the presence of the divine, a fi g- fi nger to assist the bewildered and disorga- urative device also used prominently by nized community of believers. Táhirih, the Báb, and Bahá’u’lláh. Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 19 realm or the “Kingdom of Names.” by the arrow of remoteness. It is in this sense that the sorrow ex- And if I stretched forth my be- pressed would seem to allude to the in- seeching hands for reunion with trinsic distance between the immanent Her, with a sword She replied, and the transcendent. This spiritual “This shall be the recompense for distance is demonstrated with partic- My lovers!” ular power when the Maid of Heaven compares Her own lofty and sublime And my sole yearning hath been station to the highest degree of illumi- but to hold fast, while Her relent- nation possible in the realm of creation less intent remaineth but to sever (the material world): my grasp! (lines 14–16)

“In My sight the most glorious It is in the portrayal of this relation- glory of Túr is abject, ship that, in mystic literature, the sym- and to Me the most luminous bolic veil comes into play by further beam of light is but darkness.” representing the ontological separation (“Ode of the Dove” line 100) or distance between humankind and the divine source. At the beginning of The transcendent divine has been the wayfarer’s search, for example, the eternally and intrinsically sanctiﬁ ed ability of the seeker or lover to behold from any conceptions that can be in any complete way the beauty of the formed in the mind of existent beings, Beloved is absent—the Beloved is veiled or concealed. But more impor- even as the Ḥúríyyih relates: tantly, in the context of the revealed works of Bahá’u’lláh—Himself a tran- “And certainly I have eternally scendent Being—the analogy of the existed in an immaculate state, veil assumes another more specialized and certainly I have been inﬁ nite- meaning, implying an ever more com- ly stainless.” (line 102) plete revelation (or manifestation) of the station and powers of Bahá’u’lláh Because this essential separation of Himself. the world of creation from its Creator Therefore, while in the “Ode of the (the transcendent Beloved) necessarily Dove” the Maiden of Heaven is dis- leads to sorrow, Bahá’u’lláh—in the tant, aloof, and unreachable, in the lat- persona of the seeker or lover—reer stages of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation, counts His despair at His remoteness the Ḥúríyyih is portrayed in His works from the Maid of Heaven: as appearing without veil, hence representing to the reader how the Holy And whenever I rushed toward Spirit is becoming more fully revealed reunion with Her light, after at- in the divine station of Bahá’u’lláh. taining nearness, I was wounded The unveiling also alludes to the 20 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

completeness with which the Holy In these verses, the countenance Spirit will be revealed in this dispensa- which Bahá’u’lláh has observed— tion, the “Day of God,” the period of the face of the Ḥúríyyih—is, in truth, fruition and fulfi llment of all previous naught but His own divine aspect or revelations. Or stated with an equally station. But even as the Báb request- relevant symbol, the resurrection of the ed that “Him Whom God shall make body politic foretold in all of the pre- manifest” (Selections 7) withhold viously revealed religions will come to revealing His station until the year pass. nineteen (1863), Bahá’u’lláh is being However, in the fi nal verses of the cautioned—in reality, explaining what “The Ode of the Dove,” written in the He already knows to the attentive read- early stages of Bahá’u’lláh’s Reve- er—that the people of the world (par- lation, we fi nd the Maiden reminding ticularly the Bábís, who are His most Bahá’u’lláh that He should not reveal immediate audience) are not yet ready the complete reality about Himself— to be exposed to the magnitude of His that the time for Him to begin His station nor to comprehend the totality ministry (unveiling the countenance of of His revelation. the Ḥúríyyih) has not yet begun. And To those familiar with Bahá’í his- the Maid of Heaven informs Him that tory, the wisdom in this caution is if He does reveal Himself prematurely, obvious—the Bábís still needed to be the totality of existence will vanish, better prepared for the advent of Him and His objective to unite the peoples Whom God would make manifest, of the world will thereby falter or fail. something Bahá’u’lláh would assist them in accomplishing when He re- “And within thee have I con- turned to Baghdad. In a related mat- cealed a truth that transcends all ter, this gradual disclosure of station knowledge. and purpose is very much akin to the Even every enlightened mind is approach the Báb Himself employed. unable to comprehend it! At the outset of His declaration, the “Relish the companionship of time for revealing His full station to that holy mystery concealed with- the public had not yet arrived. There- in thee! fore, we see in the Qayyúmu’l-Asmá’15 If thou art trustworthy, then dis- Bahá’u’lláh in one of His tablets: “If the close it not. veil were lifted, and the full glory of the “If thou removest the veil from station of those that have turned wholly to- the countenance of what thou hast wards God, and have, in their love for Him, observed, all existence will vanish renounced the world, were made manifest, in the twinkling of an eye.”14 the entire creation would be dumbfounded” (Gleanings 93:15). 14 Though in a diff erent context, a 15 The same work He commenced to similar eff ect on the whole of creation by reveal for His fi rst believer, Mullá Ḥusayn, an untimely “unveiling” is mentioned by the day they met in Shiraz. Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 21 that the Ḥúríyyih is fi rst permitted to with many other works of Bahá’u’lláh, adorn Herself with beautiful attire, veil there is an abundant use of terminology Her face, and come out of Her palace and imagery common to Persian and (126). Subsequently, She is told to re- Arabic mystical texts, such as those turn to Her abode. The command to of Ibn-i-‘Arabi and the Persian poets return would seem to be an allusion and authors who succeeded him (such to the fact that the Báb would reveal as Jami). In this connection, the Secre- His station by degrees and that the time tariat of the Universal House of Justice for a public declaration of His station has observed the following about the and mission was not yet at hand, even imagery in this work: as He advised Mullá Ḥusayn that fi rst night, “It is incumbent upon you not to The subject matter of this Tablet divulge, either to your companions or is that of the relationship between to any other soul, that which you have the Divine Youth and the Maiden. seen and heard” (qtd. in Nabil 63). In the past, as you are well aware, it has not been uncommon to use T L--Ḥ human love, passion and longing (T M) as an allegory of the divine love between God and His creatures. After His two-year sojourn to Sulay- One has only to think of the Song máníyyih, Bahá’u’lláh returned to of Songs in the Old Testament, the Baghdad where He revealed the Tablet writings of some of the Christian of the Maiden,16 which is composed in saints and much of Persian mysti- a sublime Arabic style. According to cal poetry. The tradition represent- Shoghi Eff endi, in this work “events of ed by such literature was used by a far remoter future are foreshadowed” Bahá’u’lláh in aspects of His Rev- (God Passes By 140). Relevant to our elation. (Letter dated 27 August analysis of the symbol of the Maiden 1998) is Shoghi Eff endi’s explanation that in this work, the Ḥúríyyih “symbolizes The terms used in the fi rst parts of the divine reality in Bahá’u’lláh.” He this tablet would seem to portray the continues, “In this Tablet He alludes Ḥúríyyih variously as belonging to to His passing, and most of it is in the the essential reality of the Creator, as nature of a communion with His own representing the divine station of the Spirit” (letter written on behalf of Manifestation—the sole representative Shoghi Eff endi to an individual, 6 May of God on Earth—and as a sublime Re- 1939). ality loftier than the world of creation. It is important to note that in the The tablet begins by praising God Tablet of the Maiden, as is the case for His creation of a paradise that refl ects His Essence and for His sending 16 The original Arabic can be found down from that paradise a Ḥúríyyih in Áthár-i-Qalam-i-A‘lá 647–53. 22 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

that manifests God’s glory in the world time immemorial in the tabernacle of of creation. Bahá’u’lláh’s description holiness, security, and splendor, and of paradise is very elaborate, depicting in the sanctuary of chastity, honor, and it with mystical terminology that refers glory.”18 Bahá’u’lláh then continues, to the various realms of God: to the “In crimson ink the Most Exalted Pen realms of láhút (the Heavenly Court) hath writ upon Her snow-white brow: and aḥadiyyah (Divine Unity), which ‘By God, None hath been aware of this principally denote God’s ineff able and Ḥúríyyih save God, the Inaccessible, transcendent Essence, and to the realms the Most High. God hath, in the realm of jabarút (the Celestial Dominion) and of eternity, sanctifi ed the hem of Her malakút (the Divine Kingdom), which chastity from the allusion of the people represent the World of Command, the of names, and Her countenance from intermediary reality between God and the gaze of all who inhabit the world of His creation (Áthár-i-Qalam-i-A‘lá being” (Áthár-i-Qalam-i-A‘lá 647–48). 647).17 Therefore, in this context the The Ḥúríyyih then emerges from reader understands how the Ḥúríyyih Her pavilion adorned with a robe so descends from the realms of paradise beauteous and dazzling that the inhab- as a herald of the transcendent Divine itants of the heavenly realm are ren- so that, operating through Bahá’u’lláh, dered unconscious, and the dominion She may (metaphorically speaking) of creation becomes illumined by Her serve as an intermediary between God beauty (Áthár-i-Qalam-i-A‘lá 648). In and His creation. another tablet Bahá’u’lláh describes Her announcement of Her inaccessi- S P C bly lofty station in the most eloquent terms: “Cry out before the gaze of the Representing the transcendent divine, dwellers of heaven and of earth: I am the concept of the Ḥúríyyih cannot the Maid of Heaven, the Off spring be- be adequately comprehended nor be gotten by the Spirit of Bahá. My habi- described through the medium of ordi- tation is the Mansion of His Name, the nary language; therefore, Bahá’u’lláh All-Glorious. Before the Concourse on employs various allegories and meta- high I was adorned with the ornament phors to depict Her reality in corporeal of His names. I was wrapped within the terms. He ascribes to Her the attributes veil of an inviolable security, and lay of purity and chastity (‘iṣmat), and He hidden from the eyes of men” (Glean- asserts that the Ḥúríyyih has been eter- ings 129:10). nally preserved in the tabernacles of In light of these verses, we can bet- inviolability and glory: “ The Ḥúríyyih ter understand the meanings intended appeared, She who had dwelled from by the metaphors of purity and chastity in the Tablet of the Maiden as a 17 The realms of láhút, jabarút, and malakút are also mentioned in Bahá’u’lláh, 18 Original text in Áthár-i-Qalam-i- The Seven Valleys 25. A‘lá 647. Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 23

reference to the fact that She person- Even when the Ḥúríyyih steps out of ifi es a transcendent divine reality that Her pavilion, She is still concealed by cannot be understood in the realm of Her veil from the eyes of creation. creation. Metaphorically, then, She has Refl ecting on what we have thus far been protected from the eyes of and examined, the image of the Maid of the grasp of creation. In the aforemen- Heaven is employed by Bahá’u’lláh to tioned quote (“God hath, in the realm represent the transcendent and divine of eternity, sanctifi ed the hem of Her aspects of that intermediary level of chastity from the allusion of the people reality—between divine and human— of names, and Her countenance from occupied by the Manifestation of God. the gaze of all who inhabit the world of Furthermore, accompanying the image being”), the attribute of chastity can be of the Ḥúríyyih are a variety of sym- understood as referring to the transcen- bols appropriate to Her transcendent dent aspect of the Ḥúríyyih—namely, station: Her veil, Her garment, and that She is cleansed from the impurity the pavilion, palaces, tabernacles, and of names and attributes. Because She chambers in which She abides, thereby does not dwell in the world of creation, concealed in chastity and purity from the kingdom of names and attributes the eyes of all in heaven and on earth. cannot fully or adequately portray Her ineff able reality. U Ḥ Yet names and attributes still play an important role in this portrayal. The This same metaphor of the veil, to- above passage indeed refers to the fact gether with the related metaphors of that the habitation of the Ḥúríyyih is Her garment, Her actions of removing “the mansion of God’s Name,” and She or changing the garment, and Her be- has been “adorned with the ornaments coming adorned with a new garment, of [God’s] names” or divine attributes. occurs on other occasions in the Tab- Furthermore, inasmuch as She has been let of the Maiden, as well as in other preserved in the tabernacle of glory, the works of Bahá’u’lláh. These portrayals word “Name” could be understood to provide additional insight into His stra- represent “the Greatest Name” (Bahá), tegic use of this imagery. a Name that is likewise beyond any Further in this tablet, Bahá’u’lláh complete or fi nal comprehension by continues with the following descrip- those dwelling in the realm of creation. tion of the Maid of Heaven as She Thus, though adorned with the orna- appears before Him: “She descended ment of all God’s names and attributes, and approached until She stood before the Ḥúríyyih cannot reveal Her essen- Me. I was perplexed by the subtleties tial reality. That aspect of Her nature of Her creation and the marvels of Her must needs remain forever concealed form. I found Myself in an ecstasy of because it represents the reality of God longing and a rapture of love for Her. I Himself and His transcendent Essence. lifted My hand toward Her and raised 24 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

the hem of the veil from Her shoulder” Himself, there should be yearning, ca- (Áthár-i-Qalam-i-A‘lá 648). pacity, and readiness for receiving the Refl ecting on what we have previ- bounties of His perfections. Therefore, ously noted, the veil can assume other in addition to the seeker’s longing and symbolic values. It can represent an striving to recognize God—through obstacle that should be removed, an ob- recognizing His Manifestation—God stacle that is inappropriate to remove, will also reveal Himself through the or an obstacle that is intrinsic and reality of the Manifestation. With such therefore impossible to remove. The Revelation, the Beloved appears again, use of the veil in the fi rst instance sim- and a new spiritual era is commenced. ply denotes an obstacle that impedes So in the Mathnaví of Bahá’u’lláh we our recognition of the Manifestation of read in His elucidation of the “spiritual God, or that conceals from us His glo- spring” (bahár-i-rawḥání): ry and perfections. When employed in this manner, the veil obviously should When our King casts aside the veil be removed, or at least partially lifted from His face, so that we can glimpse the divine at- this spring will pitch its tent upon tributes of the Holy Spirit, though, as the universe. the Bahá’í Writings repeatedly assert, When our Friend casts aside the humankind is prevented from ever veil from His face, entirely comprehending the station the bright spring will become em- and attributes of the Manifestations of blazoned. (lines 49–50) God. Thus we fi nd the following verse in Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví: And on another occasion, Bahá’u’lláh, speaking as the Manifestation of God, Like the Valiant One,19 tear asun- proclaims: der all the veils that thou mightest behold the resplendence of the All-Bounteous!20 (line 295) Thus might I ignite in the universe such a fi re that I could consume the veils of Yet, removing the veil is a reciprocal the holy ones! process. At times, the Ḥúríyyih unveils Thus would I disclose the húrí of Herself, as in the Lawḥ-i-Ḥúr-i-Ùjáb; inner meaning from behind Her at times, She is unveiled, as in the Lawḥ- veil, i-Ḥúríyyih. Extending this analogy to cast aside the cloak of the con- the relationship between God and hu- cealed light! (lines 23–24) mankind, we can conclude that along with the desire of the Beloved to unveil Furthermore, He addresses the 19 Also an allusion to ‘Álí. Great Spirit operating through His 20 Original in Athár-i-Qalam-i-‘A‘lá own Self: 189. Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 25

O Countenance of God, emerge Open the musk of divine from behind the veil knowledge! so that the sun will dawn from the Disclose the treasure of the hid- West. (line 80) den mysteries. (lines 80–81)

. . . that I may appear in the world Yet, as we know, there has been a rea- unveiled son for Bahá’u’lláh’s essential concern and disclose a portion of the mys- with revealing His true station. It would tery about Your loving kindness. be inappropriate to remove the veil if (line 93) the act itself becomes an obstacle to the recognition of the glory of the Beloved. Thus in this mutual process of Revela- For that reason, Bahá’u’lláh says that tion and of search, advancement, and if the glory and beauty of the Ḥúríyyih acceptance by the people, the veils become fully manifest, the whole of between God and His creation will be creation will be rendered unconscious, lifted. as the recognition of the true station of Next we need to address another the Manifestations of God would be allegorical meaning of the unveiling: beyond the capacity of the generality when the unveiling is not appropriate of humankind: “If you remove the veil since there is lack of capacity and read- from the countenance of what you have iness on the side of people. Bahá’u’lláh observed, all existence will vanish in revealed His station as the Manifesta- the twinkling of an eye” (“Ode of the tion of God—“Him Whom God shall Dove” line 123). In fact, we discover in make manifest”—to the Bábís short- the Bahá’í Writings that even the Man- ly before He moved from Baghdad ifestations of the past were not able to Constantinople. The Mathnaví of to fully comprehend the magnitude Bahá’u’lláh was revealed in Constan- of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation: “None tinople when the majority of the Bábís among the Manifestations of old, ex- were still unaware of His station and cept to a prescribed degree, hath ever a clear separation between Him and completely apprehended the nature of Yahyá had not taken place. Yet in Con- this Revelation” (Bahá’u’lláh, qtd. in stantinople the time for the emphatic Shoghi Eﬀ endi, God Passes By 99). separation—what would take place Thus, as we have noted, the Báb also in Adrianople—was getting close. gradually “unveiled” His true station. So perhaps the following verse in the At ﬁ rst, He alluded to Himself as the Mathnaví refers to this process: Gate to the Hidden Imam; after some years, He revealed Himself as the O Countenance of God, emerge Hidden Imam, and, subsequently, as a from behind the veil Prophet with a station equal to that of so that the sun will dawn from the Muḥammad. Finally, He unveiled His West. station of Lordship (rubúbíyyah). This 26 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

process is represented analogically by us from being able to stare directly at the act of gradually removing a veil in it with the naked eye or to discern its accordance with the capacity or pre- essential reality. In brief, the transcen- paredness of the people to accept, by dence of God and His unknowable Es- degrees, the ultimate loftiness of the sence are eternally beyond any exact or station of the Báb as the Primal Point. complete human comprehension. The same revelatory methodology is repeated in Bahá’u’lláh’s revelation. R We can appropriately infer that in the Tablet of the Maiden, the lifting of the Bahá’ís believe that the attributes of hem of the veil from the shoulder of the the unknowable Essence that is the Ḥúríyyih most probably alludes to the Creator become revealed through the initial and careful disclosure of the true intermediation of the Manifestations— station of Bahá’u’lláh while He was in progressively and in accord with the Baghdad, during the period when this capacity and preparedness of human- tablet was revealed. kind at a given point in history. In Occasionally, in Bahá’u’lláh’s writ- light of this belief, we can appreciate ings, the meaning of the veil and of the that the revelatory process requires the unveiling becomes more complicated timeliness or gradualness with which and intricate, thereby necessitating the successive revelations educate hu- that we acquire knowledge about the mankind about spiritual truth and how philosophical context of these images. that truth can best become manifest in An example of this complexity occurs human action and governance. when the veil is used as a positive In the same vein, in this tablet the symbol of something that cannot be beauty of the Ḥúríyyih—symbolizing removed. For example, a well-known the names and attributes of God—is Islamic ḥadíth portrays God as being gradually unveiled. First Bahá’u’lláh hidden behind seventy-thousand veils removes the hem of the veil from the of light,21 a metaphor or conceit in- shoulder of the Ḥúríyyih; later He fur- tended to convey the notion that God’s ther reveals Her beauty by exposing glory and splendor are so powerful and Her breast. This gradual unveiling, overwhelming as to prevent any created we might thus presume, signiﬁ es that being from beholding Him, in the same while the time for full revelation of the way the brightness of the sun prevents exalted beauty and glory of the Most 21 The “Ḥadíth of the Veils” has Great Spirit had not yet arrived, it was been variously recorded and translated, but gradually approaching. all versions allude to the inaccessibility of In this sense, the unveiling of the any complete knowledge of God. One of Ḥúríyyih would seem to represent the better explications of the ḥadíth is in something akin to Bahá’u’lláh’s an- Science in the Qur’án by Sayyid Rami Al nouncement of His revelation: ﬁ rst, to Rifai, where he compares this ḥadíth to the the near ones in Baghdad in the Garden “verse of light” in the Qur’án 24:35 (16). Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 27

of Riḍván; a few years later, more the hallmark of the other tablets is the openly and forcefully in Adrianople to festivity and joy emanating from the the kings and rulers of the world; and, announcement of Bahá’u’lláh’s station fi nally, in ‘Akká, with the Kitáb-i-Aq- and the exalted tenor and jubilation das disclosing the full splendor of a that prevail in the Garden of Riḍván. blueprint for a world commonwealth— In these tablets, there is the playing the New Jerusalem made manifest on of music (in the Ḥúr-i-Ùjáb) and the earth in the plentitude of its glory and off ering of wine and dances of joy (in its redemptive powers for humankind. the Lawḥ-i-Subḥána Rabbí-al-A‘lá). In the poetic Hili Hili Yá Bishárat, each of ACT TWO: the verses ends with the phrase, “Has- THE HEIGHTS OF JOY AND ten, hasten, hasten, O Glad Tidings!” DEPTHS OF SORROW Similarly, in the Lawḥ-i-Ghulámu’l- Khuld, the appearance of the Youth In the second act of the dramatic ap- of Paradise and the Maid of Heaven is pearances of the Ḥúríyyih—in those celebrated with the greeting “Glad Tid- tablets revealed around 1863—we wit- ings!” echoed more than thirty times. ness intense heights of joy, as well as But returning to our central theme, the depths of despair. On the one hand, let us examine a few of these joyous there is a clear atmosphere of jubilance, and blissful tablets, as they inform us a reversal of the tragic crisis evident in further about the image of the Ḥúríyy- the previous stage. On the other hand, a ih, especially as this fi gure personifi es number of tablets express intense feel- “the Most Great Spirit.” In discuss- ings of foreboding and sorrow. ing the impact of the Revelation of In this second period, the Ḥúríyyih Bahá’u’lláh, Adib Taherzadeh makes appears in the Lawḥ-i-Ḥúr-i-Ùjáb, the following comments concerning the Lawḥ-i-Subḥána Rabbí-al-A‘lá, the signifi cance of the image of the the Hili Hili Yá Bishárat, the Tablet Most Great Spirit, or the Ḥúríyyih: of the Holy Mariner, the Bulbul-i- Firáq, the Lawḥ-i-Ghulámu’l-Khuld, The Most Great Spirit is therefore and the Súriy-i-Qalam. Even though the begetter of the Holy Spirit and two of these tablets—the Tablet of the Revealer of God’s attributes to the Holy Mariner and the Bulbul-i- man. Through It all Revelations Firáq—foretell the diffi culties that will have been sent down and all cre- affl ict Bahá’u’lláh in the near future,22 ated things called into being. The 22 The “supreme crisis Bahá’u’lláh “Most Great Spirit” which has Himself designated as the Ayyám-i-Shidad existed from eternity and which (Days of Stress), during which ‘the most will exist for eternity had nev- grievous veil’ was torn asunder, and the er before revealed Itself direct- ‘most great separation’ was irrevocably ly to mankind. God had waited eff ected” (Shoghi Eff endi, God Passes By for millions of years for man to 163). 28 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

develop spiritually and intellec- the reality of the Manifestation of God tually to a point where he could after its disappearance. receive this Most Great Revela- The disappearance of the Mani- tion. Bahá’u’lláh has declared that festation of God—the decline in the this was indeed God’s purpose in effi cacy of an Era or Dispensation— creating man. (Revelation , vol. 4, can be likened to the veiling of the 133) Ḥúríyyih after She has been unveiled. Indeed, in the Bahá’í Writings, we come across instances where the T L--S R-- Ḥúríyyih becomes veiled again after A‘ T L--Ḥ--‘U: She has unveiled Herself, or where the F J F decline of religion is represented by Her return to the heavenly realm af- In the Lawḥ-i-Subḥána Rabbí-al- ter Her descent to earth. For example, A‘lá,23 the sorrows of tribulation and in the tablets of Ḥúríyyih and Ru’yá, separation expressed in the Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh portrays the return of the the Holy Mariner and in the Bulbul- unconscious or lifeless Ḥúríyyih to i-Firáq are overshadowed by the glad the celestial realm from which She tidings of the new revelation. One had descended.24 We can infer that senses from the outset that this tablet most probably these conceits allude to may well mark the commencement the cyclical appearances of the Mani- of a time of felicity and celebration, festations of God. a dominant theme in other tablets of In contrast, in the Tablet of the Won- this period. drous Maiden (Lawḥ-i-Ḥúr-i-‘Ujáb), The tablet begins with the divine revealed in Baghdad, the Ḥúríyyih voice consoling the “Letter of Eterni- appears on earth and removes Her ty” (Bahá’u’lláh), exhorting Him not veil. With a “lightning glance,” She to be disturbed by the trials and dif- turns Her gaze to “the dwellers of the fi culties of the world, but, instead, to realm of dust,” lets them behold “a ra- put on the sandals of detachment and ven lock,” and passes round in “cups step onto the summit on high. If He and chalices” the “wine of life.” She were to do this, He is told, He would then sings a song “in praise of Her Be- hear clearly the call of God announc- loved” with “harp and lute,” causing ing that the Ḥúríyyih of Eternity has the hearts to melt in consuming fl ames. once more descended. In wonderful- Then She smiles, causing “the hearts ly poetic and imaginative language, of them who know” to cry and weep. the tablet describes the process of But when the doubters and those who spiritual regeneration brought about “boast of self” deny Her truth, She through the periodic reappearance of sorrowfully “repair[s] to Her abode,”

