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JAWĀHlR AL-ASRĀR
http://omv.op.het.net/gems/gemsofdivinemysteries.html
THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN LONG BEFORE
THE ABOVE TRANSLATION WAS PUBLISHED
LAST UPDATED 01/01/06
STEPHEN N. LAMBDEN
The important and fairly lengthy Arabic treatise enticed
Jawāhir al-asrār ("The Essence of the Mysteries" = JA) is an epistle of Baha'-Allah
revealed in reply to a number of written questions about the expected Muslim
messiah, the Mahdī figure, posed by Sayyid Yūsuf-i-Sidihi (Isfahānī), a one
time resident of Karbala (Tarikh-i-Zarandi, unpublished; RB 1:151). The JA was
written around 1277/ 1860-61 (before Baha'-Allah had met its addressee (AQA
3:20) while the Bābīs were expecting "Him Whom God will make manifest". It
certainly pre-dates the Kitab-i-igan (1862) which is partly based upon it and
which refers to it (Kl: 13/tr.17; cf. Ganj..28, RB. 1:151). In the
colophon of a manuscript copy of the JA reference is made to `The year al-bahiyy'
(= abjad 17, 1260+17 = 1277 AH = 1860-61 CE) which would seem to establish its
date (INBMC 46:40). The JA has much in common with both the Book of Certitude (Kitāb-i
īqan)
and the Seven Valleys (Haft vadi c. 1275/1858).
After a brief prescript the Jawahir al-asrār opens with a few introductory paragraphs addressed to Sayyid Yusuf. Baha'-Allah
acknowledges the Siyyid's letter and expresses his desire to guide him. This
despite Baha'-Allah's being oppressed by the various groups ("the dogs of the
earth") and adopting something of a state of dissimulation. He will guide his
petitioner to the "sanctum of the Divine Grandeurs (haram al-kabriya, presumably
the Bābī religion) by setting forth something of what God has bestowed upon him.
The first third or so of the JA (AQA 111:4-31) consists of an
exposition of the reason for the rejection of past messengers of God. Outside of
an understanding of the reception accorded past claimants of divine authority -
why they were scorned, cursed, rejected, and in some cases put to death -- true
faith cannot be adequately attained (ibid pp. 6-8). The failure to interpret
scriptural prophecies "spiritually" was a major factor in the rejection of past
Manifestations of God. Christians were largely unable to acknowledge that the
Prophet Muhammad fulfilled the messianic predictions of the New Testament. The
need to understand biblical and qur'anic eschatological prophecies non-literally
is thus argued in detail. As in the Kitab-i iqan, the extreme Muslim view
of the "corruption" (tah*rif) of the Bible is radically modified. Various New
Testament texts are cited in Arabic and sometimes commented upon (non-literally)
in detail (e.g. Matt 24:29f; Luke 21 :25f; Jn 15:26f; Rev 1:14f cf. Ki
:19ff/tr.16f0.
Baha'u'llah teaches that Muslim students of prophecy should
not repeat the errors of Jewish and Christian literalists. The Bab
fulfilled messianic prophecies contained in the Qur'an and various traditions
non-literally. He was indeed the expected Mahdi. Spiritually speaking he was,
like all Manifestations of God, the twelfth Imam, the son of Ḥasan al-Askari
(the eleventh Imam d. 260/874) come from the "Jabulqa' of the power of God" (qudrat
Allah) and the "Jabulsa' of the Mercy of God" (raḥmat-Allāh, AQA 3:41ff). The
Bab, mystically speaking, came from these symbolic localities as, erelong, will
"Him Whom God will make manifest" (man yuẓiru-hu Allāh = Bahā'-Allāh;
see ibid 3:43). The alleged finality of prophethood is not, in reality, implied
in the qur'anic designation of Muhammad as "the seal of the prophets" (khātam
al-nabiyyīn). A central feature of the qur'anic prophecies is advent of
Divinity, the "encounter with God" (liqa'-Allah) which is understood to signify
the advent of the supreme Manifestation of God (man yuẓhiru-hu Allah = Baha'-Allah AQA 3:49f).
The framework of the bulk of the latter
half of the JA (AQA 3:31-88) consists of a discussion of the "stations" (magamat)
of the spiritual Path (al-suluk) in the journey of the seeking servant unto his
true spiritual goal" (See AQA:31). Reflecting the earlier Persian Seven Va//eys,
seven mystic stages are described:
-
1) The orchard of search (ḥadiqat al-talab,
(32-3);
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2)The city of love and yearning (madinat al-'ishq we jadhb;
(33-35);
-
3) The city of unity.. (madinat al-tawḥīd..
(35-76);
-
4) The orchard of wonderment (hadiqat al-ḥairat
(76-79);
-
5) The city of mystical death (madinat al-fana'
(79-81);
-
6) The city of eternal subsistence (madinat al-baqa'
( 81-86)
and
-
7) a transcendent city without name or designation (86ff).
Non-literal interpretations of Islamic eschatological
expectations are set forth within the framework of these "orchards" or "cities".
Among the teachings succinctly expounded are, for example, the transcendence of
the ultimate Godhead; the diverse claims yet essential spiritual "oneness" and
"Divinity" of the Manifestations of God (AQA 3:400; the true meaning of "life",
and "death" (see John 3:5b-7 cited and expounded by Baha'u'llah; AQA 3:53f) and
the significance of "resurrection". In the JA Baha'-Allah affirms that the "Day
of God" has arrived and that the "Tree of Life" (shajarat al-ḥayat, cf. Rev
22:2) is planted in the midmost-heart of the Paradise of God conferring true
"life" in all realms.
Bibliography
Bahā'-Allāh,
-
Jawāhir al-asrar
-
[1] Arabic text in INBMC Vols 46,
-
[2] INBMC 99
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[3] Athar-i qalam-i a`la [= AQA] vol.
III:4-48;
-
[4] New edition ed Vahid Behmardi, ADD
Translations
-
Juan Cole (mss.)
-
Stephen Lambden (partial 1980s)
-
Authorized BWC English trans. = [translator
unnamed] Gems of Divine Mysteries. Javáhiru'l-Asrár. 1st ed.
Haifa, Israel: Baha'i World Centre, 2002 ISBN
0-85398-975-3. viii+3-78+[notes] pp. 79-82.
Ishrāq Khāvarī,
Lambden, S.N.
This has been partly assimilated into Lambden's
2002 Phd. thesis...
Faḍil-i-Mazandarani,
Taherzadeh, Adib
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