Background & Introduction

Length: 39 pages (8 x 11) | ~13,000 words | <= 20 lines per page | ~ 760 lines

The Saḥífiy-i-’Adlíyyih | صحيفه عدليه is late Shiraz-era [1262AH] Revelation of the Primal Point, Siyyid ʻAlí-Muḥammad, best known as ‘the Báb’. This work features some of His most expressive and creative discourses on the nature of Divinity and the fundamental principles of religion in a phase of His Revelation where the full scope of His station and the aim of His Mission remained concealed. It is the Báb’s first major work revealed in Persian, composed in the end stages of His stay in Shiraz after His return from pilgrimage to Mecca.

The title of this work has been variously rendered ‘Epistle of Justice: Root Principles’ or the ‘Treatise Expressing Justice’. Upon reading, it quickly becomes apparent that the ‘Justice’ in reference in this work here is not ‘justice’ at the level of individual ethics, social and societal relations, or even justice with respect to matters of religious law. Such concerns are absent from the present work.

Instead, it concerns a transcendent conception of ‘Divine Justice’ or Justice in light of God as the ultimate Locus of Equality, as the Criterion or ‘Balance’ of all Truth, and the Originator of All Things, and all its explorations relate to these higher realities. The exposition unfolds outwards from these bedrock conceptions into the necessary subsidiary principles of both creation & religion, emphasizing the requirements of belief & certitude that hinge upon them along the way. The Divine Justice in question is not an abstract legalism but understood via the conjunction of Justice-Truth-Knowledge and the reality of Divinity, especially as contemplated via the dawning of the compelling power of the Manifestation of God, the principles of religion revealed by them, and the relationship of believers to them.

Across its five Gates, the work moves from radical apophatic theology, through epistemology and discourses on divine unity, toward the ontological expositions on the sustaining principles of existence, and then to the necessities of religion that emerge from these. The work is threaded through with stunning apophatic statements, balanced against the “root principle of religion”, which is nonetheless ‘the knowledge of God [ma’rifat Allah]’ perfected through belief in His unity (tawḥíd). Among these foundational principles is that belief in tawḥíd reaches its ultimate refinement through the negation of all names and attributes before the sanctified Divine Essence. The seeker is to become immersed in “abysmal depth of the Divine Unicity [Ahadiyyah]”, where the Lord is both recognized and witnessed via “demonstrative vision (mushāhada)”, thus attaining absolute certitude, while remaining wholly separate from the Divine Essence.

The Primal Will, the hierarchy of emanation, and the graded realities of existence occupy a significant portion of the text and are repeatedly tied back to justice as the principle by which things are differentiated, sustained, and ranked. Other explorations include the ‘Muhammadan Reality’, attestations of belief in Prophethood, Imamhood, and Wilāyah, considerations of the possibility and impossibility of proofs for God, as well as critiques of certain philosophical doctrines.

We also find a variety of expositions that prefigure later disclosures about the Báb’s own spiritual station via the rhetoric of authority, command, and positioning of the speaker as just that living criterion of justice. These are definitive without being necessarily formalized or explicit, which accords with the general staging of the Báb’s Dispensation at this time. Hence, the work should be considered a revelation of truths pertaining to His own status as a Manifestation of the Divine Reality under discussion. The work ends with a supplication reiterating in devotional form aspects of the overall themes.

In sum, the central themes revolve around ‘Justice’ in the sense of the Name of God, ‘the Just’ ( al-ʿAdl | ٱلْعَدْلُ ), an appellation of He by whose power the heavens and the earth and all reality persist, and by Whom all things are reckoned. The focus is on our orientation towards this reality, and all subsequent religious obligations, instead of the more common suppositions invoked by the word ‘justice’ as we understand today. In light of this, we may consider another possible rendering of the title as the ‘Scroll of Divine Justice’ or the ‘Epistle on the Source of Divine Justice’.

In fact, there are two related works sometimes referred to as the Báb’s ‘Epistle of Justice’ that should not be confused. One is the work featured here, simply known as Saḥífiy-i-’Adlíyyih or, alternatively, ‘Risáliy-i-’Usúl-i-’Adlíyyih’ [Treatise on the Root Principles of Justice]. It was revealed in Persian and comprises 5 Gates and some 13,500 words (BB00017 in the ‘Partial Inventory’). The other is a shorter work revealed in Arabic رساله فروع عدليه | Risáliy-i-Furú-i-’Adlíyyih | Epistle of Justice: Branches, comprising 7 Gates and some 5,500 words (BB00039 in the ‘Partial Inventory’).

As indicated by the contrast of ‘Usúl and Furú in these titles (literally ‘roots’ and ‘branches’, but conceptually ‘principles’ and ‘derivatives’, or ‘fundamental and subsidary principles’) the two works cover distinctive levels of the same ultimate concept, Transcendent Divine Justice, with the shorter Arabic work emphasizing distal matters more related to ethics and religious law. These two works thus represent different discursive levels of the same underlying, unifying principle.

Major Themes & Key Doctrines: The Transcendence of God and Radical Apophaticism • Divine Gnosis (Ma’rifat Allāh) • Ultimate Reality and the Absolute (al-Haqq, Haqa’iq) • Divine Unity: Wahidiyyah, Ahadiyyih, and Tawḥīd • Divine Science [Metaphysics] • The Primal Will • the Muhammadan Reality • the Reality of the Prophets and the Sciences bestowed upon them by God • The Station of the Báb • Proofs of God • Critique of the doctrine of the Unicity of Being [wahdat al-wujud] • Wilāyah and the Exalted Station of God’s Chosen Ones [Awliya’] • the Seven Stages of Creation

About this Compilation

The purpose of this compilation is to compile all quality provisional translations of the “Saḥífiy-i-’Adlíyyih” in a single place, with excerpts arranged in order of the original text and locations within the text clearly delineated whenever possible. In between excerpts, the relative length of missing portions will be indicated by ellipses [ . . . ] to indicate gaps. It will remain provisional and will be updated over time as more translations become available and any errors are identified. Future updates may include further translations, glossary, and commentary.

This arrangement allows one to view excerpts within the context of the structure of the work and to grasp the flow of the text in sum. Although verses, excerpts, and quotes from the Holy Writings each stand on their own, we must also consider the totality of a work as it was revealed and arranged. Hence, this compilation is designed to grant a provisional overview of what portions of the original remain untranslated for those who cannot read the original, allowing them to approach the original ordering of available excerpts.

The focus of this compilation is direct translations from Persian into English. For this reason, an extended translation by A.L.M. Nicholas featuring portions of this text that is available with the French translation of the Arabic Bayan is not included, even though the French has been translated into English.

The text for this compilation is drawn from the typescript copy prepared at Ocean of Lights. A pdf of this compilation is available for download here.

Bibliography:

• Nader Saiedi, Gate of the Heart, p. 32-33; “Chapter 9: The Epistle of Justice and the Root Principles of Religion”

  • Chapter 9 is the only systematic exploration of this work in English. It is highly recommended to read that chapter and this work alongside each other.

• Abu’l Qasim Afnan, ‘Ahd A’la, p. 453 [Persian language only]

• Mohammadhosseini, N. Hadrat-i-Báb, p. 809-817 [Persian language only]

• Lawson & Ghammaeghami (editors). A Most Noble Pattern.

• Todd Lawson, “Tafsir as Mystical Experience: Intimacy and Ecstasy in Quran Commentary”

Saḥífiy-i-’Adlíyyih | صحيفه عدليه

Gate I: On the Remembrance of God, Great and Powerful is He!

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate | بسم الله‬ الرحمن الرحيم

“[1] Praise (ḥamd) and benediction (sipās) is befitting of the depiction of the Beauty (jamāl) of the Essence [of the Deity] (dhāt) for He hath ever been Peerless [Unique] (fard) in His own Being (kawn) with naught else alongside Him. [2] Eternally in His own Being (kawnūniyyat) hath He ever been, and will forever remain, in an Elevated state, changeless (taghyīr) and without alternation (taḥwīl). [3] It is utterly impossible to depict His sanctified Essence (dhāt-i muqaddas) or to compare some non-existent thing to Him; neither can anyone be authorized (taklīf) to gain gnosis (ma`rifat) of the Essential Reality of His Being (kuna dhātiyya-i khūd).”

- the Báb, Sahífa-yi ‘Adliyya, Gate I, prov. transl. by Stephen Lambden

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“And now the clarification of the matter of regarding the servant [the Bāb] who was impoverished before God [through theft] (’abd al-muftaghir ilā Allāh) and thus took firm hold of the cord of the family of God (ḥabl āl Allāh). After returning from [the 1844-45 CE) pilgrimage (ḥajj) and thus accomplishing the completion of the [messianic] Proof (ḥujjat) through the proffering of [divine] knowledge (iẓhār-i `ilm) unto every world by means of [the revelation of] firmly established books and well-assured treatises (kutub-i muḥkamma va saḥā’if-i muttaqina). Numerous books, that is, of every kind, sent down [revealed] (nāzil) from the custodians of knowledge and exposition (ahl al-’ilm va bayān) [the Imams] in the mid-most heart of the ocean of tribulation and occulted seclusion (buḥbūḥat-i baḥr-i ḥazn va infirād). And with the greater portion of those [revealed] verses (aghlab āyāt) was made manifest a miraculous sign (’ajz) on the part of one other than the people of erudition [e.g. the unlettered Bāb] (ahl-i ‘ilm) through, that is, the production of [divinely revealed] Arabic verses (āyāt-i ‘arabiyya).”

- the Báb, Sahífa-yi ‘Adliyya: Gate I, prov. transl. by Stephen Lambden

“Inasmuch as the divine Confirmation had not yet decreed the fulfillment of their wish for the revelation of Persian divine words in this lucid religion, all were referred to the First Learned One of the First Book [AF: likely Mulla Husayn]. Until the time when, by the leave of God, the dawning of the Sun of trysting shone forth, out of the horizon of darksome night, upon the letters Sin and Bá’, in the sacred year 1262.”

- The Báb, Epistle of Justice: Root Principles (Sahifiy-i-’Adliyyih), pp. 3-4. Provisional translation by Nader Saiedi, GoH p. 218

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“... for the sake of the Truth, that all the people of the world, whether learned or not, may, by virtue of His Servant, vibrate out of the vibration of the Morn of Eternity (Subh-i-Azal) from the sun of the Muhammadan Primal Light, the blessings of God rest upon Him.”

- The Báb, Sahífiy-i-’Adliyyih, Gate I; Provisional translation by Nader Saiedi, GoH pp. 218-219

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Gate II: On the Exposition of the Scales [al-qisṭās] as accords with God’s Command, Rarified and Glorified be He!

“Know, O inquirer after the central point of the ‘fundamental’ and ‘derivative’ principles…”

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“Just as the root principles of religion and its faithful people have progressed beyond the physical realm, the divine signs have also infinitely advanced beyond the limited physical realm. Thus, it is supremely necessary that the testimony of that Servant should belong to the realm that surpasseth the world of intellect, which is naught but the stations of true recognition and transcendent unity. Yet, inasmuch as the acknowledgement of such an exalted Cause is difficult for most people, He hath brought these mighty stations to the level of the body of words, in such wise that none hath the power to produce the like thereof, so that the divine testimony would be as conclusive to all beings as the Day-Star shining in the zenith of heaven.”

- The Báb, Epistle of Justice: Root Principles (Sahifiy-i-’Adlíyyih), p. 7. Provisional translation by Nader Saiedi source GoH p. 228

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“Just as the worlds have progressed (taraqqi namudih) the [usages of] words and vowels have progressed. It is well nigh possible that a day will shine forth when the verses of God shall be recited devoid of such rules as are now common among the people.”

- The Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adlíyyih, Gate II; provisional translation by Armin Eschraghi in “Undermining the Foundations of Orthodoxy: Some Notes on the Báb’s Sharia (Sacred Law)”, A Most Noble Pattern, p. 225

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“Know that the appearance (ẓuhūr) of verses (āyāt), prayers (munājāt), and divinely inspired knowledge/sciences (‘ulūm ladunī-ye) began after a dream I had (nawmā ast keh mushāhadeh-ye namūdeh) in which was seen the pure head of his holiness ( janāb) the Lord of Martyrs, upon him be peace, separated (or cut) from his pure body together with the heads of the family members (dhūya al-qurbā). And seven draughts of the blood of his holiness, the Lord of Martyrs, did I drink with perfect love/friendship (āz kamāl-i ḥubb). From the blessing of the blood of that Holiness my breast was gladdened/dilated (munshareḥ gashteh) with the like of these indisputably genuine and holy verses (āyāt muttaqineh) and these obviously authentic and holy prayers (munājāt muḥakkameh). Praise be to God, He who caused me to drink the blood of His Proof [the Imam Ḥusayn] and made it [that blood] the reality of my heart (fuʾād). For that reason, numerous tests have befallen me by the authority (imḍa) of God. We all come from God and unto Him do we return [Q 2:156]. For the like of this let the strivers strive [Q 37:61].”

- The Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adliyyih, Gate II; provisional translation by Todd Lawson, “Tafsir as Mystical Experience: Intimacy and Ecstasy in Quran Commentary”, p. 46

Gate III: On Knowledge [Gnosis] of God (ma`rifat Allāh) and of His chosen Ones (Awliyā’) according to what God, Exalted and Glorified be He, hath commanded

“Know thou that the root principle of religion (aṣl-i dīn) is Knowledge [gnosis] of God (ma’rifat Allāh).”

“[2] The perfection of the knowledge [gnosis] [of God] (kamāl-i ma’rifat) is the Divine Unity (tawḥīd). [3] And the perfection of the Divine Unity (kamāl-i tawḥīd) is the [apophatic] negation (nafy) of the Divine Attributes and Names (ṣifāt va asma’) from His sanctified Essence (dhāt-i muqaddas). [4] The perfection of [apophatic] negation (kamāl-i nafy) is the attainment unto the abysmal depth of the Divine Unicity (wurūd lujjat-i aḥadiyyat) through the fathoming [knowledge] of [both] the [theologically apophatic] [Divine] Wholly-Otherness [Separateness] (qaṭ’) and the [theologically cataphatic] demonstrative vision (mushāhada) of that foundational Basis of the Divine Bounty (aṣl-i jūd-i ān). [5] Yet the reality (ḥaqīqat) of these [two] modes [levels] of [approach to] the Sign of God (marātib-i āyat-Allāh) are [but] One (aḥad) . [6] This since both religio-philosophical insight ( ‘irfān) and certitude (īqān) are realized through the existence of His Holiness the Lord of Might (ḥaḍrat-I rabb-i `izzat).

[7] Know therefore that the Apparentness (ẓāhir) of the Pre-Eternal Divine Essence (dhāt-iI qidam) is the Logos-Persona of His Inwardness (nafs-i bāṭin-i ū) [8] such that the Beingness of that [Pre-Eternal Divine Essence] is His [Own] Logos-Persona (kaynūniyyat-i ān nafs-i dhāt-i ū). [9] For All-Eternity hath He been though an existence (vujūdī) dependent upon anything hath He never been.”

- The Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adliyyih, Gate III; prov. transl. by Stephen Lambden

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“[It is impossible] to fabricate any name or attribute for the Essence of God, and unto none is given any proof for, or path to, His recognition. The proof of His Essence hath always been, and will ever be, His Essence, and it is impossible for the contingent to be considered His proof.”

- The Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adliyyih, Gate III; provisional translation by Nader Saiedi, GoH, p. 231

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“The advocates of the doctrine of the unity of existence [wahdat al-wujud] are joining partners with God by virtue of the testimony of the idea of existence itself. For the “unity” affirmed by them is derivative of the existence of duality; otherwise why would they deny the duality and affirm the unity? Likewise, those who advocate that the cause of the existence of the contingent beings is the Essence of God, and thus believe in some form of relation between the two, are disbelievers. For causation is dependent on the association with the effect, and relation is dependent on the existence of duality, whereas both conditions are utterly false.”

- The Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adliyyih, Gate III; provisional translation, Saiedi GOH p. 191-192)

“Nay, rather the true God is the real Essence, while creation is contingent, and anything outside of this contingent creation is impossible to grasp ..... From time immemorial the creation hath been the creation, and conjunction with the Essence is not possible.” |بل حق واقع ذات حق است و خلق ممکن و شئى سوای خلق ممکن معقول نيست و لم یزل حق حق است و معروف شئى نيست و ال یزال خلق خلق است و اقتران با ذات ممکن نيست

- The Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adliyyih, Gate III; provisional translation by Keven Brown, in “Selections from the Bahá’í Writings and from Shaykh Ahmad on the Seven Stages of Creation”

“Inasmuch as God, the Ancient of Days, has created humankind for the purpose of recognizing His effulgent omnipotence, and has [likewise] ordained reward and punishment as the cause of the same, from nothingness He has called into being the Primal Will - a Will that is ineffable and transcendent - for the sake of His own self. Thereafter, He created all things for the sake of [the Primal Will]. The creation of something which the letters of the Primal Will have entered into is not possible save [in accordance with] the seven stages of existence (imkán). A smaller number [of stages] would not be possible. The seven stages are the Primal Will, the Divine Purpose, Predestination, Decree, Permission, Term and Book. The first remembrance of something that is independent of the mention of its subsistence is the existence of the Primal Will. When it becomes dependent, the existence of subsistence is the Divine Purpose. The remembrance of both of these together (i.e. Primal Will and Divine Purpose) is Predestination and the manifestation of these three is the stage of Decree. In this station, it is incumbent upon all created things (kull mumkinat) to bear witness to the preexistence of God, glorified is He, the Most Exalted, because there is no beginning after the Decree. The injunctions of Permission, Term and Book after (His] behest (imdá) are firmly established but the truth of fashioning and the mystery of devising are the very existence of [all] seven [stages] in the visible and invisible worlds…”

- The Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adliyyih, Gate III; provisional translation by Omid Ghaemmaghami in “Colours in the Writings of the Báb by Vahid Rafati, in AMNP

• As an alternative to the above, instead of ‘preexistence’ we find badá [divine alteration or “non-fulfillment”], following Saiedi: “It is incumbent upon all contingent beings ... to acknowledge that the law of alteration may transpire, through the Will of God, sanctified and exalted is He. However, there is no alteration once the Decree hath been set.” - provisional translation by Nader Saiedi, GoH p. 207)

“…and that is the appearance of the Fourteen Holy Souls. Glorified is God, far above what they attribute [to Him] [cf. Q37:159] or associate [with Him]!” | “که ظهور چهارده نفس مقدس بوده باشد و سبحان الله عما یصفون یشرکون”

- The Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adliyyih, Gate III; provisional translation, Aaron Ferguson

“Know thou, O seeker, that, in the books they have penned, the philosophers have brought forth arguments for the existence of a Fashioner, even as the mystics have adduced proofs for His unity. But these books are all refuted by the testimony of the very proofs they contain, inasmuch as the latter are all contingent, and it is impossible for the proof of the divine Essence to be contingent. Nay, rather, should anyone fix his gaze upon the Point of Truth, pierce the veils, and unravel the allusions, he would know of a certainty that to provide any argument for the existence of the Incomparable One or any proof for His unity, other than God’s own description, is a cardinal sin and a most grievous transgression. Verily, I find no proof for His existence and His unity save His own Self.”

