TB

According to Ishrāq Khavarī this poem dates to the years 1270-71 or between 4th Oct. 1853 and 13th Sept. 1855 (Ganj:12), dating to the time of Bahā'-Allāh's residence in Sulaymaniyah (Iraqi Kurdistan).

The text of the Sāqī āz ghayb-i baqā' is contained Ma'idih 4:209-211 (see below) and INBMC 36:455.

Commonly referred to by means of its opening words, Saqī az ghayb-i baqā' this Persian qaṣīda (ghazal) is fifteen couplets long and is usually dated to the period of Baha'-Allah's withdrawal in Iraqi Kurdistan (Ganj. :12., Taherzadeh RB I:64). In it Baha'-Allah implores the Divine Beloved, the celestial Cupbearer, to unveil herself so that he might quaff the "wine of eternity" (khamr-i baqā') from the all-beauteous Creator. He underlines the intense ardour his desire for her mystic wine and dwells on the consuming fire of his love for her beauty (see line lff). In response to his pleading the Divine Beloved speaks of the sublime detachment necessary for the mystic wayfarer who aspires to enter her court or attain true reunion (see line 7ff). The lover who seeks to become privy to the "mysteries of love" (asrár-i `ishq) must so open his inner eye that he will perceive the Mount of Moses (ṭūr-i mūsa) circumambulating the Divine Beloved and the Spirit of Jesus (rūḥ-i `īsā) unsettled by her love (line 10, text in Ma'idih 4:210 + INBMC 36:45). It appears that Baha'-Allah addresses the Divine Beloved in line 13(b) as the "Messiah of the Age" (masīḥa-yi zamān) and, in the final couplet (15) refers to himself as the "Dervish of the World" (darwīsh-i jihān) who is passionately on fire on account of the "brand of the Divine Ravisher of Hearts".

It may be that the Saqī az ghayb-i baqā' is expressive of Baha'-Allah's own burning desire to disclose his secret messianic calling, the revelatory potentialities of his celestial Logos-Self, this being the reality of the Heavenly Cupbearer with whom union is to be sought and about which Moses and Jesus are enraptured. Worth noting in this respect is the fact that in line 8(a) it is reunion with Bahā' (waṣl-i bahā) that is to be sought.

THE TEXT OF THE SĀQĪ ĀZ GHAYB-I BAQĀ'

AS PRINTED IN MA'IDIH ASMANI VOL. 4:209-211

ساقی از غيب بقا برقع بر افكن از عذار

تا بنوشم خمر باقی از جمال كردگار "

آنچه در خمخانه داری نشكند صفرای عشق

زان شراب معنوی ساقی همی بحری بيار "

Ma'idih 4 : :210

تا كه اين مستور شيدائی در آيد در خروش

                          تا كه اين مخمور ربانی بر آيد زين خمار

                  نار عشقی بر فروز و جمله هستیها بسوز

                   پس قدم بردار و اندر كوی عشاقان گذار

تا نگردی فانی از وصف وجود ای مرد راه

                           كی چشی خمر بقا از لعل نوشين نگار

پای نه بر فرق ملك آنگه درآ در ظل فقر

                           تا به بينی ملك باقی را كنون از هر كنار

گر خيال جان همی هستت بدل اينجا ميا

                           گر نثار جان و دل داری بيا و هم بيار

رسم ره اينست گر وصل بها داری طلب

                           گر نباشی مرد اين ره دور شو زحمت ميار

گر همی خواهی كه گردی واقف از اسرار عشق

                            چشم عبرت برگشا بربند راه افتخار

تا ببينی طور موسی طائف اينجا آمده

                            تا ببينی روح عيسی را ز عشقش بيقرار

تا بيابی دفتر توحيد از زلفين دوست

                            تا بخوانی مصحف تجريد از خدين يار

                    هين بكش خمر فرح از چشمه حيوان عشق

                    تا به فيروزی سر اندازی همی در پای يار

Ma'idih 4 : 211

مردگانند در اين انجمن اندر ره دوست

                           ای مسيحای زمان هان نفسی گرم برآر

تا كه برپرند اطيار وجود از سجن تن

                           تا فضای لا مكان در ظلّ صاحب اقتدار

                   درويش جهان سوخت از اين شعلهء جانسوز الهی

                   وقت آنست كه كنی زنده از اين نغمه زار

                          ا

TB2B: 04 (Ar.) Qaṣīdih `izz varqā'iyya ("The Mighty Ode of the Dove", c. 1272/1855).

During his residence in Sulaymaniyya (Iraqi Kurdistan) Bahā'-Allāh, in view of the very considerable reputation for mystic learning he had gained among resident Sufis, was invited to compose an ode in the metre and rhyme of Ibn al-Fāriḍ's al-Qaṣīda al-ṭā'iyya ("Ode Rhyming in Tā'"), also known as the Naẓm al-sulūk ("Poem of the Way").