23 For the original version, see Ish- 24 See Kamálí in Safíniy-i ‘Irfán, ráq-i-Khávarí, Ghanj-i-Sháyigán 61–64. vol. 18, p. 159. Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 29 anguished, uttering words of rebuke, the Lawḥ-i-Subḥána Rabbí-al-A‘lá, warning that the mysteries of God’s Bahá’u’lláh associates the appearance scriptures will be concealed until the of the Ḥúríyyih with the Qur’ánic sura Promised One appears: appropriately titled “The Resurrec- “Why do ye gainsay Me, O people tion,” particularly with the verse re- of the Book?” How astounding is garding creation: “Then he was a clot; this, how astounding indeed! so He created [him], then made [him] “Claim ye to be the guided and perfect” (75:38).26 Similarly, each verse the loved ones of the Lord?” By of this poetic tablet (Lawḥ-i-Subḥá- God! How astounding a lie, how na Rabbí-al-A‘lá ) ends with a phrase astounding indeed! from this same Qur’ánic verse: “cre- “O my friends,” She said, “We ated and made perfect.” A few exam- shall not come again,”—how ples demonstrate how Bahá’u’lláh has wondrous a return, how wondrous incorporated this idea into the tablet as indeed!— He alludes to the recurring pattern of “But will conceal God’s secrets in the appearance and subsequent disap- His Scriptures and His Books,” as pearance of the Ḥúríyyih in terms of bidden by One mighty and bounte- Her veiling and unveiling: ous indeed! “Nor shall ye ﬁ nd Me till the And hear the call of God with Promised One appear on Judge- a manifest melody from the con- ment Day.” By My life! How cealed [realm], Praised be my astounding an abasement, how Exalted Lord. Say: the Ḥúríyyih astounding indeed! (Bahá’u’lláh, of Eternity descended once again Days of Remembrance 60) to face this luminous most sweet Moon: praised be the One Who Another possible interpretation derives created [Her] and made perfect . . . . from the applicability of these allusions Once [more] She disclosed Her to the history of the Bahá’í Dispensa- face and once again She covered tion—the veiling or disappearance of it: praised be the One Who created the Ḥúríyyih might represent the peri- [Her] and made [Her] perfect. od between the martyrdom of the Báb in 1850 and the subsequent unveiling Then did the essences of spirit of the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh in in their eternal bodies dance by 1863. virtue of what appeared and yet In addition, inasmuch as the Bahá’í again became concealed Writings assert that each appearance of a new Manifestation of God leads to the resurrection of humankind,25 in 26 This and all citations of the Qur’án are from The Holy Qur’án, trans- 25 For example, see Bahá’u’lláh, lated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, as modiﬁ ed Kitáb-i-Íqán 32–34. by Hatcher, Hemmat, and Hemmat. 30 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

. . . and the minds of holy ones concealment from thy luminous were entranced by what descended face and shine forth above the and [then] ascended. (Provisional horizon of creation as the black- translation) eyed Damsel, that haply the most great veil may be torn away from In this tablet, the theme of the cyclical the eyes of these people and they appearance and disappearance of the may behold the Scene of transcen- Ḥúríyyih clearly represents the advent dent glory, the Beauty of God, the of the Manifestations of God. In the Most Holy, the Most Powerful, the Sura of the Pen, as we will see in the Best-Beloved. (Bahá’u’lláh, Days next section, Bahá’u’lláh captures the of Remembrance 133) joyous occasion of the reappearance of the Maiden of Heaven, especially at This is a metaphorical description of this specifi c point in history, the Day of Bahá’u’lláh’s declaration of His station God prophesied in all previous revela- and mission in the garden of Riḍván tions and fulfi lled by the Revelation of immediately prior to His departure Bahá’u’lláh. from Baghdad, surely one of the most momentous events in the history of the T S--Q Faith. Yet at that time, not many were capable of appreciating the true station In the Súriy-i-Qalam (Sura of the of Bahá’u’lláh and the ultimate signifi - Pen),27 revealed in Adrianople around cance of this event. 1865 on the occasion of the celebra- Once in Adrianople, the time had tion of Riḍván, the Ḥúríyyih is in- arrived for a forthright and unambigu- formed that the time for Her return has ous public proclamation of the station arrived: of Bahá’u’lláh, not only to the Bábís, but to the world at large as He penned informative, enlightening, and pro- O Pen! Announce unto the Maid phetic epistles to the kings and rulers of Paradise: “By God! This day of the world. Therefore, as opposed is thy day. Come forth as thou to the Tablet of the Maiden in which willest, and array thyself as thou only partial disclosure or unveiling of pleasest with the broidered robe the beauty of the Ḥúríyyih takes place, of names and the silken vesture in this tablet He calls upon Her to dis- of immortality. Emerge then from close Her full glory. thine eternal habitation even as the As the Sura of the Pen continues, sun that dawneth from the counte- Bahá’u’lláh thus instructs the Ḥúríyy- nance of Bahá. Descend from thy ih of Bahá to depart from the abode lofty heights and, standing betwixt of Eternity—leaving the kingdom of earth and heaven, lift the veil of names on Her right and the dominion 27 Original published in Áthár-i- of attributes on Her left—and, by His Qalam-i-A`lá 570–77. Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 31

permission, to arise like the dawn from all-subduing and self-subsisting the east of His inviolability, disrobed sovereignty. (Days of Remem- of all that was created in the realm of brance 114) Command and divested of all that existed in the kingdom of Creation, so We thus observe in this sequence of that, by disclosing Her ravishing beau- events how the Ḥúríyyih is advised to ty, the wondrous visage of God would emerge and to ascend beyond the realms appear to all creation. He then advises of names and attributes and above the the Ḥúríyyih to rise from the dawning dominions of Creation and Command. place of paradise with the beauty of Bahá’u’lláh, the Pen, thus exhorts the the Most Merciful: “[L]et thy fragrant Ḥúríyyih—the Most Great Spirit—to locks fl ow upon thy bosom,” He en- appear in the most sublime station be- joins Her, “that the perfume of the gar- cause “the Beloved of the Worlds is ment of thy most gracious Lord may be come!” (Days of Remembrance 114). diff used throughout the world” (Days This command doubtless alludes of Remembrance 114). to the unique station of this Day, the He thus cautions Her not to cover or Day of Days, the turning point in hu- veil the ornaments of Her beauty; then, man history and the culmination of He advises Her in more detail how to all previous revelations, a period of adorn Her beauteous form and com- transformation and fulfi llment, the mands Her to off er in white cups the magnifi cence of which the Prophets of red wine of God’s Beauty to the con- old could not fully comprehend, even course of Eternity: though They longed for its advent. The implication is that had humanity, Present thyself, then, before the in the past, experienced the bounty of Throne with thy locks fl owing, attaining the presence of the Prophets thine arms bejewelled, thy counte- or Messengers of God to the same ex- nance blushing, thy cheeks aglow, tent as in this promised Day of God, and thine eyes adorned, and take when the Most Great Spirit Itself is ap- hold of the snow-white chalice in pearing to them unveiled, they would My most exalted Name. Proff er not have found it bearable, let alone then to the denizens of the realm of comprehensible. eternity the crimson wine of Mine As Bahá’u’lláh explains, the divine all-glorious Beauty, that haply rationale for the gradual nature of pro- the concourse of Revelation may gressive revelation is to prevent the sanctify their souls in this most au- kind of cataclysm that would result gust Festival by virtue of this pure if the sun were to appear of a sudden draught, and that they may emerge in its full midday splendor, causing from behind the veil of conceal- the world to be “dismayed and over- ment through the power of Mine powered” rather than enlightened and almighty and all-powerful, Mine assisted: 32 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

Know of a certainty that in and witnesses paradise itself and all every Dispensation the light of created within it in motion and eager to Divine Revelation hath been attain the presence of God. Then anoth- vouchsafed unto men in direct er call is raised announcing that indeed proportion to their spiritual capac- the Beloved of the world has appeared: ity. Consider the sun. How feeble its rays the moment it appeareth By God! I am the Maid of Heav- above the horizon. How gradually en, abiding in the midmost heart its warmth and potency increase as of Paradise, hidden behind the veil it approacheth its zenith, enabling of the All-Merciful and concealed meanwhile all created things to from the eyes of men. From time adapt themselves to the growing immemorial I remained shrouded intensity of its light. How steadi- in the veil of sanctity beneath the ly it declineth until it reacheth its Tabernacle of Grandeur. I heard a setting point. Were it, all of a sud- most sweet call from the right hand den, to manifest the energies latent of the throne of my Lord, the Most within it, it would, no doubt, cause Exalted, and I saw Paradise itself injury to all created things. . . . In set in motion and all its inhabitants like manner, if the Sun of Truth stirred up in their longing to attain were suddenly to reveal, at the ear- the presence of God, the All-Glo- liest stages of its manifestation, the rious. Whereupon another call was full measure of the potencies which raised: “By God! The Beloved of the providence of the Almighty the worlds is come! Blessed be the hath bestowed upon it, the earth of one who attaineth His presence, human understanding would waste and beholdeth His face, and giveth away and be consumed; for men’s ear to His most holy, His most hearts would neither sustain the in- glorious and beloved utterance.” tensity of its revelation, nor be able (Days of Remembrance 114–15) to mirror forth the radiance of its light. Dismayed and overpowered, In this proclamation, reminiscent of they would cease to exist. (Glean- a passage in the Qayyúmu’l-Asmá’ ings 38:1) where the Báb declares Himself to be the Ḥúríyyih (Qayyúmu’l-Asmá’ 126), Probably the most important rev- the Ḥúríyyih would seem to symbolize elation in this tablet occurs when the eternal Reality of the Manifesta- Bahá’u’lláh declares that He Himself tions of God in Their station of “essen- is the Ḥúríyyih, that no eye in exis- tial unity.” tence hath witnessed Him as He has In the Kitáb-i-Íqán, Bahá’u’lláh been eternally hidden behind the veil discusses at length this station of uni- of inviolability (‘iṣmat). At this point, ty, the same Reality that recurrently He hears the sweet voice of His Lord appears in the world of creation with Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 33 each successive dispensation or era. compared to bygone ages, humanity Bahá’u’lláh asserts, will, in this Day, develop the capacity and preparedness to witness the un- These Manifestations of God have veiled glory of God. Or stated in sym- each a twofold station. One is the bolic terms, this is the time when the station of pure abstraction and es- unveiled beauty of the Ḥúríyyih will be sential unity. In this respect, if thou displayed for all to behold. callest them all by one name, and In this same context, we can also dost ascribe to them the same attri- appreciate allusions in the Writings bute, thou hast not erred from the to replacing the garment or covering truth. Even as He hath revealed: the hurís with a new one. For exam- “No distinction do We make be- ple, in one tablet, Bahá’u’lláh speaks tween any of His Messengers!” of clothing the hurís with His words. For they one and all summon the Metaphorically, we can infer that He is people of the earth to acknowledge adorning spiritual attributes with new the Unity of God, and herald unto meanings, understandings appropriate them the Kawthar of an inﬁ nite to the enlightenment of people of this grace and bounty. They are all in- day and age: “I have summoned the vested with the robe of Propheth- Maids of Heaven (hurís) to emerge ood, and honoured with the mantle from behind the veil of concealment, of glory. . . . These Countenances and have clothed them with these are the recipients of the Divine words of Mine—words of consum- Command, and the day-springs of mate power and wisdom” (Gleanings His Revelation. This Revelation is 153:7). exalted above the veils of plural- In still another tablet, the Ḥúríyyih ity and the exigencies of number. is summoned to appear in any type of (Kitáb-i-Íqán ¶161) garment She wishes, but is cautioned not to divest Herself of the robe of glo- It is in this sense that the appearance of ry, a garment that infuses the grace of each of the Manifestations of God can God in the plentitude of its power into be symbolized by the appearance and the whole of creation: subsequent unveiling of the Ḥuríyyih, Their eternal divine aspect. Say: Step out of Thy holy cham- From the perspective of progressive ber, O Maid of Heaven, inmate of revelation as articulated in the Kitáb- the Exalted Paradise! Drape thy- i-Íqán by Bahá’u’lláh, the current era self in whatever manner pleaseth is designated as the long-promised Thee in the silken Vesture of Im- Day of God, the Day of Resurrection mortality, and put on, in the name when people stand in God’s presence of the All-Glorious, the broidered and, ﬁ guratively speaking, behold God Robe of Light. Hear, then, the directly (liqá’u’lláh). Consequently, sweet, the wondrous accent of the 34 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

Voice that cometh from the Throne is lifted by the power and authority of of Thy Lord, the Inaccessible, the the new Revelation as unequivocal Most High. Unveil Thy face, and messages of fulfi llment and victory manifest the beauty of the black- are clearly heard. In this phase of the eyed Damsel, and suff er not the dramatic appearances of the Ḥúríyyih, servants of God to be deprived of there is a further departure from Her the light of Thy shining counte- veiled appearance as the relationship nance. . . . Beware that Thou di- between Her and Bahá’u’lláh unfolds vest not Thyself, Thou Who art the more completely. Indeed, this fi nal Essence of Purity, of Thy robe of stage concludes with a triumphant and eff ulgent glory. Nay, enrich Thy- joyous resolution to all the turmoil, tu- self increasingly, in the kingdom mult, and tragedy of the fi rst two stag- of creation, with the incorrupt- es. In the “Ode of the Dove,” we felt ible vestures of Thy God, that the Bahá’u’lláh’s sorrow as a result of the beauteous image of the Almighty separation from the Ḥúríyyih. In the may be refl ected through Thee in Tablet of the Holy Mariner, the hurís all created things and the grace of “bared their heads, rent their garments Thy Lord be infused in the plen- asunder, beat upon their faces, forgot itude of its power into the entire their joy, shed tears and smote with creation. (Gleanings 129:8) their hands upon their cheeks” in their grief because of the people’s inability to In the Lawḥ-i-Ghulámu’l-Khuld,28 recognize Bahá’u’lláh (Bahá’í Prayers we similarly read the following regard- 327). In both the Tablet of the Maiden ing the appearance of the Ḥúríyyih with and the Tablet of the Holy Mariner, we special splendor and beauty in this Day witness the death of the Ḥúríyyih as of God: “The Ḥúríyyih of beauty shone She “fell upon the dust and gave up the like the dawning of the sun from the spirit” (Bahá’í Prayers 326). The Bul- dawning place of the manifest morn! bul-i-Firáq foreshadows Bahá’u’lláh’s Praised be God! This is the Ḥúríyyih of exile from Baghdad and makes various Bahá! She hath arrived with wondrous other allusions to the unrelenting and beauty and appeared with an adoration egregious opposition by His enemies. that hath dumbfounded and enthralled But the principal tablets relating the minds of the near ones!” to the Ḥúríyyih in this fi nal stage of Bahá’u’lláh’s ministry—the Lawḥ-i- ACT THREE: Ru‘yá and the Súriy-i-Haykal—are A TRIUMPHANT RESOLUTION quite diff erent in tone and portray the authority and triumph of Bahá’u’lláh, In this third and fi nal stage, we note as we will see in the following brief as- how the weight of Bahá’u’lláh’s sorrow sessment of how such changes play out in these two works. 28 Khávarí, Risáliy-i-Ayyám-i-Tisìh 92–99. Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 35

T L--R’ of each one of these symbolic attributes concluding with the phrase, “no The predominant theme in the Lawḥ- mortal eye hath ever seen Her like!” i-Ru’yá (Tablet of the Vision)29 is the Perhaps most revealing in this vision climax of the revelation and manifesta- of the Ḥúríyyih is that the disdain She tion of the names and attributes of God. formerly expressed in the “Ode of the Revealed in 1873 on the anniversary of Dove” in response to the yearnings the birth of the Báb, the Lawḥ-i-Ru’yá of the seeker (Bahá’u’lláh) has now portrays the unveiled appearance of been replaced by complete and total the Ḥúríyyih as Bahá’u’lláh comments aff ection. on the splendor of the names and attri- She places Her arm around the neck butes of God that Her beauty and com- of “Her Lord” and gives Him an em- portment make manifest. brace, which He returns. A theme of In this tablet, Bahá’u’lláh power- union—or, more aptly, reunion—with fully emphasizes the greatness of His the Maid of Heaven is clear. At this Revelation, the intensity and grandeur stage, Bahá’u’lláh as Revelator has of which are symbolized by the appear- assumed His full stature and revealed ance of the Ḥúríyyih in the fullness of the loftiness of His station—His place Her splendor. She is dressed in a long upon the Throne of Revelation. Where- white gown, “Her countenance as as once He was subordinate, He and bright as the full moon shining in the the Most Great Spirit are now united as midmost heaven” (Lawḥ-i-Ru’yá ¶2). one. Or stated in another way, He has She then removes Her veil, whereupon become fully imbued with and insep- creation is “fl ooded with light”: arable from the Most Great Spirit. Not coincidentally, Bahá’u’lláh reveals this No sooner had She removed Her work shortly after—or possibly around veil than the heavens and the earth the same time as—He reveals the were fl ooded with light, as though Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Most Holy Book the ancient Essence had cast the and “the Mother Book of His Dispen- full splendor of His radiance upon sation.” Its revelation can be taken to Her. Exalted be the Lord Who symbolize—or to represent quite liter- fashioned Her; no mortal eye hath ally—the plenitude of the powers un- ever seen Her like! (Lawḥ-i-Ru’yá leashed by Bahá’u’lláh to bring about ¶3) the reformation of humankind. So it is that, in exquisite and joy- Bahá’u’lláh then describes, one at a ous metaphoric language, Bahá’u’lláh time, certain features of Her body, to- portrays the smile of the Ḥúríyyih gether with Her movements and emo- while She encircles Him with no will tional disposition, with His description of Her own, orbiting Him as “glory itself wait[s] upon Her, whilst the 29 Khávarí, Risáliy-i-Ayyám-i-Tisìh kingdom of beauty follow[s] in Her 16–20. 36 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

wake” (Lawḥ-i-Ru’yá ¶6). And in this hair cascading round Her snow- context, it is well worth noting that white neck, as though night and “glory” (jalál) and “beauty” (jamál) day had embraced in this glorious are two of the central attributes of God spot, this goal of all desire. Ex- portrayed in Suﬁ literature, the former alted be the Lord Who fashioned indicating divine attributes such as Her; no mortal eye hath ever seen grandeur, might, and power, and the Her like! (Lawḥ-i-Ru’yá ¶5–7) latter referring to attributes like mercy, beauty, and kindness. As such, the si- In this tablet Bahá’u’lláh also al- multaneous association of the Ḥúríyyih ludes to the image of the veil: “Gaz- with the attributes of both majesty and ing upon Her face, We beheld a spot beauty is yet another indication of the concealed beneath the veil of Unity, fullness of the manifestation of God’s shining above the horizon of Her names and attributes in the Revelation brow.” Here we discover the usage of of Bahá’u’lláh. Note, for example, how a mystical term that needs particular the following verses allude at once to attention. “Unity” (waḥidiyyah), in Is- Her physical beauty—Her “winsome lamic mystical philosophy, alludes to ways,” “comely form,” and “jet black the manifestation of God’s names and hair” on Her “snow-white neck”— attributes, so, in the sense of this tradi- and to the “magnet of that Beauty” tion, the veil of Unity implies the veil (Bahá’u’lláh) that is the “true north” of names and attributes.30 Furthermore, towards which “love’s needle” points the “spot” or beauty mark can be taken through no will of its own: to represent the “Primal Point,” inasmuch as the tablet is revealed on “the With no will or purpose of Her anniversary of the birth of My Herald, own, She moved and circled about, He Who extolled My praise, celebrat- as though love’s needle was drawn ed My sovereignty, and informed the by the magnet of that Beauty that people of the heaven of My Will, the shone resplendent before Her. Ex- ocean of My Purpose, and the daystar alted be the Lord Who fashioned of My Revelation. We exalted this Her; no mortal eye hath ever seen Day through the advent of that other Her like! Day whereon was revealed the hidden She stepped forth, and glory Secret, the treasured Mystery, and the itself waited upon Her, whilst the well-guarded Symbol” (Lawḥ-i-Ru’yá kingdom of beauty followed in ¶17). Her wake, acclaiming Her won- Elucidated in another way, the “spot drous grace, Her winsome ways concealed beneath the veil of Unity” is and Her comely form. Exalted be the Point or transcendent source of the the Lord Who fashioned Her; no mortal eye hath ever seen Her like! 30 See Kamálí in Safíniy-i-‘Irfán, We beheld then Her jet-black vol. 20, p. 122, for further discussion of this subject. Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 37

