What follows is my provisional translation (in other words, not official or authorized; see here for more) of a Tablet of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the original text of which has been published in Sálháy-i-Sukút, pp. 125–26. In that source, it is written that the man for whom this Tablet was revealed, Ḥájí ‘Alí Káẓimzádih Arbáb (the great-uncle of Firuz Kazemzadeh), asked ‘Abdu’l-Bahá for a martyr’s death, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote him this Tablet in response. Ḥájí ‘Alí ultimately died in a prison hospital in ‘Ishqábád on 2 April 1938. It is said in this Tablet that, to fulfill “the prime requisite of love,” one must abandon “any trace of oneself”—and indeed, Ḥájí ‘Alí and the other martyrs who died with him in prison left no trace of themselves at all. To this day, it is not known what happened to their bodies or where they are buried.
I am grateful to Alexander Nilsson for his helpful suggestions on revising certain parts of this translation.
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Care of the pilgrim Áqá Naṣru’lláh
‘Ishqábád
Jináb-i-Ḥájí ‘Alí
To Jináb-i-Arbáb, upon him be the Glory of God, the All-Glorious
He is God
O true friend! The prime requisite of love is that one give up one’s life for the Beloved, becoming an enamored wanderer infamous to the peoples of the world, abandoning any trace of oneself and shutting one’s eyes to the body and the soul alike. Such is the requisite of love in the world of being; consider, then, what is demanded by divine love and affection for that celestial Beloved! Thou must pray ardently to the heavenly Threshold and ask for confirmations that thou mayest rise and fulfill the requisite of divine love. A life not offered up in the path of the kind Beloved is not of the spirit, but the body. It yieldeth no profit, only loss; it bringeth no life, only death. I hope we may be graciously assisted to achieve that sacrifice.
Upon thee be salutations and praise.
A typescript of the original Persian text of this Tablet appears below (all punctuation and short vowel marks mine).
Adib Masumian 