ADD
(1) Extracts from the writings of the Bāb
In his very early Risāla fi'l-suluk
(Treatise on the Pathway to God) the Bāb states,
قد كتبها سيدی ومعتمدی و معلمی الحاج سيد كاظم الرشتی
اطال الله بقائه مخصل
"Thus wrote my Lord (sayyidī), my firm support (mu`tammadī)
and My teacher (mu`allimī),
al-Hajji Sayyid Kāẓim Rashtī may God extend his specified eternality...
An early letter in reply to various questions
An extract from the Khutbah al-Jiddah
(Oration at Jeddah) of the Bab written in early 1845.
THE TWIN EXPONENTS OF
SHI`I ISLAMIC WISDOM, SHAYKH AḤMAD AND SAYYID KĀẒIM
[VI]
[1]
ولقد اتبعوهم
باٌحسان اكثر العلماء من حيث لا يعلمون حكم من اهل
البيان حتی قد طلع اليوم
بالضياء واضاء الشمس والقمر بحكم الانشاء قد بينا
لكم
آل الله
فی معرفة
الابداع علی سد الانقطاع قطع
الامتناع
Since they were unaware of the decree issued by the people of clear
exposition (ahl al-bayān)
many of the [Shi`i] `ulamā' (divines) imitated them [the Mullā Ṣadra
philosophers] in their pursuit of good deeds (bi'l-iḥsān). This
until the Day dawned forth in splendour (ḍiyā') and the "sun"
and the "moon" shed illumination on account of the decree of
Recreation (ḥukm al-inshā'). These twain [the two
heavenly orbs = Shaykh
Aḥmad al-Aḥsā'ī and Sayyid Kāẓim Rashtī]
expounded [the truth respecting] the [Shi`i] family of God (Āl Allāh) established in the
gnosis of unprecedented wonders (ma`rifat al-abdā`), discoursing
at the very pinnacle of abstraction (sadd al-inqiṭā`),
all but beyond impenetrability (qaṭa` al-imtinā`)!
[2]
و اكتسبا علی هياكل *
معرفتها
بما قد شاء
الله في حقهما
و قد كتبنا بايديهما من حكم القرآن الواح اللوح فی الفوايد
و ا
للوامع اثاره
لتستقر الافئدة من فوايد آياته
واضاء
الحقائق من لوامع اثاره
And these twain [= Shaykh Aḥmad +Sayyid Kāẓim]
acquired the Persona-Temple of their [ the family og
God's] gnosis (hayākil al-ma`rifatihā)
as accords with whatsoever God had willed respecting their twofold
Reality (ḥaqq). And these twain [Shaykh Aḥmad + Sayyid Kāẓim] did
write with their two hands something of the judgement of the Qur'ān [in
the form of] scriptural Tablets (alwāḥ), such as the Tablet
giving
the Lessons (lawḥ fi'l-fawā'id) [cf. the Kitab al-Fawa'id and Sharḥ al-Fawā'id of Shaykh Aḥmad]
and the Lawāmi` [Husayniyya] ("[Husaynid] Brilliances")
[of Sayyid Kāẓim] among their writings (lawāmi` āthārihi).
This such that the inmost hearts of the people might be
established through the lessons implicit in their verses (min fawā'id
al-āyātihi) and the radiance of the realities of the brilliances
implicit in their writings.
[3]
ولقد اتبعوهما بحكم القدر اهل مستتر
ورجعوا الی فطرة الله من حكم القرآن فی شاٌن مقدر فكل قد اكتسبوا نصيبهم من حكم
الكتاب واحتمل الاخرون بالافتراٌ بهما علی غير احاطة علم الواضع كمثل الذين قد
افتروا علی اولياء
الله بغير علم وولا كتاب مبين حتی رجع الكاف فی محل الامر
الی منطقة حكمه ودر الادوار ليوم الله فی شاٌن بديع والانوار علی سر منيع قد
طلع الانوار من علم العماء
وانطق شجرة السيناء
فی بحر الثناء
واظهر كلمة
التسبيح فی ارض الحمراء
ٌ
And persons did follow these two in
line with the dictates of destiny (ḥukm al-qadr), the people of innermost
mystery (ahl al-mustansir) who thereby returned unto their pristine,
God-bestowed human condition
(fiṭrat Allah) as stipulated in the Qur'ān, on the level of that which
is foreordained (fī sha`n al-muqaddar). So all such persons acquired for
themselves their destiny (naṣīb) as accords with the decree implicit in
the Book. And these latter-day persons (al-ākhirūn) did bear the calumny
(bi'l-iftirā') surrounding these twain [Shaykh Aḥmad + Sayyid Kāẓim] as
accords with that destiny which was other than something encompassed
by the knowledge that concerns what is preordained (`ilm al-wāḍi`).