Revelation which is hidden behind the symbolism underlying Bahá’u’lláh’s veil of names and attributes and thus use of the imagery of the Ḥúríyyih with obscured from the comprehension of what is, for our purposes, the climac- humankind. Indeed, the names and at- tic work—the Súriy-i-Haykal (Sura of tributes of God—which we can observe the Temple). The word haykal means and appreciate—are only allusions to “structure” or “temple”—in this case, that ineff able Essence expressed in a the “human temple,” or, in the context limited manner—namely, by images of this work, the Most Great Spirit and language we can comprehend. The manifest to humankind through a hu- transcendent Reality of the Ancient of man form or persona. Days will forever be concealed beyond Though Bahá’u’lláh originally re- the capacity or power of words, signs, vealed the Súriy-i-Haykal in Adriano- and symbols. ple, later in ‘Akká He had it transcribed Finally, even though in this tablet into the calligraphic form of a pentacle, the Ḥúríyyih’s extreme joy is mo- symbolic of the human body. In this mentarily halted by Her sympathy for confi guration were included epistles Bahá’u’lláh’s tribulations while im- He had formerly sent to fi ve prominent prisoned in ‘Akká, She does not trag- fi gures: Pope Pius IX, Napoleon III, ically decease, leave this world, or re- Czar Alexander II, Queen Victoria, and turn back to the realm from which She Násiri’d-Dín Sháh. descended. With compassion She asks Regarding the Maid of Heaven’s ap- Bahá’u’lláh to leave ‘Akká and move pearance in the Súriy-i-Haykal, Shoghi to regions that the people of names Eff endi has explained that in this work have never observed: “‘May all cre- Bahá’u’lláh is recounting how the ation be a ransom for Thine affl ictions, Maiden appeared to Him in a dream O King of earth and heaven! How vision while He was imprisoned in the long wilt Thou commit Thyself into Siyáh-Chál. Thus, we observe that in the hands of these people in the city of this tablet the Ḥúríyyih’s tidings focus ‘Akká? Hasten unto Thine other do- on Her announcement about the station minions—realms whereon the eyes of of Bahá’u’lláh and Her admonition to the people of names have never fallen.’ the world of creation that all must rec- Whereat We smiled” (Lawḥ-i-Ru’yá ognize His station. ¶15). According to Shoghi Eff endi, this The language of this tablet is charac- statement foreshadows Bahá’u’lláh’s terized by a tone of majesty and power, ascension (God Passes By 221). sanguinity and victory. The sorrowful moments observed in several of the pre- T S--H vious tablets are replaced by the joyous announcement of Bahá’u’lláh’s station We conclude our concise but hope- and mission, together with the emphat- fully informative examination of the ic assurance of the ultimate victory of complex and sometimes abstruse His Cause. This triumph is symbolized, 38 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

we may conclude, by the perfect man- In terms of our examination of the ifestation of divine attributes in the three stages of the appearance of the human temple of Bahá’u’lláh. His in- Ḥúríyyih, the Súriy-i-Haykal can be clusion in this calligraphic design of understood to represent the climax of His exhortation to the kings and rulers Her function as the personifi cation of of the world to manifest in their own the Most Great Spirit in the works of personage and governance these same Bahá’u’lláh. divine attributes may well represent Most students of the Bahá’í writ- the goal of transforming the body poli- ings are aware of the appearance of tic of the world of humanity. the Ḥúríyyih to Bahá’u’lláh in the As we read this tablet, we can ap- Siyáh-Chál. During a dream vision, preciate that while the human aspect He receives the fi rst intimation of His of Bahá’u’lláh feels pain, whether Revelation through the appearance and physical or emotional or spiritual, He announcement of the Ḥúríyyih. This also can wield immense power where- vision signals that the time has come with to change the hearts and minds of for Bahá’u’lláh to assume His inherent humankind. Taherzadeh notes, “This station, though He will conceal this Tablet is replete with glad-tidings of fact until revelation is timely—fi rst in the appearance of a band of devoted the Garden of Riḍván and later to the believers whom Bahá’u’lláh refers to world at large in the epistles He begins as the new race of men” (Revelation sending to the kings and rulers while vol. 3, 135). Consequently, in this tab- He abides in Adrianople. We can read let we read the announcement to the His description of this vision in the world of the astounding transformation Súriy-i-Haykal as translated by Shoghi of the human body politic “this Youth” Eff endi: (Bahá’u’lláh) is going to bring about: While engulfed in tribulations Erelong shall God draw forth, out I heard a most wondrous, a most of the bosom of power, the hands sweet voice, calling above My of ascendancy and might, and shall head. Turning My face, I beheld raise up a people who will arise a Maiden—the embodiment of to win victory for this Youth and the remembrance of the name of who will purge mankind from the My Lord—suspended in the air defi lement of the outcast and the before Me. So rejoiced was She ungodly. These hands will gird up in Her very soul that Her counte- their loins to champion the Faith nance shone with the ornament of of God, and will, in My name the the good pleasure of God, and Her Self-Subsistent, the Mighty, sub- cheeks glowed with the brightness due the peoples and kindreds of of the All-Merciful. Betwixt earth the earth. (Summons ¶34) and heaven She was raising a call which captivated the hearts and Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 39

minds of men. She was imparting complete. The Maid of Heaven is sum- to both My inward and outer being moned to become unconcealed: “O tidings which rejoiced My soul, Maid of Heaven! Step forth from the and the souls of God’s honoured chambers of paradise and announce servants (Bahá’u’lláh, Summons unto the people of the world: By the ¶6). righteousness of God! He Who is the Best-Beloved of the world—He Who Bahá’u’lláh continues by describing hath ever been the Desire of every how the Ḥúríyyih points a fi nger at His perceiving heart, the Object of the head and announces His advent to the adoration of all that are in heaven and whole of creation in such exalted and on earth, and the Cynosure of the for- glorious language that it is well worth mer and the latter generation—is now recounting here: come!” (Summons ¶100). So it is that in this tablet Bahá’u’lláh Pointing with Her fi nger unto invites the Maiden to appear with My head, She addressed all who the adornment of the celestial Realm are in heaven and all who are on (láhút) and off er the wine of the heav- earth, saying: By God! This is the enly Dominion (jabarút). And if She Best-Beloved of the worlds, and meets with no response, She should not yet ye comprehend not. This is be sorrowful, but rather return to Her the Beauty of God amongst you, tabernacles of grandeur where She will and the power of His sovereignty fi nd a tribe whose faces shine like the within you, could ye but under- sun and who praise God with joy. Such stand. This is the Mystery of God sanguine and joyous reversal in the and His Treasure, the Cause of drama of the Maid of Heaven denotes a God and His glory unto all who turning point in human history: this is a are in the kingdoms of Revelation Day that will not be followed by night. and of creation, if ye be of them This hope-fi lled assurance thus that perceive. This is He Whose marks the conclusion to our examina- Presence is the ardent desire of the tion of this entrancing fi gure, the sym- denizens of the Realm of eternity, bolism of Her appearance, and the rele- and of them that dwell within the vance of understanding Her function in Tabernacle of glory, and yet from the works of Bahá’u’lláh. While there His Beauty do ye turn aside. (Sum- is so much more to learn from studying mons ¶7) the allegorical nature of the entire tablet as it portrays the dialogue between the In the Súriy-i-Haykal, the process of Ḥúríyyih and Bahá’u’lláh, especially progressive revelation of the station as She informs Him what powers and and mission of Bahá’u’lláh symbolized capacities He must employ if He is to by the appearance of the Ḥúríyyih and succeed in His arduous mission, it will the manifestation of Her own glory is suffi ce our objective to conclude with 40 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

a passage from the Súriy-i-Haykal in W C which Bahá’u’lláh calls for the Maiden of Heaven to reveal Herself and announce the glad tidings of the appear- ‘Ab du’l-Ba h á . Selections from the ance of the Beloved of the World: Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Bahá’í World Centre, 1978. O Maid of inner meanings! Step ———. Some Answered Questions. out of the chamber of utterance Bahá’í World Centre, 2014. by the leave of God, the Lord of Al Rifai, Siyyid Rami. Science in the the heavens and the earth. Reveal, Qur’án. 2016. then, thyself adorned with the rai- The Báb. Qayyúmu’l-Asmá’ in: ‘Ab - ment of the celestial Realm, and bás, Qásim Muḥammad. Al- proff er with thy ruby fi ngers the Áyátu’sh-Shírázíyyah. Dá- wine of the heavenly Dominion, ru’l-Madá, 2009. that haply the denizens of this Bahá’í Prayers. US Bahá’í Publishing world may perceive the light that Trust, 2002. shone forth from the Kingdom of Bahá’u’lláh. Áthár-i-Qalam-i-Alá God when the Daystar of eterni- (Tablets Revealed by ty appeared above the horizon of Bahá’u’lláh). Vol. 2, Associa- glory. Perchance they may arise tion for Bahá’í Studies in Per- before the dwellers of earth and sian, 2002. heaven to extol and magnify this ———. Days of Remembrance: Se- Youth Who hath established Him- lections from the Writings of self in the midmost heart of Para- Bahá’u’lláh for Bahá’í Holy dise upon the throne of His name, Days. Bahá’í World Centre, the All-Suffi cing Helper—He 2016. from Whose countenance shineth ———. Gleanings from the Writings the brightness of the All-Merci- of Bahá’u’lláh. US Bahá’í ful, from Whose gaze appear the Publishing Trust, 1976. glances of the All-Glorious, and ———. Kitáb-i-Badí’. Bahá’í-Verlag, in Whose ways are revealed the 2008. tokens and evidences of God, ———. The Kitáb-i-Íqán: The Book the omnipotent Protector, the Al- of Certitude. Translated by mighty, the All-Loving. (Summons Shoghi Eff endi. US Bahá’í ¶22) Publishing Trust, 1950. ———. Lawḥ-i-Ru’yá (Tablet of the Vision). Authorized version from the Bahá’í World Centre through personal correspondence. Bahá’u’lláh’s Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyyih 41

———. The Seven Valleys in The Call of the Divine Beloved: Selected Mystical Works of Bahá’u’lláh. Haifa: Bahá’í World Centre. ———. The Summons of the Lord of Hosts. Bahá’í World Centre, 2002. Barks, Coleman. The Soul of Rumi: A New Collection of Ecstatic Poems. Harper- One, 2001. Hatcher, John S. The Face of God among Us: How the Creator Educates Human- ity. Bahá’í Publishing, 2010. The Holy Bible. King James Version. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1975. Ishráq-i-Khávarí, ‘Abdu’l-Ḥamíd. Ghanj-i-Sháyigán. Mu’assisiy-i-Milliy-i- Maṭbú’át-i-Amrí-i-Iran, 1967-1968. ———. Risáliy-i-Ayyám-i-Tis‘ih. Kalimat Press, 1981. Kamálí, Suheil. “Kushishí Baráy-i-Gushúdan-i-Ramz-i-Lawḥ-i-Ḥúríyyih va Ka- limát-i-Mubárakiy-i-‘Álíyát.” Safíniy-i ‘Irfán, vol. 18, ‘Asr-i-Jadíd Pub- lisher, 2015, pp. 143–193. ———. “Sharḥi Párih-yí az Ìibárát-i-Lawḥ-i-Ḥúríyyih (Bakhsh-i-Duvvum).” Safíniy-i ‘Irfán, vol. 20, ‘Asr-i-Jadíd Publisher, 2012, pp. 109–149. Lewis, Franklin D. Rumi: Past and Present, East and West. Oneworld, 2000. Muḥammad. The Holy Qur’án. Translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Tahrike Tarsile Qur’án, Inc., 2001. Nábil-i-A‘zam [Muḥammad-i-Zarandí]. The Dawn Breakers: Nabil’s Narrative of the Early Days of the Bahá’í Revelation. Translated and edited by Shoghi Eff endi. Wilmette, IL: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1932. Sajjádi, Ż. “Abu’l-‘Alá’ Ganjaví.” Encyclopædia Iranica, www.iranicaonline.org/ articles/abul-ala-ganjavi-poet. Secretariat of the Universal House of Justice. Letter dated 27 August 1998. Bahá’í World Centre Archives. Shoghi Eff endi. God Passes By. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1974. ———. Letter written on behalf of Shoghi Eff endi to an individual, 6 May 1939. Bahá’í World Centre Archives. Taherzadeh, Adib. The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh: ‘Akká, The Early Years. Vol. 3, George Ronald Publishing, 1983. ———. The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh: Mazra’ih and Bahjí. Vol. 4, George Ron- ald Publishing, 1987. 42 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

A garment the Báb wore under His jubbih 43

appreciate from the outset that the dia- Qaṣídiy-i-Izz-i- logue portrayed in this beautiful poem Varqá’íyyih is, as Bahá’u’lláh Himself notes, not to be taken literally but, rather, as a fi g- (Ode of the Dove) urative or symbolic representation of an internal refl ection by Bahá’u’lláh as He converses with the Holy Spirit that R B’’ dwells within Him and speaks through Him. A Provisional Translation by We have, as much as possible, trans- John S. Hatcher, Amrollah Hemmat, lated the p oem line for line and word and Ehsanollah Hemmat for word, though we have taken some liberties when it has been necessary to I convey accurately the tone, the tenor, and the sometimes allusive and elusive The history of when and how this poem meaning underlying the literal words by Bahá’u’lláh came about is extreme- and phrases. As with any translation of ly interesting, but rather than rehearse poetry from one language to another— it ourselves, we have simply included especially languages that belong to en- Shoghi Eff endi’s own description from tirely diff erent family of languages as, God Passes By. However, there are a in our case, from Arabic to English—it couple of important points for the read- is impossible to convey most of the ex- er’s attention. quisitely beautiful sound eff ects, one of First, the elaborate notes at the end the central features of poetry. But we of the poem are by Bahá’u’lláh and we have attempted to convey the sense and have simply translated them as faith- feel of the rhyme, line, and meter. fully as we could. Needless to say, the John S Hatcher, Amrollah Hemmat, reader would do well to examine these and Ehsanollah Hemmat, translators carefully inasmuch as they are obviously authoritative insights into both C S E particular allusions and the overall intent of this remarkable work. “Amazed by the profundity of His Second, rather than discussing here insight and the compass of His under- how this poem incorporates one of standing, they [the students and teach- Bahá’u’lláh’s most signifi cant utili- ers at the seminary in Sulaymaniyyih] zations of the allegorical or symbolic were impelled to seek from Him what portrayals of the Ḥúríyyih (the Maid they considered to be a conclusive and of Heaven), we have included that dis- fi nal evidence of the unique power and cussion in our article “Bahá’u’lláh’s knowledge which He now appeared in Symbolic Use of the Veiled Ḥúríyy- their eyes to possess. ‘No one among ih.” Nevertheless, the reader should the mystics, the wise, and the learned,’ 44 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

they claimed, while requesting this following His daily activities. Through further favor from Him, ‘has hitherto His numerous discourses and epistles proved himself capable of writing a He disclosed new vistas to their eyes, poem in a rhyme and meter identical resolved the perplexities that agitated with that of the longer of the two odes, their minds, unfolded the inner meaning entitled Qasidiy-i-Ta’iyyih composed of many hitherto obscure passages in by Ibn-i-Farid. We beg you to write the writings of various commentators, for us a poem in that same meter and poets and theologians, of which they rhyme.’ This request was complied had remained unaware, and reconciled with, and no less than two thousand the seemingly contradictory assertions verses, in exactly the manner they which abounded in these dissertations, had speciﬁ ed, were dictated by Him, poems and treatises” (Shoghi Eﬀ endi, out of which He selected one hundred God Passes By, 122–24). and twenty-seven, which He permitted them to keep, deeming the subject matter of the rest premature and un- suitable to the needs of the times. It is these same one hundred and twenty-seven verses that constitute the Qa- sídiy-i-Varqá’íyyih, so familiar to, and widely circulated amongst, His Arabic speaking followers. Such was their reaction to this marvelous demonstration of the sagacity and genius of Bahá’u’lláh that they unanimously acknowledged every single verse of that poem to be endowed with a force, beauty and power far sur- passing anything contained in either the major or minor odes composed by that celebrated poet. This episode, by far the most outstanding among the events that transpired during the two years of Bahá’u’lláh’s absence from Baghdad, immensely stimulated the interest with which an increasing number of the ulamas, the scholars, the shaykhs, the doctors, the holy men and princes who had congregated in the seminaries of Sulaymáníyyih and Kirkuk, were now 45 Ode of the Dove

Concerning the Essence of the Holy Spirit: Private not public praise of the Beloved

He is the Exalted, the Most Glorious

1 The light from such a countenance so attracted me; its brightness outshone every bright sun,

2 as if the eﬀ ulgence of the sun had become resplendent by the light of Her beauty as it shone forth among the planets and glistened.

3 The musk of Amá1 was released through Her joy! From Her loftiness did the station of Exaltation become exalted!

4 At Her call the trumpet of Resurrection Day sounded! Her breeze swept away the shadows of clouds,

5 With Her dazzling brilliance, the Túr of eternity appeared! Through Her radiance the radiance of Bahá shone forth!

6 From Her West, the sun of the Manifestation became manifest! From Her East, the full moon of moons2 became eclipsed,

1 See note 8 in The Call of the Divine Beloved, 105, which quotes from a tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to explain this allusion in full. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá states: “Amá’ is defi ned as an extremely thin and subtle cloud, seen and then not seen. For shouldst thou gaze with the utmost care, thou wouldst discern something, but as soon as thou dost look again, it ceaseth to be seen. For this reason, in the usage of mystics who seek after truth, ‘Amá’ signifi eth the Universal Reality without individuations as such, for these individuations exist in the mode of uncompounded simplicity and oneness and are not diff erentiated from the Divine Essence.” 2 Compare with the passage: “Thus, it hath become evident that the terms ‘sun,’ ‘moon,’ and ‘stars’ primarily signify the Prophets of God, the saints, and their companions, those Luminaries, the light of Whose knowledge hath shed illumination upon the worlds of 46 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

7 and from Her hair wafted the scent of pure Divinity, and by glancing at Her face, the eyes of Beauty became enlightened.

8 Indeed, the beam from Her face guided the face of Guidance. The ﬁ re from Her face puriﬁ ed the soul of Moses.

9 The most exalted breasts turned to be pierced by arrows from Her eyes. The head of Existence stretched forth its neck toward the noose of Her tresses.

10 And mine utmost longing is (to be) wherever Her feet have passed, And the throne of Amá is the lowly earth she trod.

11 In every eye my tears were shed to attain reunion with Her, and I burned in every ﬁ re because of my separation.

12 I spread myself out far and wide with the fondest wish that She might tread upon my heart.

13 In every face I sought (a semblance of) reunion with Her. On every plain I inscribed in the sand a sign of nearness.

14 And whenever I rushed toward reunion with Her light, after attaining nearness, I was wounded by the arrow of remoteness.

15 And if I stretched forth my beseeching hands for reunion with Her, with sword she replied, “This shall be the recompense for My lovers!”

16 And my sole yearning hath been but to hold fast, while Her relentless intent remaineth but to sever my grasp.

the visible and the invisible” (Bahá’u’lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán ¶33). Qaṣídiy-i-Izz-i-Varqá’íyyih (Ode of the Dove) 47

17 I said, “May my soul and all bestowed on me be but a sacriﬁ ce for our reunion! Have mercy on me and disclose not my shame!

18 “And bestow upon me as a sign of Thy love a reunion that will endure forever, even to eternity!

19 “I swear by the joy of manifestation, by the appearance of which the whole of creation was illumined and, in truth, mine own resurrection was consummated,

20 “I swear by Hussayn’s sorrow, by reason of which the sadness of Existence brought forth mine own perfection into the world of being,

21 “that Thou art are the desire of my heart and the beloved of mine inmost self, the custodian of my soul, and the source of my light and life!

22 “Bestow upon me the victory of reunion after this separation! Bestow upon me the delight of companionship after all my suﬀ ering!

23 “The ﬂ ame of every ﬁ re was ignited by my burning, and the manifest realm was illumined by my sighs.

24 “The heat from my craving has dried up the ocean of Amá, and the stream of Exaltation itself cannot quench any portion of my thirst.

25 “All the blood I witnessed in every land was but a token of the blood trickling from mine eyes.

26 “And compared to my tears, the vast ocean is merely a drop, and compared to my burning, the ﬂ ame Khalil3 endured was less than a spark.

3 Khalil is Abraham and the verse alludes to Abraham’s survival in the ﬁ re. See Qur’án 21:66–69. 48 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

27 “And from my sadness, the tumultuous sea of happiness became stilled, and from mine anguish did springs of aﬄ ictions stream forth.

28 “My splendor became shrouded, my illumination ensconced, and my light extinguished by the haughtiness of the scoﬀ er.

29 “My bones are now brittle, my body worn to a sigh, and my heart shriveled from the incessant ﬂ ame of my yearning.

30 “My ardor for Thee hath crushed me! My love for Thee hath sifted me into dust, and separation from Thee hath melted me, yet reunion with Thee remaineth my desire,

31 “and the mystery of my mourning cleft the heavens asunder, and mine inmost torment shattered to dust the ground of my heart,4

32 “and the tears from mine eyes recount my heart’s ardor, and my jaundiced face signiﬁ eth the ﬂ ame of mine inmost self.

33 “Each night I grieve from rebukes the scoﬀ ers have hurled! Each day in tears I pray and plead for assistance!

34 “I have attained such a state of bitter abasement that tongues falter attempting to recount it.

35 “Because of my heart’s tribulation, in every chamber of Paradise the húrís have adorned themselves in robes of black.

36 “I became sorrowful from the sadness I found in every heart, and every happiness caused me but sorrow.”

4 Compare Qur’án 77: 9-10. Qaṣídiy-i-Izz-i-Varqá’íyyih (Ode of the Dove) 49

37 Suddenly, from behind me, Her voice said, “Hush! Cease thy lamenting about all thou hast endured!

38 “Countless Husayns like thee are enthralled with Me! Numberless are the ‘Alís like thee amongst My lovers!

39 “Numerous are the lovers who occupy a station loftier than thine! I have chosen countless pure ones like thee,

40 “lovers who lamented at every moment, yet never attained the light of reunion to enjoy even a single glance from Me!

