What follows is my provisional translation (in other words, not official or authorized; see here for more) of a Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh to Hádí Khán, who served as a brigadier-general in the Persian army and also the head of its pharmacy. He was the son of Raḍa’r-Rúḥ, an eminent Bahá’í martyr of Manshád.
I am grateful to Steven Phelps for supplying me with scans of the original text, which comes from a manuscript collection held at the British Library (Or15716, pp. 108–09). Due to copyright reasons, the scans themselves have not been made available here; instead, I have prepared a typescript of the original text and included it underneath the provisional translation.
He is God, exalted is He, the Lord of wisdom and utterance
O son of Raḍa’r-Rúḥ! Upon thee be the Glory of God, the Speaker on Sinai, through Whom the hearts of the peoples of the world have been attracted, and the Tree of utterance declared: “The Kingdom is God’s, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting!” We, verily, have heard thy call, and have, in turn, called out unto thee upon the shore of divine knowledge, revealing for thee what shall never change for as long as the Names of God, the Lord of all being, will endure. Furthermore, We have read thy letter and sent thee the sweet savors of revelation in the form of words. Thy Lord is indeed the Most Bountiful, overshadowing all that hath been and shall be.
Be thou so steadfast in the Cause that names shall not prompt thee to slip from the far-extended Path of God. Say: O concourse of divines! Fear ye God and follow not your selfish desires. Lo, the Promise is fulfilled, and the One foretold calleth aloud before the faces of men. By God! This is He Who was promised unto you in the Torah, the Evangel, and other Scriptures. Say: Your passions will profit you not, neither shall the sources of vain imaginings and idle fancies avail you aught.
Blessed is thy father! He, in truth, rent the veil of mysteries asunder with the finger of power at the behest of God, the Lord of Hosts. He professed his belief and hastened forth until he arrived, whereupon he seized the chalice of detachment in the Name of thy Lord, the King of all creation, quaffing it in spite of his foes in this Name, whereby the limbs of every other name have been made to quake, save those whom God hath willed to spare. Well is it with him that hath attained, and woe betide every wayward outcast. We testify that he hearkened to the Call and said, “Here am I, O Lord of all men! I bear witness that Thou hast manifested Thyself, and caused that which was promised in the Books of God, the Lord of all that was and all that will be, to appear at last.”
O Há![1] Hear now, in the sweet tongue of Persian, the Voice of the Possessor of the Kingdom of Names, that thou mayest be overcome with exceeding joy and gladness in this wondrous Day.[2] The Pen of the Most High doth attest to thy recognition, acceptance, and steadfastness. The significance of this testimony is immensely great, and the station thereof exalted indeed. Appreciate its value and, in the Name of the Lord of creation, cherish it in the treasury of thine inmost heart. Some souls have attained Our Presence and have been nourished with the cup of the bounty of the Ruler of the Kingdom of Names, yet in spite of this, they have remained deprived because of certain titles derived from the Sovereign of the seen and unseen alike. The People of Bahá are they whom such titles as “successor,” “mirror,” and the like have not debarred from God.[3] They have passed beyond the river of names and sought out the Ocean of inner meanings. The aforementioned titles and those who embody them are, in the estimation of them that are immersed in the Ocean of the Greatest Name, recounted and regarded as subordinate thereto. The People of Bahá are they who are seated upon the Crimson Ark and mentioned in the Lucid Book. Say: “O people! Be abashed before the Lord of all being and turn toward His signs. Perchance ye may come to know that station through a single Word of which a hundred thousand titles have been and continue to be created.” O would that they knew Who bestowed the very power of comprehension and Who brought it into existence!
O thou whose gaze is fixed upon Our Face! Happy art thou and whosoever is with thee, and also that leaf who heard and answered her Lord with a mention that diffused the fragrance of her love and firmness in this Announcement that hath caused the feet of those endued with understanding to falter.
=============
[1] Short for Hádí, the recipient of this Tablet. For more, refer to the prefatory note above the translation.
[2] This Tablet had been revealed solely in Arabic up to this point. In a delightful example of how God “doeth as He willeth,” while the first part of this sentence was obviously revealed in Persian, the latter part (“. . . that thou mayest be overcome with exceeding joy and gladness in this wondrous Day”) is actually in Arabic. Following this sentence, however, the Tablet switches back to Persian, and then makes one final shift to Arabic in the very last paragraph.
[3] Bahá’u’lláh is referring to certain titles to which some Bábís misguidedly attached so much importance that they were prevented from recognizing Him. The first of these titles, “successor” (vaṣíy), is an allusion to the mistaken notion held by some Bábís that the Báb appointed Mírzá Yaḥyá as His successor in an as-yet untranslated Writing which, while authentic and indeed addressed to Mírzá Yaḥyá, has unjustifiably been called “the Báb’s will and testament,” the original text of which appears in INBA 64:95–102 (available here) and which has been discussed in this significant memorandum from the Research Department of the Bahá’í World Center. The second title mentioned here, “mirror” (mir’át), is one that the Báb Himself conferred on a select number of Bábís subordinate to the Letters of the Living, including Siyyid Javád-i-Karbalá’í, whom He entitled “the Mirror of the Name of Generosity” (mir’át-i-ism-i-júd), and Mírzá Yaḥyá, surnamed “the Eternal Mirror” (mir’át-i-azalíyyih). For another instance where Bahá’u’lláh speaks, in a Tablet not yet fully translated, to this same subject in both identical and additional terms, see Ishráqát va Chand Lawḥ-i-Dígar, p. 98. It is also worth noting that, in an untranslated Arabic passage from the Kitáb-i-Badí‘, Bahá’u’lláh defines the (true) “successor” (vaṣíy) as “whosoever exhorteth [vaṣṣá] himself, and also other servants, to My love, My remembrance, and My praise” (provisional translation mine; Bahá’í-Verlag (2008), p. 200). I am grateful to Khazeh Fananapazir for sharing certain valuable points with me that informed this note.
A complete typescript of the original Arabic and Persian text of this Tablet appears below (all vocalization and punctuation mine).
Adib Masumian 