“Every handmaid who, in the Day of God, attaineth the wine of bounty is reckoned among the men…”

What follows is my provisional translation (in other words, not official or authorized; see here for more) of a Tablet of Baháʼuʼlláh, the original text of which appears in a collection of manuscripts held at the British Library (Or15699, p. 70). 

In the Name of the Peerless Lord

Every handmaid who, in the Day of God, attaineth the wine of bounty is reckoned among the men and mentioned in the Book as one of the righteous.

O daughter of Ṣamad! The servant in attendance* mentioned thee, and from the dayspring of grace hath dawned a Sun that can never set. It hath ever shone resplendent from the horizon of the heaven of Tablets. Recognize the bounty of thy Lord and the station of Him Who hath made mention of thee. Under all conditions, keep thy gaze fixed upon the Most Exalted Horizon, and be wholly freed and detached from all else but God. Well is it with the one who hath not been kept back from the ocean of understanding and remained deprived of the voice of God. Blessed is the ear that hath heard and the eye that hath beheld.

We beseech God, glorified and exalted be He, to ordain for His believing handmaids what hath been ordained for such of His maidservants as have circled round the Throne day and night, and to decree for thee, with His Supreme Pen, the good of this world and the world to come. He, verily, doeth whatsoever He willeth; He is the One, the Single, the Incomparable, the All-Powerful, the All-Glorious, the All-Bountiful.

Glory rest upon thee and upon all My handmaids on the part of God, the Forgiving, the Generous.

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* Mírzá Áqá Ján, the amanuensis of Bahá’u’lláh. In the manuscript on which this typescript is based, the corresponding Persian phrase reads علی حاضر [‘alí ḥáḍir], which means “‘Alí is present,” but both the context and dictional precedent in Bahá’u’lláh’s other Tablets suggest that علی [‘alí] here is probably a scribal error that should read عبد [‘abd], resulting in عبد حاضر [‘abd-i-ḥáḍir], and it is on this assumption that I have translated it as “the servant in attendance.”

A typescript of the original Persian and Arabic text of this Tablet appears below (all vowel marks and punctuation mine). 

به نام خداوند بی‌مانند

هر یک از اماء که در یوم الهی به رحیق عنایت رحمانی فائز شد او از رجال محسوب و از اخیار در کتاب مذکور.

یا بنت صمد، علی [عبد؟] حاضر ذکر ترا نمود و از مَشرق عنایت اشراق فرمود نیّری که افول او را اخذ ننماید. لازال از افق سماءِ لوح مُشرق و لائحست. اِعْرَفِی فَضْلَ رَبَّکِ وَ مَقَامَ مَنْ ذَکَرَکِ. در جمیع احوال به افق اعلی ناظر باش و از ما سوی الله فارغ و آزاد. طوبی از برای نفسی که از بحر عرفان محروم نشد و از ندای الهی بی‌نصیب نماند. طوبی از برای گوشی که شنید و چشمی که مشاهده نمود.

نَسْأَلُ اللَّهَ تَبَارَكَ وَتَعَالَىٰ أَنْ تُقَدِّرَ لِإِمَائِهِ الْمُقْبِلَاتِ مَا قُدِّرَ لِإِمَائِهِ اللَّائِي طَفْنَ الْعَرْشَ فِي اللَّيَالِي وَ الْأَيَّامِ وَ يَكْتُبَ لَكِ مِنْ قَلَمِهِ الْأَعْلَىٰ خَيْرَ الْآخِرَةِ وَ الْأُولَىٰ. إِنَّهُ يَفْعَلُ مَا يَشَاءُ وَ هُوَ الْفَرْدُ الْوَاحِدُ الْأَحَدُ الْمُقْتَدِرُ الْعَزِيزُ الْوَهَّابُ. الْبَهَاءُ عَلَيْكِ وَ عَلَىٰ إِمَائِي كُلِّهُنَّ مِنْ لَدُنِ اللَّهِ الْغَفُورِ الْكَرِيمِ.