- The Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adliyyih, Gate III; Provisional translation by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice)

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“After the coming into existence of all beings, God revealed His own Self in the world of creation by virtue of the contingent signs. It is incumbent upon all to worship His holy Essence, alone and by Himself, as none other God is there but Him, by virtue of the description that He hath revealed in the Qur’án.”

- The Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adliyyih, Gate III; Provisional translation by Nader Saiedi, GoH p. 252)

“Exalted is God, far beyond what the wrongdoers say!” | و تعالى الله عما یقول الظالمون علوا کبيرا

- The Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adliyyih, Gate III; Provisional translation by Aaron JR Ferguson

“Know thou that the root principle of the recognition of the modes of the causation of divine Action consisteth of seven stages, whose acknowledgement is the binding duty of all. True recognition is not complete without the recognition of all of these stages, and the recognition of the first is not accepted save through the recognition of the last.”

- The Báb, Epistle of Justice: Root Principles (Sahifty-i Adliyyih), p. 18. Provisional translation by Nader Saiedi, Gate of the Heart, p. 231)

• [ . . . ] approx. 3 lines beginning with ‘And this, in truth, is according to the detailed explanation which His Holiness Ali ibn al-Husayn,’...’

“This is the original tradition: ‘.. O Jábir! Knowest thou what is recognition? Recognition is first the affirmation of Divine Unity, second the recognition of the Meanings, third the recognition of the Gates, fourth the recognition of the Imam, fifth the recognition of the Pillars, sixth the recognition of the chiefs and seventh the recognition of the nobles ... O Jábir! Give heed unto the affirmation of Divine Unity and recognition of the Meanings. As to the affirmation of Divine Unity, it consisteth of the recognition of the Eternal Unseen God ... As to the Meanings, We are His Meanings, and His Manifestation amongst you. He hath fashioned us from the light of His Essence, and hath conferred upon Us the affairs of His servants. Thus We do, by His leave, what We will, and when We will, it is God Who hath willed …’”

- The Báb, Epistle of Justice: Root Principles (Sahifiy-i-’Adliyyih), pp. 18-19. Provisional translation by Nader Saiedi, Gate of the Heart p. 232)

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THE SEVEN DEGREES OF GNOSIS

‘Know that there are seven degrees of knowledge!’ | بدانکه اصول معرفت هفت رتبه است

1. First Degree [اول رتبه] - Knowledge of God [اول معرفت الله‬]

   • [ . . . ] approx. 25 lines [ . . . ]

   • “Verily, He [God] is cognizant of the choices of all things and creates all in accordance to their choices and rewards them according to their act of choosing and if He should create them not according to the degree of their receptivity/capacity, verily He has committed an injustice towards them. For, He hath created all for the sake of His love, and the love of His friends (awliya). Therefore, the decree of fate hath been established through His execution, so that all may receive their share. In the four mashhads (places of testimony) of Command (amr), He hath created all through His Will (irādah) and covenanted with them, so that there should not remain any excuse for a single person. In the first dharr [particle], He hath covenanted with all things regarding His [God] own Divinity, in the second dharr, He hath covenanted with all things regarding the prophethood of the messenger – upon him and his family be the peace of God – and in the third [dharr], He hath made firm the covenant regarding the guardianship (wilāyat) of the Family of God (āl Allāh) and in the fourth, he hath covenanted regarding the love of the people of wilayat [the Shi‘ah], and He hath created all things through the Will, and [created] the Will through its own self.” (provisional translation by Farshid Kazemi, “Mysteries of Alast: The Realm of Subtle Entities (‘Ālam-i dharr) and the Primordial Covenant in the Babi-Baha’i Writings”)

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2. Second Degree - Knowledge of Inner Significances [معرفت معانى]

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   • The Seven Fundamental Stations [هفت مقام اصل] of Knowledge of His Holiness [Muhammad / The Primal Point]

     • First Station [اول مقام] - Point of Initiation [نقطه بدئيه]

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     • Second Station [ثانى مقام] - Point of Contingency [نقطه امکانيه]

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     • Third Station [ثالث مقام ] - Point of Separation [نقطه فصليه]

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     • Fourth Station [رابع مقام] - Point of Connection [نقطه وصليه]

       • [ . . . ] 5 lines [ . . . ]

     • Fifth Station [خامس مقام] - Point of Reality [نقطه حقيه]

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     • Sixth Station [سادس مقام] - Original Point [نقطه اصليه]

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     • Seventh Station [سابع مقام] - Point of Being [نقطه کونيه]

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3. Third Degree - Knowledge of the Gates [ معرفة الابواب]

   • “In this station it is incumbent upon those of sound mind to confess [belief] in the Vicegerency-Successorship [wasáyyat] of the Commander of the Faithful [Amīr al-Mu’minīn, e.g. Imam ‘Alí ] - Peace be upon Him! In this realm without distinction naught exists apart from His Sanctified Personage and all the aforementioned stages [maratib مراتب] in the ‘Gnosis of [inner] Meanings’ (ma’rifat ma’ani) [e.g. the Second Degree of Knowledge] in this station are obligatory, each with their respective provisions and pillars [arkan]. And it amounts to this: that in all these stations, that Sanctified Being [dhat muqaddas] who is the bearer of Absolute Wiláyah [wiláyat mutlaqa] is the Servant [‘abd] of the Apostle of God - the Blessings of God be upon Him and His family! Know thou, indeed, that the Absolute Wiláyah of that Greatest Lord [siyyid akbar] is the very Self-Soul-Essence of His Vicegerency [wasáyyat] for Muḥammad - the Blessings of God be upon Him and His Family! - and none have penetrated the depths of true understanding of His Being save God the Peerless One, and the Most Great Lord, the Apostle of God - the Blessings of God be upon Him and His family! And He [e.g. Imam ‘Alí] is the Absolute Gate of God [báb mutlaqa illahi] through whose permission alone does any word of Origination [ibda’] come into being, and except by His decree, no letter can ascend unto God. And recognition of this Holy Soul is recognition of the Apostle of God [Muḥammad] - the Blessings of God be upon Him and His progeny - nay, rather even the word “Divine Unity” [tawḥīd] and the testimony of Prophethood is but confession of the Wiláyah of that Blessed One!” - the Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adlíyyih, Gate III, provisional translation by Aaron JR Ferguson

4. Fourth Degree - Knowledge of the Imam [معرفة الامام]

   • The eleven other Imams

   • Fátimah

5. Fifth Degree - Knowledge of the Pillars [معرفة االرکان]

6. Sixth Degree - Knowledge of the Nuqaba - Chiefs [ معرفة النقباء]

7. Seventh Degree - Knowledge of the Nujaba - Nobles [معرفة النجباء]

   • “They [the nobles], through the assistance bestowed upon them by the chiefs, all lead the people unto the divine grace, both in the realms of Creation and Revelation. As to their distinguishing sign, these nobles are the devoted ones who are associated with that supreme Word that is the lightest word in the realm of utterance. Nay, rather, the number of the letter Há, [Qur’án 14:24] which is the inner secret of all the letters and the mystery of Divine Unity, is the number of that ‘good word,’ which is naught but the very revelation of the letter Há’ in the realm of the letters.” (the Báb, Epistle of Justice: Root Principles (Sahifiy-i-’Adliyyih), p. 31. Provisional translation by Nader Saiedi Gate of the Heart, p. 222)

   • “...it is incumbent upon all the believers to deal with people with the utmost love...” (the Báb, Epistle of Justice: Root Principles (Sahifiy-i-’Adlíyyih), p. 32 and 37. Provisional translation by Mohammadhosseini, AMNP p. 20-21)

Gate IV: Concerning the Exposition of ‘the Return’ [maʻād] unto God, the Great and Almighty

في بيان المعاد الله‬ عز وجل

“I counsel in this Book that all should be apprehensive of the Justice of God...”

“and in accordance with the command of the Qur’án ‘O ye who believe, be mindful of Allah, and speak in righteous words.’ [Q33:70], guard thy tongue, for the life of the world is as nothing to the life of the Hereafter. And on the Day of Resurrection, by the One True God who is without partner, the severest torment and the mightiest punishment...”

- the Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adlíyyih, Gate IV, provisional translation, Aaron JR Ferguson

• [ . . . ] approx. 5 or 6 lines [ . . . ]

“O questioner! Know thou that the root principle of religion is the recognition of that seven ordained in the Tradition, while the principles regarding the Day of Resurrection and Return unto God are inscribed beneath its shadow. Nay, rather, these seven stages of recognition are the truth of the seven holy heavens and the very principle of return to God in the next world.”

- the Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adlíyyih, Gate IV, p. 34. Provisional translation by Nader Saiedi, Gate of the Heart, p. 225)

• [ . . . ] approx 2 - 3 paragraphs [ . . . ]

“Nay, rather, he (Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsá’i) affirmeth the return of all things, by virtue of an inspiration from the knowledge that hath encompassed the Book of God: heart in its own station, intellect in its own station, soul in its own station, and body, together with its three dimensions, in its own station.”

- the Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adlíyyih, Gate IV, p. 35. Provisional translation by Nader Saiedi, Gate of the Heart, p. 235)

• [ . . . ] approx. 2 - 3 paragraphs [ . . . ]

“...How great is the tolerance of the true believer in this world with the whole of mankind... the status of a true believer can be likened to the station of God who, on his own throne of bounty, shows the greatest compassion towards all the people of the world...”

- the Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adlíyyih, Gate IV p. 32 and 37. Provisional translation by Mohammadhosseini, AMNP p. 20-21)

• [ . . . ] ? [ . . . ]

“No word is revealed in the Book of God, in terms of the simplicity of its letters, that is lighter than the word Báb. This is a guiding evidence of the inner secret of this Cause.”

- the Báb, Epistle of Justice: Root Principles (Sahifiy-i-’Adlíyyih), p. 38. Provisional translation by Nader Saiedi)

• [ . . . ] approx. 9 lines [ . . . ]

“Conduct yourselves with your women in the most loving manner. Believing women are like the leaves of the heavenly camphor tree. Do not mistreat (mayázár) them even for a blink of an eye, because were you to do so, you shall be veiled from the command of God for that very blink of an eye”

- the Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adlíyyih, Gate IV, provisional translation by Armin Eschraghi in “Undermining the Foundations of Orthodoxy: Some Notes on the Báb’s Sharia (Sacred Law)”, A Most Noble Pattern p. 232

• [ . . . ] approx. 5 lines [ . . . ]

Gate V: The Du'ā al-Ikhlās [Supplication of Sincerity] unto God, Powerful and Glorious is He! | في دعاء الاخلاص الله‬ عز وجل

“In the Name of God, the Exalted One, the Most Mighty One!” | بسم الله‬ العلي العظيم

“All Praise be unto God, the One who hath originated the heavens and the earth by His Command!”

— the Báb, SA Gate V, provisional translation by Aaron JR Ferguson

• [ . . . ] approx. 60 lines, comprising a single supplication with a series of testimonies: ‘I bear witness...’

[ . . . ]

“O God! Peace be upon Muhammad and upon His Family! And verily I say, by Thy Wisdom concerning that which thou hast sent down in the Qurʾān for the remembrance of the people of Paradise, that ‘Praise belongeth unto God, the Lord of all the worlds!’”

— the Báb, SA, Gate V, provisional translation by Aaron JR Ferguson

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Hello!

As it turns out, I don’t only publish works here! In fact, there are times where I begin writing something intended for this site, but that I realize is significant enough that it should be shared more broadly. The following is one of those works.

I share for your consideration my newly published article, “Bahá’u’lláh’s Warning to Mírzá Muhammad-’Ali in a Tablet to Siyyid Mihdíy-i-Dahájí: Provisional Translation and Commentary”. It was reviewed by The Bahá’í Studies Review (BSR), a journal of the Association for Bahá’í Studies UK that was recently relaunched after several years of hiatus. This article features a provisional translation and succinct commentary I wrote on an important Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh that Bahá’í Studies Review has graciously reviewed and published.

https://www.abs.bahai.org.uk/bsr-e20251205

In this article, I translate an important Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh written to Siyyid Mihdíy-i-Dahájí. An excerpt from the Tablet will be well-known from a quotation of it featured in ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will & Testament, included also in several works of the Guardian, and from some brief historical overview of related events in Taherzadeh’s Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh series. Until now, I had not seen any full translations of the Tablet.

In this important Tablet, Bahá’ulláh issues a warning to His son, the Greater Branch, Mirzá Muhammad-Ali, against straying from the Cause. Although brief, it deserves to be considered alongside such important tablets from that same era as the Lawh-i Khalil, and the Súrih-i-Ghusn, texts that offer invaluable indications as to the envisioned status and station of the Aghsán, and especially the future status of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

To that end, alongside the full translation of BH06114, I also discuss, compare, and translate important excerpts from BH00941, BH00431 (Lawh-i Khalil), and BH02884. Collectively, these reflect on the broader themes of the nature of spiritual authority and succession in the Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh’s admonitions to remain firm in His Covenant and Testament, and His aims to prevent schism.

I hope you enjoy!

Cheers,

Aaron

Featured here is an annotated compilation on a central feature of Bahá’í theology, that ‘God’ is the Hidden, Unknowable Essence. The Writings of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh feature some of the most radically ‘apophatic’ passages on the Nature of Divinity to be found in world religious literature.

Introduced in this compilation is one of the key concepts used by the Bab and Baha’u’llah to discuss this: hūwīyyah, or ‘the Divine Ipseity’. This is a reference to God as the ‘Unknowable Essence’, beyond all conception, qualification, and paradoxically, by any reference entailed by this term. As a result, to even ‘talk’ about and ‘name’ this subject by this very term is fraught with challenge.

The resolution to this conundrum is via the notion of the Primal Will (aka the Universal Divine Intellect), the doctrine of Manifestation, and the schema of emanation. In other passages (not included here) they fiercely critique errors made by the philosophers and mystics in their attempts to resolve the tensions between absolute transcendence and radical immanence, so we must be aware of the possibility for mistakes.

Alongside quotes from the Bahá’í Writings, excerpts from notable thinkers are featured. Clarity on these metaphysical themes is essential for weighing the philosophical output of various traditions, and the diverse understandings and, at times, differing theological conclusions that religious communities have derived from what is ultimately a common framework for transcendent reality [say, Buddhist relational ontology vs the Abrahamic and Western ontology of essence or existence].

The selection from the Bahá’í Writings comprises only a fraction of a fraction on this theme and many further investigations remain to explore the full scope of the Writings on this particular topic.

“O CHILDREN OF THE DIVINE AND INVISIBLE ESSENCE! [al-hūwīyyah fī al-ghayb]”

يَا ابْناءَ الْهُوِيَّةِ فِي الْغَيْبِ

“Ye shall be hindered from loving Me and souls shall be perturbed as they make mention of Me. For minds [’uqūl] cannot grasp Me nor hearts [qulūb] contain Me.”

- Bahá’u’lláh, Hidden Words, Arabic, No. 66

al-Hūwīyyah [الْهُوِيَّةِ]: A Brief Introduction

[Arabic] 1. He-ness, It-ness, This-ness. 2. The Hidden, Unknowable Essence. the “Divine Ipseity”. Deus Absconditum. 3. selfhood; individual identity, essential identity. essence. substance.

Related concepts: ipseity • Haecceity • quiddity (māhiyyah) • essence (dhāt) • substance & substantiality (jawhar, ousía) • Theos Agnostos • Ahadīyyih and Wahidīyyih • ‘I-ness’ Innīyyah • Effulgences [Tajalliyat], Emanation, and Effusion • Manifestation

Hūwīyyah: an abstract concept formed from the Arabic third person singular pronoun “He” (Huwa), indicating the quality or abstract notion of being some him, it, or this particular thing. In theological & philosophical contexts applied to divinity, it indicates the Unseen, Unknowable Essence beyond all contemplation, conditioning, conception, and qualification. God in the purest, most abstracted, unconditioned sense; Divinity as the ‘Most Hidden of the Hidden’ beyond even the ‘Most Manifest of the Manifest’.

• The philosophical concept Huwiyyah more generally signals what it means to be ‘this very thing’, one’s essential identity as opposed to one’s quiddity (māhiyyah | ماهية), which is a thing’s ‘whatness’: what it is to be such a thing. The nearest concepts in English (from the Latin) are Ipseity and Haecceity, which, like Huwiyyah, signify the quality or aspects by which one is a particular instance of a certain genus, rather than the shared or universal qualities by which one is a thing.

• Each human has/is a certain ipseity; e.g. Socrates and ‘Socrates-ness’, which is simply ‘to be Socrates’, something which no one else shares. My ‘quiddity’ (whatness) is that I am a ‘human’, insofar as I am/have a ‘rational soul’, an essential quality I share with other human beings. As any person, such as myself, yourself, or Socrates, also participates in the genus or universal essence ‘humanness’, they each can be said to have a quiddity/māhiyyah (a ‘what-ness’) shared with others in the category ‘human’ by virtue of being human. By contrast, huwiyyah ‘He-ness’ or ‘this-ness’, is the special essence (to be Aaron, Aaron-ness) by which I am an entity, an individual, my self, singularly. In other words, that without which something loses its particular identity.

  • Quiddity is the answer to the question ‘what is [this thing]?’, a term derived literally from the Latin “quid est (what is)?”;

  • Ipseity is the totality of aspects or qualities, the nature by virtue of which Socrates is Socrates and not not Socrates, derived from the Latin ipse, indicating himself, herself, for his/her part, alone, by oneself, by one’s own accord, of virtue of one’s own nature. In other words, the answer to ‘who is he [this thing]?’ is an ipseity. This constitutes a distinct and singular essence. To the extent that any essence is directly unreachable1 and may only be probed and understood with reference to its expressions, this is most true of the Divine Essence.
    

