Windflower Translations

Introductions

Original title: Lawh-i Ittihad

Written by Baha'u'llah in the Akka period

In this tablet, Baha'u'llah discusses various stations of unity, including unity of religion, unity of speech, unity of deeds, unity of station, unity of persons and wealth, and unity of souls.

Common name: Lawh-i haqq al-nas

In this tablet, Baha'u'llah answers the following question: how is a person's rights, breached in the physical world, redressed in the spiritual worlds? What is the mechanism by which these personal rights are restored? How is this process to be understood and how does it occur in the Day of Resurrection, which is also known to be the Day of Judgement? The physical and social structures that underpin the creation and recognition of personal rights in the physical world do not exist in the spiritual worlds. And even if a person's rights, as conceived of in the physical world, did exist in the next world, they would not be of any use to the right-holder in that world. Therefore, how can these rights be restored in the next world?

Translator's title:

Tablet on Understanding the Cause of Opposition to the Manifestations of God
(Lawḥ-i ʿirfān-i ʿillat-i iʿrāḍ)

Written by Baha'u'llah in the Akka period

The recipient of the letter known as "Tablet on Understanding the Cause of Opposition to the Manifestations of God" is not known. From the subject matter, it is clear that it must be someone who had not grasped Baha'u'llah's teachings related to the cycle of opposition faced by the Manifestations of God. In this tablet, Baha'u'llah repeats, in one fast-paced, hard-hitting argument, key themes he covers in detail in the Kitab-i Iqan. The second section of the tablet, in which Baha'u'llah switches from Persian to Arabic, is a long prayer Baha'u'llah has the recipient say in order to redeem him from his failure to understand Baha'u'llah's themes.

Original title: Lawh-i Ashraf

Written by Baha'u'llah in the Edirne period

Tablet to Ashraf is akin to a dispatch that Baha’u’llah wrote for Siyyid Ashraf-i Zanjani at the end of Ashraf’s second visit with Baha’u’llah in Edirne (Adrianople). The context for the communication was that Ashraf was about to leave and travel back to Iran. The tablet contains instructions for Ashraf on what to do when he gets there and what news to share with the believers about Baha’u’llah. The tablet also has pastoral guidance for Ashraf and many interesting statements about the nature of Baha’u’llah’s revelation. Tablet to Ashraf also addresses two other people and is, in effect, a call to action aimed particularly at three men who subsequently became martyrs.

Original title: untitled

Written by Baha'u'llah in the Akka period

The recipient of this tablet, Raḍ’ar-Rúḥ, was a believer from Mashad, who was martyred around the time this tablet was written. Baha'u'llah wrote the tablet soon after he arrived in Akka, after his exile from Edirne (Adrianople). In the tablet, Baha'u'llah tells Raḍ’ar-Rúḥ that, while waiting to set sail from the port in Alexandria, he was given a letter by a messenger, which was from a Christian physician known as Faris, who was imprisoned in Alexandria with Nabil-i-Azam. In this letter, Faris declares his belief in Baha'u'llah. Baha'u'llah expresses to Raḍ’ar-Rúḥ, in the tablet, how thrilled he was to receive this moving declaration from Faris.

For a full account of the circumstances related in this tablet, see Adib Taherzadeh: The Revelation of Baha'u'llah. Akka, the Early Years, vol 3, pp8-9. Accessed here.

Original title: Lawh-i Salman II

Written by Baha'u'llah in the Akka period

Tablet to Salman on Detachment is a short tablet in which Baha'u'llah discusses the meaning of detachment and, in this context, comments on the situation of the believers who were exiled to Mosul from Baghdad as a result of the efforts of the Persian Ambassador.

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