41 “Compared to My dawning, the midday sun is like a star, and compared to the light from My appearance, the light of the world is but a ﬂ icker.

42 “Compared to the splendor of My mystery, the mystery of existence is but an ant. The igniting ﬁ re of My love made all enkindlement like a spark.

43 “By My craft, the nature5 and form of the revelation of the Beloved was manifest,6 and by My palm was the splendor of Moses’ palm made luminous.7

44 “And the essence of Cause itself derived from the manifestation of My Cause, and the justice of Command derived from the justice of My wisdom.

45 “And the ebullition of the ocean was formed by the vibration of Mine inmost being, and the Holy Spirit wafted (into the world) from the light of My glory,

5 Qur’án 30:30. 6 Qur’án 30:30; 10:105. 7 Qur’án 20:22. 50 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

46 “and from but a glimpse of Me did the Moses of eternity swoon,8 and from the force of a ﬂ ash of My light did Túr become crushed.

47 “By the resurrecting power of My Cause did souls gather at Judgment Day! From the trumpeting of My spirit did the dried bones became revived,9

48 “and the soul of Cause circumambulated the temple of Its command; indeed, the spirit of that temple became established by the light of My countenance,

49 “and the kingdom of exalted knowledge contained in ‘B’ is naught but a secret, and secretly did ‘B’ prostrate itself before My Point.10

50 “All guidance hath issued forth from the dawn of My command, and all exaltation ascended from My descent.

51 “Through My benevolence the birds sing delightful songs, and through My melody the humming of helpless bees resounds.

52 “Though vain imaginings thou didst devise a fountain of your own, and for the love of a stranger you imbibed from a spring other than mine.

53 “Thou didst bring attributes which thou didst associate with Me, and thou didst attribute names to me unbeﬁ tting My true self.

54 “Thou didst devise whatever essence thou imagined and attributed it to Me! Such invention is limiting, and assigning limitations to Me is the greatest error of all.

8 Qur’án 7:143. 9 Qur’án 36:78–79, and compare Ezekiel 37:1-14. 10 The letter “B”; See Bahá’u’lláh’s note at end of poem. Qaṣídiy-i-Izz-i-Varqá’íyyih (Ode of the Dove) 51

55 “Thou didst think to attain reunion with Me through thine own ingenuity. Alas, it cannot be! A covenant exists between us in which thou art treated faithfully only if thou art faithful,

56 “imbibing from every cup the tribulations of the world and watering the river of anger with thine own life’s blood,

57 “and abandoning all hope for the slightest respite, and repressing all desire for the things of this world,

58 “(and) shedding the heart’s blood is obligatory in the religion of Love, and burning of the heart for love is the ﬁ rst requirement of My Covenant,

59 “(and) sleepless nights, because people will sting (thee) like scorpions, and each day (will there be), the harangue of incessant reproach,

60 “but by the standards of Faith, deadly poison is like a refreshing drink, and according to My creed, destiny’s rage is like aﬀ ection.

61 “Therefore, abandon this claim of love, or else be content with whatever transpires! Such is the rule established for those who would tread My path!”

62 Then ardently I called to Her, “O My Beloved! “My fondest wish and my heart’s desire,

63 “now am I truly prepared to endure whatsoever Thou dost wish through Thy majesty and might! Now will I cherish whatsoever Thou hast decreed for me!

64 “Verily, I now desire only what is pleasing to Thee, and truly my only longing is for whatever Thou hast have ordained. 52 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

65 “Here is my chest to welcome the arrows of Thy sovereign might! Here is my body, ready to receive slashes from Thy ﬁ erce swords!

66 “Thy ﬁ re is my light, and Thine anger my fond desire! Thy attack is my solace, and Thy command my highest wish!

67 “Behold now the tears in mine eyes, how plentifully they ﬂ ow! Then witness how every joy in my heart hath been annihilated!

68 “Each day everyone attacked me with arrows! Each night was I slain by swords of rejection!

69 “In each verse I read was a book blaspheming me! Each moment I encountered censure from everyone!

70 “Every moment I was mocked by the accusation of (being) idolatrous. Every moment I was struck by the arrow of rejection,

71 “as if the tribulations of the universe had descended upon my soul, as if every blade of anger had been sharpened for my neck alone.

72 “Jacob’s grief and Joseph’s confi nement, Job’s affl ictions and Abraham’s fi re,

73 “Adam’s regret and Jonah’s ﬂ eeing,11 and David’s bewailing and Noah’s lamentation,

74 “and Eve’s separation and Mary’s burning sorrow, and Isaiah’s aﬄ iction and Zachariah’s anguish—

11 Jonah’s ﬂ ight to the ship. See Qur’án 37:139–44. Qaṣídiy-i-Izz-i-Varqá’íyyih (Ode of the Dove) 53

75 “all that occurred to each of these is but a drop of my sorrow, and truly, all other adversity was caused by the dripping of my anguish.

76 “Now, behold me—alone, wandering about this remote region! And now, witness my companionship with the wild beasts in this far desert.

77 “And from the tears of my eyes do waters gush forth from the heavens, and from tapping my heart, springs gushed forth and joined together as decreed.

78 “And from the force of my sorrow was the essence of Eternity rent asunder, and from the ﬂ ame of my distress did the throne of Exaltation crumble and perish.

79 “All the redness of existence came from the redness of my heart’s blood! Tears ﬂ owing from my eyes caused every twig in existence to sprout.

80 “For me, the bitterness of adversity suﬀ ered in the path of Thy love is sweet, while the sweetness of this life from any other source is bitter.

81 “On my neck, scars from shackles of iron appeared. On my feet remain the marks from links of chain.

82 “Not a day passed that I was not seared indirectly by the insinuations of poems or directly by rebukes in prose.

83 “Indeed, my soul was uprooted and my heart dissolved, and indeed, my inner being boiled from the fervor of my distress.

84 “I remained without spirit, soul, or heart! That I survived at all is my greatest astonishment. 54 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

85 “Verily, exaltation of all that lies in my heart is cause for what I have been made to endure. Oh, would that whatever exalted my nature had never existed to begin with!12

86 “Thus it was that adversity assaulted me from every direction such that at every moment I was aﬄ icted by yet another ordeal.

87 “In solitude I ascended to the apex of Unity! In my inmost heart I attained complete reunion.

88 “Though I am only able to describe Thee in terms of what mine own eyes have beheld, Thine own vision can only discern evidence available to (Thine) All-Perceiving eyes.13

89 “If my understanding was limited, the limitation was imposed by Thee, and if I dared to portray Thee, my portrayal derived solely from Thee.

90 “And from my own dejection did the gloom of night emerge, and from the joy in my heart did the light of day achieve its brilliance.

12 This is an incredibly poignant statement. In other occasions, Bahá’u’lláh said that, were it left to Him, He would not have manifested Himself, but it was only the will of God that compelled Him to continue: “By God besides Whom there is none other God!” is His emphatic assertion to Shaykh Sultan, as reported by Nabil in his narrative, “But for My recognition of the fact that the blessed Cause of the Primal Point was on the verge of being completely obliterated, and all the sacred blood poured out in the path of God would have been shed in vain, I would in no wise have consented to return to the people of the Bayan, and would have abandoned them to the worship of the idols their imaginations had fashioned” (Shoghi Eﬀ endi 126). 13 Compare “No vision can grasp Him, but His grasp is over all vision: He is above all comprehension, yet is acquainted with all things” (Qur’án 6:103), or the translation by Shoghi Eﬀ endi of Bahá’u’lláh’s allusion to this same verse: “No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision; He is the Subtile, the All-Perceiving” (Bahá’u’lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán ¶104). Qaṣídiy-i-Izz-i-Varqá’íyyih (Ode of the Dove) 55

91 “It matters not that for now I have been rejected; I became entirely jubilant the day I was awakened!14

92 “By the light of His friendship, I enjoyed the company of holiness, and I immigrated from the land of Tá15 during the time of my remoteness.

93 “And through the illumination of my inner being, I attained belief in the Light, and I ascended (to realm of) spirit through the joy of mine own heart.

94 “I call on thee, O Spirit of life, to abandon this self that hath become emptied of all life.

95 “Then, O Spirit of Amá, descend from Thy throne on high, for there is no greatness remaining for Thee in my abject station.

96 “O my heart, I am calling out to thee! Depart! There is no glory for thee in this contemptible realm.

97 “And O my patience, be reconciled with all the aﬄ ictions thou hast endured for the contentment of thy Beloved, whether in comfort or in adversity!”

98 With heavenly aﬀ ection She called to me and said, “Calm thyself! “Verily, I have become aware of all that thou hast recounted.

99 “Relinquish all thou hast understood before—and thence worshipped. Indeed, for Me (even) idolatry is but a recognition of the unity of God.

100 “In My sight the most glorious glory of Túr is abject, and to Me the most luminous beam of light is but darkness.

14 Compare with, “I was asleep on My couch, when lo, the Breeze of God wafting over Me roused Me from My slumber” (Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings 41:1). 15 Tehran. 56 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

101 “Thy verses depicting Me are accurate, but appropriate only to a mere vassal! Thy verses of adoration are apt, but with the competence of a mere servant!

102 “And certainly I have eternally existed in an immaculate state, and certainly I have been inﬁ nitely stainless.

103 “In My sight, so many of the just ones were cruel, even as so many of the knowledgeable ones were ignorant.

104 “In My sight, so many of the enduring ones were evanescent, even as to Me, many a mystic knower knew not a single letter.

105 “In My sight, so many suppliants were but ruﬃ ans, and many who prostrated themselves never attained a moment’s humility.

106 “All the heavenly verses are established in the realm of My essence, and all the luminous scriptures descended from My Book.

107 “By a mere particle of Mine, the enveloping sun was darkened,16 and from but a drop of Mine, the ocean of existence was formed.

108 “All the joyous melodies created by the peoples of the earth are to Me no more than the cry of an ant or the buzz of a bee.

109 “From the ecstasy of (My) joy, all minds became joyous! From the song of My spirit all souls acquired life.

110 “By the droplets of My command did all the adored ones become lords, and at its trickling did every lord attain lordship.

16 See Qur’án 81:1. Qaṣídiy-i-Izz-i-Varqá’íyyih (Ode of the Dove) 57

111 “Indeed, the land of the spirit was trod in obedience to My command, and verily, the kingdom of Túr became the place where I trod.

112 “Because of My light, the star of manifestation shone forth, and because of My gladness the sun of happiness bestowed its splendor.

113 “Every single verse of God—those illumined signs of revelation— as well as the places of the decent of revealed verses, the dawning places of holiness,

114 “the essence of all reﬂ ection—those jewels of thought, those ornaments of enlightenment, that manifestation of all wisdom—

115 “indeed, the command that instigated all of these derived from My single command ‘Be!’17 And from the kindness of My heart was every new thing generated.

116 “When thou turned away from My face, thou didst think thou hadst turned towards it, and thou didst ﬂ y to the water of vain imaginings pouring from the fountain of illusion.

117 “Because thou didst not secure thyself in the concealed Divine Light That I had implanted within thee, thou didst squander away all that I created.

17 “Shoghi Eff endi, in letters written on his behalf, has explained the signifi cance of the ‘letters B and E’. They constitute the word ‘Be’, which, he states, ‘means the creative Power of God Who through His command causes all things to come into being’ and ‘the power of the Manifestation of God, His great spiritual creative force’. The imperative ‘Be’ in the original Arabic is the word ‘kun’, consisting of the two letters ‘kaf’ and ‘nun’. They have been translated by Shoghi Eff endi in the above manner. This word has been used in the Qur’án as God’s bidding calling creation into being” (in Bahá’u’lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas note 188). 58 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

118 “Hold fast to the cord of the Cause in its conspicuous appearance! Recognize the Face of Light in its concealment!

119 “Then, free from allusions, rend asunder the veil of nearness that thou mayest behold directly the Sanctiﬁ ed Countenance within thyself!

120 “Then become serene because the powers of the kingdom have become agitated! Then become patient because the hidden Eyes of Divinity have shed tears!

121 “And within thee have I concealed a truth that transcends all knowledge. Even every enlightened mind is unable to comprehend it!

122 “Relish the companionship of that holy mystery concealed within thee! If thou art trustworthy, then disclose it not.

123 “If thou removest the veil from the countenance of what thou hast observed, all existence will vanish in the twinkling of an eye.”18

124 In this manner was the command issued from the Kingdom of Grandeur! From this command emanated the mystery of power!

125 Blessed are those who have attained loyalty and steadfastness! Blessed are those who have enlisted in this new Cause!

126 Blessed are the lovers who have shed their life’s blood! Blessed are the conﬁ dants who have held fast the cord of my loving kindness.

127 Blessed are the chaste ones because they have hastened from every quarter to enter the shade of my Sovereignty.

18 See Bahá’u’lláh: “If the veil were lifted, and the full glory of the station of those that have turned wholly towards God, and have, in their love for Him, renounced the world, were made manifest, the entire creation would be dumbfounded” (Gleanings 93:15). Qaṣídiy-i-Izz-i-Varqá’íyyih (Ode of the Dove) 59

N “O D” Line 8 W B’’ When Moses sanctifi ed and purifi ed the feet of His divine reality, which were entrusted to His human temple, Line 4 from the “sandals of vain imaginings,” This is a reference to the mountains and then withdrew the hand of divine moving, moving even as the clouds do. power from the robe of Benevolence As God has said, “You see the moun- covering the bosom of Grandeur, He tains, and you assume they are stable, entered the holy, sanctifi ed, and bless- yet they move like clouds. These are ed desert of the heart, which is naught the signs of the Day of Resurrection but the place of the throne of Splendor and what must transpire in that Day.”19 of the Eternal and the throne of exaltation and the attributes of Sovereignty. Line 7 And when he reached the land of Túr,20 Because of the pure breezes that waft- which had descended from the right ed from her hair, the fragrance of glory side of the blessed point of light, He and exaltation, together with the musk inhaled and smelled the pure fragrance of grace and glory, is blowing from the of the spirit from the Eternal East, and left of the Divine Paradise ferrying de- perceived from every direction the light. The musk of mercy and glory is lights of His holiness, the Everlasting (likewise) moving from the left of the King. Sublime Paradise proff ering the bless- After the unveiling of the lamp of “I ings with the right hand of the dwellers am,” He became infl amed and ignited of the garden of the Eternal King. By by the heat of the fragrance of the Di- inhaling the diff usion of its delight- vine love and by the sparks from the some fragrances and by quaffi ng the fl ames of the fi re of Oneness in the wondrous cup of the immortal, new lamp of His heart. And from the wine and incomparable wine, the dust and of reunion with the countenance of the the moldering bones of the essences of Incomparable Lord and the pure wine existence may perhaps become blessed of His Eternal Holiness, He entered the with eternal and everlasting life and desert of eternal sobriety after the anni- become thereby the object of glory. By hilation of the station of contradictions. observing her countenance, the eyes of And by means of the ecstasy of beauty itself—of which the sun is but His eagerness for reunion, He became the most meager sign—also became aware of the city of insatiable delights. illumined, lustrous, and bright. Thus Whereupon He entered that city whose is God, her creator, sanctifi ed beyond (the praise of men) or the allusion of 20 The land of Túr refers to Sinai— words. Túr is mentioned in the Qur’án (see, for example, 19:52) in reference to Mount Si- nai where Moses received His Revelation 19 Qur’án 27:88. from God. 60 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

people were oblivious (of their Lord) O would that a hearer could be found so when He became a companion of the that a drop from the depths of the sea of Ancient Flame of God and became il- fi re and this confl agration full of sparks lumined with the light of the Almighty would have been mentioned! But bet- Lord, even as He informed the peo- ter it is, indeed, that this pearl remains ple, “Wait! I have discovered a fi re!” concealed in its shell within the divine (Qur’án 20:10). ocean and contained within the cham- When He understood and compre- ber of mystery so that every vacillating hended the countenance of guidance one becomes deprived and every confi - from the favors of the Ancient of Days dent believer becomes a pilgrim of the from that Tree that belongs neither Kaaba of Grandeur and enters the sanc- to the East nor to the West,21 He was tuary of Glory. Then how auspicious is honored and urged to turn aside from it when one who consumes concern for the ephemeral face of distinction and his body with the fi re of love and be- turn to the eternal face of the Everlast- comes a companion of the Essence of ing God. Thereupon He discovered the Spirit so that he attains the lofty grace face of exalted and marvelous guid- of tranquility and becomes nourished ance from the enkindled fi re that was by the exquisite blessing of honor. concealed in the hearts of the heavenly And regarding all that which we (ones). That is why he uttered “or I have mentioned about Our Prophet— might discover guidance in the fi re.”22 may peace be upon Him—regarding Understand also the intent of the the stations of guidance and the con- blessed verse that says, “the one who ditions of the purifi cation of self to the made for you a fi re from a green tree.”23 rank of Moses, the meaning concerns the manifestation of these eff ulgences 21 “Allah is the Light of the heavens in the world of existence. Otherwise, and the earth. The parable of His Light is as His Holiness (Moses) has been eternal- if there were a Niche and within it a lamp: ly guided by God, and will forever be the Lamp enclosed in Glass: the glass as (guided), even as the sun of guidance it were a brilliant star: lit from a blessed shone from Him and the moon of be- Tree, an Olive, neither of the East nor of the West, whose Oil is well-nigh luminous, nevolence appeared from Him and the though fi re scarce touched it: Light upon created them for the fi rst time! For He is Light! Allah doth guide whom He will to well-versed in every kind of creation, the His Light. Allah doth set forth Parables same One Who produces for you fi re out for men, and Allah doth know all things” from the green tree. Then behold! Ye kin- (Qur’án 24:35). dle therewith (your own fi res)! Is not He 22 “Behold, he saw a fi re, so he said Who created the heavens and the earth able to his family, ‘Tarry ye; I perceive a fi re. to create the like thereof? Yea, indeed! For Perhaps I can bring you some burning He is the Supreme Creator, infi nite of skill brand therefrom or fi nd some guidance at and knowledge! Verily, when He intends the fi re’” (Qur’án 20:10). a thing, He commands, ‘Be,’ and it is!” 23 “Say, He will give them life Who (Qur’án 36:79–82). Qaṣídiy-i-Izz-i-Varqá’íyyih (Ode of the Dove) 61 divine fi re was ignited from the fi re of Line 11 His essence and the Eternal light was The fi rst part of the line means that illumined by the light of His visage. whichever exalted eyes mysteriously The words of His Holiness Moses concealed in the hidden worlds, as well themselves remove all vain imagin- as those eyes that exist in the manifest ings. When Pharaoh asked about the realm of existence that cried and wept, man He murdered, He answered: “I did regardless at what time or in what situ- it when, when I was among those who ation, did so as a result of the separation are astray. Then I fl ed from you when of this servant from seeing the lights of I feared you, and my Lord granted me the countenance of the Beloved. This a command and appointed me among is that which can be understood from those sent (by Him).24 this poem, but it is a mystery that no one knows except God, whereas we Though the page has ended, the understand less than one letter of its subject is endless and will remain complete meaning. unfi nished. Also delve into the meaning of the second half of the verse, so that in the Line 9 realm of your existence, your enthu- The word “Sahm” means “arrow,” and siasm, eagerness, ecstasy, attraction, this line means that the breasts of those love and ardor may become manifest who are most exalted and illumined and you may become ennobled there- will eagerly face towards the arrows, by and attain your furthest tree and the which are the eyelashes of the Beloved. furthest mosque, which symbolize sub- The word “Vahq” (from the root viháq mission to the order and command of meaning “lariat”) implies here that the God. And indeed your exalted Lord is head of the universal divine reality is a trustworthy witness for you and Our stretched out before the “lariat” of Her just Vicegerent. curls so that it will become entangled in this snare. Therefore, the breast that is Lines 12-13 not pierced by arrows will be deprived, These two verses mean that I have and the head that does not become en- spread myself out by traversing every tangled by this lariat will be annihilated. land, even into the remotest regions, Praised is He Whom we have been from the land of heart and higher, even praising, and exalted is He beyond any to endless heights hidden in veils of words you might devise. mystery, then (back) to the world of existence, so that perhaps I might (gain 24 “I did it then, when I was in error. admittance) into the heart wherein lie So I fl ed from you (all) when I feared you; the hidden mysteries. Truly, this is of but my Lord has (since) invested me with the paramount desire of all the divine judgment (and wisdom) and appointed me and holy hearts. as one of the Messengers” Qur’án (26: 20–21). 62 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

Lines 17-18 by God, that which no eye has beheld Or: All that which was allotted to me and no ear has heard and no tongue from the stations of speech and mean- could recount, nor any imagination ing, and what I understood of Her from conceive, like rains streaming down (my perspective in) the realm of names from the heaven of the ignorant ser- and attributes, in addition to that (wis- vants. Say, O people of the earth, con- dom) with which God vouchsafed unto tent yourselves entirely with Him who me in both the hidden and the manifest manifests naught in His heart but the realms, all this I sacrifi ced so that I rays of the morn of Amá. Fear God and might once encounter You and behold contend not with Him. If you fi nd your- You (if only) with one glance. I now self unable to love Him, at least do not beg Your forgiveness, O my God, for detest Him. So long as God’s love be- (the meagerness) of that which I have comes manifest in existence, I have no accomplished in Your presence, but by concern for aught else. We praise God Your grandeur, O my God, if I were not that He made Us independent of their privileged to meet You, I would still love and their mention, for He is the desire to abide in Your presence, for One Who is omnipotent over all things. naught else but this will suffi ce me, nor could my heart be satisfi ed by aught Line 49 else, even were You to bestow upon me 1. Through the letter “B,” existence all that is in the heavens and on the appeared and through the Point, the earth. Thus I beseech You, O my God, by worshipper and the worshiped were the One who beheld in Your path what distinguished from one another—a no one else but Him had witnessed, that reference to the hadith which says, You would bestow upon your servant “Whatsoever appears in the Qur’án the signs of Your great love and the is contained in the phrase ‘praised be ensigns of your glorious aff ection so Thou’”. . . unto the end of the hadith.26 that my soul could be satisfi ed with that 2. The meaning of “the Point” is un- which You expect from him. Verily, You countable and incalculable and limit- are omnipotent over all things. less and imperishable, since the Prom- ised Countenance and the Almighty Line 28 26 The tradition goes like this: “‘Ali 25 The “blamer,” that is, most of those said: ‘All that is in the Qur’án is contained who dwell in the realm of existence, or, in the fi rst Surah. All that is in the fi rst 25 This term is defi ned by the con- Surah is contained in Bismi’llahi’r-Rah- text of the lines that follow as those who mani’r-Rahim. All that is in Bismi’lla- cavil at the guidance and understanding hi’r-Rahmani’r-Rahim is contained in the from God revealed through His Manifes- “B” of Bismi’llah. All that is contained in tations, especially those teachings that the “B” of Bismi’llah is contained in the seem contradictory to inherited traditions point which is beneath the ‘B.’ And I am and commonly accept interpretations of that Point’” (from Cameron, Disconnected scripture. Letters of the Qur’an, 62). Qaṣídiy-i-Izz-i-Varqá’íyyih (Ode of the Dove) 63