From Abd al-Razzaq Kāshānī’s “Lexicon of Sufi Technical Terminology”, the Isṭilaḥāt al-Ṣufiyya (12th/13th c.) | كتاب اصطلاحات الصوفية

الحقيقة : المطلقة المشتملة على الحقائق اشتمال النواة على الشجرة « في الغيب » المطلق ، ولحوق الواو من الحروف الدورية بهو ، دليل دور الهوية في تجليها أزلا ، وأبدا ، من نفسها على نفسها ، فإن الغيب المطلق من حيث هو غيب لا ينتهي إلى حد ينقلب فيه شهادة قطعا

From the Oxford Dictionary of Islam, p. 121

“Huwiyyah: He-ness or it-ness; means “identity” in modern Arabic. In classical Islamic philosophy it functioned as a technical term designating a thing’s ability to subsist on its own or to take on existence. It also signaled something’s essential identity as opposed to its quiddity (mahiyyah). In mystical thought the term differentiated the identity of the divine being from the “I-ness” (aniyyah) of the mystic’s ego.”

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Hūwīyyah in the Bahá’í Writings

From the Kitáb-i-Íqán

Huwiyyah as the Ultimate Hidden and Unknowable Essence, Sanctified Beyond all Attribute, Praise, Understanding.

“To every discerning and illumined heart it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence [ghayb-i-hūvīyyah], the divine Being [dhāt-i ahadiyyah-yi-muqaddas], is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress. Far be it from His glory that human tongue should adequately recount His praise, or that human heart comprehend His fathomless mystery. He is and hath ever been veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men. “No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision; He is the Subtile, the All-Perceiving.”

- Bahá’u’lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán para. 104

Notwithstanding the Absolute Transcendence of the Hidden Essence, He existentiates the First Creation, the Primal Will and calls into Being all things from sheer nonexistence by virtue of His Command [Amr].

No tie of direct intercourse can possibly bind Him to His creatures. He standeth exalted beyond and above all separation and union, all proximity and remoteness. No sign can indicate His presence or His absence; inasmuch as by a word of His command [Amr] all that are in heaven and on earth have come to exist, and by His wish [arādih], which is the Primal Will itself [nafs-i-Mashiyyat], all have stepped out of utter nothingness into the realm of being [hasti], the world of the visible [shuhud].”

- Bahá’u’lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán para. 104

The Gates of Knowledge-Recognition of the Divine Essence are Impenetrable, and Irrevocably Blocked

Yet by the virtue of His Will, the Manifestations of God, ‘Daysprings’ or Fountainheads of the Hidden Essence, appear to impart the mysteries of the Imperishable Essence. They appear in the form of the ‘human temple’.

“The door of the knowledge [‘irfān] of the Ancient of Days [dhāt-i-azal] being thus closed in the face of all beings, the Source of infinite… hath caused those luminous Gems of Holiness to appear out of the realm of the spirit, in the noble form of the human temple [hayākil-i ‘izz-i insānī], and be made manifest unto all men, that they may impart unto the world the mysteries of the unchangeable Being, and tell of the subtleties of His imperishable Essence. These sanctified Mirrors, these Day-springs of ancient glory [maṭāliʿ-i-hūwīyyah] are one and all the Exponents on earth of Him Who is the central Orb of the universe [shams-i-wujūd], its Essence and ultimate Purpose. From Him proceed their knowledge and power; from Him is derived their sovereignty. The beauty of their countenance is but a reflection of His image, and their revelation [ẓuhūr] a sign of His deathless glory.”

- Bahá’u’lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán, para. 106

The Twofold Discourse of the Manifestations of the Divine Ipseity

“It is evident unto thee that the Birds of Heaven [aṭyār-i-hūwīyyah | اطيار هويّه] and Doves of Eternity speak a twofold language. One language, the outward language, is devoid of allusions, is unconcealed and unveiled; that it may be a guiding lamp and a beaconing light whereby wayfarers may attain the heights of holiness, and seekers may advance into the realm of eternal reunion. Such are the unveiled traditions and the evident verses already mentioned. The other language is veiled and concealed, so that whatever lieth hidden in the heart of the malevolent may be made manifest and their innermost being be disclosed… None apprehendeth the meaning of these utterances except them whose hearts are assured, whose souls have found favour with God, and whose minds are detached from all else but Him.”

- Bahá’u’lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán, para. 106

The Primal Sea branched from the Unseen Essence: from Opening Address of the Seven Valleys

“And I praise and glorify that primal Sea which hath branched out from the ocean of the unseen Essence [bihar al-hūwīyyah],…

و اسلّم علی اوّل بحر تشعّب من بحر الهويّة

…and that primal Morn which hath broken forth upon the horizon of Singleness [ufuq al-áhadiyyah]…

و اوّل صبح لاح عن افق الاحديّة

…that primal Sun which hath risen in the heaven of everlasting splendour…

و اوّل شمس اشرقت فی سمآء الازلیّة

…and that primal Fire which was kindled from the Lamp of eternity within the Niche of oneness [mishkat al-wáhidiyyah]”

و اوّل نار اوقدت من مصباح القدمیّة فی مشکوة الواحدیّة

- Bahá’u’lláh, the Seven Valleys

From the Valley of Unity [Tawḥīd], which is the First Station of Unity

In the upper reaches of the Journey of mystic ascent, one reaches a stage where one must look upon all things with the ‘eye of Unity’. One witnesses the Rays of the Sun of Truth shining reflected in all things, an essential relation to the Divine Essence:

After passing through the Valley of Knowledge, which is the last station of limitation, the wayfarer cometh to THE FIRST STATION OF UNITY and drinketh from the cup of oneness, and gazeth upon the manifestations of singleness. In this station he pierceth the veils of plurality, fleeth the realms of the flesh, and ascendeth unto the heaven of unity… He seeth in himself neither name nor fame nor rank, but findeth his own praise in the praise of God, and in the name of God beholdeth his own… He looketh upon all things with the eye of Unity, and seeth the effulgent rays of the Sun of Truth shining from the dayspring of the Divine Essence [mashriq-i-hūvīyyat] upon all created things alike, and beholdeth the lights of Unity reflected upon all creation.

-Bahá’u’lláh, the Seven Valleys

From the Valley of Contentment

“O friend, till thou enter the garden of these inner meanings [ma’ani], thou shalt never taste of the imperishable wine of this valley. And shouldst thou taste of it, thou wilt turn away from all else and drink of the cup of contentment; thou wilt loose thyself from all things and bind thyself unto Him, and lay down thy life in His path and offer up thy soul for His sake. And this, even though in this realm there is no “all else” that thou needst forget: “God was alone; there was none else besides Him.” For on this plane the traveller witnesseth the beauty of the Friend in all things. In fire he seeth the face of the Beloved; in illusion he beholdeth the secret of reality; in the attributes [ṣefat] he readeth the riddle of the Essence [از صفات سرّ هویّت مشاهده نماید]. For he hath burnt away all veils with a sigh, and cast aside all coverings with a glance. With piercing sight he gazeth upon the new creation, and with lucid heart he graspeth subtle verities. The words “And we have made thy sight sharp in this day” [Qur’án 50:21] are a sufficient proof of this assertion and a befitting description of this state.”

- Bahá’u’lláh, the Seven Valleys

From the Gems of Divine Mysteries

The metaphor of the Sun reigns supreme as the best symbol for these impenetrable mysteries. the ‘Sun of the Unseen’ is another term indicative of the ‘Huwiyyah’. Ultimately, these mysteries will always remain unreachable.

“the sun of the Unseen [shams al-ghayb] shineth resplendent above the horizon of the Unseen [ufuq al-ghayb], a sun that hath its own heavens and its own moons, which partake of its light and which rise from and set upon the ocean of the Unseen [bihar al-ghayb]. Nor can I ever hope to impart even a dewdrop of that which hath been decreed therein, as none is acquainted with its mysteries save God, its Creator and Fashioner, and His Manifestations.”

- Bahá’u’lláh, “Gems of Divine Mysteries” para. 114

Huwiyyah at the Heart of an Exposition From the Súriy-i-Haykal (Surah of the Temple)

The Living Temple [Haykal], the Manifestation of God, appears in the Form of the Human Being, Who is the Sign of Divine Majesty:

“O Living Temple! We have, in very truth, appointed Thee to be the sign of My majesty amidst all that hath been and all that shall be, and have ordained Thee to be the emblem of My Cause betwixt the heavens and the earth, through My word “Be”, and it is!

ان یا هذا الهیکل قد جعلناک آیة عزّی بین ما کان و ما یکون و جعلناک آیة امری بین السّموات و الأرض بقولی کن فیکون

In a series of passages following this, Bahá’u’lláh proceeds with a mystical exposition of the four letters of the Arabic word haykal [temple, form, archetypal human being, talisman], an exposition which forms the heart of the entire Surih. These four letters appear in a special and subtle recursive sequence.

The First Letter, ‘Há’, indicating the Divine Ipseity

“O First Letter of this Temple, betokening the Essence of Divinity یا هآء] الهویّة]! We have made thee the treasury of My Will [mashiyyati] and the repository of My Purpose [aradati] unto all who are in the kingdoms of revelation and creation. This is but a token of the grace of Him Who is the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.

First, in the Letter ‘Há’, we see the original emergence and efflorescence of the Divine Names from the positionality of the Divine Ipseity as the ‘treasury’ and ‘repository’ of Divine Will [Mashiyyah] & Purpose [Aradih] itself. In other words, with respect to Mashiyyah and Aradih, Huwiyyah is the ‘treasury’ of their substantiation. This then proceeds ‘unto’ the kingdom of Revelation and Creation. The notion of being a ‘token’, speaks to the idea that outer, manifest realities as exchangeable (fungible) with but not directly equivalent to the inner reality. Bahá’u’lláh’s regular use of the notion of the ‘tokens’ and ‘signs’ of God’s will, action, and creation is a corrective to certain understandings of pantheism or interpretations of the doctrine of the ‘unicity of being’.

Proceeding from here we then behold this same ‘unfolding’ of the effulgences of God in the second, third, and fourth letters with respect to certain previously indeterminate Divine Names (the Almighty, the All-Bountiful, and finally His attribute Grace). Each of these is in succession received by His First Creation, described variously as His “treasury”, “manifestation”, “dayspring”, “dawning-place”, “fountainhead”, the source of “generation” and “origination”, mirroring forth all that emanates to the world of being. The manifestations are both the recipients of that sequence of unfolding-creation, but also recursively depicted as the self-same Point of Origin from which all Grace and Creation proceed, and then that unto which all things in the world of being incline towards and ultimately return.

The Second Letter, Ya, Indicating al-Qadír (the Almighty)

“O Second Letter of this Temple, betokening My name, the Almighty (al-Qadír)! We have made thee the manifestation of Our sovereignty and the dayspring of Our Names. Potent am I to fulfil that which My tongue speaketh.”

The Third Letter, Kaf, Indicating al-Karím (the All Bountiful)

“O Third Letter of this Temple, betokening My name, the All-Bountiful (al-Karím)! We have made thee the dawning-place of Our bounty amidst Our creatures and the fountainhead of Our generosity amidst Our people. Powerful am I in My dominion. Nothing whatsoever of all that hath been created in the heavens or on the earth can escape My knowledge, and I am the True One, the Knower of things unseen.”

the Fourth Letter, Lam, Indicating Faḍl (Grace)

“O Fourth Letter of this Temple, betokening the attribute of Grace! We have made thee the manifestation of grace betwixt earth and heaven. From thee have We generated all grace in the contingent world, and unto thee shall We cause it to return. And from thee shall We manifest it again, through a word of Our command. Potent am I to accomplish whatsoever I desire through My word “Be”, and it is! Every grace that appeareth in the world of being hath originated from thee, and unto thee shall it return. This, verily, is what hath been ordained in a Tablet which We have preserved behind the veil of glory and concealed from mortal eyes. Well is it with them that deprive themselves not of this conferred and unfailing grace.

A very careful reading of the above involves the understanding that the very fact of this exposition being ‘rendered’ discursively means it is a ‘contingent’ exposition, not an absolute one. Even the ‘Ha’ of Haykal, spoken of as a ‘sign’ or ‘token’ indicative of the Essence, is described as having been ‘made’ to be this way. “O First Letter of this Temple, betokening the Essence of Divinity [یا هآء الهویّة]! We have made thee the treasury…”. We recognize that having been ‘made’ is an attribute of created things, and cannot be applied to the Essence of Divinity itself. Instead, this device is used to express certain mysteries of this process; as a token, it stands in for the role of the Huwiyyah in the above depiction, but cannot be said to exhaust or encompass it by any means.

'Huwiyyah’ and the Haykal-Star in the Writings of the Báb

The above connection between ‘Há’ and Huwiyyah is further solidified in the Abjad (numerological) properties of the symbol of the five-pointed haykal-star and its key referent (Huwa).

Besides meaning temple and human form, Haykal is also the 5-pointed star, created by drawing intersecting straight 5 lines. The principle meaning of the Haykal as attested above in the Surah Haykal is the Manifestation of God in their appearance in the Human Form (picture the ‘Vitruvian Man, standing with all limbs outward, evoking a star). The overt value of the five-pointed star is 5, and this accords with the abjad value of the letter ‘Ha’ [=5], which begins the word ‘haykal’. When drawn out, the 5 lines of the haykal-star create 6 ‘inner chambers’. The letter ‘Waw’ has the abjad value 6. It indicates ‘Wahidiyyih’, or ‘inclusive Divine Unity’. With these taken together the symbol of the Haykal amounts to an expression of ‘Huwa’ (Ha + Waw = Huwa), and as a combination Huwiyyah + Wahidiyyah.

The Báb makes this symbolism explicit in Bayan 4:5 where He describes haykal stars in this exact manner (5 lines creating the star with 6 inner chambers).2 A complementary symbol is the “da’irah”, which are circle talismans composed of 6 concentric circles with 5 inner spaces (thus an inversion of the star). As mentioned, the Haykal principally symbolizes the human temple and the ‘Perfect Man’, e.g. the Manifestations of God. Circles symbolize the Sun of Truth directly.

‘He-ness’ and ‘I-ness’: Positionalities of Manifestation and the Profession of Divine Unity

Essential to the concept of ‘Huwiyyah’ is an inherent affirmation of Divine Unity (tawḥīd), on account of the omnipresent attestation ‘Huwa Allah’ (He is God!), found throughout the Qur’án and the Bahá’í Writings. All expressions of ‘the Divine Names’ can be expressed either with reference to Allah or exchanged with the phrase ‘He is’. Below, we see both:

“For Allah is your Guardian [mawlá’ikum, Lord, Master, Protector]. And He is [Hūwa] the All-Knowing, All-Wise.”"

وَٱللَّه مَوْلَىٰكُمْ ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلْعَلِيمُ ٱلْحَكِيمُ

- Qu’rán 66:2

“God is He [of Whom it is said], ‘No God is there except Him’, and no likeness is there like unto Him, for He is God, who holdeth sway over all things!

الله الّذي لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ لیس کمثله شيء و هو الله کان علی کلّ شيء قدیراً

- the Báb Qayyúm al-Asmá’, Surah 26:25, provisional translation by Aaron Ferguson

Embedded within this affirmation of ‘He is’ is the positionality of a subject other than ‘He’, attesting to Him.

This speaks to the primordial emergence of multiplicity in the origination of existence, the very determination entailing the possibility of an ‘I-thou’ or ‘subject-object’ dichotomy. When the Manifestation of God refers to God with respect to ‘He is’, as we see in the above excerpts from the Qu’rán and the Báb’s Qayyúm al-Asmá’, they are doing so with respect to themselves as Mirrors or Manifestations downstream of multiplicity and all ‘determination’ itself. ‘Huwa’ thus embeds within it an affirmation of the Ipseity [He] and Existence [Is] of the Inaccessible Reality. This is part of why Huwiyyah, as the abstract notion of Huwa, comes to refer primarily to the Hidden Essence and acts as an absolute attestation of Divine Singularity. It is also why it received frequent devotional contemplation, given the constancy of attesting ‘Huwa Allah’.

However, this attestation of ‘He is’ in Revelation is counterposed in very their own revelatory discourse when the Manifestations attest instead to their station of equivalence to the Godhead:

“…so then listen attentively to the Call of God: “Verily, I am God—No God is there but me! And I am the Most Exalted and have, of a certainty, ever been Great!”

فاستمع نداء الله إنّي أنا الله الّذي لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا أنا و أنا العليّ قد کنت کبیراً…

- the Báb Qayyúm al-Asmá’, Surah 110:4b, provisional translation by Aaron Ferguson

“He is God!”, [Hūwa Allah], besides whom there is none other! He indeed hath revealed unto my inmost Heart [causing me to utter], ‘I am indeed God, the True One (ana Allah al-haqq)!’ No God is there except Him...”

هو الله الّذي لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ هو قد أوحی إليّ إنّي أنا الله الحق لَآ إِلَـٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ

- the Báb, Qayyúm al-Asmá’, Surah 46:4a, provisional translation by Aaron Ferguson

This statement, ‘I am God, the True One’ is a statement that, outside the context of revelatory discourse, and except for the hypostatic union inherent to the ‘Greater Theophany’ that constitutes their Being, would constitute a violation of Divine Unity, since it posits self-similarity with the Divine. It calls to mind the ecstatic statement (“Ana al-Haqq” | “I am the True One”) that led to the execution of the 10th-century Baghdadi Sufi mystic Mansūr al-Hallāj. Does not such a statement, even more radical than that of al-Hallaj, contradict the prior statement by the Báb Himself, “no likeness is there like unto Him [God]”?

We’ve already considered the mystic path in the Seven Valleys above, involving as it does in the upper stages and ‘Stations’ of the journey the very dissolution of Names, of dichotomy, of multiplicity and separateness: “He seeth in himself neither name nor fame nor rank, but findeth his own praise in the praise of God, and in the name of God beholdeth his own…”. This is one hint towards how such a statement is possible.

But the mystery of the supreme relation of the Manifestation of God with Divinity is best explained by Bahá’u’lláh in the Kitáb-i-Íqán. Here, He discusses their station with respect to ‘essential unity, pure abstraction, and absolute servitude’. This provides them the capacity to utter Speech not just from the positionality of ‘Huwiyyah’ [He is] but also from the positionality of ‘I am’ [Aná]. We return to para. 106 cited above, which ends:

Further on, we see even more precise explication: that the reality of the Manifestation encompasses two stations, one of absolute unity, one of distinction:

“viewed from the standpoint of their oneness and sublime detachment, the attributes of Godhead, Divinity, Supreme Singleness, and Inmost Essence, have been and are applicable to those Essences of being [the Manifestations off God], inasmuch as they all abide on the throne of divine Revelation, and are established upon the seat of divine Concealment. Through their appearance the Revelation of God is made manifest, and by their countenance the Beauty of God is revealed. Thus it is that the accents of God Himself have been heard uttered by these Manifestations of the divine Being.”

