What follows is my provisional translation (in other words, not official or authorized; see here for more) of a Tablet by Bahá’u’lláh, the original text of which has been published in Má’idiy-i-Ásmání, vol. 4, pp. 218–19. The opening note stating that this Tablet was revealed on the 2nd of Rajab is found in INBA, vol. 35, p. 189; the year of revelation is not given, but the month and day would have been sufficient to annually commemorate the “Sacred Night” mentioned in this Tablet. The information in endnote 5 suggests it may have been revealed sometime between 1868 and 1870, and definitely no later than 1873.
Although the addressee of this Tablet is not named explicitly, a later account from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Memorials of the Faithful (see chapter 11) indicates that it must have been Darvísh Ṣidq-‘Alí (d. c. 1880–81), additional details on whose life can be found in H.M. Balyuzi, Eminent Bahá’ís in the Time of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 316; idem., Bahá’u’lláh: The King of Glory, p. 482; and Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, vol. 1, p. 289. Fáḍil Mázandarání has confirmed this identification in Asráru’l-Áthár, vol. 4, p. 491, where he writes that the Tablet was revealed for Darvísh Ṣidq-‘Alí and quotes a few lines from it.
For historical context on the dervishes of this period, refer to the introduction Juan Cole has written to his provisional translation of a similar Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh titled Lawḥ-i-Laylat al-Quds (“Tablet of the Sacred Night”).
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This blessed Tablet is dated the night of the 2nd of Rajab.
Flower of God![1] How many are the dervishes who journeyed through the wildernesses of longing in remembrance of their Lord and swam in the oceans of yearning, spending the days of their lives occupied with mentioning their Beloved in the cities and markets, and who yet never attained the presence of their Master during His days. Some failed to discern the days of the Spirit altogether, while others, prompted by their own heedlessness, even after discerning the days of God remained shut out as by a veil from recognizing and attaining the presence of their Beloved. But thou, O flower of God, hast attained the Paradise of divine holiness and inhaled the fragrance of the roses of perpetual wisdom. The night of thy separation hath been changed into reunion, and thy remoteness hath ended in meeting; thy distance hath turned back into nearness, and thy sorrow been reverted to joy. All those beings[2] have reached their culmination in thee, and through thee have they all gathered before God after their return unto Him. Such is the pervasive grace of thy Lord, which hath encompassed the heavens, the earth, and what lieth beyond them, from thrones to their bearers.[3]
Whatsoever pertaineth to the group called by this name,[4] who have existed from the beginning that hath no beginning and shall come into being until the end that hath no end, hath all been rewarded by Us through thy name in this sanctified and holy Tablet. This blessed night have We designated “the Sacred Night,” and it hath been ordained that all the dervishes are to celebrate this blessed night and the following morn with the utmost gladness and delight, occupying themselves with the mention of their Beloved.[5] It is, moreover, incumbent on the loved ones of God[6] during this exalted festival to assist this group to the best of their ability, and prepare themselves for the bestowal of this most great bounty, that in the Day of the advent of the most sublime and splendid Sun—glorified be its grandeur—they may set their faces toward God and turn in no other direction but His.
This Servant hath despaired at the people of the Bayán, inasmuch as no sweet scent from that group is inhaled, save those whom God hath graciously aided. Perchance this group[7] may set themselves apart from others and hasten to the right hand of the most holy Throne, the seat of that Lord of all beings, and arrive at the shore of God, where they might appear before that Root of “the blessed Tree which is neither of the East nor the West.”[8]
May a breath of life and a ray of light, as well as blessedness and glory, rest on them that believe!
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[1] Gul-i-mawlá, a Persian phrase with which dervishes were sometimes addressed.
[2] Presumably meaning all the dervishes who came before, mentioned at the beginning of this Tablet.
[3] cf. Qur’án 40:7 and 69:17.
[4] Perhaps a reference to the word “dervish,” or mystics more broadly.
[5] “While in the barracks, Bahá’u’lláh set apart a special night and He dedicated it to Darvísh Ṣidq-‘Alí. He wrote that every year on that night the dervishes should bedeck a meeting place, which should be in a flower garden, and gather there to make mention of God. He went on to say that ‘dervish’ does not denote those persons who wander about, spending their nights and days in fighting and folly; rather, He said, the term designates those who are completely severed from all but God, who cleave to His laws, are firm in His Faith, loyal to His Covenant, and constant in worship. It is not a name for those who, as the Persians say, tramp about like vagrants, are confused, unsettled in mind, a burden to others, and of all mankind the most coarse and rude” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Memorials of the Faithful, chapter 11). In response to someone who inquired about these remarks by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice wrote, “There is no further information in Memorials about this event [i.e., the “Sacred Night”], and there is no clear evidence in historical documents so far reviewed as to how and by whom this celebration might have been observed. It also remains a question when it was discontinued. However, in his book Ganj-i-Shaygan [Ganj-i-Sháyigán], pages 209–210, the well known scholar, [‘Abdu’l-Ḥamíd] Ishraq Khavari states that the ceremonial practices of Bahá’ís from dervish backgrounds were subsequently discouraged by Bahá’u’lláh . . . with the revelation of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas in 1873, the laws and ordinances concerning days to be commemorated were given. Thereafter, other celebrations which had developed to that point were discontinued” (From a memorandum dated 20 August 1996, quoted in Julio Savi, “An Homage to Memorials of the Faithful and to Eleven of Its Heroes,” published in Lights of ‘Irfán, vol. 17, p. 289).
[6] A reference to the Bahá’ís more generally, as opposed to just those who were formerly dervishes or continued to identify with that name.
[7] The dervishes.
[8] cf. Qur’án 24:35. The original simply says “not of the East,” but an allusion to the fuller description is clearly intended, and in one instance in Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, Shoghi Effendi used it in his translation of this same truncation by Bahá’u’lláh.
A typescript of the original Persian text of the Tablet appears below.
Adib Masumian 