Word and the Divine Temple was Yet with all this bestowal, we did designated as the greatest throne, the not become confi rmed by this most dwelling place for the descent and the great sign and by this most supreme abode of the Hidden Essence, with this gift and by the inextinguishable lights exalted name and supreme title and and by these imperishable gifts. Nei- this appellation being assigned solely ther did we become steadfast through to that same Temple, for He Himself is this imperishable elixir and through My witness. this inexhaustible grace, and through this perpetual honor and this eternal Line 73 nobility. 28 We were veiled from the 1. Qur’án 21:87 holy utterances of the Holy Spirit and the fragrant breezes from the nearness 2. Both Noah and David lamented and of the Illumined One to such a degree supplicated (God for assistance). The that were a thousand Davids in the story of Noah is well known, but the realm of existence to sing the psalms lamentation of David and the extent and songs of joy in the most wondrous to which he suff ered and was affl icted and revivifying melodies over the can be discovered only by (reading) the rotting bones of the servants of God, Psalms. these people would yet fail to become quickened and respond inasmuch as Line 117-123 their chance (to receive) the downpour These lines refer to the sign of splendor of that mercy from the heaven of pow- from which the grandeur of the rays of er has vanish from their midst, and all the morn of ‘Amá,27 and to the mani- have become imprisoned in the cages festations of the dawning of the sun of of their bodies as a result of their at- holiness and exaltation which, from traction to their natural desires. They the sun of existence and the moon of are thus unconscious and have become the Desired One and the Point of the so preoccupied in the land of ignorance Exalted One, dawned and appeared that they will never become conscious unto the realities of all existing things nor attain the station of union and near- and unto the essence of the hearts of all ness, even though this is the principal created things. And from the drops of goal (of their existence). the water of divine existence, and from It is the cause of incalculable grief the drops from the spring of perpetual, and regret that we (did now allow crystalline water, all existing beings in 28 Interestingly in this passage the kingdom of names were granted Bahá’u’lláh uses the collective “we” to eternal and everlasting life and were include Himself among humankind even embellished and bedecked with ethe- though He is indicting the failure of hu- real robes, with exquisite attire, with manity to respond adequately to God’s garments perdurable and eternal. grace. Later in the note, He shifts to the third person, referring to the negligent ones 27 See footnote 1. as “they.” 64 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

ourselves) to be guided by the very Es- mountain of Qaf 30and we could then sence of guidance, nor did we follow perceive the transcendence of Eternal the Essence of eternity. Neither did we felicity and the enchantment of divine advance to the Sinai of the Túr29 of His love emanating from the quivering nearness, nor did we reject the symbols wings of the Everlasting Dove and the of His denial. We failed to become approbation of the resplendent souls. attracted to the ecstasies of His Holy We could then rest and reside on the Spirit and failed to follow the guiding cushion of love. This is our supreme lights of His glory. desire, the station of or even closer.31 Among the requisites for becom- Also, in all aff airs we need to avoid ing a follower are dedication of the association with those who have turned soul—an honor we failed to attain— away from God and not for a moment and adorning (ourselves) with the robe attempt to justify companionship with of steadfastness—which we likewise them since, according to God, wicked failed to achieve. souls will dissolve pure souls, even as Verily, we are seated in the midst of fl ames consume dry wood and heat dis- the Sea of Essence, even as we wait for solves the cold snow. O, refrain from a sip of water. And we reside under the the company of those whose hearts are bountiful glare of the Sun of Eternity, hard (and) impenetrable to the mention even as we search for a lamp. Such is of God. the condition of this servant and all In any case, what has been discussed God’s servants in whatever region they by way of interpreting this verse has reside. And even if fi re from the Tree been devised as a boon to the insight becomes ignited, we fail to become of those who have turned away (from enkindled, but instead we attempt to God) and as a mercy to the eyes of extinguish that light. those who (are fi lled with) such hate Fortunate is he who in battle is clothed with the robe of justice. If you 30 Qáf is a legendary high moun- become distinguished by this greatest tain made of emerald that surrounds the world and is the place in which the phoe- of attributes, you will certainly attain nix (‘anqá) has made its nest. In mysti- the bounty of Abhá. This is that pri- cal literature it refers to the spiritual and mordial cord by whose motion every- divine realm in which human hearts need thing in existence moves and by whose to abide. In the Persian Hidden Word no. stillness, all are still who dwell in the 1, “the mount” is a translation of the word cities of the Adored One. Qáf: “The fi rst call of the Beloved is this: So it is that we must cleanse and O mystic nightingale! Abide not but in the burnish our hearts (to rid ourselves) of rose-garden of the spirit. O messenger of base, corrupting, and abominable imag- the Solomon of love! Seek thou no shelter inings so that the wondrous face of jus- except in the Sheba of the well-beloved, tice will raise its head from behind the and O immortal phoenix! dwell not save on the mount of faithfulness.” 29 Mt. Sinai. 31 See note for line 268. Qaṣídiy-i-Izz-i-Varqá’íyyih (Ode of the Dove) 65 that they would not perceive its mean- manifest realms to become annihilat- ing, but instead would interpret it ac- ed to such an extent that this distur- cording to their own desires. bance would almost cause the soul to These poems were uttered during depart. By Your grandeur and by Your a period of wandering in the region Hidden Eternity, were I to breathe (a of exile in the lands of the Ottoman word about my sorrow), the essence of Empire,32 and not one of the clergy or hearts would burn, and the sky and all the scholars of this region objected or that is therein would be cleaved, and criticized (me), but I imagine that after the earth and all that is thereon would this interpretation, even the wild beasts be destroyed. Then, alas, the fragrance among these people will object, and of loyalty would never waft from the in their delusion will tread the path of garden of Glory, and the scent of eter- vain imagination and error and blind- nity would never drift from the city ness. Indeed, this path was taken for of Bahá, and the dove of Amá would God’s sake, whether the (people) are never sing on the crimson leaves, and thankful or unappreciative and wheth- the cock of Glory would never crow in er (they are) advancing (toward the the loftiest realm. By the majesty of the truth) or fl eeing it.33 When the seal of One Whom You made great and Him the container of musk is opened, every- Whom You made to be the manifesta- one with a sense of smell will become tion of Your divinity and the source of aware, while everyone with rheum will Your lordship, I have cannot recall the be denied. But even if everyone were utterances and all that You taught me to become affl icted with rheum, no im- in the past from the wonders of Your perfection would beset the perfume of knowledge and the plentitude of Your Eternity nor would any deceit contam- wisdom. Even so, I was forgotten and inate the musk of Khatá.34 neglected, as if I had never been seen Then praised are You, O Lord my on the plane of existence. By the life of God. I call on You at this time when Alí and the persistence of Muhammad traces of sadness descended on me and the spirit of the Chosen One and from You, traces which, if they over- the mercy of the Merciful One and the fl owed into the realm of existence, attraction of the Praised One and the would cause both the hidden and the wonderment of the Most Laudable One 32 Present-day Iraq. and the joy of the Beloved One and the 33 A reference to Qur’án 76:3. glory of the Sanctifi ed One, I cherish 34 A city in China celebrated for no desire to remain in the kingdom of its musk-producing animals: “See foes existence, even for a moment, and veri- as friends; see demons as angels; give to ly, God Himself is my witness. the tyrant the same great love ye show the loyal and true, and even as gazelles from the scented cities of Khatá and Khután off er up sweet musk to the ravening wolf” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections 72). 66 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

W C

‘Ab du’l-Ba h á . Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Bahá’í World Centre, 1982. Bahá’u’lláh. The Call of the Divine Beloved. Bahá’í World Centre, 2019. ———. Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1990. ———. The Hidden Words. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1985. ———. Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Bahá’í World Centre, 1993. ———. Kitáb-i-Íqán. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1989. The Holy Bible. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1984 Muhammad. The Holy Qur’án, trans. Abdullah Yusuf Ali. Tahrike Tarsile Qur’án, Inc., 2001. Shoghi Eﬀ endi. God Passes By. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1979. 67

translations, focuses on the tablet’s histori- The Lawh-i-Tibb cal context, its paradigms for the study and practice of medicine, its description of the (Tablet to the ideal characteristics of a physician, and its Physician) – foreshadowing of the evolution of medical science. Beyond Health 1 Résumé Maxims La Lawh-i-Tibb est une tablette bien con- nue de Bahá’u’lláh, à laquelle il est sou- MISAGH ZIAEI vent fait référence, et l’une des rares qui porte expressément sur la médecine et la guérison. Bien que les préceptes en matière Abstract de santé qu’elle contient soient souvent au The Lawh-i-Tibb is a well-known, oft-ref- cœur de l’intérêt qu’elle suscite, relative- erenced tablet by Bahá’u’lláh and one of ment peu d’attention a été accordée à d’au- the few explicitly related to medicine and tres aspects de la tablette. L’absence d’une healing. While the health maxims con- traduction anglaise autorisée complique tained in it are often the focus of popular l’étude de cet écrit important. S’appuyant interest, relatively little attention has been sur des traductions provisoires, l’auteur ex- paid to other aspects of the tablet. Compli- amine le contexte historique de la tablette, cating the study of this important work is ses paradigmes pour l’étude et la pratique the lack of an authorized English transla- de la médecine, sa description des qualités tion.2 This paper, drawing on provisional idéales d’un médecin et son anticipation de 1 I am extremely grateful to Dr. l’évolution de la science médicale. Khazeh Fananapazir and Dr. Stephen Lambden for their masterful translation Resumen of the Lawh-i-Tibb and for their extensive La Lawh-i-Tibb es una tableta muy conoci- research into this tablet. My deepest thanks da y referenciada por Bahá’u’lláh y una de go out to my family (Fakhrodin Ziaei, Zah- las pocas relacionadas explícitamente con ra Pourjafar-Ziaei, Mahtab Ziaei, Michael la medicina y la curación. Si bien las máxi- Sabet, and Neda Ziaei) and my wife Jamal mas de salud contenidas en él a menudo son Gabriel, all of whom assisted with this el foco de interés popular, se ha prestado manuscript and served as a sounding-board relativamente poca atención a otros aspec- for ideas. I dedicate this paper to the mem- tos de la tableta. Para complicar el estudio ory of Dr. Rahmatu’llah Muhajir, whose de este importante trabajo es la falta de una professional and spiritual achievements are traducción al inglés autorizada. Este artí- a constant source of inspiration to me. culo documento, basado en traducciones 2 See the Department of the Sec- provisionales, se centra en el contexto retariat’s letter regarding the diﬀ erence histórico de la tableta, sus paradigmas para between authorized English translations of el estudio y la práctica de la medicina, su the Bahá’í holy writings by a committee at descripción de las características ideales de the Bahá’í World Centre and provisional un médico y presagiando la evolución de la translations undertaken by individuals for ciencia médica. personal or scholarly use. 68 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

I this possibility (Research Department). Nevertheless, Bahá’u’lláh seems to The “Lawh-i-Tibb,” also known as paraphrase or quote extensively from the “Tablet to the Physician” or the a wide variety of historical medical “Tablet of Medicine,” was written texts, which would seem to be in keep- by Bahá’u’lláh sometime in the early ing with the tablet being an answer ‘Akká period of His ministry, likely to medical questions posed by Mírzá in the early 1870s (Fananapazir and Muhammad Ridá’. Among these refer- Lambden 18). The tablet was ad- ences, Bahá’u’lláh seems to intersperse dressed to Mírzá Muhammad Ridá’- His own advice. A letter written on be- i-Tabib-i-Yazdí, a physician of the half of Shoghi Eff endi states that the traditional style of medicine living in tablet “does not contain much of sci- the city of Yazd in Iran (18). The full entifi c informations [sic] but has some Arabic and Persian text of the tablet interesting advices [sic] for keeping was fi rst published in Cairo in the early healthy” (Light 21). 1920s (18),3 while provisional English There is no English translation au- translations of portions of the tablet thorized by the Bahá’í World Centre of began appearing in the periodical Star the full text of this tablet. A provisional of the West in 1922 (“Physical” 252) translation of the full tablet published and 1930 (Kirkpatrick 160), and in the by Khazeh Fananapazir and Stephen book Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era in Lambden will be used in this paper 1923 (Esslemont 106). The fi rst half as the main English translation, as it of the tablet—written in Arabic—dis- is the most recently published one. cusses mainly topics related to medi- The other full translation of this tablet cine and health and is the focus of this was done anonymously and was found paper. The second half of the tablet was among the papers of Dwight Barstow, written in Persian and contains “admo- a U.S. Bahá’í (Bahá’u’lláh, “Tablet”). nitions to Bahá’ís, designed to increase This translation is similar to excerpts their level of wisdom, devotion and of the tablet translated in Star of the service” (Fananapazir and Lambden West, also by an anonymous translator 18); however, I do not intend to discuss (“Physical” 252; Kirkpatrick 160). The this part of the tablet in this paper. Barstow and Star of the West transla- A letter written on behalf of Shoghi tions will be referred to only where Eff endi raised the possibility that their rendering of the original Arabic Bahá’u’lláh wrote the Lawh-i-Tibb in departs substantially from the Fanana- response to questions posed by Mírzá pazir and Lambden translation. Lines Muhammad Ridá’ (Compilation vol. 1 are numbered in this paper to give the paragraph 61). Thus far, no defi nitive reader a sense of the order of informa- evidence has been found to confi rm tion presented in the tablet, but these numbers are not present in the original. 3 See Bahá’u’lláh, Majmuà-yi al- This tablet, mainly referenced for its wah-i mubaraka, 222–26. Tablet to the Physician – Beyond Health Maxims 69 health advice, is one of the few Bahá’í According to Fananapazir and holy writings with specifi c guidance on Lambden (18), the medical maxims and nutrition, medication, lifestyle factors advice contained in the Lawh-i-Tibb are (such as exercise), mental health, and similar to those found in ancient Greek spiritual aspects of healing. A detailed and early Islamic literature. Medical study of the health maxims in the tablet practice in Persia at the time when is diffi cult without an authorized trans- Bahá’u’lláh wrote the Lawh-i-Tibb lation; thus, these maxims will only be included an eclectic blend of traditional superfi cially discussed. Largely miss- and modern—so-called “Western”— ing from contemporary discourse in concepts (Ebrahimnejad, Medicine the Bahá’í community is the fact that 7). As explained by Shoghi Eff endi in the tablet describes fundamental con- the passage above, Mirzá Muhammad cepts related to health and the practice Ridá’ likely based his practice on a of medicine, as well as the character- tradition of ancient Greek medical istics desired in a physician. In both knowledge that had been expanded the explicit statements and implicit upon by various physicians throughout conclusions in this tablet, Bahá’u’lláh history, including Hippocrates, Alcma- prophesied the evolution of the prac- eon, and Avicenna (Pourahmad 96). tice of medicine. Unsurprisingly, there were also Zoroastrian and Indian infl uences M N-C on Persian medicine throughout its P history (Gignoux). Persian medical textbooks contemporaneous with this Shoghi Eff endi writes, tablet were typically written for an audience of both physicians and the lay The Tablet to a Physician was public (Ebrahimnejad, “Theory” 173), addressed to a man who was a and Bahá’u’lláh seems to employ this student of the old type of healing approach in the Lawh-i-Tibb. prevalent in the East and familiar Humoralism, a medical philosophy with the terminology used in those that explains disease as a consequence days, and [Bahá’u’lláh] addresses of an imbalance in one or more of four him in terms used by the medical humors (or fl uids) of the body, was the men of those days. These terms central tenet in nineteenth-century tra- are quite diff erent from those used ditional Persian medicine. These four by modern medicine, and one humors are blood (khun, dam), phlegm would have to have a deep knowl- (balgam), yellow bile (safra), and edge of this former school of black bile (sawda), and each of them is medicine to understand the ques- associated with a particular organ: the tions Bahá’u’lláh was elucidating. heart, brain, liver, and spleen, respec- (Compilation vol. 1 paragraph 61) tively (Pourahmad 96). In addition, each of the humors could be described 70 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019 as either hot (garm) or cold (sard), and Religion and faith practices were wet (tar) or dry (khoshk) (Pourahmad an important component of nine- 96). In this theory, it is believed that a teenth-century Persian medicine. The “vital force” (Quwwat-i-Mudabbira) Qur’án was seen as a complete guide maintains these humors in a dynam- to health, and everyone, especially the ic equilibrium and thereby keeps the ‘ulamá (Muslim clergy), was expected body healthy (Syeda 971). The correct to have some knowledge of medicine proportion of these four humors can (Ebrahimnejad, “Theory” 175). Con- be aff ected by six factors,4 comprising sequently, religious interpretations and various environmental, dietary, and practices were often intermingled with psychological infl uences (Verotta 61). medical treatments (175). In fact, prior Curing disease often involves sup- to the introduction of so-called “West- pressing the over-active humor while ern” medicine in Persia, the ‘ulamá had encouraging the under-active one. a “monopoly” on medical education Even “modern” Western medicine in (Mahdavi 186). The ‘ulamá used their the nineteenth century integrated some knowledge and practice of medicine as theories related to humoral medicine a means of maintaining authority and (Mahdavi 170). control over the population. Western In 1851, Persia’s fi rst medical school medicine thus became a threat to the teaching a European-style curriculum clergy’s power (186). It is in this con- was established in Tehran (Pourahmad text that one can glimpse the interac- 98). It was called Dar al-Fanoun, and by tion between Bahá’í religious practice 1925, 253 general medical practitioners and medicine in the Lawh-i-Tibb. had trained there. In the same year, from Traditional medical practitioners in other training settings, there were 652 nineteenth-century Persia were known medical practitioners who had learned by various designations (tabib, hakim, medicine through the more traditional, mo’alej, among others), depending on experiential model (Pourahmad 98). their area of expertise (Ebrahimnejad, Interestingly, the Dar al-Fanoun school “Theory” 173). The designation tabib provided training in both modern West- typically denoted a practitioner who ern and traditional medicine (Ebrahim- treated illness through the use of diet nejad, Medicine 102), in order to quell and medications, while other titles the confl ict between the traditional were often nebulous in meaning (173). and modern medical sciences brewing In addition, other practitioners—such among the lay public, clergy, and medi- as barbers, bath attendants, and bone- cal practitioners (Mahdavi 185). setters—performed some medical tasks (173). 4 Some sources describe fi ve or There were several Western-trained seven external factors, but most sources physicians in Iran during the 1800s, agree on six (Jarcho 372; Berryman 515). some of whom were well known in Galen originally described six “non-natu- Persia’s upper class. One of these was ral” infl uences on health (Niebyl 486). Tablet to the Physician – Beyond Health Maxims 71

Dr. William Cormick, an Irish-Ar- To paraphrase: medicine is a “science menian physician living in Tabriz in of healing” that seeks to discover and 1848 (Momen). He attended to the use proven therapies (“established Báb while the latter was imprisoned in means”) to counter disease. Tabriz (Browne 260). It is noteworthy Since the time this tablet was written, that when the Báb was off ered medical humanity’s knowledge of “established assistance for a facial injury infl icted means” has been shaped by a remark- during an interrogation there, instead able evolution in scientifi c knowledge, of requesting a Persian surgeon, He both in medical fi elds such as anatomy, asked specifi cally for Dr. Cormick. The physiology, microbiology, and nutri- doctor’s report, written directly to the tion, and in related disciplines such Shah himself, helped temporarily save as chemistry, biology, epidemiology, the Báb’s life (Browne 261). psychology, physics, and mathematics. These scientifi c discourses have helped M S: us understand the causes and conse- E M, C quences of disease, have allowed us to E, A E perform diagnostic tests with accuracy and reproducibility, have given us ther- In the Lawh-i-Tibb, Bahá’u’lláh de- apeutic targets, have created a common scribes medicine as the “science of vocabulary, and have resulted in a sys- healing,” and explicitly advocates a tematic approach to further research. scientifi c and rational approach to Having designated medicine a practicing it: science, Bahá’u’lláh describes two concepts in relation to its study and 41 Say: The science of heal- practice. The fi rst concept is the phe- ing is the most noble of all the nomenon of cause and eff ect: sciences. 42 Verily, it is the greatest in- 27 We, assuredly, have decreed strument given by God, the Quick- a cause (sababan) for all things ener of mouldering bones, for the and vouchsafed everything with preservation of the bodies of peo- an eff ect (al-athar). ples. God hath given it precedence 28 All of this is by virtue of the over all sciences and branches of eff ulgence of My Name, the Ef- wisdom. fi cacious (“Producer of Eff ects,” al-mu’aththir) upon existing 20 Counter disease by utilizing things. (Fananapazir and Lamb- established means (bi’l-asbab). den 23) 21 This utterance is the deci- sive command in this discourse. (Fananapazir and Lambden 23)5 20 and 21 thus: “Search for the cause of disease. This saying is the end of this 5 Another translation renders lines speech” (Bahá’u’lláh, “Tablet”). 72 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