This was after the likeness of such as did slacken, bereft of knowledge,
before the chosen ones of God (awliyā' Allāh). They
failed to [pay due attention to ] a Manifest Book (kitāb mubīn)
such that the letter "K" in the locus of the Cause (al-kāf fī maḥall al-amr)
returned unto the sphere of His Decree (minṭaqat ḥukm) and the Cycle of
Cycles (dawr al-adwār) [was initiated] with the onset of the Day of God (li-yawm Allāh) in a manner revolutionary (fī sha`n badī`). This when the Lights (al-anwār) did
configure according to a transcendent mystery (sirr manī`) for these
Lights (al-anwār) dawned forth through the knowledge of the realm
of the Divine Cloud (min `ilm al-`amā'). Then did the Sinatic Tree (shajarat al-sīnā')
cry out in the Ocean of Laudation (baḥr al-thanā') when
there was made
manifest the Word of Glorification (kalimat al-tasbīḥ) in the Crimson
Land (arḍ al-ḥamrā').
[4]
الا يا اٌهل الفوٌاد قد طلع شجرة الصانع
والمستسرات الطلايع والشمس اللامع والاسم القاطع هذا النور الذی قد حمل حرف الهاء
فی ارض الفوٌاد وخرج من حد الواو فی قلم المداد ذكر الله الذی قد نزل اليه
الابات بلسان الله الناطق فی الدلالات ليعلم كل الناس حد
مشربهم وحكم هذا الماء
البيضاء
ٌ وليحمل كل ذی شر كلمة السفلی علی ما قدر فی لوح او
ادنی
Wherefore, O people of the inmost heart (ahl al-fū`ād), did the Tree of
Creative Potency (shajarat al-ṣāni`) dawn forth with the ascendant,
deeply secreted mysteries (al-mustansirrāt ṭalāyi`) along with the
Brilliant Sun and the Irrefutable Name (al-ism al-qāṭi`), this Light (al-nūr)
which beareth the letter
ه
"H" (ḥarf al-hā') in the land of the inmost heart (arḍ al-fū'ād). There
emerged from the boundary of the letter
و
"W" (ḥadd al-wāw) through the Pen flowing with Ink (qalam al-midād),
the Dhikr-Allāh ("Remembrance of God") who was in receipt of revealed
verses in the language of God [= Arabic] (lisān Allāh), one crying out with Proofs
to the end that all humanity might know the locale of their drinking-place (ḥadd al-mashrab) and
the decree respecting this Snow-white watery Expanse (al-mā' al-bayḍā'). And
this to the end that all tainted with the sin of the most depraved utterance
(kalimat al-suflā) might bear whatsoever hath been decreed in a Tablet
which expresses something even more contemptible (lawḥ aw adna').
[5]
كذلك قد نزل الله آيات الطور من مستقر
الاعلی ليعلم كل بامره ومفارع وكل سامع وقالع كلمات الفردوس فی لوح القدوس
والايات النازلة من مكفهرات العلماء
فی ظل
الفردوس ليحيی كل الانوار بماء
الحيوان
من هذا
الطمطام المواج ما الكافور بحكم الكتاب ولينكشف كل الاسرار بماء
الحمراء
من
هذا البحر البيضاء ماء الطهور لحكم الله من كلمة الكتاب
Thus was it that God did send down the verses of the Sinaitic Mount (āyāt al-ṭūr)
from the Most Transcendent Abode (mustaqarr al-a`lā) to the end that
all might be cognizant of His Cause (al-amr) and expound its
branches (mufāri`), that all might hear and appreciate the words of
Paradise (kalimat al-quds) in the Tablet of Holiness (lawḥ al-quds)
and the verses which descend from [the realm of] the dusky zones of the
Divine Cloud (mukfahirrāt al-`amā') in the shadow of Paradise. This that all
the Luminaries (al-anwār) might bestow life through the Water of Life (mā'
al-ḥayawān) which cometh from the crashing crests of the surging waves
that are of Camphor (al-kāfūr) as accords with the decree of the Book. This
took place that He might unveil all mysteries through the Crimson watery
Expanse (mā'
al-ḥamrā') from this Snow-White Ocean (al-baḥr al-bayḍā'), the
watery Expanse that is
purified on account of the Decree of God through the Word of the Book.
See further:
(2) Extracts
from a letter or scriptural Tablet of to Bahā'-Allāh to a certain Aḥmad :
