A Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed on the Twelfth Day of Ridván

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 Áyát-i-Iláhí, vol. 2, p. 47.

A version of this Tablet that includes the heading, translated below as “In the Name of the Omniscient Lord,” as well as the closing sentence, translated as “He is the All-Knowing, the All-Powerful; He is the Lord of Utterance, the All-Seeing,” appears in Yárán-i-Pársí, p. 58 (selection no. 23). However, that source does not include the final line, apparently indicating that this Tablet was revealed on the Twelfth Day of Riḍván, while it does occur in the version published in Áyát-i-Iláhí, vol. 2. Hence, the original-language typescript underneath the translation represents something of a composite between the two versions that I put together.

* * *

In the Name of the Omniscient Lord

This Day is crying out these words, and likewise are the sun announcing them and the moon bearing their glad tidings:

O friends! The All-Knowing Lord is come; bear ye witness! The Hidden Light is manifest; hasten ye with all your hearts! The waters herald joyful tidings; the seas are dancing in ecstasy, and the forests are proclaiming the good news.

O servants! Forfeit not your portion of the Ocean of knowledge, and withhold not from yourselves of the Sun of insight. The breeze that bestoweth joy hath blown, imbuing the withered with freshness and vitality. This glorious Day can never be depicted through speech, rather is all utterance seen to be impotent and powerless to describe it. Well is it with the servant who hath recognized the station of this Day and testified to its blessedness.

At all times do We beseech the Peerless Friend not to deprive all existence of the Ocean of His bounty or prevent it from beholding the Sun of Truth. He is the All-Knowing, the All-Powerful; He is the Lord of Utterance, the All-Seeing.

[Revealed on] the Twelfth Day of Riḍván.

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

به نامِ خداوندِ دانا

روز ندا می‌نماید و آفتاب مژده می‌دهد و ماه بشارت می‌گوید: ای دوستان، خداوندِ آگاه آمد، گواهی دهید. روشنیِ پنهان آشکار، به دل و جان بشتابید. آب‌ها مژده می‌دهند و دریاها می‌رقصند و بیشه‌ها اِخبار می‌نمایند. ای بندگان، از دریایِ دانائی خود را بی‌بهره منمائید و از آفتاب بینائی خود را محروم مسازید. نسیمِ فرح‌بخش وزید، پژمردگان را طراوت عنایت فرمود و تازگی بخشید. این روزِ پیروز را گفتار از عهده بر نیاید و از شرحِ آن عاجز و قاصر مشاهده شود. نیکوست بنده‌ای که بر منزلتِ امروز آگاه شد و بر مبارکیِ آن گواهی داد. در هر حال از دوستِ یکتا می‌خواهیم کلّ را از دریایِ عطایِ خود محروم ننماید و از مشاهدۀ آفتابِ راستی منع نکند. اوست دانا و توانا و اوست سخن‌گو و بینا.

دوازدهمِ عیدِ رضوان