The second concept is the equilibri- revelation—will help one achieve a um among various constituents of the healthy equilibrium among the four hu- human body. In describing the eff ects mors as well as healthy levels of each. that His instructions will have on the Fananapazir and Lambden pro- body, Bahá’u’lláh employs the medical visionally translate a quote from terminology used in theories of humor- Bahá’u’lláh wherein He answers a alism—terms that were familiar to the question regarding line 31 of this tablet tablet’s recipient: (47).8 In His explanation, Bahá’u’lláh states that the “sixth part” and the 30 Say: Through all that which “sixth of the sixth part” are referring to We have expounded the [equilibri- humoral balance. Interestingly, He also um of the] four humours (al-akh- says that this description of humoral lat) will not exceed their moderate balance “accords with the belief of the balance (al-i’tidal); neither will people” (47). In adding this qualifi er, their measures deviate from their Bahá’u’lláh may indicate He is uti- mean conditions.6 lizing terms and humoral concepts so 31 The [human constitutional] that the people of the time (especially foundation will remain in its pu- the recipient of this tablet) could un- rity and the “sixth part” and the derstand. To a modern reader, this re- “sixth of the sixth part” (wa’l-suds sponse on His part might suggest that wa suds al-suds) in their stable Bahá’u’lláh’s knowledge of scientifi c condition.7 reality transcends the knowledge of His 32 The twin active forces time, while these theories of humoral (fa’ilan) and the twin passive real- balance may be at best an incomplete ities (munfa’ilan) will be rendered understanding of medicine, and at whole. (Fananapazir and Lambden worst a faulty medical paradigm. 23) Notably, Bahá’u’lláh also states that there are “other explanations” for Line 30 suggests that Bahá’u’lláh’s line 31 (Fananapazir and Lambden 47). teachings—either those conveyed in To give one such explanation, this line this tablet or throughout His entire could refer to the six “un-natural” (or 6 The Barstow translation off ers a external) infl uences that can aff ect the slightly diff erent perspective on this pas- levels of humors in the body: air (or sage: “Say: From what We have explained, environment), food and drink, sleep and the humors of the body should not be ex- wakefulness, motion and rest, evacua- cessive and their quantity depends upon tion and repletion, and passions of the the condition of the body” (Bahá’u’lláh, mind (Barryman 517). These infl uences “Tablet”). formed part of the classical Greek (Bar- 7 Another translation suggests the ryman 517) and Islamic (Deuraseh 4) following: “One sixth of each sixth part in its normal condition (is the right propor- 8 For the source of the quote, see tion)” (Bahá’u’lláh, “Tablet”). Bahá’u’lláh, Ma’ida-yi Asmani. Tablet to the Physician – Beyond Health Maxims 73

understanding of hygiene and preven- in a physician. As mentioned in the pre- tive health, and were also part of ther- vious section, physicians are encour- apeutic modalities for a number of dis- aged to be rational in their search for eases (Barryman 517). the causes and eff ects of disease, and The “active forces” and “passive re- to regard medicine as a science. They alities” from line 32 are terms fi rst used are to look for ways of re-establishing by Aristotle to describe the properties equilibrium in the patient, and to use of the physical world (Ma’ani). The established means in their medical “twin active forces” are the properties practice. Bahá’u’lláh also counsels the of cold and warm, while the “twin pas- tablet’s recipient to approach treatment sive realities” are those of wet and dry methodically; in the following exam- (Aristotle 482). The Islamic philoso- ple, He advises using foods to heal be- pher al-Kindi believed that medicines fore resorting to medicines: worked by exerting certain eff ects based on their physical qualities of 8 Treat an illness fi rstly with warmth, coldness, wetness, or dryness nutrients (or foods, aliments, agh- (Ma’ani). In declaring that His teach- dhiya) and proceed not [immedi- ings would bring about equilibrium in ately] unto medications (adwiyat). the human body, Bahá’u’lláh is using (Fananapazir and Lambden 22) terms that were likely familiar to Mulla Muhammad Ridá’. Interestingly, in His Another desirable attribute for Tablet of Wisdom, Bahá’u’lláh refers physicians to manifest is a humility to the “active force” while describing born from an understanding that God the origin of the physical universe is ultimately responsible for healing, (Tablets 140). and therefore, both the patient and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in one of His tablets, the physician should turn to God for expounds on the theme of equilibrium assistance: in health and disease, and encourages the “temperance and moderation of a 29 Verily, thy Lord is the One natural way of life” (Selections 153). who exercises command over all In this same tablet, He refers to med- that He wills. icine as a “science,” and on two sepa- 33 And upon God is all our rate occasions He emphasizes that the trust. concept of equilibrium in medicine 34 There is no God but Him, “requireth the most careful investiga- the true Healer, the Omniscient, tion” (Selections 153–54). the One Whose succor is sought by all. (Fananapazir and Lambden 23) C P Wisdom is another highly prized In the Lawh-i-Tibb, Bahá’u’lláh de- attribute cited in the tablet, because scribes features that would be desirable it allows the physician to withhold or 74 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

remove medical treatment when it is 40 For, verily, such a physician not needed: is assisted by God for the treatment of ills. 6 Do not avoid medical treatment (al-‘ilaj) when thou hast In this same vein, the tablet contains need of it but abandon it when thy a short healing prayer, which has been constitution hath been restored authoritatively translated by Shoghi (istiqamat). Eff endi: 10 Abandon medication (al-da- wa’) when thou art healthy but Thy name is my healing, O my take hold of it when thou hast need God, and remembrance of Thee is thereof. (Fananapazir and Lamb- my remedy. Nearness to Thee is den 22) my hope, and love for Thee is my companion. Thy mercy to me is my healing and my succor in both Finally, Bahá’u’lláh emphasizes the this world and the world to come. importance of physicians being fi rm in Thou, verily, art the All-Bountiful, their faith. For example, He encourag- the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. es what may be prayer and refl ection (Bahá’u’lláh, Prayers and Medi- on His writings (“remembrance of thy tations, chapter 170) Lord”) as part of a physician’s treatment regimen. I A P 35 O Physician! 36 Firstly, heal thou the sick In the third line of the tablet, Bahá’u’lláh ones with the Remembrance of thy makes a profound statement that pro- Lord (bi-dhikr rabbika ), the Lord vides much insight into the tablet itself: of the Day of Mutual Invocation (yawm al-tanad) and afterwards 3 The Tongue of the Ancient by that which We have ordained of Days utters that which shall be for the health of the constitutions a suffi cient treasure for the wise of the servants. ones in the absence of physicians. 37 By My life! (Fananapazir and Lambden 22) 38 Merely attaining the presence of the physician who has By describing His revealed writings as drunk of the Wine of My Love a “suffi cient treasure” when no physi- confers healing and his mere cian is available, Bahá’u’lláh seems to breath brings mercy and hope. be implying that physicians are to be 39 Say: Adhere to him for consulted for matters of health.9 the restoration of the body’s 9 Bahá’u’lláh explicitly enjoins well-being. people to consult “competent physicians” in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas (paragraph 113). Tablet to the Physician – Beyond Health Maxims 75

It is worth noting that if a physician such as the recipient, the injunctions in is available, he or she may conceivably this tablet would be suffi cient to pro- treat a patient in a way that is at vari- duce a balance of the humors. Conse- ance with Bahá’u’lláh’s injunctions in quently, one may not need the services this tablet and, presumably, elsewhere. of a doctor trained according to humoral In Bahá’u’lláh’s other writings, He theory if one follows the tablet’s advice permits exemptions to certain Bahá’í in this regard. This interpretation is fur- laws if advised by a physician. For in- ther corroborated by lines 30 to 32 (de- stance, Bahá’u’lláh forbids the taking scribed above), which seem to indicate of alcohol or “opium and similar hab- that the key to balancing the humors it-forming drugs,” unless specifi cally lies in the tablet’s counsels—though prescribed by a physician (Kitáb-i-Aq- there could be a bit of irony in line 3, as das notes 144 and 170; Compilation Bahá’u’lláh is explaining to a physician vol. 2, 247). Another example can be how a patient can stay healthy without a found in a statement by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: physician. This line is also reminiscent of a book by Abu Bakr Muhammad should a physician console a pa- ibn Zakariyya al-Razi (also known as tient and say, “Thank God, you Rhazes) that is entitled Man La Yahdu- are doing better and there is hope ruhu al-Tabib (Meri 672), translated as for your recovery,” although these “For one without doctor” (Mollazadeh words may be contrary to the 1154) or “He who has no physician to truth, yet sometimes they will ease attend him” (Osborn). the patient’s mind and become the Finally, Bahá’u’lláh does not speci- means of curing the illness. And fy to what or to whom He is referring this is not blameworthy. (Some when He uses the word “physician.” Answered Questions 215–16) The Universal House of Justice has stated that “no specifi c school of nu- Here again, even though Bahá’u’lláh trition or medicine has been associated exhorts His followers to be truthful,10 with the Bahá’í teachings” (Compila- the physician is exempt from being ab- tion vol. 1, 488). As we have noted, in solutely truthful in such an instance as nineteenth-century Persia, there were a cited above. variety of medical practitioners (Ebra- Another implication of this verse himnejad, “Theory” 173). Such diver- concerning the absence of a physician sity persists in the present day, as there could relate to humoral medicine. The are a variety of medical and surgical tablet’s recipient was a physician who specialties, often with overlapping ar- presumably used humoral theory in his eas of practice. In addition, disciplines medical practice. Bahá’u’lláh may be such as nursing, nutrition, physiother- implying that in the absence of doctors apy, speech language pathology, and others are also involved in the treat- 10 See, for example, Epistle to the ment of and care for patients. Son of the Wolf 119. 76 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

H M In this line, Bahá’u’lláh clearly wants the reader to fi rst use diet to cure ill- D ness. Based on His injunction to leave off medications when the “constitution A considerable part of the tablet con- hath been restored” (Lawh-i-Tibb line cerns diet and nutrition. Bahá’u’lláh 6),12 only when food does not produce counsels the reader regarding healthy healing should medications be used. eating as well as treatment of illness Bahá’u’lláh implies that meditating through diet. This emphasis on nutri- on the health-related maxims con- tion is in keeping with one possible tained in this tablet, would be “a suf- purpose of the tablet: to give advice fi cient treasure for the wise ones in the on health to the general population absence of physicians” (Lawh-i-Tibb when a physician (who can prescribe line 3). One possible reading of line medication or another treatment) is un- eight might thus be that in the absence available. However, another possibility of physicians, patients are to fi rst treat is that Bahá’u’lláh revealed this tablet their illness through diet rather than specifi cally for its recipient; Mirzá through self-medication. This reading Muhammad Ridá’s title was tabib, of the line is further corroborated by which typically denoted a medical Bahá’u’lláh’s prefacing line 4 (and the practitioner who treated illness through beginning of His list of health-related diet and medications (Ebrahimnejad, maxims) with this general invocation “Theory” 173). to humanity as a whole: In brief, Bahá’u’lláh draws attention to the relationship between eating 4 O People! Eat not except af- and prayer; the proper order, timing, ter having hungered, and drink not and chewing of food; foods to avoid; after retiring to sleep (al-huju’). what to do after eating; the importance (Fananapazir and Lambden 22) of eating breakfast; the dangers of over-eating; and food as medicine. As The fi rst half of this line may be seen mentioned earlier, line eight of the tab- as a warning against eating for reasons let contains the following advice: other than hunger, such as depression, boredom, stress, or, more obviously, 8 Treat an illness fi rstly with gluttony. A thread running through- nutrients (or foods, aliments, agh- out the tablet is that people should be dhiya) and proceed not [immedi- aware of their “natural, inborn equi- ately] unto medications (adwiyat). librium” (Selections 152) and of their (Fananapazir and Lambden 22)11 attendant body signals. In the fi rst part

11 Another translation renders line 12 “Do not avoid medical treatment 8 as follows: “Treat disease ﬁ rst of all (al-‘ilaj) when thou hast need of it but through the diet and refrain from medi- abandon it when thy constitution hath been cines” (Bahá’u’lláh, “Tablet”). restored (istiqamat).” Tablet to the Physician – Beyond Health Maxims 77

of line four, Bahá’u’lláh specifi cally reads: “To cleanse the body is essential, draws our attention to the hunger sig- but only in temperate seasons (should nal. The second half of this line, how- it be done frequently)” (Bahá’u’lláh, ever, deserves further consideration. “Tablet”). Fananapazir and Lambden (31–33) This line is sparse in details, but a provide an excellent review of the comparison of the two translations Arabic word al-huju’ and its possible above may assist the reader in arriving meanings, with reference to Greco-Is- at a reasonable interpretation. “Puri- lamic medical sources. In each of the fi cation of the bowels” performed in three translations referenced in this pa- the “temperate” seasons, which acts to per, the word al-huju’ has been trans- “cleanse” the body, may be a reference lated as “sleep.” It can, in fact, also be to fasting, and in particular the Bahá’í translated as being satisfi ed, appeased, Fast. Bahá’u’lláh lived in the northern or subsided (as it relates to hunger) hemisphere, and the Bahá’í Fast oc- (Steingass 1165; Wehr 1195). So, line curs in March, which coincides with four could be read as Bahá’u’lláh cau- the northern hemisphere’s temperate tioning against drinking fl uids (or tak- season. ing in food of any kind) after having achieved satisfaction (or satiety) with M a meal. Pursuing this reading, and as- suming that eating and drinking are es- Bahá’u’lláh gives advice on the appro- sentially the same action, Bahá’u’lláh’s priate use of medications for illness. injunction may be paraphrased as: do He diff erentiates between “elemental not eat except when needed to over- nutrients” and “compound treatments”: come hunger, and do not overeat. 9 If that which thou desire L results from elemental nutrients (al-mufradat) refrain from the com- Some of the health maxims in the tab- pound treatments (al-murakkabat). let concern healthy lifestyle habits, (Fananapazir and Lambden 22) such as exercise and “purifi cation of the bowels”: As stated in line 3 (see above), this tablet provides advice to the reader 25 Purifi cation of the bowels in the absence of a physician (whose (tanqiyat al-fudul) constitutes a training allows him or her to supersede pillar [of health, al-‘umdat] when the above advice). In this case, the fi rst accomplished in the temperate appropriate pharmacological treatment seasons (al-fusul al- mu’tadila). should be one that is composed of a (Fananapazir and Lambden 23) single medicinal ingredient, or “elemental nutrient.” Because measuring Another translation of the same line the eff ectiveness of a treatment is more 78 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

straightforward when a single med- (al-qana’at) under all circumstanc- icine is used rather than a compound es for through it will the soul be one, this advice implicitly reinforces a saved from sloth and ill-being. (23) methodical and logical approach to the practice of medicine. F T

M H In the Lawh-i-Tibb, medicine is described as a harmonious blend between Some of Bahá’u’lláh’s health maxims the physical and the spiritual, the prac- also concern mental health, specifi cally tical and the mystical. The tablet en- the avoidance of harmful habits of the joins a rational approach to the study mind, such as substance addiction, anx- and practice of medicine and encour- iousness and depression, and envy and ages humanity to discover medical rage, as well as the importance of striv- truths. This same approach is invoked ing to attain a condition of contentment in another of Bahá’u’lláh’s writings, under all circumstances. As we can see where humanity is urged to free itself from the relevant passages quoted be- “from idle fancy and imitation,” and to low from Fananapazir and Lambden’s “look into all things with a searching translation, each admonition is accom- eye” (Tablets 157). This exhortation panied by a brief rationale: stands in contrast to the study and practice of medicine in Persia during 19 Eschew harmful habits [i.e. the time this tablet was written, both of addictive substances (al-i’ada which were largely under the control al-mudirra)] for they truly, are of the ‘ulama (Mahdavi 186; Ebra- a calamity for created beings. himnejad, “Theory” 175), who would (22–23) blend medical prescriptions with ritu- als, prayer (Mahdavi 186), astrology, 23 Eschew anxiety (al-hamma) and magic (Ebrahimnejad, “Theory” and depression (al-ghamm) for 175). By challenging any part of estab- through both of these will tran- lished medical knowledge or practice, spire a darksome affl iction (bala’ Bahá’u’lláh may have been understood adham). (23) by some to be challenging the power and authority of the clergy. 24 Say: Envy (al-hasad) cons- As we noted at the outset, many umeth the body and rage (or an- of Bahá’u’lláh’s health injunctions ger, wrath, al-ghayz) burneth the are similar to those found in antiqui- liver: avoid these two as ye would ty (Tablet 19–21). Likewise, many of a fi erce lion (al-asad). (23) the diverse composers of authoritative medical texts in nineteenth-century 22 Most necessary to thy Persia, ranging from the Twelver Shia well-being is contentment Imam’s to empiricists like al-Razi, Tablet to the Physician – Beyond Health Maxims 79

drew on knowledge fi rst recorded by was also demonstrating that He was ancient Greeks. To illuminate this in- conversant with the medical knowl- tellectual lineage, Fananapazir and edge of His time. To any contempora- Lambden (18–53) have cross-refer- neous reader of the tablet, Bahá’u’lláh enced Bahá’u’lláh’s health injunctions speaks as an authority on medicine. with both ancient and more contempo- This authority is important, given rary Greco-Islamic medical literature. Bahá’u’lláh’s challenge in the tablet to Why does Bahá’u’lláh extensive- elevate medicine to a scientifi c disci- ly quote and paraphrase past medical pline above the reach of ecclesiastical sources, which may have already been control and superstition. familiar to the tablet’s recipient? As- Does Bahá’u’lláh endorse the med- suming the Lawh-i-Tibb was revealed ical advice that He references? On the in the same rapid and uninterrupted one hand, He does not explicitly sug- manner as many of Bahá’u’lláh’s writ- gest that this advice is faulty, nor does ings, a reader of the tablet might con- He implicitly critique it as He may sider this work to be miraculous, giv- have critiqued the humoral theory else- en His ability to eff ortlessly quote or where in His writings.14 On the other closely paraphrase such a number and hand, Bahá’u’lláh may be hinting that breadth of sources. There are examples the medical advice in the tablet can be of this impressive feat in Bahá’u’lláh’s superseded by physicians and by medi- other writings, too; in His Lawh-i-Hik- cal science in general.15 One possibility mat, Bahá’u’lláh quotes verbatim from is that Bahá’u’lláh omitted any critique well-known historians of antiquity, of the health advice in the interests of demonstrating to the reader His knowl- wisdom and conciliation, evoking His edge of, and authority on, historical well-known maxim, “Not everything matters.13 He also extensively quotes that a man knoweth can be disclosed, (in a similarly rapid and uninterrupted nor can everything that he can disclose manner) from His own decades-long be regarded as timely, nor can every corpus of writings in His Epistle to the timely utterance be considered as suit- Son of the Wolf. These demonstrations ed to the capacity of those who hear it” may have the eff ect of galvanizing a (Gleanings 176). Moreover, from the reader’s faith in Him. perspective of a modern reader, none By extensively quoting medical of the health advice is unreasonable sources, Bahá’u’lláh (who never re- or dangerous to follow. And one must ceived any formal medical training) remember that Bahá’u’lláh uses termi- 13 Bahá’u’lláh’s reason for quoting nology that the tablet’s recipient would these historians is “that the eyes of the people may be opened thereby and that they 14 See discussion above; also see may become fully assured that He is in Fananapazir and Lambden (47) for their truth the Maker, the Omnipotent, the Cre- provisional translation of a tablet from ator, the Originator, the All-Knowing, the Ma’ida-yi Asmani. All-Wise” (Tablets 144). 15 Lawh-i-Tibb, line 3. 80 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

understand, rather than more accurate to provide a point of conciliation and terms that would have been unintelligi- a common frame of reference for ble to His audience. these opposed practitioners, in that This tablet is the fi rst instance in Bahá’u’lláh wrote the tablet in a style which the Founder of a major world re- accessible to any reader, and He used ligion calls for medicine to be viewed terms familiar to both Western-trained as a science (utilizing proven diag- and traditionally-trained physicians. nostics and therapies) and specifi cally Bahá’u’lláh also challenges both advocates for paradigms (cause-eff ect types of physicians: while possibly and equilibrium) meant to help it ad- casting doubt on the time-honored vance in a rational way. In retrospect, beliefs about humoral theory held by Bahá’u’lláh’s description of medicine traditionalists, He also affi rms the role is prophetic. In the years since the tab- of God and spirituality in medicine, let was written, medical science has, which may have been, and may still in many ways, evolved and matured be, diffi cult for “Western” medicine far beyond what physicians contem- to accept. Today, this dichotomization poraneous with the tablet could have between “Western” “allopathic” med- imagined. To determine the cause of icine and “traditional” “holistic” med- illness, the modern physician, aware of icine continues. Bahá’u’lláh’s focus disease categories and how common- on fundamental concepts in medicine ly they present, is trained to obtain a (such as cause and eff ect, equilibrium thorough history and to use validated, in the body, use of established means, evidence-based physical exam maneu- and spirituality in healing) can form vers and tools, such as diagnostic im- the basis of a discourse to which any- aging and laboratory tests, to arrive at a one—lay public or physician of any list of possible diagnoses. These same kind—can contribute, and the discus- maneuvers and tools allow for ongo- sion of which will likely be at the heart ing monitoring of the equilibrium in of ongoing eff orts to unify medicine. the body. A physician anywhere in the Bahá’u’lláh, speaking from a place world can, using a common vocabulary of authority, refers to medicine as a and shared understanding, discuss a pa- science. Scientifi c discovery involves, tient’s case with a physician elsewhere. among other things, justice, consulta- In nineteenth-century Persia, con- tion, and putting ego aside in prefer- fl ict existed between practitioners ence for the search for truth. The vast of Western and traditional medicine Bahá’í teachings shed light on these (Mahdavi 185). Disagreements on and many other relevant concepts. In medical diagnosis and treatment aside, this way, as it does for all other fi elds of other factors played into their confl ict, human endeavor, Bahá’u’lláh’s Reve- such as medicine’s role in the social, lation provides a foundational frame- political, and religious control of the work for the study and practice of the masses (185). The Lawh-i-Tibb seems science of medicine. Tablet to the Physician – Beyond Health Maxims 81

W C

‘Ab du’l-Ba h á . Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Bahá’í World Centre, 1982. ———. Some Answered Questions. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 2014. Aristotle. The Works of Aristotle. Translated under the editorship of W.D. Ross, vol. 1, William Benton, 1988. Bahá’u’lláh. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1988. ———. Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1990. ———. The Kitáb-i-Aqdas. Bahá’í World Centre, 1992. ———. Ma’ida-yi Asmani. First Indian Edition, vol. 1, Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1984. ———. Majmu`a-yi alwah-i mubaraka. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1981. ———. Prayers and Meditations by Bahá’u’lláh. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1987. ———. Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas. US Bahá’í Pub- lishing Trust, 1988. ———. “Tablet of Medicine.” Bahá’í Library Online, bahai-library.com/ bahaullah_lawh_tibb_anonymous. Berryman, Jack W. “The Tradition of the ‘Six Things Non-Natural’: Exercise and Medicine from Hippocrates through Ante-Bellum America.” Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, vol. 17, no. 1, 1989, pp. 515–60. Browne, Edward G. Materials for the Study of the Babi Religion. Cambridge UP, 1918. The Compilation of Compilations. Vol. 1, Bahá’í Publications Australia, 1991. Department of the Secretariat of the Universal House of Justice. “Letter to selected National Spiritual Assemblies, Appendix II.” 4 Jul. 1999. Bahá’í Library, www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/ messages/19990704_001/1#145482674. Deuraseh, Nurdeen. “Health and Medicine in the Islamic Tradition Based on the Book of Medicine (Kitab Al-Tibb) of Sahih Al-Bukhari.” Journal of the Is- lamic Society for the History of Islamic Medicine, vol. 5, 2006, pp. 2–14. Ebrahimnejad, Hormoz. Medicine, Public Health and the Qajar State: Patterns of Medical Modernization in Nineteenth-Century Iran. Brill, 2004. ———. “Theory and Practice in Nineteenth-Century Persian Medicine: Intellec- tual and Institutional Reforms.” History of Science, vol. 38, no. 2, 2000, pp. 171–78. Esslemont, John E. Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1980. Fananapazir, Khazeh, and Stephen Lambden. “The Tablet of Medicine (Lawh-i- 82 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

