Study Guide to the Book of Certitude - Part One Brent Poirier Iqan, Paragraph 1, page 3 IN THE NAME OF OUR LORD, THE EXALTED, THE MOST HIGH. NO man shall attain the shores of the ocean of true understanding except he be detached from all that is in heaven and on earth. Sanctify your souls, O ye peoples of the world, that haply ye may attain that station which God hath destined for you and enter thus the tabernacle which, according to the dispensations of Providence, hath been raised in the firmament of the Bayan. The Exalted Elsewhere translated by Shoghi Effendi as Most Exalted, Most August, most lofty, transcendent The Most High Also translated by Shoghi Effendi as glory, most sublime, celestial, all-glorious, divine, on high, supreme, effulgent, most high, transcendent, above, wondrous (AHW 19), all-compelling, abode of supreme blissfulness, imperishable THE EXALTED LORD From the very first verse of this sacred Book, Baha'u'llah demonstrates that His theme is to prove the Mission of the Bab. He begins with the words, "In the Name of Our Lord, the Exalted . " The Arabic word "`Ala" ("Exalted") is used. The same word is used in the exclamation "Ya Aliyyu'l- `Ala," which refers to the Bab. In one of the verses of the Long Obligatory Prayer (Baha'i Prayers 12) the worshiper prays, "No God is there but Thee, the Most Exalted [`Ala], the All- Glorious [Abha], referring to both of the Manifestations. The same juxtaposition of words appears in the Long Prayer for the Fast (Thou seest me, O my God, holding to Thy Name, the Most Holy, the Most Luminous, the Most Mighty, the Most Great, the most Exalted, the Most Glorious. ." See also Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 185, where Baha'u'llah, speaking of the Bábís who did not recognize Him states: “And since they fixed their eyes on names, therefore when He replaced His Name "the Most Exalted" by "the Most Glorious" their eyes were dimmed.” There are many examples, in the Writings of `Abdu'l-Baha, some of them in extremely important verses, in which He refers to the Bab simply as "The Exalted One." (The Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-Baha 4, 5, 11, 19, 20; Memorials of the Faithful 176; Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Baha 73, 295). COMPLETION OF THE BAYAN It is also befitting that Baha'u'llah makes mention of the Bab in the opening verse of this Work, because the Book of Certitude is the spiritual fulfillment of the Bab's greatest Work, the Bayan. The Bab specified that the "Bayan" is not completed and that "He Whom God would manifest" (Baha'u'llah) would complete it, though not in its actual form, but only spiritually in the form of another book. The "Iqan" is believed to be its continuation. (Letter from the Guardian's secretary on his behalf dated February 17, 1939, "Dawn of a New Day," p. 78) ATTAINMENT TO THE "SHORES OF THE OCEAN OF TRUE UNDERSTANDING" Please compare this verse which appears later in the Iqan using the same symbolic language: Peace be upon him whom the light of truth guideth unto all truth, and who, in the name of God, standeth in the path of His Cause, upon the shore of true understanding. (Paragraph 44, page 43) Sometimes the symbol of attainment to the "shore" is of the seeker traveling on land who reaches the shore of the ocean, such as the story of the knower and the grammarian in the First Valley (The Seven Valleys and The Four Valleys 51). At other times, the spiritual wayfarer is on the sea, which is a place of danger, and the goal is the safety of the shore. `Abdu'l-Baha reportedly explained the Gospel narrative of Jesus walking on the water to a pilgrim in this way: In this story of our Lord Jesus, the Sea of Tiberias represents the ocean of creation -- the two shores represent earthly truth and spiritual truth. The boat or ark stands for arguments and reasons by which men acquire knowledge and in this boat Jesus' disciples were tossed on the waves of the ocean of creation. The shore which Jesus left in order to come to them, walking on the water, represents earthly knowledge. The haven or shore to which he guided them represents spiritual knowledge. There are three ways of apprehending truth: 1. The earthly way, -- by means of the five senses; 2. The way of argument and reasoning . 