However, “Viewed in the light of their second station—the station of distinction, differentiation, temporal limitations, characteristics and standards—they manifest absolute servitude, utter destitution and complete self-effacement. Even as He saith: “I am the servant of God. I am but a man like you.”

We can view this in the light of absolute ‘Servitude’ and in terms of Messengership:

“For they have been made manifest in the uttermost state of servitude, a servitude the like of which no man can possibly attain. Thus in moments in which these Essences of being were deeply immersed beneath the oceans of ancient and everlasting holiness, or when they soared to the loftiest summits of divine mysteries, they claimed their utterance to be the Voice of divinity, the Call of God Himself. Were the eye of discernment to be opened, it would recognize that in this very state, they have considered themselves utterly effaced and nonexistent in the face of Him Who is the All-Pervading, the Incorruptible. Methinks they have regarded themselves as utter nothingness, and deemed their mention in that Court an act of blasphemy. For the slightest whispering of self, within such a Court, is an evidence of self-assertion and independent existence. In the eyes of them that have attained unto that Court, such a suggestion is itself a grievous transgression. How much more grievous would it be, were aught else to be mentioned in that Presence, were man’s heart, his tongue, his mind, or his soul, to be busied with anyone but the Well-Beloved, were his eyes to behold any countenance other than His beauty, were his ear to be inclined to any melody but His voice, and were his feet to tread any way but His way….

By virtue of this station, they have claimed for themselves the Voice of Divinity and the like, whilst by virtue of their station of Messengership, they have declared themselves the Messengers of God.”

Hence, paradoxically, to solely maintain differentiation and counterposition of the ‘I’ from the ‘He’ of ‘He is’, even if only to attest ‘He is’, for such souls would actually be an unconscionable affirmation of self and of independent existence. Therefore, we find both statements in the Books of Revelation: ‘I am’ and ‘He is’, and the attribution of Divinity is what constitutes true piety and faithfulness from the position of the ‘Apex of Reality’.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions

the Essential Names and Attributes of God are identical with His Essence

the essential names and attributes of God are identical with His Essence, and His Essence is above all comprehension. If the attributes are not identical with the Essence, there must also be a multiplicity of preexistences, and differences between the attributes and the Essence must also exist; and as Preexistence is necessary, therefore, the sequence of preexistences would become infinite. This is an evident error.​

- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, No. 37 ‘The Connection between God and His Manifestations’

Other Traditions & Philosophies

The One in the Abyss, The Hidden All-Encompassing Essence of Neoplatonism

“...it is the outside, embracing all things, and the measure of all things. In fact, it is inside the abyss, and on the outside lies all that is reason and Intellect, touching it in a sort of circle, and dependent on it.”

- Plotinus, Ennead VI.8.18, Gerson p. 875

The One is Beyond ‘Substance’ and ‘Form’: The One is not graspable as a determinate ‘this’ [Huwa]

“Since the Substantiality (ousia) that is generated is form [...] the One is necessarily formless. And being without form, it is not Substance (ousia). For Substance must be a ‘this something”, and this is defined. But it is not possible to grasp the One as a “this”. For in that case it would no longer be a principle, but only that thing which you said was a ‘this”. But if all things are found within that which is generated, which among these will you say that the One is? Since it is no one of these, it can only be said to transcend them. These are Beings, that is, Being. It, therefore, transcends Being.”

- Plotinus, Enneads V.5.6.2

Archetypes within the One, the Analogy of the Center of the Circle as Generative of the Totality

Below we can take the ‘One’ to be indicative of the Inaccessible Essence, and the reference to ‘Intellect’ [Nous] as equivalent to ‘the Primal Will [Mashiyyah]’, aka the ‘First Creation/Emanation’ of ‘the One’.

“In this way, one should grasp that Intellect, that is, Being, which comes about from the Good, and is, in a way, poured out, and developed from it and depends on it, gives evidence by its intelligent nature of a sort of intellect in the One although this [One] is not Intellect, for it is one. Just as in the case of the circle, the centre is neither lines nor circle, but is the father of lines and circle, by giving traces of itself, and produces lines and circle with a persisting power; they come about from a kind of strength without being cut off from it at all. So, too, with the Good; it serves as the archetype of the image of itself, when the intellectual power is running around it, whereas Intellect comes about by being overcome by the many, and turning into the many Beings. The Good persists all the while its power generates Intellect.”

- Plotinus, Enneads VI.8.18, Gerson pp. 875-876

The Relationship of the Hidden Essence to the First Creation as being like the Light Source and the Intellect as Scattered Light

“For what is in the One is many times greater than what is, in a way, in Intellect. It is just as when light is scattered abroad from a single source, which in itself is luminous. The scattered light is an image, its source is the true original. The scattered image, Intellect, does not differ in form; it is not chance [AF: which is to say it is ‘Willful’], but each [element] in it is an expressed principle and a cause but the Good is the cause of this cause. It is, therefore, to a greater degree in a way more causal, indeed more truly a cause, since it contains all together the intelligible causes which are about to come to be from it. It is generative, not just as chance will have it but as it wants. Its wishing is not non-rational, nor is it arbitrary, and not forced on it, but as it ought to be, since nothing there is without purpose.”

- Plotinus, Enneads VI.8.18, Gerson p. 876

Conclusion

Ultimately, the analogy of the center of a circle and the circumference generated by it, and the analogy of the sun and its rays, are one and the same. Whenever we gaze upon the sun from the earth, we do indeed “see” the sun, and in a sense it is present to us; but we are actually far from its true Reality and occupy only a single position illuminated by the rays emanating from it, which alone present its reality to us. The sun is no more present to us than it is to any other similar vantage point. Through its rays, the sun produces a constant effusion that illuminates and ennervates everything its light reaches within a broad and expansive sphere—constituting a circle much like the point that generates every radius forming the circle of which it is the center.

From the perspective of differentiation, we can distinguish between the rays and the sun. But from the standpoint of Unity gazing upon the totality, the rays are nothing but the action and expression of the sun and can be regarded as equivalent to its essence as a giver of light. To look upon the sun at all is always to behold it through the instrumentality of its rays.

Finally, to the extent that the metaphor of the Sun is a vehicle for true understanding, a ‘Sign’ for understanding that which it signifies [the unreachable essence of Divinity], this is the same role played by the Manifestations of God. They are both to be taken as the Sun and as its rays. It is thus a nested metaphor. The Sun symbolizes the Hidden Essence, to be understood only via its emanations, its rays, equivalent to the Manifestations, who are the only way we experience and understand the Sun itself.

But the very fact that ‘the Sun’ is something ‘intelligible’, ‘referable’ at all, a sign of something signified, means that the Manifestations of God are also the Sun in this metaphor, because they are the furthest limit of all signification, the furthest limit of all experience. To be capable of considering such a thing with one’s inner sight or intellect brings with it intelligibility, but the essence signified here is neither reachable, nor intelligible. This evokes the same recursiveness in the discourse from the Surah Haykal: the Manifestations are described as both recipient of and substantiated by the Grace of Huwiyyah, but also then as Points of Origination and Return for all Creation. But as discursive expressions, these are but limited ‘tokens’, emblems, signifiers, not the signified.

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By the very fact I have these books I consider them all ‘worth having’ and recommendable; so I will also ‘rank’ each work on two scales. First, on ease of access: ‘accessible’ - ‘intermediate’ - ‘advanced’ - ‘traveller’s beware’. Second on a non-ordinal scale of ‘aspirational’ [e.g. I haven’t read or finished it yet], ‘an enjoyable read’ - ‘specialist interest’ - ‘essential knowledge [for it’s field/topic]’ - ‘life-changing’ - ‘world-changing’.

Stack I

In this stack: Islam, Islamic Philosophy & Sufism • Post-Structuralism, Anthropology, Marxism & Cultural Theory • Critical Theory • Enlightenment & Modernity • History of Drugs, Substance Use • Racism & Racial Justice • Sociology of Sexuality • Greek Philosophy & History • WWII & Holocaust Studies • History of Medicine & Social Determinants of Health • Latin American History, East Asian History

From Left to Right

1. Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci - Antonio Gramsci
Intermediate-Advanced. Essential Knowledge.

Antonio Gramsci (b. 1891) was an Italian socialist activist, journalist, and organizer who posthumously became one of the most notable Marxist cultural theorists and political philosophers. His ‘Prison Notebooks’ were written during his political imprisonment by the Fascist authorities in the interwar years, an imprisonment that ultimately led to his early death (d. 1937). It explores a more ‘sociological’ and organic reimagining of orthodox Marxist theory & philosophy through rich contemplation of the nature of ideology, accounts of the operations of power and social control, and an emphasis on ‘praxis’ in the dynamics of revolutionary politics. He introduces his pivotal concept of ‘hegemony’, which has become enormously influential in cultural and political analysis broadly, beyond just the confines of Marxist thought.

2. Sadr al-Din Shirazi and His Transcendent Theosophy – Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Accessible. Enjoyable read.

A scholarly study and introduction of Mulla Sadra’s metaphysical system that unites philosophy, theology, and mysticism within Islamic thought. Seyyed Hossein Nasr is one of the most influential modern Islamic philosophers, a prolific thinker, whose notable corpus includes an extremely valuable translation of the Qu’ran (the Study Qur’an, perhaps the best scholarly English version, introduced here). SH Nasr’s works include a range of translations of classical texts in Islamic philosophy but also a wealth of innovative contributions of his own. In this work, Nasr provides an accessible scholarly introduction to the transcendentalist philosophy of Mulla Sadra, perhaps the most important Islamic philosopher of the past 4 centuries. This work is among the earliest studies of Mulla Sadra in English, igniting interest in the West about Sadrian philosophy. Highly recommended for anyone who wants an accessible introduction, especially if you’re not prepared to read the primary texts.

3. Islam and the Plight of Modern Man – Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Accessible. Enjoyable read.

Over the past centuries there has been an uneasy political, intellectual, and spiritual relationship between Islam and so-called ‘modernity’ (really, European ‘Enlightenment’ and its global political and epistemic hegemony). This has provoked a great number of diverse internal reflections and responses within the Islamic community on the influence of European modernity, anxieties the ‘clash of civilizations’, historical conflicts, and attempts to situate or re-envision Islamic civilization within a new era. In this work, Seyyed Hossein Nasr makes his own contribution to this tradition by critiquing the spiritual emptiness of modern secularism, recovering a uniquely Islamic anthropology, and calling for a revival of sacred knowledge rooted in the Islamic tradition.

4. Ideals and Realities of Islam – Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Accessible. Enjoyable read.

Another work by SH Nasr. Nasr, alongside such figures as Henry Corbin, was particularly influential in reinvigorating (or establishing in truth) the presence of Islamic thought within the Western academy. Nasr’s 1960s “Three Muslim Sages”, for instance, was for a time the main or only source of introduction for many to Ibn Sina, Suhrawardi, and Ibn ‘Arabi. It remains a worthwhile and accessible read even though superseded by other works since. “Ideals and Realities of Islam” is a collection of thematic essays that introduce the intellectual, spiritual, and ethical foundations of Islam, with a perennialist leaning, given Nasr’s role as a leading figure within the “Traditionalist School”. As one sees from actually studying his thought, some features of Nasr’s “perennialist view of Islam”, if we can call it that, are not so much ‘perennialist’ as they are integral to what Islam is, and further to this, what the Baha’i Faith is [more on this in future essays]. As a result, it will be deeply familiar and consonant in many ways for Baha’i readers. But it will also challenge those who’ve adopted certain diminutive or exclusivist views of Islam.

5. American Epidemic: Reporting from the Front Lines of the Opioid Crisis – edited by John McMillian
Accessible. Enjoyable.

A collection of journalistic accounts examining the human and systemic dimensions of America’s opioid epidemic, especially in some of its worst years throughout the 2000s and 2010s. Its articles touch on the drug war, addiction, first responders, the paramedics, the addicts, the toll on families, and impacts on the medical system as a whole.

6. The Autobiography of Malcolm X – as told to Alex Haley
Accessible. Life Changing.

The life story of Malcolm X, tracing his transformation from street hustler to his conversion into a revolutionary pastoral leader of American black Islam, and then to one of the most powerful voices for Black liberation, anti-racism, and human rights. I was introduced to this work in high school by my freshman year English teacher and I’ve never stopped thinking about it since. It’s one of the most valuable single books you can read to blow the lid off the conventional discussion of racism in America and awaken you to the realities of racial hatred, reflections on liberation. It is one of the most common books I’ve gifted/recommended, especially to youth. But really every person in America should read this book and reflect on it.

7. The Struggle for Europe – William I. Hitchcock
Intermediate. Specialist Interest.

A comprehensive history of how Europe rebuilt itself politically and economically after World War II amid Cold War tensions. First read during my undergraduate sophomore year, it is an immensely rigorous and well-written. History is essential to understanding the present, and all the more so should one have an understanding of the most immediate and major movements within the history of the past century. If you want an advanced perspective on contemporary developments, works like this are indispensable.

8. Islands of History – Marshall Sahlins
Intermediate. Specialist Interest.

A landmark anthropological work that examines the interplay between culture, history, and human agency, particularly in Polynesian societies. I read this work while developing my emphasis on Pacific history in undergraduate, an emphasis that eventually motivated my history thesis on American imperialism in the Samoan Islands. This work was an extremely influential theoretical foundation for me, and Marshall Sahlins is one of the most creative thinkers in historical anthropology in the past century.

9. Pain and Profits: The History of the Headache and Its Remedies in America - Jan R. McTavish
Intermediate. Specialist Interest.

A work in the history of medicine that focuses on professionalization of doctors and the consolidation of their authority, the rise of the pharmaceutical industry, and the emergence of mass production of drugs. These are explored through the lens of the headache and its varying medical treatments as a case study to explore the rise of modern drugs & medicine and the historical & sociological consequences of medicalization and pharmaceuticalization.

10. Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul’s School – Shamus Rahman Khan
Accessible. Enjoyable read.

An ethnographic study revealing how elite education reproduces class privilege in modern America. Excellent reading for understanding the ‘sociology of elites’ and wealth inequality. One of the critical oversights in research that this book corrects is the emphasis on poverty and the conditions and causes thereof, absent of an account of and sociology of the wealthy, the nature of ‘elite reproduction’, the consolidation of the wealthy class, and the social, political, and economic capital they wield to maintain the status quo and reinforce social inequality. Shamus Khan’s work here is a superb testament of the power of ethnographic research to uncover rich qualitative perspectives on under-examined dimensions of social reality.

11. The Age of Surveillance Capitalism – Shoshana Zuboff

Accessible-Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

This 2019 work is a major critique of how a new class of corporations exploit personal data to shape behavior and consolidate power in the digital age. In this work, Shoshana Zuboff provides one of the first major foundational perspectives on a new economic order rooted in the rise of the digital economy, the tech industry, and the consequent reshaping of the dynamics of capitalism via a new producer-consumer and market imperatives. This book builds on her prior 2015 article Big other: Surveillance Capitalism and the Prospects of an Information Civilization. Surveillance capitalism is “a new economic order capitalizing on the raw human experience” as its essential material. Combining scientific methods of extraction, ‘dark patterns’ of hidden commercial extraction, prediction, and a “global architecture of behavioral modification”; reliant on mathematics and a system-assemblage of hyper-connected technologies enmeshed in the fabric of social, collective life in such a way that enables it to harvest previously unobtainable dimensions of human life and convert it into knowledge-power. It is by nature extremely pervasive, and extremely persuasive.

“Just as industrial capitalism was driven to the continuous intensification of the means of production, so surveillance capitalists and their market players are now locked into the continuous intensification of the means of behavioral modification and the gathering might of instrumentarian power.”

Since its release its reflections have only become more relevant in the face of ongoing digitalization, the proliferation of consumer AI, and capital accumulation within the elite companies of the tech industry.

12. The Interpretation of Cultures – Clifford Geertz
Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

A collection of essays that defines the interpretive approach to anthropology, emphasizing “thick description” and meaning in cultural practices. T

13. The Histories – Herodotus
Accessible. Essential Knowledge.

Alongside Thucydides, Herodotus’s ‘the Histories’ is among the earliest known works of Western history and historiography, chronicling the Greco-Persian Wars and diverse customs of the ancient world. It is often (fortunately and unfortunately) the only available source on certain topics. I love reading this book in bed before falling asleep, as the depictions it shares of the ancient world are absolutely fascinating and stimulating to the imagination.

14. The Social Construction of Sexuality – Steven Seidman
Accessible. Enjoyable read.

A great introductory work to the sociology of sexuality, that complicates simplistic and reductionist views of gender and sexuality as mere accidents of biology. This work explores the sociologic underpinnings of how sexual identities and norms are produced through social, historical, and political processes.

15. Dialectic of Enlightenment – Max Horkheimer & Theodor W. Adorno
Intermediate. World Changing.

A cornerstone of critical theory arguing that Enlightenment rationality, when turned instrumental, leads to domination and barbarism. Adorno & Horkheimer, reflecting on the supposed ‘promises’ of the Enlightenment project and their anthesis in the horrific consequences of WWII and the holocaust set out for themselves the task of “nothing less than the discovery of why mankind, instead of entering into a truly human condition, is sinking into a new kind of barbarism.” This pioneering work contemplates the very self-destruction of the Enlightenment, collapsing under the weight of its own internal contradictions. Their effort was intended to ameliorate these incoherences through vigorous critique of the foundations and intrinsic contradictions of modernity, in an attempt to free it from blind domination, through the emergence of new notions of Enlightenment and understandings of culture and ideology. Horkheimer would later introduce the foundations of ‘Critical Theory’, and both Horkheimer and Adorno laid the foundations for many of the most transformative intellectual projects of the late 20th century. This work still remains an essential read and is largely unanswered in the critiques it levies against the Enlightenment. Many of the self-contradictions they lay out are still coming to fruition today.

16. The First Philosophers: The Presocratics and the Sophists – translated by Robin Waterfield
Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

Presents key fragments and ideas from the earliest Greek thinkers (Parmenides, Zeno, Anaxagoras, Heraclitus, Thales, Empedocles, etc.) who laid the groundwork for Greek philosophy and later Western thought. The Presocratics are often unfairly dismissed in favor of the certainly magnificent philosophical contributions of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. And while that trio certainly deserves the influence and preeminence, the so-called ‘Presocratics’ have extremely important and fascinating contributions of their own that deserve more attention and greater status than a mere footnote ‘prelude’ to Socrates. Most notably, in my view, are (1) Empedocles and his synthesis of elemental cosmology and concepts of the supraordinate principles of love-order and strife-chaos, as well as (2) Parmenides and his foundational work in ‘ontology’, the study of existence itself or ‘being qua being’.