Tibb) of Bahá’u’lláh: A Provisional Translation with Occasional Notes.” Bahá’í Studies Bulletin, vols. 6.4–7.2, 1992, pp. 18–65. Gignoux, Philippe. “Health in Persia I: Pre-Islamic Period.” Encyclopaedia Irani- ca, www.iranicaonline.org/articles/health-in-persia-i. Jarcho, Saul. “Galen’s Six Non-Naturals: A Bibliographic Note and Translation.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine, vol. 44, no. 4, 1970, pp. 372–77. Kirkpatrick, Bertha Hyde. “A Look Forward in Medical Service.” Star of the West, vol. 21, no. 5, Aug. 1930, 159-60. Ma’ani, Baharieh R. “The Eff ect of Philosophical and Linguistic Gender Biases on the Degradation of Women’s Status in Religion.” Journal of Bahá’í Studies, vol. 8, no. 1, 1998, pp. 45–68. Mahdavi, Shireen. “Shahs, Doctors, Diplomats and Missionaries in 19th Century Iran.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 32, no. 5, 2005, pp. 169–91. Meri, Josef W. Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Routledge, 2005. Mollazadeh, Hamid, Seyyed Ahmad Emami, and Hossein Hosseinzadeh. “Razi’s Al-Hawi and Saff ron (Crocus sativus): A Review.” Iran Journal of Basic Medical Science, vol. 18, no. 12, 2015, pp. 1153–66. Mome n , Mooja n. “Cor m ick , Wil l ia m.” Encyclopaedia Iranica, www.iranicaonline. org/articles/cormick-william-b. Niebyl, Peter H. “The Non-Naturals.” Bulletin of the History of Medicine, vol. 45, no. 5, 1971, pp. 486–92. Osborn, David K. “Al-Razi, or Rhazes.” Greek-Medicine.net, www.greekmedicine. net/whos_who/Al-Razi-Rhazes.html. “Physical Healing.” Star of the West, vol. 13, no. 9, Dec. 1922. George Ronald, Oxford, 1978, 252. Pourahmad, Jalal. “History of Medical Sciences in Iran.” Iranian Journal of Phar- maceutical Research, vol. 7, no. 2, 2008, pp. 93–99. Research Department of the Universal House of Justice. “Your email letter of 3 September 2016.” Received by Misagh Ziaei, 25 Oct. 2016. Shoghi Eff endi. The Light of Divine Guidance. Vol. 2, Bahá’í-Verlag, 1985. Steingass, Francis J. Arabic-English Dictionary. Asian Educational Services, 1993. Syeda, Ahmedi, Sanjiv Rughooputh, and Pamela Greenwell. “The Unani System of Medicine: Does it Have a Scientifi c Basis?” The Biomedical Scientist, vol. 48, no. 9, 2004, pp. 971–72. Verotta, Luisella, Maria Pia Macchi, and Padma Venkatasubramanian. Connect- ing Indian Wisdom and Western Science: Plant Usage for Nutrition and Health: Traditional Herbal Medicines for Modern Times. CRC Press, 2015. Wehr, Hans. A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 1979. 83

Résumé Genesis in Luminaire de cinq religions, Joseph d’Égypte est un personnage plus grand que King Lear: nature. Se référant à lui-même, Bahá’u’lláh Joseph’s Many- s’est même décrit comme le « divin Jo- seph » (Florilèges, 103:4). Cependant, le Colored Coat Suits fait que Joseph s’est dévoilé peu à peu en tant que prophète mineur lui confère aussi, Shakespeare de diverses façons, une dimension humaine que l’on ne pourrait jamais prêter à une Manifestation de Dieu. En Occident, TOM LYSAGHT Shakespeare et la Bible, pris séparément, ont servi de chemins vers la connaissance; conjugués, ils ont été une voie vers la sag- esse. Cette affi rmation se révèle particu- “If we tire of the saints, lièrement vraie si l’on compare l’odyssée Shakespeare is our city of refuge.” de l’évolution de Joseph avec celle d’Ed- — Ralph Waldo Emerson gar dans la pièce King Lear. Tous deux tra- his par leurs frères, tant le prophète que le personnage de fi ction transforment leur ad- Abstract versité injuste en croissance psychologique A luminary of fi ve religions, Joseph of et spirituelle. Chacun d’eux atteint une Egypt looms larger than life. Bahá’u’lláh souveraineté personnelle exemplaire au- even likens Himself to “the Divine Joseph” delà de leurs royautés temporelles distinc- (Gleanings 103:4). However, Joseph’s tes. Une comparaison des deux permet de gradual unveiling as a minor prophet also mieux apprécier la place prééminente de renders him humanly relatable in ways a Joseph dans les Écritures, en particulier Manifestation of God can never be. In the dans les Écrits de Bahá’u’lláh. West, Shakespeare and the Bible have each served as paths to knowledge, and their Resumen union a way to wisdom. That assertion Una luminaria de cinco religiones, Joseph proves especially true upon comparing Jo- de Egipto parece más grande que la vida. seph’s odyssey of becoming with Edgar’s Bahá’u’lláh incluso se compara con “el in King Lear. Both the prophet and the Divino Joseph” (Gleanings 103:4). Sin fi ctional character, each brother-betrayed, embargo, la presentación gradual de Jo- transform unjust adversity into psycholog- seph como un profeta menor también lo ical and spiritual growth. They each attain hace humanamente identifi cable en formas an exemplary sovereignty of self over and en que una Manifestación de Dios nunca above their separate temporal kingships. puede ser. En Occidente, Shakespeare y la A comparison of the two aff ords a deeper Biblia han servido como caminos hacia el appreciation of Joseph’s prominent place conocimiento, y su unión como un camino in scripture, particularly in the Writings of hacia la sabiduría. Esa afi rmación resulta Bahá’u’lláh. especialmente cierta al comparar la odisea de Joseph de convertirse con la de Edgar 84 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

en King Lear. Tanto el profeta como el per- “Imagine the Bahá’í writings,” pos- sonaje fi cticio, cada uno traicionado por su es Todd Lawson, “without those four hermano, transforman la adversidad injusta tropes of the Covenant, fragrance, the en un crecimiento psicológico y espiritual. garment and beauty. And there are Cada uno de ellos alcanza una soberanía many more Josephian tropes through- ejemplar de sí mismo por encima de sus re- out the Bahá’í corpus than those four” inos temporales separados. Una compara- (Return of Joseph). ción de los dos ofrece una apreciación más Edgar and Joseph are both examples profunda del lugar prominente de Joseph en las Escrituras, particularmente en los of the betrayed brother, an archetype as Escritos de Bahá’u’lláh. ancient as Cain and Abel and one as lethal a threat in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s life The remarkable fi gure of Joseph, known as in Bahá’u’lláh’s. However Joseph, for his striking beauty—both physical unlike Edgar, also serves as a divine and moral—shines as a luminary in the archetype. Identifi ed as a prophet in the scriptures of fi ve diff erent religions. To Kitáb-i-Íqán (212, 254), Joseph rep- Jews, he is the Abrahamic link between resents the all-forgiving Suff erer, the Moses and the twelve tribes of Israel. imprisoned Promised One, the longed- To Christians, he is a predecessor to the for Beloved, as well as the gradually suff ering Christ. To Muslims, he is a unveiled divine Manifestation. So prophet—the only prophet to whom an powerful is Joseph as a transcendent entire chapter of the Qur’án is devot- prototype that in the fi rst book revealed ed. The very fi rst work revealed by the by the Báb’s, the Qayyúmu’l-Asmá’, Báb, on the fi rst night of the Bábí Dis- we see that “Joseph symbolizes the Báb pensation, was His commentary on this Himself” (Saiedi 142), while Shoghi Surah of Joseph. Thus, over millennia, Eff endi identifi es Bahá’u’lláh as “the and through multiple spiritual dispen- true Joseph” (23). And yet, unlike the sations, Joseph looms as a larger-than- Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, Joseph is not life fi gure, seemingly unapproachable a Manifestation of God, but a minor and inimitable. His spotless chastity prophet.”1 Therefore, Joseph can also alone renders him a most formidable 1 “Bahá’u’lláh explained that the male role model. Divine Will of God does sometimes choose Shakespeare’s character of Edgar ordinary people as ‘prophets’ and inspires helps us in approaching the seeming- them to play certain roles in human aff airs. ly peerless Joseph. However, before Examples include the Hebrew prophets undertaking that comparison, fairness Isaiah and Jeremiah. Still others have been dictates that we underscore Joseph’s inspired as ‘seers’ or’ ‘saints.’ Not even the matchless infl uence. Numerous Bahá’í prophets, however, are anywhere close to scholars have written of him at length, the station of the Manifestations, Who pro- likening Joseph to “a kaleidoscopic vide humankind with God’s infallible Rev- elation. The prophets are still ordinary men motif” (Stokes) present wherever one and women whose powers of inspiration turns in the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. have been developed and used by God” Genesis in King Lear 85 serve as a human archetype. Whereas Bloom, Shakespeare—especial- the Manifestation of God possesses ly in his creation of Falstaff and innate knowledge, reveals the Creative Hamlet—so utterly altered human Word, and exemplifi es a perfected state consciousness that after him the of being, a prophet, like other human world was a diff erent place and we beings, is a created work in progress— were diff erent creatures. In other in a state of becoming. words, Shakespeare re-created When it comes to human nature, no humanity. (Atwan) writer has portrayed and dramatized our psychological depth and complex- One might contend that Bloom is ity like William Shakespeare. In his given to hyperbole, if not idolatry, es- plays, the created word attains its lofti- pecially when he claims that if “any est heights. In fact, Harold Bloom, the author has become a mortal god, it modern dean of Shakespearean schol- must be Shakespeare” (Shakespeare arship, elevates the Bard of Avon’s 3). Then again, we might very well plays to a station just below that of say to him, as King Lear says to his the Creative Word—as evidenced by daughter Cordelia, “You have some the title of his text, Shakespeare: The cause” (Shakespeare 4.7.74). In fact, Invention of the Human. As the liter- in Shakespeare’s King Lear, we see the ary critic Robert Atwan is moved to human prototype of Joseph portrayed remark: in the character of Edgar. Whereas Jo- seph as divine archetype—and as an It is a gigantic, intriguing—and exemplar of male chastity—can prove by all means a provocative—leap intimidating, Joseph’s human incarna- from imagining a Shakespeare tion as Edgar helps readers grasp that who is the “sphere of humanity” personal transformation is more readi- to imagining that he outright in- ly within their reach. vented humanity. But what exactly In contrast to Joseph, who is found does that mean? . . . in the scriptures of so many religions When Shakespeare began to and whose story is known by so many write there was very little system- followers of those religions, Edgar is atic study of the human mind and by no means the fi rst dramatic hero emotions. However, when Bloom who leaps to the mind of even the most claims that Shakespeare invent- ardent lover of Shakespearean tragedy. ed the human, he doesn’t merely And yet, upon comparing their mutual mean that he pioneered these odysseys of transformation, we discov- psychological fi elds in literature er a psychological depth to Joseph and before they became established a metaphysical depth to Edgar. The for- in what gradually became our mer suddenly becomes more humanly modern disciplines. According to imitable; the latter more spiritually heroic. As they raise themselves out of (Hatcher and Martin 115). 86 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

the lowest depths of the most violent As a rainbow includes all color tests—both favored by fathers, then be- possibilities, such a garment suggests trayed by brothers—these men evolve the many roles Joseph will inhabit as consummate archetypes for weath- during the adventures of his mythic ering unjust adversity. On their ascent life. However, Shakespeare gives us from naked homelessness, eschewing no symbolic rainbow robe in the com- self-pity and blame, both sons inhabit fortless King Lear. We receive no hint numerous social roles, defi ning them- that Edgar will also evolve into a man selves by none, identifying themselves for all seasons. But like Joseph, Ed- instead with a quest for self-mastery. gar proves to be equally multifaceted As a result, they attain a sovereignty when, multi-garbed as an outcast, he over self as forces for good in society. evolves exemplary skills for weather- As wayfarers on life’s journey, Joseph ing unjust adversity. Both youths thus and Edgar prove as persevering as Od- personify how one can blossom by be- ysseus, and as relatable as anyone who coming a master of transformation. It is has ever had to start over again. no wonder that Joseph is the last word in Genesis and Edgar has the last word in Shakespeare’s great drama. The C C M (H)? characters of both great works deserve our close attention, if we too would be “A tailor make a man?” king—not of Egypt or Britain—but of — King Lear 2.2.58 the multiple identities we disguise ourselves with. “Let all be set free from Just as we often change clothes for dif- the multiple identities that were born ferent roles or tasks (to go on a hike, of passion and desire,” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá on a date, or on a job interview), our urges, “and in the oneness of their love dreams about clothing (coats, shoes, for God fi nd a new way of life” (Selec- hats) might be seen as symbolizing a tions 36:3). possible or necessary role change. In At the outset of their stories, both like manner, dreams of being naked Joseph and Edgar are fl awed, naïve often indicate the vulnerability of our young men. Joseph foolishly—even current persona or way of being. Wear- boastfully—tells his brothers of two ing a disguise is an intentional conceal- infl ated dreams he has had. In one, he ing of identity, sometimes to hide from says, the sun, moon and stars bowed our weaknesses, sometimes to experi- down to him. In the other, his brothers ment with other ways of engaging with bowed down to him. His father scolds the world (Chevalier and Gheerbrant him for recounting such dreams. Jacob 316). So when the Joseph of Genesis knows his other sons are already envi- receives a coat of many colors from his ous of their younger brother because father Jacob, we pay attention (Genesis he himself favors Joseph. But Jacob 37:3). unwisely makes no eff ort to hide his Genesis in King Lear 87 preference—even gifting only Joseph fellow prisoner is released, Joseph asks with a beautiful coat. Alas, Joseph the freed man to put in a good word compounds the problem. Whether for him with their mutual former mas- naïve, vain or willfully blind, the youth ter. However, if God is suffi cient unto fl aunts his favorite-son status: him, the Qur’án suggests, in Him alone So with this coat, this very fancy should the trusting trust: “But Satan and high-priced coat, Joseph goes sa- caused him to forget the remembrance shaying in to his brothers and says, of his Lord, so he remained some years “Oh, and another thing, boys, I had a in prison” (Qur’án 12:42).2 As the Hag- dream last night that you all are going gadah explains, “Satan induced Joseph to be bowing down to me.” Whether to place his confi dence in man, rather Joseph was arrogant or what, a lot of than in God alone, in punishment of the Muslim exegesis says he was put which sin the imprisonment was con- in the well of his own self love; that, tinued” (Roswell 234). in fact, he has a reputation for being Indeed, Joseph’s “sin” might very very much in love with himself in the well make us wonder how fully any of Haggadah—the stories of the prophets us trusts in God. After all, who among that accompany the Quranic tale, in the us has not sought favor or infl uence legends of the Jews that you read you from a fellow human being rather than see that Joseph was considered almost from the All-Suffi cing? Thus, the de- eff eminate because of his beauty, and layed and gradual unveiling of Joseph waltzing around the compound and as a prophet allows him to be portrayed lording it over the others because of with fl aws and perceived as a relatable this beauty (Lawson). human being. It is no wonder that for Consequently, Joseph fi rst appears, three thousand years people have both not as a perfect exemplar, but as a work revered and empathized with Joseph, in progress. Later, in Egypt, when Po- and that the Prophet Muhammad called tiphar’s wife Zuleikha repeatedly at- his story “the most beautiful of stories” tempts to seduce him, and even makes (Qur’án 12:3). Nonetheless, the ini- him strut his handsome stuff for her tial naïveté of both Joseph and Edgar female friends, Joseph struggles to re- invites malevolent reactions out of all main chaste. “O my Lord! I prefer the proportion to their innocent natures. Jo- prison to compliance with their bid- seph’s envious brothers actually set out ding,” he is moved to pray, “but unless to murder him: “Come let us slay the Thou turn away their snares from me, dreamer. . . and we will see what will I shall play the youth with them, and become of his dream” (Genesis 37:19– become one of the unwise” (Qur’án 20). In Shakespeare’s play, Edmund, the 12:31–33). When spurned, Zuleikha falsely accuses Joseph of rape and has 2 This incident might lead the him imprisoned. Yet again, he displays reader to recall a powerful verse taught understandable human frailty. As a to other falsely imprisoned believers by Bahá’u’lláh, three millennia later. 88 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

bastard brother of Edgar, also seethes godson Edgar labors mightily through with envy because of their father’s his own travails and painfully rebirths preferential treatment of his “legiti- himself as a true child of God. mate” son. Blind to his brother’s envy, At the outset of their mutual jour- Edgar , “[w]hose nature is so far from neys of transformation, both Edgar doing harms/ That he suspects none” and Joseph are thrown down the social (Shakespeare 1.2.185–86) gullibly ac- ladder to its lowest rung. Through the cepts embittered Edmund’s lies (about machinations of their envious brothers, their father’s alleged wrath) as truth. each becomes nameless and homeless. Like Joseph, he too loses his home, and After his brothers leave him for dead, almost his life, due to brotherly deceit. Joseph is sold into slavery. He next Both Joseph and Edgar fi nd themselves become a household servant, then an exiled—not just from their homes— overseer of servants. Next, he is a pris- but also from their selves. “Edgar I oner falsely accused of rape (for refus- nothing am” (2.3.21). Both men are ing to commit adultery—and stripped stripped of their garments of identity, naked a second time!), then an overseer as well as being literally stripped na- in prison. He moves ever upward in the ked: Joseph of his coat of many colors ranks, gaining the position of second in and Edgar “the naked fellow” (4.1.40) command to Pharaoh—and fi nally de of all but a blanket—“else we had been facto ruler of Egypt. On his own per- all shamed,” quips the Fool about such sonal odyssey, after being betrayed by scant covering (3.4.64). Both sons are his brother, Edgar also moves through disrobed of their grandiose sense of many personas: as a disinherited son, self as the favorite child. According to a fugitive, Poor Tom the mad beggar, Shakespeare’s drama, naked or “un- a disgraced servant, a peasant, a mes- accommodated man,” stripped of the senger, a masked knight all in black, “lendings” of civilization—social per- and, fi nally, king of Britain. Thus, Jo- sonas and comforting self-concepts— seph and Edgar come to embody the becomes reduced to “the thing itself.” true crown of human creation—as role And unless “ such a poor, bare, forked models of re-birth and transformation. animal” re-creates himself in his Mak- Throughout the course of their many er’s image, he will remain “no more trials and tribulations, both characters than this” (3.4.101-107). The character do not merely survive or make do; they of King Lear presents a sobering ex- achieve a sovereignty of self through ample of how painfully diffi cult is the service to others: human challenge to personally transform ourselves into the “better angels On account of [the human of our nature” (Lincoln). However, a soul’s] progression to the stages ray of light penetrates this bleak play of nearness and reunion and its about parents and off spring. As a coun- descent into the regions of perdi- terpoint to the comfortless king, Lear’s tion and error, it is clothed in each Genesis in King Lear 89

stage and station in clothes that Evidently aware of this truth, Joseph are diff erent from the previous. and Edgar navigate the narrow straits (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, qtd. in Dunbar 48) of self-pity and blame without beach- ing on either deadly shoal. D T The Bible says it is a pit into which Joseph’s brothers toss him (Genesis “The worst is not , 37:24); the Qur’án (12:10) says it is an So long as we can say, ‘This is the empty well. In any event, Joseph fi nds worst.’” himself down in a hole, “deep and — King Lear 4.1.27–28 dark, a place where all diff erentiations and distinctions are obliterated—the The details of Joseph and Edgar’s unfathomable realm of utter eff ace- painful evolutions into exemplary hu- ment and nothingness” (Saiedi 149). man beings both instruct and encour- But “when you ain’t got nothing,” as age us. After all, most of us have had Bob Dylan sings, “you got nothing to to re-invent ourselves many times in lose” (“Like a Rolling Stone”). All is the course of our lives. We all have possible. Like Jonah in the belly of the had dreams dashed (like Joseph) and whale or an entombed Christ, Joseph hopes deferred (like Edgar). And many is in the darkness of a womb. There- of us have had to start over again—in fore, consciously or not, he and Edgar another career, country or household. both grope toward rebirth. Neither be- So how did these two formerly favorite moans the darkness. Moving toward sons pull off so diffi cult a transforma- the light, they not only accept the roles tion? That’s the real story. thrust upon them, but also evince an Many people initially react to unjust attitude that transforms their straitened adversity with self-pity accompanied circumstances into opportunities. Both by accusatory blame. Both are justifi ed characters have an aptitude for adapt- reactions to injustice. However, both ing. Fugitive Edgar not only varies his responses are also obstacles to person- disguise, but also alters his voice and al growth. Anger too, in such situa- dialect. Joseph directs scenes, utilizes tions, can be justifi ed. After all, Joseph props and, feigning ignorance of his and Edgar were innocent victims of native tongue, speaks to his brothers their own brothers’ betrayal; they have through an interpreter. Both young men a right to be angry. That said, they both amaze us with their ability to create wisely choose to be fulfi lled, rather various personas to survive. Moreover, than to be right. As way stations on the they avoid the pitfall of defi ning them- path of life, self-pity, blame and anger selves by these social roles. They in- make miserable places to live. Resent- tuitively seem to know that “career” is ment often proves to be the root of cor- derived from the Latin word for “road” ruption (Peterson, Cain and Abel). It not “profession,” and that career paths renders both self and society worse off . entail diverse social and occupational 90 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

roles. At the same time, they exemplify Even if at times he seems to know bet- how one’s “vocation”—from the Lat- ter what not to do (despair, complain, in for the verb “to call”—is a singular get angry) than what to do, he always calling to fulfi ll one’s unique purpose acts. He pays attention to—and gives and personal potential: intention to—his attitude. Both Edgar and Joseph personify why “Men must O Lord! Whether traveling or [embrace] their going hence, even as at home, in my occupation or in their coming hither; [response] is all!” my work, I place my whole trust (Shakespeare 5.2.10–12). in Thee . . . Bestow upon me my If anger, self-pity and blame are in- portion, O Lord, as Thou pleasest, adequate reactions to adversity, what and cause me to be satisfi ed with then is the most productive response? whatsoever Thou hast ordained After the 9/11 tragedy in New York, for me. (The Báb, Bahá’í Prayers the Dalai Lama advised, rather than to 56; emphasis added) lay blame, to “seek cause” (Refl ection on 9/11). Such a meditation requires an Both the Bible (1 Corinthians 10– opening of the heart as well as of the 13) and the Qur’án (2:286) maintain mind. Again Joseph and Edgar model with Bahá’u’lláh that “God hath never such a response. When his brothers burdened any soul beyond its power” show up in Egypt, Joseph embraces his (Gleanings 52:2). However, many of us youngest brother and then has to turn have a lower estimation of our “power” away to hide his tears. When Edgar to endure life’s violent tests than God sees what a piteous condition his re- does. Both Joseph and Edgar amaze us cently blinded father has been reduced not only with their endurance, but also to by treacherous Edmund, he also with their acceptance of suff ering. Like hides his tears. Whether we view Jo- the oyster shell embracing an irritating seph as a prophet gradually unveiling grain of sand and transforming it into his potentiality or Edgar as a fi ctional a pearl, Joseph and Edgar accept their character undergoing growth, they unjust and unfortunate “desert time” as both demonstrate empathetic compas- a necessary stage on their road (“ca- sion rather than indulging in resentful reer”) toward the Promised Land of anger. personal spiritual fulfi llment. So even His brothers have come to Egypt though Edgar reminds his despairing begging, so Joseph could easily send father (and himself) that, “Men must them off empty-handed in retaliation. endure their going hence, even as their Edgar, too, could take his unwise father coming hither; ripeness is all” (Shake- to task. Gloucester not only rashly and speare 5.2.9–11), Edgar does more falsely accuses him, but also misjudges than merely endure. Like Joseph, he his son’s essential character. If Joseph gallantly wills his way through the dark were the hero of a modern action fi lm, of the birth canal toward “ripeness.” he would seek revenge on his brothers. Genesis in King Lear 91

