What follows is my provisional translation (in other words, not official or authorized; see here for more) of a Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh, the original text of which has been published in La’áli’u’l-Ḥikmat, vol. 1, pp. 20–22 (selection no. 6).
While Bahá’u’lláh does begin by naming it “the Tablet of holiness”—which could, in a sense, qualify it as one of several Tablets He revealed with the title Lawḥ-i-Quds (see here)—He does also go on to liken the Tablet to a “point,” which may mean that it is the Lawḥ-i-Nuqṭih, an Edirne-era Tablet referred to by Shoghi Effendi in God Passes By (see here). In the most recent version of the Partial Inventory (v2.02, 3 November 2020), Steven Phelps has also tentatively identified it as such with a question mark next to the title, as I have done in the title of this page.
He is the All-Glorious
This is the Tablet of holiness; upon it hath God conferred the station of the point, just as it is through the point that every letter and word is made distinct. With this Tablet, too, hath been expounded all that hath been revealed from eternity, and unto eternity shall it continue to be expounded. Say: Though this Tablet remain motionless in its place, yet through it are all created things stirred to movement, causing them to appear, from utter nothingness, arrayed with the robe of existence. Blessed, then, be God, the Sovereign of all who wield power! Say: The Ancient of everlasting days hath appeared through the power of truth. Exalted, therefore, be God, the Nurturer of the universe, the Lord of both worlds!
As for thee, O servant, hearken to the Voice of God issuing from the Bush of that heart which hath shed its radiance within a sanctified and luminous breast, then know that the Announcement made in ages long past was set forth through this Most Great Announcement, and that the Revelation which proceeded from the eternity of the Most Ancient shone resplendent from this immemorial and immutable Ornament.
Say: O peoples of the earth! I swear by God that a Tablet set down by Him is better than dominion over this world and the world to come—indeed, I myself seek refuge with Him therefrom!—for the entirety of those worlds was fashioned through but one letter of such a Tablet, would that ye might understand! A single letter thereof is, moreover, sweeter than all that hath ever streamed from any pen or flowed from any tongue, and with it do the Concourse of extollers speak forth from behind the veils of holiness. Thus hath this Bird been seized with transports of ecstasy in this night, which vaunteth itself over a brilliant dawn and every bright morn. So enraptured is He that what floweth from His pen outstrippeth His volition, and it reduceth to dust the mountains of those mystic knowers who have never gazed upon the Most Sublime Vision and fixed their sight solely on veils and allusions.
Purge your ears, O people, of all that ye have heard or known, and sanctify your hearts from whatever ephemeral images ye have impressed within and upon them, that they may instead be imprinted with the Beauty of God, the Exalted, the Transcendent, the Mighty, the Ancient.
O ye who are immersed in the depths of Paradise! Should it be your wish to read this luminous and enduring Tablet, begin by performing ablutions with the water of that stream which floweth from the right hand of the Throne, then wash your outer beings and inner realities therewith, that ye may hear what the Dove of Paradise hath trilled out in these gardens with unique and wondrous melodies. Otherwise, ye shall not find the delights hidden within it, nor apprehend His gem-like wisdoms concealed therein, even should ye peruse it throughout the days of your lives—at every morn and eve, indeed at every moment. Thus warbleth the Dove in this atmosphere that God hath sanctified from the eyes of the disbelievers. Its air is pure, its winds pleasant; its scent is fragrant, its musk diffused. Seek it out, then, O company of near ones! In this wise hath God bestowed His imperishable, His eternal, His everlasting, His divine, His celestial gifts upon mankind.
As for you, O denizens of the Concourse on High, and O assemblage of humanity upon the nethermost realm: deprive not yourselves thereof, neither do ye reject them. “Fear ye God as He ought to be feared,”* and suffer not yourselves to be reckoned with the heedless. Well is it, then, with whosoever is sustained by those gifts without any regard for the dwellers of the heavens and the earth.
This breath of the Spirit rest upon you, O ye that have set your faces toward God!
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* Qur’án 3:102.
A complete typescript of the original Arabic text of this Tablet appears below.
Adib Masumian 