17. The Sublime Object of Ideology* – Slavoj Žižek
Advanced. Essential Knowledge.

Slavoj Žižek is a provocative and original thinker and “The Sublime Object of Ideology” is widely regarded as his most exemplary work. He contemplates the movement of ideology in history and its role as a ‘sublime’ and structuring influence on human desire and belief. He does so through a tour-de-force reimagining of Marxist theory via a merger with Lacanian psychoanalysis, touching on Hegel and many other prominent dialectical and critical thinkers of the past two centuries. No summary of this work or Žižek himself can really do justice, he just needs to be experienced.

18. Americanos: Latin America’s Struggle for Independence – John Charles Chasteen
Accessible. Specialist Interest.

A vivid narrative history of the revolutions that ended colonial rule across Latin America in the early 19th century. Provides a broad overview of colonialism in the Americas that is essential for understanding the nature of imperialism and the enduring influence of these political structures on contemporary society.

19. The History of Sexuality, Vol. 2: The Use of Pleasure – Michel Foucault
Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

The second volume of Foucault’s four-part “The History of Sexuality”, exploring how ancient Greek ethics shaped modern conceptions of self and desire. There are few works on the philosophy of sexuality that are as generative as this multipart series of Foucault.

Foucault is a polarizing figure, often loved, often vigorously hated. I find his thought enduring and fascinating, even as I regularly disagree with his underlying premises or some of his perspectives on society. Yet you should not believe anyone who charges him with the ‘crime’ of obscurantism. His work is challenging, and his style packed with creativity, truly novel ideas, and ones that are often persuasive. This has earned Foucault a status as one of the most cited social philosophers (but also earned him deserved and undeserved critique). Whatever your disagreements, there is a core substance to his thought worth considering, even if you eventually deny his points or disagree with his political project and its consequences.

20. The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History, 1500-1900 by Rudi Mathee
Intermediate. Specialist Interest.

Iranian historiography has had a preponderant focus on poetry, religion, & geopolitics, aspects of a purported immaterial romantic ‘essence’ of Iran. Matthee shifts away from these focuses, emphasizing otherwise undiscussed elements of Iranian history. The materiality of drugs and stimulants as commodities takes center stage as he traces the historical development of Iranian ideas of taste, pleasure, status, acceptability, and respectability in relation to these substances. In doing so he seeks to reveal significant aspects of Iranian society through the ‘prism’ of drugs and stimulants (in this case, opium, alcohol, coffee, & tobacco). He sees this approach as eliciting a ‘dialogue between their status as a part of material culture - as concrete, tangible consumables with a physical working - and the array of meanings Iranian’s have attached to them over a period of four hundred years...”.

This work is an outcome of the broader trend of ‘Commodity Histories’ a la the anthropologist Sidney Mintz and his seminal work “Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History” [see a future post on another shelf]. Yet unlike some works in this historiographical trend, the foundation is rigorous, the implications powerful, and the light it sheds on underexamined aspects of Iranian history outside the dominating influence of art, aesthetics, religion (and most recently geopolitical conflicts) makes it an invaluable contribution to Iranian historiography.


21. The Politics of the Veil* – Joan Wallach Scott
Accessible. Enjoyable read.

Examines France’s ‘headscarf’ controversy as a lens into gender, secularism, and the politics of identity in modern democracies. These debates are still raging 20 years later and still fall into many of the pitfalls and traps that this book sought to identify and correct, hence it is still worth a read.

22. Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland – Jan T. Gross
Accessible. Life-changing.

A haunting investigation into the 1941 massacre of Jews by their Polish neighbors, challenging national narratives of WWII innocence. There are few books that pierce your soul as thoroughly as this one does. Giving new and horrifying insights into human nature, particularly the transition from common neighborliness into bloodthirsty and rapacious genocide, this book will stir you to your core as you consider the truth that ‘if it happened there, it can happen anywhere’.

23. Amerika Samoa…

24. A History of East Asia: From the Origins of Civilization to the Twenty-First Century – Charles Holcombe
Accessible. Enjoyable read.

A valuable sweeping survey of East Asian history, emphasizing the interconnected cultural and political sphere of ‘East Asia’, via the histories of China, Korea, Japan, and beyond. If you want a single introductory work to cover gaps in your historical and cultural understanding of this major and important region of the world, this is a great place to turn to.

25. Latin America in Colonial Times – Matthew Restall & Kris Lane
Accessible. Specialist interest.

Another excellent and detailed history of Latin America under Spanish and Portuguese rule, highlighting indigenous resilience and colonial transformations.

26. Maladies of Empire: How Colonialism, Slavery, and War Transformed Medicine – Jim Downs
Accessible. Enjoyable read.

A valuable work that breaks new ground the interconnection of colonial and military enterprises in the age of imperialism and how these shaped the foundations of modern medicine and epidemiology.

27. The Saddlebag: A Fable for Doubters and Seekers – Bahiyyih Nakhjavani
Accessible. Enjoyable read.

A mystical novel set in the 19th century, weaving together intersecting lives touched by a mysterious saddlebag and contemplating spiritual transformation and transcendence in the midst of the accidents of life. It is inspired by a brief episode of a stolen saddlebag of sacred writings described in “The Dawn-Breakers” the pre-eminent narrative history of the origins of the Babi and Baha’i Faiths.

I hope you enjoyed this article from Lamp of Search. Substack is a platform for supporting independent media, often through subscriptions. Lamp of Search is envisioned as a collaborative platform for Baháʼí scholarship. If you wish to reach out to make guest contributions please do so.

If you wish to directly support my work here I have a public “wish list” of scholarly books that would advance for my intellectual projects. You can also metaphorically ‘buy me a coffee’ through Ko-Fi, a peer-to-peer ‘tipping’ platform. Any contributions are appreciated and help sustain my work.

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What is knowledge and what does it mean to know? What is the relationship between knowledge and the ‘knower’? What types of knowledge are there? How do we distinguish between truth and falsehood? What is ‘truth’ and is their knowledge that is ‘fruitless’? What is rational or scientific knowledge and what is ‘self-knowledge’, wisdom, and ‘Revelation’?

Questions of this nature concerning what it means to ‘know’, the significance of knowledge for the ‘knower’, the types of knowledge, and indeed one’s whole theory of knowledge; these are all part of a branch of philosophy known as ‘epistemology’.

The foundations of epistemology in the West are rooted in Greek thought, especially Platonic and Aristotelian philosophy. Plato (d. 347BCE), the famed Greek philosopher made many of the most decisive early contributions and he remains one of the most pivotal thinkers in world history. His pupil Aristotle (d. 322BCE), himself a titan of philosophy in his own right, made similarly impactful contributions to the systematization of knowledge, opening a discourse on the nature of knowledge itself that continues to this day.

Although epistemology is most often considered the domain of philosophy, the nature of knowledge and being a ‘knowing individual’ have been an inseparable part of the great religions, spiritual traditions, and world faiths rooted far back into antiquity.1 Whether in the philosophical traditions they gave rise to, or in their revelatory texts and mystic practices, the themes of ‘self-knowledge’, wisdom and ‘knowledge of the sacred’ are each of supreme importance and weighty contributions have been made in this critical area of thought. Many of these contributions were made even before the birth of formal philosophy, or were generative of philosophical investigations that followed, prior to the sequestering of epistemology as one of the formal branches of philosophical thought.

In this article, we will explore a contribution to epistemological thought by the hand of Siyyid `Alí Muḥammad Shírází, best known by His title ‘the Báb’ [meaning the Gate]. In the excerpt we will review, the Báb makes a fascinating reference to Plato in the course of an exposition that strikes at the heart of epistemology in the Bábi and Bahá’í Faiths. This excerpt comes from a chapter (6:1) of the Báb’s magnum opus, the Persian Bayán, and offers us a foundational distinction between ‘true knowledge’ and ‘knowledge which does not bear fruit’. It also explores the value of rational discursive knowledge compared to another, higher form of knowledge, what we could call ‘gnostic’ recognition or ‘true understanding’.

In this discourse, the Báb fittingly mentions Plato in a way reminiscent to how the name ‘Einstein’ has in our time become a generic stand-in for archetypal ‘Genius’ or a titanic intellect of the age. What is unique about this reference is that it is one of only two identified direct references2 to a Greek philosopher that I’ve yet found in the Writings of the Báb, who generally does not make direct reference to philosophers (with a few notable exceptions, more on this below).

Given Plato’s influence, which in the Islamic world and the Baha’i Faith amounts to status as a ‘divine philosopher’, it is perhaps not a surprise that his name would be mentioned in an exposition that explores questions related to epistemology. However, as we will see, this unique reference of the Báb’s fits alongside what we may consider a fundamental criterion for an epistemology rooted in the Bahá’i Revelation.

About the Persian Bayán

Totaling some 8,000 verses and over 106,000 words, the Persian Bayán is the masterwork of the Báb, declared by Him as His "conclusive proof for all created things" and described as the “Mother Book”. The Persian Bayán, due to its depth, length, and the circumstances of its revelation, is a work of scripture unique in religious world history. It was composed in the third and fourth year of His ministry during imprisonment in the remote mountain fortresses of Mah-ku and later Chihriq, a period where He scarcely had a lamp to light His dark prison cell. Yet His pen poured out copiously during this period.

The Bayán is the Supreme Text of the Báb and a wide-spanning exposition of the fundamental verities of spiritual reality, human nature, spiritual hermeneutics, the nature of Divinity, and more. The Bayán reveals and explicates the laws and ethics to guide His Dispensation, casting a new vision of personal life and the life of society, simultaneously abrogating and fulfilling the religions of the past. What is more astounding is that even as it promulgates these laws and ethics, the Bayán simultaneously announces and prophesies its own imminent abrogation and fulfillment in the immediate future, in the person of the Babi Promised One, known as ‘He Whom God shall make Manifest’. This Figure is referred to hundreds upon hundreds of times throughout the text and is the centerpiece of almost every concept, ordinance, and theme found in the text. This context is critical for understanding the conceptualization of epistemology we will see below.

A Plato of the Age

What follows is my provisional translation (meaning unofficial and reflecting only my own understanding) of an excerpt from the Persian Bayán, Váhid VI, báb 1 (Book 6, Chapter 1):

“Strive, to the utmost limits of endeavor, on the Day of the Manifestation of Truth [e.g. He Whom God shall make manifest, the Promised One of the Báb] not to vehemently oppose Him with His own Words [e.g. the Bayán], inasmuch as the whole of the Bayán is but the Word of His very own Manifestation that precedeth Him and He is more knowledgeable in whatsoever He hath revealed than all men, for the spirit [or essence] of the whole [Bayán] is within His grasp.

And in His sight all are as naught but a mere shadow unless they are firmly established in the Truth [al-haqq]. Otherwise, they are not worthy of mention!

For in this day even if one became a 'Plato of the age' in every science, if he affirms [tasdiq] not the Truth [al-haqq, the Manifestation], will his knowledge bear any fruit? Nay, Gracious God! Rather, for him, it would not truly be knowledge at all.”

*Persian Bayán, Váhid 6:1, provisional translation from Persian by AJRF

* An alternative translation of the portion of the above excerpt is also covered in Velasco in 'Fixing the Gaze: Reflections on "The Order of Bahá'u'lláh' in the Báb's Persian Bayan', 2006)

* Special thanks to Mohammad Norozi for offering helpful feedback on the translation.

A Brief Commentary on Epistemology in the Bab’s Writings and More About Váhid VI, báb 1

We’ve already said above that ‘He Whom God shall make Manifest’ is a Figure referred to hundreds upon hundreds of times throughout the text. Almost every concept, ordinance, and theme found in the text pivots around the coming arrival of this Figure.

“…Day of the Manifestation of Truth…”

This is one such instance. The Báb frequently refers to this Figure by the appellation Manifestation of ‘al-Haqq’ (the Truth). A useful way to think about the presence of this Figure in the theoretics of the Bayán is via the analogy of a pivot, axis, or apex. This Figure, and more generally the role of the Manifestation of God, is the axis around which every other matter ultimately revolves. The Day of the Appearance of Manifestation of this figure is the Day where the Truth itself is made manifest.

“…not to vehemently oppose Him with His own Words…” … “as the whole of the Bayán is but the Word of His very own Manifestation that precedeth Him”

The opening of this passage touches on the quintessential theme of the Báb’s concept of religious unity and the succession of religions: the Truth and Fruit of every prior Revelation reaches its fulfillment in the Person and Revelation of the Manifestation who succeeds it.

This does not apply merely to the relationship betwen His own Revelation and those that preceeded Him. Uniquely, the Báb as the very revealer of the Bayán is openly declaring that its true fruition is truly with the Promised One who follows Him. He subjugates the entirety of the Bayán as being within His grasp and affirms Him as the one “more knowledgeable” in it than all others. This is why He declares that the people should not contest with Him regarding the Bayán, for the Bayán is naught but His own Revelation, and His knowledge encompasses it completely. In other words, due to the essential unity of all Manifestations, each Revelation is the outpouring of Their own Knowledge and an expression of the Reality of Their own Essence.

The tragic drama that the Báb alludes to by mention of “vehemently oppose Him”, a drama He discusses extensively elsewhere, is that upon their Appearance, the people attempt to justify their denial of the Manifestation using Their very own words, in effect elevating their own particular knowledge over the universal knowledge accessible to those Exalted Souls.

Stopping here we already have a potent theme for reflection on the nature of the knowledge achievable about Scripture, informing our approach to its hermeneutics [e.g. manner of interpretation], and understanding of the nature of Divine Theophany (Manifestationhood).

However, the Báb takes this even a step further, which catapults us into a whole different way of thinking about knowledge as a whole, offering a criterion for epistemologic certitude itself. It is not just that our knowledge of Divine Scripture and spiritual wisdom that is subsidiary to Theirs, but all knowledge in totality.

He continues:

“even if one became a ‘Plato of the age’ in every science [‘ilm],3 if he affirms [tasdiq] not the Truth [al-haqq, the Manifestation], will his knowledge bear any fruit? Nay, Gracious God! Rather, for him, it would not truly be knowledge at all.”

As mentioned, the character of this reference to Plato is akin to how ‘Einstein’ is used colloquially in our era, speaking to the (deserved) preeminence of Plato in history of thought. The Báb draws on this to emphasize the core point fully: no matter one’s preeminence, no matter one’s attainment to whatever heights of knowledge in any or every field, the end or outcome (‘fruit’) of their knowledge revolves ultimately around the Criterion of Truth established by the Manifestation of that very Truth their knowledge relates to, Truth being the chief aim of knowledge. He declares that any such knowledge, bereft of the critical act of recognition of the one He calls elsewhere the very “Point of Truth”, does not actually amount to true knowledge, a startlingly bold epistemic proclamation.

We can discern three matters for consideration with respect to epistemology that form the crux of this idea:

• the universal relationship of all souls to the Manifestations of God as the Unfolders of God’s Wisdom and the successive Appearance of these Figures in each age

• the Peerless Knowledge they possess and express in their Scripture (here the Bayán), by which all other truth and validity of all other knowledge is ascertained

• the ultimate aim of the human being, which is to say the very purpose in the light of which we weigh whether the Knowledge we attain bears fruit or whether it falters.

Each of these merits a full-fledged exploration, which we will save for another day. For now, we will close with that immortal opening passage from of Bahá’u’lláh’s Kitáb-i-Íqán that epitomizes each of these points woven together in full:

“…they that tread the path of faith, they that thirst for the wine of certitude, must cleanse themselves of all that is earthly—their ears from idle talk, their minds from vain imaginings, their hearts from worldly affections, their eyes from that which perisheth. They should put their trust in God, and, holding fast unto Him, follow in His way. Then will they be made worthy of the effulgent glories of the sun of divine knowledge and understanding, and become the recipients of a grace that is infinite and unseen, inasmuch as man can never hope to attain unto the knowledge of the All-Glorious, can never quaff from the stream of divine knowledge and wisdom, can never enter the abode of immortality, nor partake of the cup of divine nearness and favor, unless and until he ceases to regard the words and deeds of mortal men as a standard for the true understanding and recognition of God and His Prophets.

On Philosophy & Philosophers in the Bábi and Bahá’i Revelation

I have said above that the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh tended not to make direct reference to philosophers in their Writings, although these are often replete with themes that intersect and have direct concordance with those of the philosophers. Bahá’u’lláh is slightly more forthcoming in some of His works on the topic of certain venerable philosophers, most notably “the Divine Plato” and other Greek philosophers whom He deeply praised (see the Lawh-i-Hikmat, or ‘Tablet of Wisdom’). This opens an interesting question of why, given the resonance of philosophy with their Writings, they tended not to engage with philosophers this way?

One level of this relates to the Writings of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh as ‘Revelatory’ and the very nature of the knowledge they possess as ‘Manifestations’. In that their Word is, as they attest, the Word of God, it involves Speech aimed at the most universal and fundamental levels of Reality and Knowledge as such. While they variously ‘descend’ at times to different levels of discourse (whether philosophical, ethical, personal, narrative, prayer, or even poetic) they are not especially focused on such matters as extensive direct references to philosophers and ‘copious citations’ of the intellectual tradition. It is not their direct purpose, at least generally.

Even still, the language of, and even terminology deployed in, the Writings is at times directly rooted in that of philosophical discourse, even when certain figures are not directly mentioned by name.4 At other times, they are of a markedly different style and mode altogether and don’t directly concern philosophical topics. This ‘multimodality’ should be seen as dimensions of what makes up the diverse hues of the totality of Revelation as a mode of discourse and epistemic phenomenon.5 The flexibility and multimodality is also a signal of their ‘universal potency’. If we were to situate Revelation with respect to epistemology or philosophy as a whole, we would consider the former as generative of the latter. This accords with the depth of its truth claims.

Further, as the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh each make specific claims to direct communion with a higher Source, they consequently disclaim their Knowledge as being sourced from instruction in ‘human knowledge’ and sciences (refer to the above quote from the Iqán). Were they constantly conversant with philosophers and their work—indeed, as the philosophers themselves are—this would belie the origin of their Knowledge, which is definitionally and phenomenologically transcendent by comparison. Despite this, the Writings do remain deeply philosophical and relevant to many of the same subjects treated by philosophers, as the brief commentary on epistemology in this excerpt hopefully makes evident. They simply approach those same topics from a distinctive vantage point with Their own intent and positionality, to our benefit.