Instead he seeks spiritual growth—not 4.6.34-35). Moreover, when Edgar ap- only his, but theirs as well. First, he pears masked as a black knight to duel falsely accuses his youngest brother his brother Edmund, his motive is not Benjamin (his father’s new favorite) personal revenge. His faceless disguise of stealing, and then insists on taking is not a ploy of deception as much as him as ransom. Joseph is purposely a statement of negation. Not only is testing his brothers to see if they are Edgar nameless—“My name is lost” once again willing to dispose of a sib- (5.3.122)—but so too is Britain with- ling receiving their father’s preferen- out a king. “Who is it,” wonders Lear tial treatment. Later, when he bestows without his crown, “that can tell me gifts upon his brothers, Joseph gives who I am?” (1.4.235). Without a sov- Benjamin more in quality and quanti- ereign on the throne, chaos is loosed in ty than he gives the others. Will they the kingdom; without a sovereignty of once again act out vilely with envy? self, chaos is loosed within. Given the chance to grow, his brothers pass both tests with fl ying colors. U S Thus, during his odyssey of becoming, Joseph has put not only his own self in “ Off , off , you lendings! Come un- order—as well as Egypt and Palestine button here.” by saving them from famine—but also — King Lear 3.4.106–107 his family. Having nurtured self and society to fruition by fostering the “ut- Upon slaying Edmund, Edgar not only most love and harmony,” he attains, ac- gives a new birth of freedom to Brit- cording to Bahá’u’lláh, “the monarch ain as he saves it from the self-serving of all aspirations (Gleanings 132:4; reign of Edmund and Goneril, but he emphasis added). Pharaoh has made also, in eff ect, becomes born again: Joseph proxy king (Genesis 41:39–44), “My name is Edgar,” he declares, but Bahá’u’lláh will make him—and “and thy father’s son” (Shakespeare all who demonstrate such spiritually 5.3.169). Moreover, with the same sovereign qualities—“monarchs in the magnanimity that Joseph displays to- realms of My Kingdom” (Summons ward his brothers, Edgar tells his dying 64; emphasis added). brother, deemed “illegitimate” by law: Likewise, Edgar, by eschewing “I am no less in blood than thou art, resentment, revenge, and any per- Edmund” (5.3.167). Unlike their fa- sonal agenda, utilizes various dis- ther, Edgar sees beyond the bounds of guises and dialects in order to serve biology. He regally affi rms the one true his exiled father’s needs. He literally brotherhood—of all humanity. Such and metaphysically eases Gloucester sovereignty (over limited and limiting back from the brink of despair. “I do views of human nature) embraces both trifl e thus with his despair,” he says shadow and light—within one’s self in an aside, “to cure it” (Shakespeare and within society. 92 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

Tellingly, Joseph and Edgar remain But Edgar, selfl essly more concerned in disguise throughout their initial with comforting his father, guides him re-encounters with their families. Jo- step by step away from despondency seph does so in order to discern if his toward hope. Eventually he succeeds brothers have evolved beyond their in helping him to see—not physically, deceitful and deadly ways. Only then, but metaphysically. “You ever-gentle weeping with human compassion, does gods ,” Gloucester then prays. “Let not he reveal himself—with more than hu- my worser spirit tempt me again /To man insight: die before you please!” (Shakespeare 4.6.213–15). Only at this juncture, I am Joseph your brother, whom when his father can bear self-rec- ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore ognition, does Edgar, after having be not grieved, nor angry with “wait[ed] patiently for that naked hour yourselves, that ye sold me hith- of self-revelation,” reveal his identity er: for God did send me before (Bloom, Lear 109). you to preserve life. . . . God sent Somehow, both Joseph and Edgar me before you to preserve you a manage to foil their family members posterity in the earth, and to save from seeing through their disguises. your lives by a great deliverance. Such masterful deception may seem in- So now it was not you that sent me congruous, but it is not incidental. One hither, but God. (Genesis 45:4–8) must will to be seen as one’s true self. We may choose when and to whom we Joseph unveils himself not just as a reveal ourselves (or not), but we our- brother, but as a prophet, immediate- selves must do the unfolding. “I my- ly foretelling future events. Yet, with self am a question which is addressed the most human show of aff ection “he to the world, and I must communicate fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck, my answer, for otherwise,” warned and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his Carl Jung, “I am dependent upon the neck. Moreover he kissed all his breth- world’s answer” (318). ren, and wept upon them” (Genesis Meanwhile, as the Fool reminds 45:14–15). With such a moving de- Lear , the clock is ticking: “Thou nouement, the story of Joseph proves shouldst not have been old till thou indeed to be “the most beautiful of sto- hadst been wise” (Shakespeare 1.5.46– ries” (Qur’án 12:3). 47). While we dally and delay, “our For his part, Edgar conceals his pleasant vices /Make instruments to identity from his forlorn father lest plague us” (5.3.170–71). Thus, our the shock of recognition drive blind life’s chief work is the art of becom- Gloucester deeper into despair. A ing—of manifesting our sovereign resentful, vengeful son would have self—before it is too late and we are self-righteously reveled in throwing too “canker-bit” (5.3.122) to fl ow- the true facts into his father’s face. er. The fruit of such unfolding is the Genesis in King Lear 93 saving/serving of self and society, even Lear eventually learns, “the gods them- if our “little world of man” (3.1.10) is selves throw incense” (Shakespeare confi ned to a household or workplace. 5.3.20–21). The cost of not unfolding one’s poten- In brief, the story of Joseph is the tial is imprisonment—in the mask of tale of a dream and its ultimate fulfi ll- social roles, postures and personas that ment through the agency of character, protect the ego but fail to fulfi ll the self. consciousness, and compassion. Ed- The book of Genesis has somewhat gar’s story reads more like a night- of a “happily ever after” ending, as mare—from which he awakes through Joseph assumes his rightful place in the agency of character, consciousness, the lineage of Abraham, destined, as and compassion. However, the dreams- it is, to birth numerous Manifestations cape in both stories represents ultimate of God as descendents. Shakespeare’s reality—the coming of age into one’s mythic tale is darker. On his “pil- true self. In Joseph’s case, it is the un- grimage” of becoming, (Shakespeare veiling of himself as a prophet, before 5.3.196) Edgar loses both his father whom, his brothers in fact—as in his and godfather to death—and to regret’s dream—“bowed down themselves be- dark abyss. Although at play’s end he fore him with their faces to the earth” restores order to Britain and prepares (Genesis 42:6). to ascend its throne, Edgar does not appear eager to rule. However, his reluc- The story of Joseph was the story tant yet willing acceptance of the bur- of a dream and its subsequent ful- den of kingship makes him all the more fi llment . . . Thus it is the dream heroic and prophet-like. Of those who that represents the supreme real- have responsibility thrust upon them, ity—the realm of divine creative and accept such pains for the good of Action—while the historical real- society, rather than for fame or gain, ization of the dream in the world Shakespeare says: is a mere phenomenal refl ection of that eternal truth. (Saiedi 159) They rightly do inherit heaven’s graces, Signifi cantly, both Edgar and Jo- And husband nature’s riches seph’s stories remind us that such from expense; fulfi llment can only occur if we leave They are the lords and owners our father’s house; that is, if we tran- of their faces, scend inherited tradition and heed our Others, but stewards of their ex- personal calling (“vocation”). After all, cellence. (Sonnet 194) parents (representing the past) often are blind to who we might become (the Such personal sacrifi ce “makes future). No matter how much they love sacred”—as the word’s Latin root in- us—or we love them—they cannot dicates—and “upon such sacrifi ces,” hear for us that intuitive “still, small 94 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

voice within” (1 Kings 19:12) that Now that Joseph has donned the ves- whispers only privately: ture of his true self, such raiment becomes transformative for others as Cleanse thy heart from every well. By inhabiting our potential self, blasphemous whispering and evil we become capable of giving vision allusion thou hast heard in the to others—even opening the eyes of a past, that thou mayest inhale the parent who may not have seen us—or sweet savours of eternity from the our potential—clearly. With the un- Joseph of faithfulness, gain admit- folding of the shirt of one’s true self, tance into the celestial Egypt, and the father’s gift of life to the son (the perceive the fragrances of enlight- many-colored coat of many possibili- enment. (Bahá’u’lláh, Gems 23) ties) becomes the son’s gift of a happy death to the father: Likewise, just as both sons in these two stories must forsake their childish outer O my God . . . divest the bodies selves in order to discover (or unveil) of Thy servants of the garments of their mature inner selves, both their fa- mortality and abasement, and attire thers must forsake their outward eyes them in the robes of Thine eterni- in order to open the eyes of insight: ty and Thy glory. (Bahá’u’lláh, Prayers and Meditations 184:11) O My Brother! Until thou enter the Egypt of love, thou shalt Likewise, the grieving Lear admits at never gaze upon the Joseph-like the end of his drama, “Mine eyes are not beauty of the Friend; and until, o’ th’ best” (Shakespeare 5.3.277). How- like Jacob, thou forsake thine out- ever, in truth, his inner vision is sharp ward eyes, thou shalt never open for the fi rst time. As he holds his dead the eye of thine inward being.” daughter in his arms, like an inverse Pi- (Bahá’u’lláh, Call of the Divine età, Lear visually echoes blind Glouces- Beloved 19) ter’s words of recognition about Edgar: “I stumbled when I saw . . . Might I live After bestowing “changes of rai- to see thee in my touch, I’d say I had ment” (Genesis 45:22) upon his broth- eyes again!” (4.1.19–23). Recognition ers (symbolic of their rebirth as more of his daughter’s selfl ess love awakens enlightened beings), Joseph gives them Lear from “the heaviness of sleep” and his own garment.3 “Go with this my allows him to don “fresh garments” shirt, and cast it over the face of my (4.7.20-12). “‘Bring forth the best father,” he instructs them, “and he will robe, and put it on him’,” writes Jesuit come to see again” (Qur’án 12:93). scholar Milward, quoting the parable of the Prodigal Son, while comparing 3 The ritual changing of garment Lear to “the Pauline image of putting marks the passage from one world to an- on ‘the new man’” (194). Fittingly, other” (Chevalier and Gheerbrant 316). Genesis in King Lear 95 humbled Lear’s fi nal command is a “the saving of many people” (Genesis polite request: “Pray you, undo this 50:20). Joseph, like Edgar, speaks not button” (Shakespeare 5.3.307). His last only as a man of faith, but also as one words express a willingness to shed the with conscious knowledge, born of physical garment of his body. Howev- experience. er, like Jacob, Lear now is open-eyed How a person can come to have as he embraces death: such penetrating and expansive vision—so as to even glimpse divine We fi nd that at the very end, his purpose behind the shifting shapes of sorrow—like that of Gloucester this nether world? Shakespeare’s play in the parallel story—changes gives hint. “If thou canst serve where to sudden joy as he looks on the thou dost stand condemn’d”—even un- lips of his child; and in that joy he justly, even by your own brother—and, dies. What he sees on her lips is having willingly “razed” the “likeness” no longer the darkness of death of your former self-concept, still man- but a light that shows him what age to maintain your “good intent,” Shakespeare elsewhere [Measure then you “may carry through to that for Measure 5.1.398] calls a “bet- full issue,” which is the birth of your ter life past fearing death.” (Mil- sovereign self (1.4.1–5). ward 157–58) And then—to emend poets Kipling and Frost—you’ll be a king, my son, After the death of his father Glouces- and that will make all the diff erence: ter, Edgar speaks magnanimous words to his dying, deceitful brother. Person- Were the dominions of the whole, al revenge has no place in an ordered entire earth to be thine, it would society. “Let’s exchange charity,” he not equal this great dominion . . . says, “The gods are just” (Shakespeare, [T]hou hast established an eternal 5.3.170). Such selfl ess, heroic stature and everlasting throne through the gives vision, however belatedly, even guidance of God, and hast become to malevolent Edmund: “This speech crowned with a diadem, the gems of yours hath mov’d me / And shall of which scintillate throughout the perchance do good” (5.3.199–200), he centuries and ages; nay, rather, for says while dying. “Some good I mean cycles and periods! to do/Despite of mine own nature” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets 254–55) (5.3.242–43). Similarly, after the death of his father, Joseph ends Genesis with comforting words to his brothers, as they once again fear his vengeance. “Ye thought evil against me,” he tells them, “but God meant it unto good… to bring to pass,” he adds prophetically, 96 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

W C

‘Abdu’l-Ba h á . Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. Trans. by Marzieh Gail. Bahá’í World Centre, 1978. ———. Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Abbas. Bahá’í Reference Library. http://reference.bahai. org/en/t/ab/TAB/ Atwan, Robert. “Review: Shakespeare.” Boston Review, February/March 1999. http:// bostonreview.net/books-ideas/robert-atwan-review-shakespeare Bahá’í Prayers: A Selection of Prayers Revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, the Báb, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1991. Bahá’u’lláh. The Call of the Divine Beloved. Bahá’í World Centre, 2018. ———. Gems of the Divine Mysteries. Bahá’í World Centre, 2002. ———. Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. Trans. Shoghi Eff endi. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1988. ———. Kitáb-i-Íqán. The Book of Certitude. Trans. by Shoghi Eff endi. US Bahá’í Pub- lishing Trust, 1981. ———. Prayers and Meditations. Trans. by Shoghi Eff endi. US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1980. ———. The Summons of the Lord of Hosts. Bahá’í World Centre, 2002. Bloom, Harold. Lear: The Great Image of Authority. Scribner, 2018. ———. Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human. Riverhead, 1998. Dalai Lama. “The Dalai Lama’s Refl ection on 9/11.” The Dalai Lama Center, https:// dalailamacenter.org/blog-post/dalai-lamas-refl ection-911 Dunbar, Hooper. Immortality and the Human Soul. Unpublished, 2013. Dylan, Bob. “Like a Rolling Stone.” Highway 61 Revisited, Track#1. Columbia, 1965. Hatcher, William and Douglas Martin. The Bahá’í Faith: The Emerging Global Religion. Harper and Row, 1985. The Holy Bible: King James Version. American Bible Society, 1816. Jung, Carl. Memories, Dreams, Refl ections. Trans. by Aniela Jaff é. Vintage, 1961. Lawson, Todd. “The Return of Joseph.” YouTube. Wilmette Institute, Sept 25, 2016. https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvGBQsPlRew&feature=em-upload_owner Lincoln, Abraham. “First Inaugural Address.” U.S. Capitol, Washington D.C. 4 March 1861. Milward, Peter S.J. Biblical Infl uences in Shakespeare’s Great Tragedies. Indiana UP, 1987. The Qur’án. Translated by J.M. Rodwell. Everyman-Dutton 1909. Peterson, Jordan. “Biblical Series V: Cain and Abel: The Hostile Brothers.” YouTube. Jordan Peterson, June 27, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44f3mxcsI50 ———. “Biblical Series XV: Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors.” YouTube. Jordan B. Peterson, Dec 19, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7V8eZ1BLiI Saiedi, Nader. Gate of the Heart. Association for Bahá’í Studies and Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2008. Shakespeare, William. King Lear. Arden-Thomas Learning, 1997. Shoghi Eff endi, God Passes By. Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1957. Stokes, Jim. “The Story of Joseph in the Bábí and Bahá’í Faiths.” World Order 29:2, 1997. 97

What to Pack in Case of Exile

ANDRÉANA E. LEFTON

Tehran, 1982

Grandmother, help me pack the two persimmon trees in our backyard.

Help me wrap the branches in soft white cloth, concealing the fruit, each one a hand-held sunset.

Those trees make millions of red-orange suns that we eat, squelching the skin and ﬂ esh between our teeth, drinking down the light turned rich and syrupy, summer after summer.

I want to take the golden plum trees too, and the picnic table humming with ants; the cicada shells and birthday songs.

Help me pack the persimmon trees and a hammock to rock to sleep in, so that wherever I am, the wind from the Alborz mountains will ﬁ nd me.

“What to Pack in Case of Exile” is based on the true story of a Bahá’í woman, Lida, who escaped Iran during the Revolution in the 1980s. 98 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019 White Roses

ANDRÉANA E. LEFTON Tehran 1982 Grandmother kisses my eyelids. I kick awake. Where is she? Embroidered roses scratch my cheek, Maman’s handiwork. I’m in bed. It’s hard to sleep. The homemade funeral was yesterday. Grandmother died weeks ago, but the hospital, the morgue, rejected her. Even our dead bodies have no freedom here. So we took Sultan home, laid her in the bathtub, and covered her with ice. No one but family entered the house. If a dead body was found in a Baha’i home, the Guards could accuse us of murder, haul us off to prison on false charges. Baba fi nally found a spot. A nameless grave, marked with a number. First, we washed her body, perfumed her with rose essence, wrapped her in white silk. Then we laid her on the dining room table, surrounded by white fl owers. We drew the lace curtains, lit candles, and prayed the prayer for the dead. We all, verily, worship God. We all, verily, bow down before God. We all, verily, are devoted unto God. We all, verily, give praise unto God. We all, verily, yield thanks unto God. We all, verily, are patient in God. 99

includes translation studies, hermeneu- Biographical Notes tics, and intercultural communication.

EHSANOLLAH HEMMAT received JOHN S. HATCHER is Emeritus his education in Sociology and Social Professor in English Literature at the and Economic Development. He has University of South Florida and editor authored articles and books in Persian, of the Journal of Bahá’í Studies and Spanish, and English and is currently the Wilfrid Laurier University Press coauthoring the last four volumes of the Bahá’í Series. He has published over largest existing Arabic-Persian dictio- twenty books—some of which have nary (Riáz-u’l-Lughát). He has served been translated into more than ﬁ ve dif- on the Bahá’í International Translation ferent languages—and more than one Panel for Persian to English transla- hundred poems and articles. He has tions and on the Associated Global received various awards for his work, Faculty Desk of the Bahá’í Institute and his comparative study of theod- for Higher Education. After pioneering icy The Purpose of Physical Reality in South America for forty years and was reviewed in the prestigious En- serving in a National Spiritual Assem- cyclopédie Philosophique Universelle bly, as an Auxiliary Board member, and Vol III, a dictionary of the world’s as a member of the Continental Board philosophical works published by the of Counsellors of America, he moved Presses Universitaires de France. to the Bahá’í World Center, where he currently serves. AMROLLAH HEMMAT is the co- author of four volumes of poetry with ANDRÉANA E. LEFTON is a writer, John S. Hatcher and books and educa- traveler, researcher, and educator. She tional material on Arabic grammar. He has an BA in International Relations has authored articles on translation, and Education from American Univer- hermeneutics, and discourse. His edu- sity in Washington DC, and an MSc in cation includes a graduate degree from Philosophy & Public Policy from the the Johns Hopkins University in Ap- London School of Economics. She is plied Behavioral Science and a PhD in also interested in ﬁ nding connections Communications from the University between education, social justice, and of South Florida. His doctoral disser- creativity. Andréana has lived and tation focuses on the interpretation and traveled throughout the United States, translation of religious and mystical UK, Europe and the Middle East. She texts. He is currently the Vice Presi- has worked with Ashoka, the Institute dent of Global Discourse Society, ac- for Educational Leadership, Eastside ademic consultant to universities, and Educational Trust, the European Press a frequent keynote speaker at academ- Prize, and The Guardian. She has also ic conferences. His current research worked on documentaries for broadcast 100 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 29.3 2019

on National Public Radio and the scientiﬁ c and medical topics, and was BBC. She recently designed and taught the winner of the 2006 Association for course at Central European University Bahá’í Studies of North America Essay on “Voice and World” exploring the in- Contest. He lives in Calgary, Canada, tersection of self-expression and social with his wife and son. justice.

Harvard graduate TOM LYSAGHT has written thirty plays—published by Samuel French and produced Oﬀ -Broadway, on the main stage of 1992 Bahá’í’i World Congress and in Andean villages of Peru (where he was Manager of Radio Bahá’í) with his El Teatro de Pan y Paz. In 2004-06 on behalf of the World Centre’s OSED he made three trips to rural India to supplement the Institute Process with puppet theater, indigenous dance and story telling. His website, Social Dra- ma/Sacred Space, serves as resource for grassroots community building. A member of the Dramatists’ Guild, Ly- saght has received a dozen writing fel- lowships. For twenty years he taught script writing at Brentwood School in Los Angeles.

Dr. MISAGH ZIAEI, BSc (Hons), MSc, MD, CCFP, is a physician special- izing in Family Medicine who works in private practice, on hospital wards, and in urgent care/emergency departments. He holds a bachelor’s degree (with honors) in Biochemistry from the Uni- versity of Ottawa, as well as a Master of Science degree in Physiology from the University of Alberta, where he also completed his medical degree and specialty training. He has published on