What follows is my provisional translation (in other words, not official or authorized; see here for more) of an unpublished Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh. I am grateful to Steven Phelps for supplying me with a scan of the original text, which comes from a manuscript collection held at the British Library (Or15719, p. 102). Due to copyright reasons, the scan itself has not been made available here; instead, I have prepared a typescript of the original text and included it underneath the provisional translation. The opening sentences of this Tablet have also been published in Má’idiy-i-Ásmání, vol. 8, p. 110.
R. SH.*
To Muḥammad-Rasúl
In the Name of the Immortal Speaker
The Best-Beloved of the world speaketh in the Persian tongue. Were His friends also to speak and write in this language, it would be commendable in His sight.
Thy letter arrived and thy voice was heard at a time when copious rain was pouring down from the heaven of divine grace. The mercy of God hath embraced all men and the lights of the sun of His bounty have surrounded them, but they are seen, for the most part, to be heedless repudiators. All the [Holy] Books are adorned with the mention of this Day, and all the Chosen Ones and Loved Ones set their hopes and aspirations on it, yet men have remained veiled and far removed therefrom. Yield praise unto God that He hath enabled thee to know the Manifestation of His Self and unloosed thy tongue to celebrate His praise after every doubting scholar hath turned away from Him. For the one who seeketh, He hath verily ordained the reward of attaining His Presence. Thy Lord is, in truth, the All-Bountiful, the Most Generous. Praised be God, the Lord of the worlds!
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* Probably an abbreviation for Rasht, for which this Tablet was destined.
A complete typescript of the original Arabic and Persian text of this Tablet appears below (all vocalization and punctuation mine).
Adib Masumian 