One final dimension worth mentioning is that Revelation not just the receipt of dialogue by the figure of the Manifestation from ‘On High’, but is also an unfolding dialogue between Them and humanity, in their particular setting. Hence, their language is to a degree conditioned in accordance with our needs. Just as they communicate to us in a particular historico-linguistic context, they also converse with respect to the branches of human knowledge, including the philosophical. So we shouldn’t be surprised to find they express themselves in rich philosophical language, or even with direct recourse to one or another philosopher when the occasion demands.

Indeed, the philosophical language of the Bahá’i Writings is redolent with terms and concepts that have their origin in the philosophies of such figures as Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, and Ibn ‘Arabi, to name a few.6 This is in part due to the vigorous uptake of Greek philosophical thought within the Islamic world, but also can be taken as a broad confirmation of and deep correspondence of Bahá’i thought with certain fundamental philosophical concepts found in those intellectual traditions. In Islamic philosophy this foundational basis in Greek thought is often called falsafah, a direct loan word from the original Greek ‘philosophía’. However, what we know more broadly as ‘Islamic philosophy’ is more often known through the indigenous Arabic term ‘al-hikmah’ or ‘Wisdom’ (hence the naming of the Lawh-i-Hikmat), a broader concept which more organically ties ‘philosophical’ thought to the Word of God, divine knowledge, and sage-like spiritual perfection as seen in the well-known passage of the Qur’án:

“He grants wisdom [al-hikmah] to whoever He wills.” - Q2:269

In light of the prior points about the situation of ‘Revelation’ (1) being generative of philosophy, and (2) being a source of universal potency, we can expect that in addition to the ‘broad confirmation’ & endorsement of certain philosophical ideas and concepts we find in the Writings, we will also undoubtedly encounter many correctives and repudiations of others in turn. As we see in the arc of prior religions, such as Islam and the rise of Islamic philosophy in the centuries after Qur’an, we can expect that the philosophical life of the Baha’i Community will unfold over time, engaging deeply with various intellectual traditions. However, given the depth and expansiveness of the Bahá’i Revelation, this will be a process that interfaces with the entire span of human thought across cultures and time periods, not just one segment of it. Likewise, it will move beyond mere engagement and into the realm of holistic reoriention in light of the new social, theological, civilizational, and metaphysical horizons offered by the Writings.

More About Váhid VI, báb 1

This moderate-length chapter concerns a number of topics such as the arrangement or “Order” [nazm] of the Bayán, metacommentaries on the Báb’s typological divisions of His Writings, and epistemology. The overt topic relates is the Báb’s division of His Writings in ‘Five Modes’ of Revelation (Panj Sha’n), but the gate is threaded through with a number of interrelated topics that connect it with unfolding themes found throughout the rest of the Bayán. The gate opens with a title verse on the overt topic in Arabic, stating:

The first gate of the sixth unity: On that the Order of the Bayán [Nazm-i-Bayán] should not exceed 19 volumes in composition. In the first three, verses [áyát], the following four, prayers [munáját], the next six for interpretations [tafasir], and six [finally] in the manner of scientific expositions [sawwar al-'ilmiyya]. The gates [al-abwab] thereof shall each one [span between] nineteen [al-wahid] and two thousand and one [2001] [al-Mustagháth]. And all should have a small book containing at least 1,000 verses [of the Bayán]... "

*Persian Bayán, Vahid 6:1, provisional translation from Arabic by Aaron Ferguson

In addition to the passage highlighted in the excerpt above, the chapter offers further hermeneutic and epistemological contributions. One of these includes a passage provisionally translated by Nader Saiedi in ‘Gate of the Heart’. Here, the Báb instructs believers to apprise themselves of the entirety of His Revelation as one coherent whole, and consistently expresses that no part of it should become a ‘veil’ or hindrance to any other.

"Say! Gain ye certitude in that which God hath revealed in the Bayān. For understanding the Bayān is dependent on understanding the totality of its revelation from beginning to end. For that which was revealed first is based on the Qur'anic laws; only later were the true measures of the Dispensation of the Bayān manifested. Neither be ye shrouded from the later writings by the earlier writings, nor fix your eyes merely on the later writings and ignore the earlier ones . . . Yet, the later the revelation of the writings, the more manifest is the divine intention therein. Verily, all the Bayān is the word of the Point of Truth." (Persian Bayan 6:1, provisional translation by Saiedi, GoH, p. 240)

A few other translated excerpts from this chapter and discussion of its themes may be found in Fixing the Gaze: Reflections on “The Order of Bahá’u’lláh” in the Báb’s Persian Bayan by Ismael Velasco.

Further Reading

• Studies in Baha’i Epistemology: Essays and Commentary, ed. Mikhail Sergeev

• Bahá'í Ontology, Part One: An Initial Reconnaissance by Ian Kluge

• Bahá'í Ontology, Part Two: Further Explorations by Ian Kluge

• The Quantum State Function, Platonic Forms, and the Ethereal Substance: Reflections on the Potential of Philosophy to Contribute to the Harmony of Science and Religion by Vahid Ranjbar (who also writes on Substack here)

• The Archeology of the Kingdom of God by Jean-Marc Lepain

• Neoplatonism and the Bahá'í Writings, Part 1 by Ian Kluge

• Justifying God: Socrates and Plato’s Republic by John Hatcher

6

cf. Ian Kluge’s work in ‘Further Reading’ for a comprehensive exploration relevant to Plato.

I hope you enjoyed this article from Lamp of Search. Substack is a platform for supporting independent media, often through subscriptions. Lamp of Search is envisioned as a collaborative platform for Baháʼí scholarship. If you wish to reach out to make guest contributions please do so.

If you wish to directly support my work here I have a public “wish list” of scholarly books that would advance for my intellectual projects. You can also metaphorically ‘buy me a coffee’ through Ko-Fi, a peer-to-peer ‘tipping’ platform. Any contributions are appreciated and help sustain my work.

‘Librarium’ is a series to catalogue books in my collection and expose the invaluable written works that have brought joy, illumination, and otherwise enriched the ‘vita contemplativa’. They will range from well-known to the obscure, from fiction to historical, anthropological, philosophical, religious, scientific, and miscellaneous works. Each post will showcase approximately one ‘shelf’, share the titles and authors, offer a short description, and my impressions of the value I’ve found in it.

By the very fact I have these books I consider them all ‘worth having’ and recommendable; so I will also ‘rank’ each work on two scales. First, on ease of access: ‘accessible’ - ‘intermediate’ - ‘advanced’ - ‘traveller’s beware’. Second on a non-ordinal scale of ‘aspirational’ [e.g. I haven’t read or finished it yet], ‘an enjoyable read’ - ‘specialist interest’ - ‘essential knowledge [for it’s field/topic]’ - ‘life-changing’ - ‘world-changing’.

Shelf I

On this shelf: Manuscripts • Bahá’í Studies • Islamic Philosophy & Sufism • the Qu’rán • Bahá’í Writings • Commonplace Journal • Hermeticism • Gnosticism

From Left to Right

1. Linen archival box

   • Handmade, gift from my grandmother containing: (a) leafs from an early 1900s atlas, (2) miscellaneous leaves from 19th c. Persian manuscripts, (3) miscellaneous 19th c. etchings/engravings of locations related to the Bahá’í Faith (Haifa, Akká, Istanbul)

2. حضرت باب (Ḥaḍrat-i Báb), by Nosratollah Mohammadhosseini

   Intermediate. Essential knowledge.

   • Persian Language only. The most comprehensive book on the life, Writings, Teachings, and notable persons of the Báb’s Dispensation.

3. Sufism and Taoism: A Comparative Study of Key Philosophical Concepts by Toshihiko Izutsu

   Advanced. Life-changing.

   • A groundbreaking comparative study of Ibn ʿArabī’s mystical metaphysics with Taoism, principally via Lao Tzu, exploring how both traditions articulate unity and the ineffability of the Absolute.

4. The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary, by Seyyed Hossein Nasr (ed.),

   Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

   • A modern English translation and extensive commentary on the Qur’an from a team of renowned Muslim scholars, integrating traditional and academic perspectives from a wide range of schools, emphasizing traditional commentaries from across Sunni, Shi’a and Sufi perspectives. This is, in my opinion, the best available translation of the Qur’an for those seeking a scholarly view on the Qur’an and features a superb introduction and collection of thematic essays at the end of the work.

5. The Philosophy of Illumination (al-Ḥikmat al-Ishrāq) by Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardī, transl. by John Walbridge and Hossein Ziai

   Advanced. Essential Knowledge.

   • Dual language Arabic-English. The masterwork of Shaykh al-Maqtul Suhrawardī, master of and founder of the School of ‘Illuminationist’ philosophy, presenting a metaphysics of lights-essences and formulating a mystical epistemology centered on ‘knowledge by presence’ [al-’ilm al-huduri]. Suhrawardī’s work, while affirming much from Ibn Sīnā and Aristotelian philosophy, also contests the Peripatetic philosophy and sought to recover what he understood as the core of original Platonism, fusing this with influences from across religions and philosophical/mystical movements, especially Zoroastrianism, Hermeticism, Manichaeism, Sufism, Neoplatonism, and Ismaili thought. His ‘Illuminationist theosophy’ emphasizes a metaphysics of essences verse one of existence, and the fusion of intellectual and mystical knowledge through a mode of knowledge referred to as ‘direct tasting’ or knowledge by presence. He drew widely

6. The Philosophical Allegories and Mystical Treatises by Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardī, W.M. Thackston (transl.)

   Accesible-Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

   • Dual language English-Persian. An accessible collection of short-form allegorical treatises, featuring Suhrawardī’s fascinating symbolic and allegorical mystical philosophy conveying his metaphysical insights through visionary narratives and allusive allegories.

7. The Book of Radiance (Partaw-Nāma) by Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardī, Hossein Ziai (transl.)

   Accessible-Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

   • Dual language English-Persian. An ‘epitome’, a concise exposition of Suhrawardī’s illuminationist doctrines, which works great as a philosophical primer to his larger works.

8. The Elixir of the Gnostics [Kitāb al-Iksir al-’Arifeen] by Mullā Sadrā, transl. by William C. Chittick

   Intermediate. Specialist Interest.

   • Dual language Arabic-English. Mullā Sadrā is perhaps the most important Islamic philosopher of the past 4 centuries, known for his creative systematic integration of the Illuminationist philosophy of Suhrawardī, the rational metaphysics of Ibn Sīnā, and the theosophical mysticism of Ibn ʿArabī. What emerged is a unique school of thought known as ‘Transcendent Wisdom’ [al-hikmat al-muta’āliyah] that remains widely studied and still defines Shi’a thought to this day. The Elixir of the Gnostics is a recapitulation of an earlier work by the 13th. c. Persian philosopher Afdal al Din Kashani, known as ‘Baba Afdal’. It focuses on a major theme in Mullā Sadrā’s philosophy, the importance of self-knowledge and the movement of all creation on the path of recognition of the Origin and the Return [al-mabdā w’al-ma’ād] of all things to their Creator.

   • Discussed and quoted here:

9. The Metaphysics of The Healing [al-Ilahīyāt] from the Kitab al-Shifāʾ by Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), transl. Michael E. Marmura.

   Traveler’s Beware. World-Changing.

   • Dual language Arabic-English. A rigorous scholarly translation of Avicenna’s metaphysics, expounding his philosophy of ‘being/existence’ [al-wujud], causality, necessity/contingency, emanationist doctrines, and more. This edition covers the ‘Metaphysics’ [al-Ilahīyāt] portion of his monumental encyclopedia of science and philosophy, the Kitāb al-Shifāʾ [The Book of Healing]. Interfaces with Aristotle’s Metaphysics but expands far beyond it with Ibn Sīnā’s characteristic and near matchless philosophical mastery.

10. The Physics of The Healing, Vol. II from the Kitab al-Shifāʾ by Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), transl. Jon McGinnis

    Advanced. Specialist interest.

    • Dual language Arabic-English. A rigorous translation of Avicenna’s treatment of natural philosophy, the ‘Physics’ portion of his monumental encyclopedia of science and philosophy, the Kitāb al-Shifāʾ [The Book of Healing]. This work in two volumes roughly approximates Aristotle’s Physics, elaborated with Ibn Sīnā’s characteristic philosophical mastery, expanded with Islamic metaphysical principles. This portion discusses natural causality, motion, the principles of science, and all the fundamental categories of natural philosophy.

11. The Book of Metaphysical Penetrations [Kitāb al-Mashā’ir] by Mullā Sadrā, transl. by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

    Intermediate-Advanced. Essential Knowledge.

    • Dual language Arabic-English. The Kitāb al-Mashā’ir is among Mullā Sadrā ‘s most concise expositions of central themes in his school of thought, especially the concept of the ‘primacy of existence’ [asālat al-wujūd].

11. Gate of the Heart: Understanding the Writings of the Báb by Nader Saiedi,

    Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

    • Remains the most comprehensive study in English of the breadth of the Báb’s Writings, interpreting His doctrines, ethics, laws, theological foundations, and hermeneutics of ‘the Heart’, situated within the broader framework of Islamic eschatology and the succession of His Revelation within Bahá’í the Dispensation. It features a wealth of provisional translations of the Báb’s works and is an indispensible companion for studying the Báb’s Revelation.

12. Gnostic Apocalypse and Islam by Todd Lawson

    Advanced. Essential Knowledge.

    • Currently, the only academic monograph on the Qayyúm al-Asmá’ of the Báb, Todd Lawson’s work here is a superb and in-depth exploration of this unconventional but electrifying exegetical text. An essential work for gaining a deeper perspective on the Báb’s Writings. As the Qayyúm al-Asmá’ remains only translated in excerpts in English, Lawson’s ‘Gnostic Apocalypse’ remains the best way to familiarize yourself with the work in full.

13. Qayyúm al-Asmá’ [“The Self-Subsisting Lord of All Names”] by the Siyyid ‘Ali Muhammad Shirazi, the Báb

    Traveller’s Beware | World-Changing.

    • A printed and bound copy that I personally prepared of the Qayyúm al-Asmá’, also known as “The Commentary on the Surah of Joseph”; this is the first major work revealed by the Báb after His Declaration to Mullá Husayn, the subject of Lawson’s monograph “Gnostic Apocalypse and Islam”, known as the “Qur’an of the Babis”, declared by Bahá’u’lláh as “the first, the greatest and mightiest of all books”, and described in its own words as “the Tafsir of All Things”. This print text draws on the manuscript sourced from INBA vol. 3, and typescript by Ocean of Lights.
      

14. A Most Noble Pattern: Collected Essays on the Writings of the Báb, Todd Lawson & Omid Ghammaeghami (eds.)

    Intermediate. Life-Changing.

    • Description: A collection of scholarly essays examining the literary, theological, and symbolic dimensions of the Báb’s Revelation. After Saeidi’s Gate of the Heart, this remains the most essential work of scholarship on the Báb in English.
      

15. Commonplace Book of Persian and Arabic quotes

    • Leatherbound, handmade, gifted by my grandmother. I use this for capturing quotes (a ‘commonplace book’) in Persian and Arabic works that I read.
      

16. Conversations in the House of Life: A New Translation of the Ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth transl. by Jasnow (Author), Karl-Theodor Zauzich

    Advanced. Specialist interest.

    • A fascinating work establishing some of the earliest discernible phases of what we might call ‘Hermetic’ thought in its indigenous Egyptian form, centuries prior to the later efflorescence of Hermetic literature in the Greco-Egyptian Hellenistic world.

17. The Way of Hermes: New Translations of The Corpus Hermeticum and The Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus to Asclepius by Clement Salaman et al.

    Accessible. Enjoyable Read.

    • An accessible, affordable modern English rendering of the core Hermetic texts that shaped Western esotericism and philosophical mysticism.

18. Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius by Brian P. Copenhaver (trans.)

    Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

    • The preeminent scholarly English translation of the main Hermetic corpus with introduction and academic notes that situate it in late antique philosophy.

19. The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind by Garth Fowden

    Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

    • The modern classic study of the cultural and religious synthesis behind Hermeticism in late antiquity and recovering the Egyptian context of the figure of Hermes Trismegistus.

20. Hermetica II by M. David Litwa (transl.)

    Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

    • A follow-up to Copenhaver’s Hermetica, providing new translations and commentaries on later Hermetic and related Greco-Egyptian texts. After the main texts of the Corpus Hermetica, and the Nag Hammadi Library, this is the next most essential collection of Hermetic texts.

21. The Nag Hammadi Library by James M. Robinson (ed.),

    Intermediate-Advanced. World-Changing.

    • The definitive collection in English of long-lost Gnostic and Hermetic texts discovered in Egypt in 1945, the Nag Hammadi find includes codices of essential readings in Gnostic and Hermetic literature such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Apocryphon of John, and the Hermetic ‘Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth’

22. Plato: Complete Works by John M. Cooper (ed.),

    Intermediate-Advanced. World Changing.

    • The first single edition to include the entire surviving corpus of works attributed to Plato in antiquity.

Featured here is an annotated compilation on a concept of tremendous significance in the Baha’i Writings. Wiláyah or waláyah (Guardianship, Sainthood, Providence, divine intimacy) is a famously challenging word to translate. In this compilation we will explore a few of the dimensions of meaning conveyed by this concept. Wiláyah is one of the most under-recognized, but theologically weighty concepts found throughout the Baha’i Writings, unnoticed without a grounding in the original language or without sign-posting from translators. The aim of this compilation is to present a broad overview of this concept to expose English readers to this idea.

Wiláyah threads through many passages in the Writings and is the topic of extended focus in certain works, especially of the Báb. In the Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh, wiláyah plays a vital role in covenantal succession. Many will be familiar with some dimensions of its meaning when aided by annotations of well-known passages. Alongside these familiar quotes will be introduced lesser-known quotes, provisional translations, and important quotes from the Islamic background that broaden our range of understanding of how the term has evolved into the Baha’i context from its roots in the Qur’an and Islamic spirituality.

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A Brief Introduction to Wiláyah and Its Semantic Range

Waláyah / wiláyah: special [divine] intimacy, friendship with God, saintliness or sainthood, Providence, ‘overseership’; Trusteeship; Guardianship; vicegerency; protectorship; and successorship.

Dimensions of Meaning and Key Words Rooted in this Concept:

• Wiláyah as an abstract concept is that special quality of ‘spiritual authority’, charisma, leadership, especially that invested in Imam ‘Alí by the Prophet Muḥammad. It encompasses a ‘special intimacy’ or true (divine) friendship, and well as the exercise of ‘Guardianship’, i.e. presiding over the community of believers as the chief and foremost spiritual authority. It is often also rendered incompletely as ‘sainthood’, or ‘saintliness’ on account of its important role in that context within Sufism. Sufi ‘saints’ are known by the title of ‘waliyy’ and wiláyah describes their unique relationship with God.