Fn. = On the Egyptian mystic Ibn al-Fāriḍ (1181-1235 AD) and his Qaṣīda see, for example, R. A. Nicholson, Studies in Islamic Mysticism (Cambridge: CUP 1921) and A. J. Arberry The Mystical Poems of Ibn al-Farid (London: 1952) and The Poem of the Way (London: 1952).

It should be noted is point that Bahā'-Allāh's comments on select lines and terms occurring in his Qaṣīda al-warqa'iyya probably date from the late Baghdad or early Edirne [Adrianople] period (1857-1866?). The text is printed in AQA III:196f along with the Qaṣīda itself.

In the first part of the Dove's Ode Bahā'-Allāh lauds the dazzling beauty of a celestial maiden, his divine Beloved (lines 1-16). The female divine Beloved of the Qaṣīda is the locus of spiritual perfections. She plays a role in the eschatological Bābī drama and may be symbolic of Bahā'-Allāh's own celestial self. His quest for union with her may express his desire to announce his own secret divinity. In the opening lines Bahā'-Allāh associates her with the realization of eschatological events and draws on Moses-Sinai motifs in order to underline her exaltedness. It was on account of her radiance that the ṭūr al-baqā' ("Mount [Sinai] of Eternity") was made manifest (line 5a). The fire of her countenance and his qa da (or "love") led to the purification of the "Logos-Soul of the Speaker" (= Moses, nafs al-kalīm); the divine Maiden is identified with the Fire of the Sinaiatic theophany which burned away Moses' human limitations (line 8b). In commenting on this imagery, in line 8 of his Qaṣīda, Bahā'-Allāh has written an interesting mystical midrash on the (loosely) commissioning of Moses as detailed in the Qur'án:

In this highly allegorical treatment of Moses' experience of the divine, the Israelite Prophet becomes a type or model of the mystic wayfarer who should so strive that their whole being becomes irradiated with the divine effulgence (tajallī). The eternal Reality that is the interiority of Moses is the locus of divinity. Moses' outer words and actions as detailed in the Qur'ān express his transcendence of outer reality in the quest for mystic union.

In part II of his Qaṣīda Bahā'-Allāh laments his separation from the divine Beloved and pleads for mystic union (see lines 17-36). In expressing his burning desire for this union he makes mention of the "fire of the Friend (nār al-khalīl), the blazing furnace into which Abraham (= "the Friend") was cast:

"Compared with my burning, the fire of the Friend is but a torch" (line, 26b)

Part III (lines 37-61) of Bahā'-Allāh's Qaṣīda consists of the response of the divine Beloved to his plea for mystic union; she "rebukes him for his presumption, stresses her exaltation, accuses him of mistaking limited attributes for her unlimited essence and calls on him to seek martyrdom in her path" (see Cole, art. cit., 14). In underlining her exaltedness the divine Beloved represents herself as one the fire of whose love is more intense than the fire-brand perceived by Moses (line 42b, see Q. 20:10, comm. in AQA III:xxx) and the source of the radiance of Moses' snow-white hand/palm :

The divine Beloved also identifies herself with the divine Being at whose glance (see Q.7:43) the archetypal Moses swooned away and on account of whose brilliance the Sinaitic mountains were leveled:

In part IV of his Qaṣīda (lines 62-97) Bahā'-Allāh defends himself against the divine Beloved's charge of his unworthiness for mystic union. He represents himself as one ready to suffer all manner of oppression and indignity for her sake and dwells on the intense tribulations he has already endured. In so doing he "identifies his plight with that of holy figures and prophets of the past";

There is also reference (line 39) to the enlivening power of the breath of the Divine Beloved;

In the opening line of this poem the divine Cupbearer (saqī) is requested to pour down heavenly water to the end that the soul be cleansed from the whisperings of self. This heavenly water is associated with celestial fire (line 2) and the "spiritual [Fount of] Kawthar". Its wonderful potency is extolled (line 3l). A single effulgence (jilvā) of its image (`aks) falling upon the pages of the soul ADDuf-jān) would suffice to confound Greek maxims (ikmat-i yūnānī;) or, perhaps, stupify 100 Greek sages (line 3). But a brand (jidhwat) of that Flame ignited in the Sinaitic Lote-Tree (`the burning bush') would throw 100 Imranite Moses' into a state of bewildered astonishment (line 4).

In line 5 allusion is made to Adam's primordial state, his being, "between water and clay" and in line 6 the " xx of Luqmān" (ikmat-i Luqmānī) is mentioned. Without going into details it should also be noted that much of the Sāqī bidih Ābī is oriented around the theme of the transcendent status of the Divine Beloved (see esp. lines 7ff). In the 11th line she is represented as being the source of the "scent of Joseph's Garment" (buy-i qamī cf, Q. 12:93f), the "Spirit of the Messiah" ruh-i masī the spirit of Jesus), "Moses' snow-white hand" (musā-yi baydā'ī) and the "flame [or fire] of [Mount Parān" (shu`la-yi fārānī).