What follows is my provisional translation (in other words, not official or authorized; see here for more) of a Tablet from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the original text of which has been published in Payám-i-Bahá’í, no. 175, p. 4. I am grateful to Khazeh Fananapazir for acquainting me with this Tablet in the original Persian, and also for his suggested revisions to the translation below.
Q[1]
To Áqá Mírzá ‘Abdu’l-‘Alí, upon him be the Glory of God, the All-Glorious
O servant of ʻAlí![2] Consider thy Lord[3]—how freely, in the path of the Ancient Beauty, He sacrificed His life and offered up His spirit. He made His breast, luminous as Sinai,[4] a shield for the shafts of tribulation and a target for the darts of adversity. His heart, radiant as the sun, He rendered a mark for fired ammunition and the object of a myriad blazing bullets that extinguished His life. What, then, should we do, thou and I? Would it not be regrettable if we should spend our days currying favor with others—endearing ourselves to friend and stranger alike—or concerning ourselves with the ease of our souls, the gratification of our desires, and the comfort of our minds? By God, this should not be so! Thus, at the very least, we must offer up this puny life of ours, and put aside our passions and desires. We must aim to quaff a draught from that mighty ocean, inhale a fragrance from that rose-garden, and become enkindled with a spark from the fire of the love of God—not merely listen to tales and narratives about how one soul sacrificed his life and another offered himself up, that one seized the chalice of the Eternal Covenant and yet another became intoxicated in the divine tavern. No fruit cometh from simply relating stories. One must, therefore, take a step into this arena and drain this Cup to its dregs.
Convey my greetings to all the loved ones of God. Thou art permitted to come and be present here.[5]
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[1] Presumably short for Qazvín or Qum, for which this Tablet was destined.
[2] This is a literal translation of the addressee’s name, ‘Abdu’l-‘Alí; see the next note for more information.
[3] A reference to the Báb, in that the addressee’s name, ‘Abdu’l-‘Alí, literally means “servant of ‘Alí,” with ‘Alí here being an allusion to the Báb, Whose name was ‘Alí-Muḥammad.
[4] Mount Sinai has been associated with light in such texts as the Kitáb-i-Íqán: “Armed with the rod of celestial dominion, adorned with the white hand of divine knowledge, and proceeding from the Párán of the love of God, and wielding the serpent of power and everlasting majesty, He shone forth from the Sinai of light upon the world” (source).
[5] Here, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is permitting the addressee to come to the Holy Land for pilgrimage.
A typescript of the original Persian text of this Tablet appears below (all punctuation and short vowel marks mine).
Adib Masumian 