3. The spiritual way, by which man receives knowledge from the inner light or inspiration . As we have before said in the account of this miracle, the disciples of Jesus attempted to sail over the sea of creation in the ark of argument and reasoning, finding great difficulty and danger in proving the truth by so doing. But when Christ, the Light of the world, who knew all things by the light of inner spiritual illumination, came to them in their boat, walking by his knowledge over the ocean of existence, and having no need of the ark of argument, then immediately they were at their desired haven. ("The Symbolic Meaning of Walking on the Sea," Words of `Abdu'l-Baha: From the Notes of Miss E. Rosenberg, 1901; Star of the West, Volume VIII, No. 9, page 114, Blue Reprint Volume #5) "Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea, got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum. And it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them. Then the sea arose because a great wind was blowing. So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid. But He said to them, 'It is I; do not be afraid.' Then they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going." (John 6:16-21) Many a soul in the ark of philosophy, after fruitless struggles, was drowned in the sea of conflicting theories of cause and effect, while those on board the craft of simplicity reached the shore of the Universal Cause by the aid of favorable winds blowing from the Point of Divine Knowledge. When man is associated with that transcendent Power emanating from the Word of God, the tree of his being becomes so well rooted in the soil of assurance that it laughs at the violent hurricanes of skepticism which attempt its eradication. (`Abdu'l-Baha, quoted in the frontispiece to a book by Thornton Chase published by the Baha'i Publishing Committee in New York) There are other verses in the Gospel that use the symbol of the people "standing on the shore": "And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore." (Matthew 13:2) In His most interesting description of the great teacher of the Faith Mulla Ali-Akbar Shahmirzadi, appointed a Hand of the Cause of God by Baha'u'llah, the Master uses this imagery of his attainment to the shore of the Ocean, his thirst having remained unquenched in the gatherings of mystics and philosophers. (Memorials of the Faithful 10) Study questions: Do you feel that this verse from the Gospel should be taken literally, allegorically, or both? If allegorically, do you think that the people "on the shore" means those like the grammarian who did not commit himself, or that it means that they had attained to belief in Christ? (There is not only one right answer to such questions - we are encouraged to use the Writings as a guide to strive for our own understanding of the symbolism in the Bible - Some Answered Questions, p. 126) TRUE UNDERSTANDING Please note that the word in the Arabic, "`irfán" translated in the first paragraph of the Iqan as "true understanding," has also been translated by the Guardian as "know" in the Short Obligatory Prayer, and as "recognize" in the first sentence of the Most Holy Book. The late, wonderful Dr. Jalal Mahmoudi wrote an article on this subject "Irfan, Gnosis or Mystical Knowledge" in World Order Magazine in 1973. "DETACHED FROM ALL THAT IS IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH" In many places in the Writings the believers are urged to place their love for God above the love for the things of this world and above even the gifts of heaven, as paradise is also one of God's creations and should not be equated to union with Him: “Or if thy gaze should be on paradise, and thou shouldst worship Him while cherishing such a hope, thou wouldst make God's creation a partner with Him, notwithstanding the fact that paradise is desired by men. Fire and paradise both bow down and prostrate themselves before God. That which is worthy of His Essence is to worship Him for His sake, without fear of fire, or hope of paradise. Although when true worship is offered, the worshipper is delivered from the fire, and entereth the paradise of God's good-pleasure, yet such should not be the motive of his act. (Selections from the Writings of the Bab, pp. 77-78) SANCTIFY YOUR SOULS The word the Guardian here translates as “sanctify” comes from the Arabic root Q-D-S quds. This same Arabic word is related to “Aqdas,” the Most Holy, and “Quddus,” the Holy One. TABERNACLE Also translated as pavilion (PHW 23 “dwellers in the pavilion of glory”, PHW 46 “peerless pavilion”, WTAB 5 “dwellers in the Pavilion of the Abha Kingdom”, sanctuary Iqan, paragraph 2, pages 3-4 THE essence of these words is this: they that tread the path of faith, they that thirst for the wine of certitude, must cleanse themselves of all that is earthly -- their ears from idle talk, their minds from vain imaginings, their hearts from worldly affections, their eyes from that which perisheth.