• In Shi’i thought there are few concepts with greater significance than that of wiláyah. Henry Corbin has neatly summarized it as the ‘spiritual ministry of the Imams, the source of initiation into the esoteric meaning’ of the Word of God.

• Given its continued use and frequent reference in the Writings, gaining an understanding of how the Baha’i perspective affirms or discontinues certain ideas from that background is of great importance.

Al-Waliy / Al-Wali : One of the most theologically weighty Names of God, meaning ‘the Guardian’, ‘the Friend’, ‘the Protector’.

waliyy ; (pl.) awliya’: ‘friend’ saint/sage, leader, authority, guardian, trustee, holy one, Holy Ones (pl.)

• In a more general sense, it has come to mean the ‘saintliness’ or sanctification that aligns one with the divine, the special intimacy or high spiritual station one has in relation to God. On this basis it became a widespread term used among Sufi and in Shi’i religious society. Even today this concept is of central importance in Sufism, but also became in the 20th-century the basis for the establishment of the Shi’i theocratic government of Iran, as formulated by its ‘Supreme Leader’ and central theological thinker, Ayatollah Khomeini (d. 1989). He articulated the doctrine of ‘wilāyat al-faqīh’ — the ‘Guardianship of the Jurist’, grounding the authority of qualified jurists (fuqahā’) as representatives of the Hidden Imam. Contrasting this with the vision of wiláyah as found in the Baha’i Faith [refer to the quotes that follow], and one can begin to get a sense of the gravity of the difference that characterizes these two visions of wiláyah, and even the roots of why the Islamic Republic would target the Faith so vigorously.

• awliya’: Holy Ones. This is often a designation of the 12 Holy Imams. Otherwise indicates the ‘Chosen Ones’, or the ‘Saints’ or ‘Friends of God’.

Mawlah (Mulla) | مولى, chief, lord, master, patron (or) client. ally, friend, follower. Trustee. | *mawālī* مولائی [my Lord] | Mawlanā مولانا [our Master] |

• Mawla is a polysemous word. Someone who is a Mawla is a ‘Lord’ or ‘Locus’ of Wiláyah, someone who participates in the quality and is in a special relationship of intimacy with the Divine. Mawla also designates a ‘Patron-Client’ relationship. Hence, one’s Mawla can mean either their Lord or Patron, or Mawla can indicate onself as a client in relation to a Lord. It eventually became a title of respect for learned Muslim religious scholars (Mullā, as in Mullā Husayn)

• Muḥammad, famously, is said to have stated at Ghadīr Khumm, shortly before His death “He whose mawlā I am, Ali is his mawlā” (Arabic: من كنت مولاه فهذا علي مولاه). This is known as the Hadith of Wiláyah among Shi’a.

• Bahá’u’lláh in at least two instances uniquely designates ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as *mawālī* مولائی [my mawla, e.g. my ‘master, lord, friend, locus of wilaya’] and ‘my Siyyid’, evocative of the event at Ghadīr Khumm [one instance is found in a Tablet to Ibn Asdaq in the collection Payk-i-Rastan].

• Leading spiritual figures, such as Sufi ‘saints’ or Shaykhs are often referred to by the title Mawlanā مولانا [our Master]. Commonly Mawlanā Jalal al-Din Rumi is known simply as Mawlanā. The Ismaili Shi’a community refer to their presently Living Imam as Mawlanā.

• The most common use of the term Mawlā in the Writings, of the Bab and Bahá’u’lláh, is in reference to God, the Supreme Lord (Mawlā):

  See for example:

  “Sanctified be the Lord (Mawlā) of all mankind, at the mention of Whose name all the atoms of the earth have been made to vibrate, and the Tongue of Grandeur hath been moved to disclose that which had been wrapt in His knowledge and lay concealed within the treasury of His might.” - Bahá’u’lláh in the Tablet of Carmel (Lawh-i-Karmil)

On Wilayah, Prophethood and Revelation

Critically, wali and wilayah can be understood as attempts to intersect across a set of related, overlapping but (non-systematically) distinct terms/roles, including that of nabi and nubuwwa, rasul, and Imam. These are varying roles rooted in the Qur’anic terminology and Ahadith (reports and sayings of the Prophets and Imams) that became the subject of theological exploration in different schools of thought. ‘Imamate’ [Imamah] or Imamology, for instance, captures the stream of theological and philosophical speculation within Shi’a Islam that defined the purpose, station, and function of the Imams.

Wiláyah forms an indispensible part of the doctrine of Imamah, which can be distilled into the following: Imamah describes the cessation of revelation (tanzil) with the death of the Prophet, its succession by spiritual guardianship and authority (wiláyah), teaching (ta‘lim), and esoteric interpretation (ta’wil), centered on the person of the Imam who is the Quṭb [Pole, Axis or Pivot] of spiritual guidance and the direct inheritor and successor (wasi) of the Prophet to whom all in the community of believers must turn. In the eyes of some Shi’a thinkers these concepts [wilayah and imamah] are nearly interchangeable.

Related to the variety of roles envisioned in the Islamic dispensation, there are also the distinct categories of transcendent knowledge and one’s relationship and dialogue with God’s knowledge. These are namely “Revelation” [usually wahy & nazzala], Divine Inspiration [ilham], theophany & epiphany [Mazhariyya and Tajaliyya], and unveiling or disclosure [kashfiyya]. Certain of these [wahy] are understood to be restricted to God’s Divine Revelator. Others are principally the mode of the Imams [ilham] but may also be accessible to others. Others [tajalliyya, kashfiyya] cut across all these roles, and are also seen as accessible to the ‘gnostic’ or mystic knower, e.g. those believers most oriented toward path of spiritual ascent and seeking recognition and true understanding of God [‘irfan, ma’rifah].

There is a theological tension, however. As one ‘ascends’ closer to divine knowledge and achieves a higher station, the question is opened: what distinguishes such Holy Souls from the divinely appointed Prophets and Messengers? Further, the Qur’an reveals that Muḥammad was the ‘Seal of the Prophets’, which has been understood in Islamic thought to mean the cessation of nubuwwa [Prophethood] and risalah [Messengership]. This provokes tension between the cessation and the continuity of divine guidance. Nabi, Rasul and Imam; these are all distinctive roles understood to be occupied by certain figures alone, and not accessible to just anyone. Prophecy, as stated, was understood to have ceased with Muḥammad (until the End-Times). In Shi’a Islam authoritative Divine Guidance did continue through the persons of the Imams. Later, after the ‘Occultation’ (disappearance of the 12th Imam), this too ceased, and hence the flow of divine guidance (ostensibly).

In esoteric and mystical practice however, the continuity of special connection with the divine continued via the spiritual authority and charisma cultivated by Sufi leaders, gnostics, and Shaykhs, whose spiritual claims grew markedly in scope across the centuries. In the absence of ongoing Prophecy and Imamhood, as the spiritual stations and access to divine knowledge claimed by various figures drew closer and closer akin to roles such as Prophets, Messengers, Imams, there arose the need to distinguish their station and authority, hence the elaboration and emphasis on wiláyah as a general spiritual intimacy and authority that is not limited to specific figures such as a Nabi or Rasul.

In other words, the cessation or seal of Prophethood need not seal divine guidance through participation in wiláyah, an ongoing and ceaseless spiritual bequest. Wiláyah, as was conceived, could be achieved by those walking the path of annihilation of self [faná] and subsistence in God [baqá]. By the time of Ibn al-’Arabi, who greatly elaborated this doctrine, wiláyah in the general sense was seen as something shared by God [in His Name al-Waliy], the Prophets and Messengers, the Imams, but also accessible to enlightened human beings [‘Saints’ or distinctive holy souls]. Ibn al-’Arabi provided a unified framework of Sufi cosmology and mystical experiential insight to undergird these concepts, one that proved to be extremely influential in the centuries to follow.

The expansive references to wiláyah in the Bahá’i Revelation remain under-explored at this point and will merit many detailed studies in the future. The topic of Wiláyah is a frequent subject of reflection in the Revealed Word from the earliest Writings of the Báb [Tafsir Surat al-Baqarah], up to and throughout Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation, until even His final works. At the outset, we can identify a few of the foremost relevancies to the Faith:

• Wiláyah as an Essential Concept in the Baha’i Covenant: Wiláyah as an Institution [Guardianship] and the Figure of the Guardian of the Cause of God [Wali Amr Alláh]:

  • Wiláyah is, alongside such concepts as ‘Ahd [Covenant] and Wiṣáyyah [Divine Testament], one of the most critical concepts to understand the Succession of Leadership in the Faith after Bahá’u’lláh’s passing.

  • Bahá’u’lláh’s unveiled the “Wiṣáyyat Allah” in the Book of His Covenant [Kitab-i-’Ahd]: His son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was to be His immediate successor, ‘He whom hath God purposed’, the one to whom all must turn for leadership and refer to for knowledge of the Sacred Word. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in turn in His Will & Testament (His ‘Waṣiyyat-námih’) designated His grandson Shoghi Effendi to be Guardian of the Cause of God [Wali Amr Alláh], formally creating Wiláyah as an Institution (the ‘Institution of the Guardianship’) and defining its functions and operations in congruity with the other Institution and authority ordained by Bahá’u’lláh (the House of Justice). Shoghi Effendi was the first and only to hold the role of “Wali” (Guardian) of the Cause of God. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá can also be understood as fulfilling the function and qualities of wiláyah but to a higher degree, in His own sphere. This is perhaps one implication of Bahá’u’lláh’s unique reference to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá as His ‘mawla’. However, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is not principally understood with respect to this function, but rather by His other roles, titles, and most especially that quintessential descriptor of His reality, ‘ubúdíyyat (servitude).

• The Awliya’, the Holy Ones and ‘Chosen Ones’: An Essential Corollary to Progressive Revelation

  • The Awliya’ [Holy Ones, Chosen Ones] are a frequent subject of reference, across hundreds of instances. Most often we see them mentioned directly alongside the main sources of Divine Revelation, the Prophets, Messengers and Manifestations. So who then are ‘the Holy Ones’ or ‘Chosen Ones’? The most important direct referent indicated by this term are the Holy Imams [specifically the Twelve Shi’a Imams]. At other times, these are more general designation of the saintly figures and ‘Chosen Ones’ of a Dispensation, especially those Holy Ones who arise to great heights of service, serve the Cause, are first to believe in the Manifestation, and achieve high spiritual stations.

• Wiláyah as an Interface with the Islamic Dispensation and the Continued Relevance of Imam ‘Alí

  • Through Muḥammad’s designation of Imam ‘Alí as mawla we already see the relevance of the notion of wiláyah to the Islamic dispensation. Given that Imam ‘Alí is, after Muḥammad, the central figure of Islam for all Shi’a Muslims, He is the principal subject of many contemplations of the concept of wiláyah. Indeed, testifying to Imam ‘Alí’s ‘Guardianship is a core part of Shi’a religious identity via the phrase ‘ʿAlī Walī Allāh’ (Arabic: علي وليُّ الله, ‘Ali is the Guardian-Friend of God), which forms part of the call to prayer for Shi’a believers. It is not surprising, then, that we find that many of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh’s expositions on wiláyah also revolve around Imam ‘Alí. As a result, the concept is an important nexus for the continued reverence for and significance of Imam ‘Alí in the Baha’i Faith.

The Báb

From the Qayyúm al-Asmá’

“O people of the earth! Whoso obeyeth the Remembrance of God and His Book hath in truth obeyed God and His chosen ones [awliyá’ihu] and he will, in the life to come, be reckoned in the presence of God among the inmates of the Paradise of His good-pleasure.” - QA Surah 1:40, SWB, 2:3

“O Qurratu’-’Ayn! Point to Thy truthful breast through the power of truth and exclaim: I swear by the One true God, herein lieth the vicegerency of God [wilayat’ullah]; I am indeed the One Who is regarded as the Best Reward [cf. Qur’án 18:42] and I am indeed He Who is the Most Excellent Abode.” - QA Surah 72:40; SWB 2:40, pp. 84-85

“God had, in truth, proposed [a’aradna] Our Mission [wiláyatna] [cf. Q33:72] unto the heavens and the earth and the mountains [Q33:72], but they refused to bear it and were afraid thereof. However, Man, this ‘Alí [e.g. the Báb], Who is none other but the Great Remembrance of God, undertook to bear it [e.g wiláyat] .” - QA Surah 12:19, SWB, 2:47, pp. 89-90

“We did indeed send down this Book (al-kitab) upon Our servant (`abd) [the Bab] for such as believe in God and in His lofty ones (awliyá’) to the end that they might instruct the righteous ones persons upright before God, the Elevated (al-aliyy), the One Praised (al-mahmud an), in the ways of the Bab (subul al-bab).” - QA Surah 25:4, prov. transl. by Stephen Lambden, Hurqalya

“Such as acted according to the wilaya (Imami guidance) of the [Shi’i] Family of God (al Allah), the True One (al-haqq) will assuredly be guided within their own selves to act mindfully at the direction of the Dhikr Allah (Remembrance of God).” - QA Surah 18:21; prov transl by Stephen Lambden

From the Persian Bayan

“The ulama today, because of the utterance of one of the Imams - peace be upon them - who said: ‘Turn towards those who transmit our hadith’, believe themselves to be supreme judges (hakam) appointed by the Imam. Moreover, they attribute titles (asmá’) to themselves which are not suitable. If they spoke honestly, they would not have remained as veiled from him, who confers authority (wiláyah or waláyah) and prophethood through a single word. However, when they perceived that the Revelation of God was not in accordance with [safeguarding] their own station... they even issued a verdict (fatwá) against God” - Persian Bayan 2:3, provisional translation by Armin Eschraghi, A Most Noble Pattern, p. 234

“ln this day, the station of the wilaya is established by the very same thing that established the station of the Prophet in former days, even though the manifestation of the Point of the Bayan is absolutely identical with that of Muḥammad, which has been brought back to life. Nevertheless, since he has appeared in the (form of the) revelation of God Himself, all the names beneath his shadow are God’s tokens, for he is the First and the Last, the Outward and the lnward, and the Beautiful Names belong to him.” - Persian Bayán 1:2, provisional translation by Denis MacEoin

From the Sahifiy-i-’Adlíyyih

From Sahifiy-i-’Adlíyyih, Gate 3, ‘the third [of seven degrees of ma’rifah] which is Recognition of the Gates’:

“In this station it is incumbent upon those of sound mind to confess [belief] in the Vicegerency-Successorship [wasáyyat] of the Commander of the Faithful [Amīr al-Mu’minīn, e.g. Imam ‘Alí ] - Peace be upon Him! In this realm without distinction naught exists apart from His Sanctified Personage and all the aforementioned stages [maratib مراتب] in the ‘Gnosis of [inner] Meanings’ (ma’rifat ma’ani) [e.g. the Second Degree of Knowledge] in this station are obligatory, each with their respective provisions and pillars [arkan]. And it amounts to this: that in all these stations, that Sanctified Being [dhat muqaddas] who is the bearer of Absolute Wiláyah [wiláyat mutlaqa] is the Servant [‘abd] of the Apostle of God - the Blessings of God be upon Him and His family! Know thou, indeed, that the Absolute Wiláyah of that Greatest Lord [siyyid akbar] is the very Self-Soul-Essence of His Vicegerency [wasáyyat] for Muḥammad - the Blessings of God be upon Him and His Family! - and none have penetrated the depths of true understanding of His Being save God the Peerless One, and the Most Great Lord, the Apostle of God - the Blessings of God be upon Him and His family! And He [e.g. Imam ‘Alí] is the Absolute Gate of God [báb mutlaqa illahi] through whose permission alone does any word of Origination [ibda’] come into being, and except by His decree, no letter can ascend unto God. And recognition of this Holy Soul is recognition of the Apostle of God [Muḥammad] - the Blessings of God be upon Him and His progeny - nay, rather even the word “Divine Unity” [tawḥīd] and the testimony of Prophethood is but confession of the Wiláyah of that Blessed One!” - the Báb, Sahifiy-i-’Adlíyyih, Gate 3, provisional translation by Aaron Ferguson

Bahá’u’lláh

Tafsír Súratu’l-Shams, excerpt translated in Gleanings, LXXXIX, pp. 75-77

“Know assuredly that just as thou firmly believest that the Word of God, exalted be His glory, endureth for ever, thou must, likewise, believe with undoubting faith that its meaning can never be exhausted. They who are its appointed interpreters [mubayyin], they whose hearts are the repositories of its secrets, are, however, the only ones who can comprehend its manifold wisdom. Whoso, while reading the Sacred Scriptures, is tempted to choose therefrom whatever may suit him with which to challenge the authority of the Representative of God [maṭlaʻ al-wilāyah - مطلع الولایة ] among men, is, indeed, as one dead, though to outward seeming he may walk and converse with his neighbors, and share with them their food and their drink.

Note the word for “Representative” here is ‘maṭlaʻ al-wilāyah’, which could also be understood as the ‘Dawning-Place of Wilayah’.

Elsewhere in the Tafsír Súratu’l-Shams, Bahá’u’lláh comments on the word moon in Q91:2, and indicates that it signifies “Wiláyah”. The relationship of the Sun and the Moon, which reflects its light, is a naturally applicable way to understand that between the Manifestation of God and Their successor, vicegerent, guardian.

From the Kitab-i-Aqdas

“Beware lest any name debar you from Him Who is the Possessor of all names, or any word shut you out from this Remembrance of God, this Source of Wisdom amongst you... Say: Through this Cause the day-star of testimony hath dawned, and the luminary of proof hath shed its radiance upon all that dwell on earth. Fear God, O men of insight, and be not of those who disbelieve in Me. Take heed lest the word [e.g. name] “Prophet” withhold you from this Most Great Announcement, or any reference to “Vicegerency” [wilayah] debar you from the sovereignty of Him Who is the Vicegerent of God [awliyat ullah], which overshadoweth all the worlds. Every name hath been created by His Word, and every cause is dependent on His irresistible, His mighty and wondrous Cause. Say: This is the Day of God, the Day on which naught shall be mentioned save His own Self, the omnipotent Protector of all worlds. This is the Cause that hath made all your superstitions and idols to tremble.” - Kitab-i-Aqdas, para. 167

From the Ishraqat:

“In response to thy request the Pen of Glory hath graciously described the stations and grades of the Most Great Infallibility [al-‘ismatu’l-kūbrā]. The purpose is that all should know of a certainty that the Seal of the Prophets —may the souls of all else but Him be offered up for His sake—is without likeness, peer or partner in His Own station. The Holy Ones [awliya’, e.g. the Imams] —may the blessings of God be upon them—were created through the potency of His Word, and after Him they were the most learned and the most distinguished among the people and abide in the utmost station of servitude [al-’ubudiyya​]. The divine Essence, sanctified from every comparison and likeness, is established in the Prophet, and God’s inmost Reality, exalted above any peer or partner, is manifest in Him. This is the station of true unity and of veritable singleness. The followers of the previous Dispensation grievously failed to acquire an adequate understanding of this station. The Primal Point [the Bab] — may the life of all else but Him be offered up for His sake—saith: ‘If the Seal of the Prophets had not uttered the word “Successorship” [al-wilāyat], such a station would not have been created.’”

From Gleanings,

Gleanings, XXVII:

“in the kingdoms of earth and heaven there must needs be manifested a Being, an Essence Who shall act as a Manifestation and Vehicle for the transmission of the grace of the Divinity Itself, the Sovereign Lord of all. Through the Teachings of this Daystar of Truth every man will advance and develop until he attaineth the station at which he can manifest all the potential forces with which his inmost true self hath been endowed. It is for this very purpose that in every age and dispensation the Prophets of God [anbiya'] and His chosen Ones [awliya’] have appeared amongst men, and have evinced such power as is born of God and such might as only the Eternal can reveal.”

Gleanings, XXIII:

“Thou hast known how grievously the Prophets of God, His Messengers and Chosen Ones [awliya’ - انبيا و اصفيا و اوليای الهی​], have been afflicted. Meditate awhile on the motive and reason which have been responsible for such a persecution.”

From the Kitab-i-Iqān, para. 110

“It hath therefore become manifest and evident that within the tabernacles of these Prophets [anbiya] and chosen Ones of God [awliya’] the light of His infinite names and exalted attributes hath been reflected, even though the light of some of these attributes may or may not be outwardly revealed from these luminous Temples [haykal-i-nuriyyih] to the eyes of men. That a certain attribute of God hath not been outwardly manifested by these Essences of Detachment doth in no wise imply that they Who are the Daysprings of God’s attributes and the Treasuries of His holy names did not actually possess it. Therefore, these illuminated Souls, these beauteous Countenances have, each and every one of them, been endowed with all the attributes of God, such as sovereignty, dominion, and the like, even though to outward seeming they be shorn of all earthly majesty.…”

Tafsīr al-ḥurūfāt al-muqaṭṭa`āt (Commentary on the Isolated Letters)

Paragraph 24: [1] And on another level the [isolated Arabic letter] “A” (alif) represents the Absolute Divinity (al-uluhiyya al-muṭaqah). [2] The [isolated letter] “L” (al-lām) represents the Absolute Wilāya (”Providential Overseership”) al-wilāya al-muṭlaqah) which is realized through His “Logos- Self” (nafs); actualized (al-qa’ima) through His saying, “Thy waliyy (”Patron”) is [only] God” (Q. 5:55a). [3] This is by virtue of the Mighty, Praiseworthy Trusteeship (wilāya al-`aziz al-maḥmūd). [4] The [isolated, Isolated letter] “M” (al-Mīm) is expressive of the Muhammandan Actuality [Beingness] (al-kaynūnah al-muhammadiyya) and the Aḥmadī Modality (al-ṭarāz al-aḥmadiyya). [5] And God addressed him [Muhammad] by means of these [isolated] letters to the end that all might attain certitude for everything that He expounds is of importance, is communicated through created languages or made meaningful relative to the earthly originated domain (arḍ al-inshā’iyya). [6] All of this appears in the Muhammadan garment (qamīṣ al-muhammadiyya) and thus doth the Dove (al-warqā’) warble forth on every level the melodies of the Spirit perchance thou might comprehend something of what is communicated unto thee.”

…

Paragraph 39: [1] Now on another level God, glorified be He, intendeth by the ا [letter] “A” (alif) of the [isolated letters A-L-M] the Oneness of His Essence (aḥadiyya dhātihi). [2] By the ل [letter] “L” (lām) [is indicated] the wilāya (providential custodianship) of His ولى walī (intimate authority, custodian, legatee, guardian, etc) for the [letter] “L” (lām) is the letter indicative of al-wilāya (one representative of special custodianship) if thou art of such are informed. [3] By the م [isolated letter] “M” (mīm) is indicated the prophethood (nubuwwa) of His Beloved (ḥabīb, = Muhammad] for this letter (”M”) is the letter of prophethood (nubuwwa) as is indicated by the fact that it appears at the beginning of the name of His Messenger (= Muhammad) just as thou dost witness. [4] And the letter of the wilāya (ḥarf al-wilāya custodianship = “L”) hath precedence over the letter of Prophethood (ḥarf al-nubuwwa = M)[5] This so that those possessed of heartfelt vision testify to the fact that this is an expression of eschatological glad-tidings (bishāra min ba’d) unto all who inhabit the heavens and the earth for he who succeeded Muhammad (= the Bāb) hath in his mighty name (= ‘Alī Muhammad) the name of wilāya (custodianship..) (ism al-wilāya) [=’Alī] precede the name of prophethood (ism al-nubuwwa) [= Muhammad] just as thou art aware in [the Bāb’s name] ‘Ali before Muhammad (`Ali Muhammad = the Bāb).” (Baha’ullah, provisional translation by Stephen Lambden)

Note here that by the idea that ‘Wiláyah hath precedence over Prophethood’ is reminiscent of the articulation of Ibn al-’Arabi about Wiláyah having precedence over Prophethood and Messengership, though for different reasons. The Bab also granted precedence to wiláyah above nubuwwa in His first major work, the Tafsir Surat al-Baqarah.

From the Kitab-i-Badi’

Excerpt #1

حال ملاحظه نمائيد كه چه مقدار كلمات را مغاير و مخالف و غير موقع ذكر مي نمائيد. نفسی را كه می فرمايد اخذ ولايت او را قبل از اخذ عهد ولايت خود نموده ام، مع ذلك معرضين بيانيّه نفوس مقبله به اين نفس رحمانيّه را اهل تأويل شمرده اند. نَشكُو بثَّنا و حُزنَنَا إلی اللهِ فيما ورد عليه مِن عبادِهِ الّذين خُلِقُوا بِقولِهِ “كُنْ” فَيكونُ.

Excerpt #2

إيّاكم، يا قوم، أن تتمسّكوا بالأسماء و تعترضوا علی الّذی خلقها بأمرٍ من عنده. لا إله إلاّ هو المقتدر العالم الحكيم. قل: إنّه خلق الأسماء كما خلق كلّ شیء إن أنتم من العالمين. كلّ ذی قدرةٍ عاجزٌ عند سلطان قدرته، و كلّ ذی علم جاهلٌ لدی علمه، و كلّ ذی غناء فقير لدی بابه الّذی فُتح علی وجه الخلائق أجمعين. إيّاكم أن يصُدَّنَّكُم الأسماء عن موجدها. تجنّبوا عن الّذين تمسّكوا بها و كانوا عليها لَمِن العاكفين! قل: إنّ النّبیَّ مَن سمع نبأی و آمن بنفسی، و الرّسولَ[۴۱۰]مَن بلّغ رسالاتی، و الإمام مَن قام أمام وجهی و فاز بأيّامی، و الولیَّ مَن دخل حِصن ولايتی و إنقطع عن سوائی، و الوصیَّ مَن وصّی نفسه، ثمّ العباد بحبّی و ذكری و ثنائی. كذلك أشرقت شمسُ البيان عن أفق مشيّة ربّكم الرّحمن فی هذا الرّضوان المقدّس الممتنع المتعالی المنيع. و الحمد للّه محبوبی و محبوب العارفين.

‘Abdu’l-Baha

From the Secret of Divine Civilization

“The highest station, the supreme sphere, the noblest, most sublime position in creation, whether visible or invisible, whether alpha or omega, is that of the Prophets of God [anbiya’ illahi], notwithstanding the fact that for the most part they have to outward seeming been possessed of nothing but their own poverty. In the same way, ineffable glory is set apart for the Holy Ones [awliya-yi-haqq] and those who are nearest to the Threshold of God [muqarriban-i-dargah-i-ahadiyyat], although such as these have never for a moment concerned themselves with material gain.” para. 39

Qur’an and Islamica

Q42:28 - “He is the One Who sends down rain after people have given up hope, spreading out His mercy. He [Allah] is the Guardian [al-waliyyu], the Praiseworthy.”

Q5:55 - “Your only guardians [waliyyukum] are Allah, His Messenger, and fellow believers—who establish prayer and pay alms-tax with humility.”

Q8:40 “And if they do not comply, then know that Allah is your Protector [Allaha mawla kum]. What an excellent Protector [almawla], and what an excellent Helper!” | “وَإِن تَوَلَّوْا۟ فَٱعْلَمُوٓا۟ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ مَوْلَىٰكُمْ ۚ نِعْمَ ٱلْمَوْلَىٰ وَنِعْمَ ٱلنَّصِيرُ”

Q7:196 “Indeed, my Protector (Wali, Supporter, and Helper) is Allah Who has revealed this Book. For He ˹alone˺ protects the righteous.” | إِنَّ وَلِـِّۧىَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلَّذِى نَزَّلَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ ۖ وَهُوَ يَتَوَلَّى ٱلصَّـٰلِحِينَ

Sermons from Imam ‘Alí

“God has given me rights over you by placing me in charge of your affairs [bi wilayat amrikum], and you have rights over me, just as I have over you.” | فقد جعل الله لي علیکم حقّا بولایة أمرکم ولکم علّي من الحقّ مثل الذي علیکم | - Nahj al-Balagha, pp. 494-495

“They [Muḥammad’s family] are the embodiments of God’s mystery, the foundations of his creed, the vessels of his knowledge, the harbors for his wisdom, the havens for his scriptures, and the peaks of his religion. Through them, he straightens religion’s back when it becomes crooked, and calms its limbs when it trembles… No one from this community may be compared to Muḥammad’s family, and no one blessed by God’s favors may be equated with them in this regard. They are the pillar of religion and the column of certainty. The exaggerator must return to their position, and the laggard must join up with it. Theirs is the right of allegiance [haqq al-wilayah], theirs the Prophet’s testament [wasiyyah] and inheritance. Now, in this moment, truth has been restored to its owners and returned to its home.” - Nahj al-Balagha, pp. 116-117

Hadith and the Ghadir Khumm:

“as has been said by the Holy Prophet ﷺ in another authentic Hadith: مَن کُنت موَلاہُ فَعَلِیُّ مَولاہُ (To whomever I am a friend [or Master], then, ` Ali too is a friend[master] of his) (narrated by Ahmad, as in Mazhari). In yet another hadith, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has been reported to have said: اللَّھُمَّ وَالِ مَن وَالَاہُ وَ عَادِ مَن عَادَاہُ (o Allah, befriend whoever befriends him and take as enemy whoever shows enmity to him).” - Ma’arif al-Quran, commentary on Q5:55

“‘Do you not acknowledge that I have a greater claim on each of the believ. ers than they have on themselves?’ And they replied: ‘Yea verily!’ (bala) And he took ‘Ali’s hand and said: ‘Of whomsoever I am Lord (Mawla), then ‘Ali is also his Lord. O God! Be Thou the supporter of whoever supports ‘Ali and the enemy of whoever op poses him.’ And ‘Umar Ithe future second caliphl met him l’Ali) after this and said to him: ‘Congratulations, O son of Abu Talib! Now morning and evening [i.e., forever] you are the master of every believing man and woman.” lbn Hanbal, Musnad, tr. and cited in Momen, “An Introduction to Shi’i Islam” p. 15.

Episodes from Hadith related to Imam ‘Alí’s successorship, guardianship: Imam ‘Alí as Guardian, ‘Authorized Representative’, and the Opposition of the Hypocrites

“On one occasion when four of the Muslims complained to the Prophet concerning something that ‘Ali had done, the Prophet grew angry and said: ‘What do you want from ‘Ali? ‘Ali is from me and I am from ‘Ali. He is the guardian (wali) of every believer after me.’ And in another context, the Prophet said: to ‘Ali: “You are my authorized representative (wali) in this world and the next.’ The Prophet is reported to have said: ‘No one may execute my affairs except myself and ‘Ali? ... The Prophet said: ‘As for ‘Ali, Fatimah, Hasan and Husayn, I am at war with whoever fights against these and at peace with whoever is at peace with these?’... ‘No one but a believer loves ‘Ali and no one but a hypocrite (munafiq) hates ‘Ali.’” -Hadith cited in Momen, An Introduction to Shi’i Islam

Ibn Arabi, Selections on Wilayah

“Know! Wilayah is a universal concept and a great circle; one of its rules is that God takes each of His servants, as He wishes, as His friends and as His prophets. Prophethood is among His rules of wilayah. Thus, each and every prophet should inevitably be a messenger and each and every messenger should be a wali.” - Ibn Arabi, Al-Futuhat al-makkiyyah, 2:256, 3:14, cited in Kazemzadeh & Davarnia

“In each era, the world needs a prophet or a messenger and after them a successor or a wali who is his successor so that the divine command may be handed down by a messenger to another prophet to the seal of the prophets and after that, the same command may be handed down to special successors and awliya‟ to the seal of the awliya‟ with whose death the Day of Resurrection will come. The command of the world refers to the other world and the otherworldly aspect will appear to remain stable, permanent, and unchangeable.” - Ibn ‘Arabi, quoted in Amuli, Nass al-nusus fi sharh Fusus al-hikam, 1:157, cited in Kazemzadeh & Davarnia

Syed Hossein Nasr, On the Imams and Wilayah

“Specifically in Islam the door of prophecy closed with the Prophet Muḥammad-upon whom be peace. He was both the exoteric and esoteric source of the revelation but in his function as revealer of Divine legislation he represents the exoteric aspect. After him there must be those who inherited his esoteric function and whose duty it is to expound the inner meaning of the Divine Law. Just as the function of prophecy, in as much as it concerns the bringing of Divine Legislation, is called nubuwwah, so is the function of interpreting its inner meaning to men and preserving a link with the source of the revelation called wilayah in Shi’ism. In general the word wilayah in Arabic, Persian and other Islamic languages means sainthood and the saint is called waliyallah ‘the friend of God’. But in the specific context of Shi’ism it refers, not only to the saintly life in general, but to the very function of interpreting the esoteric dimension of the revelation.” - Syed Hossein Nasr, Ideals and Realities of Islam, Ch. 6 “Sunnism and Shi’ism”, p. 160-163

Excerpts from Baha’i Scholarship

Todd Lawson in ‘Gnostic Apocalypse in Islam’, Introducing Walaya with respect to the Imams and the Qayyúm al-Asmá’

“[for Shi’a Islam] the two sources of religious authority, the Qur’an and the Imam, function in a complementary manner to such a degree that their respective titles are interchangeable. Dhikr [Remembrance] may designate either the written scripture (the Qur’an), or the human form that has been designated as the bearer of divine authority, the Prophet or one of the Imams. Often the former is referred to as the “Silent Book” (al-kitāb al-samit), while the latter is referred to as the Speaking Book (al-kitāb al-nāțiq). 39 In the same way, both the written text and the human bearer of authority may be referred to as Imam.” … The underlying assumption of this Shi’i principle is that a text, in this case the Qur`an, is susceptible of multiple interpretations and that, in order to minimize disharmony within the community resulting from conflicting interpretations, a single interpreter must be established and recognized. In this regard, the principle or rukn (”pillar,” “support”) of walaya contains within it profound implications for hermeneutics, as a result of which the preeminent function of the guardian (walii, who may be, in this case, either the Prophet, or one of the Imams) is precisely that of Interpreter (mutarjim) par excellence, This function is designated in early Isma’ili literature by the epithet al-nātiq al-wahīd (the single speaker), a term which denotes the absolute authority (ontological, eschatological, hermeneutical, legal and political), involved in the office of Imam/wali.” - Todd Lawson, Gnostic Apocalypse in Islam, p. 55

Excerpt from Todd Lawson’s work on the Bab’s first major work, the Tafsir Súrat al-Baqarah, with reference to the prior mentioned idea of wilayah as having precedence over nubuwwa:

“This hierarchy is interesting because it ranks walaya above nubuwwa. As such, it may be seen as deriving ultimately (although probably not directly) from the mystical philosophy of Ibn Arabi. Izutsu’s study of Ibn Arabi’s theory of walaya has shown that this notion represents a kind of universal and supreme relationship to the divine as a function of which it is possible to say that every prophet is also a bearer of walaya and may therefore be designated, in some sense, a wali. However, not every wali is the bearer of nubuwwa. Thus, while Muḥammad is a nabi, he is also a wali. In this connection, it is important to observe that according to the Quran, nubuwwa and risala (not to mention imama) must be considered derivative from walaya: God is never called a nabi or a rasul, but he is called, or more accurately, refers to Himself as wali par excellence (Q. passim) and therefore the direct source of walaya in a way that he is not the direct source of prophethood or messengership. Numerous Quranic verses could be cited here, but reference to a recent thorough study will suffice.67 The upshot is that walaya is superior to all other “offices” in any Islamic sacerdotal hierarchy. It is this fact, together with the Quranic insistence that God is the best of walis, which renders walaya superior to prophecy.68 It is also precisely this kind of theory, emphasized by Ibn Arabi, which commended his work so well to the concerns of mystically inclined Imami thinkers such as Rajab Bursi, Haydar Amuli, and Ibn Abi Jumhūr who were, in turn, responsible for its Shii assimilation. 69 But, whereas in Ibn Arabi’s thought Jesus is the bearer of absolute walaya (khātim al-awliya), according to Shi’i thought it is ‘Ali who is the non plus ultra symbol of walāya.” - Lawson, Todd. “Tafsir as Mystical Experience: Intimacy and Ecstasy in Quran Commentary: Tafsīr sūrat al-baqara by Sayyid ʿAlī Muḥammad Shīrāzī, The Báb (1819-1850)”

Todd Lawson in his article “The Authority of the Feminine and Fatima’s Place in an Early Work by the Bab” (pp. 96-97) outlines the core features of Wilaya as follows:

• 1 of the 5 pillars of Shi’ism, overlapping with/identified with Imamat: “Walaya is implicated in the fourth of five pillars of belief of traditional Ithna ‘Ashari Shi’ism, which are (1) Divine Unity (rawhid), (2) Prophethood (nubuwwa), (3) the Resurrection/Return (ma ad), (4) the Imamate (imama), and (5) Divine Justice (adl).”

• Distinct from Prophetic and Revelatory Authority: “In Shi’ism prophetic authority ended with the death of Muhammad (632), but the Prophet is understood as having two types of mutually complementing authority: the one, connoted with the office of propherhorse (nubunwa); the other, in some ways a more general, yet at the same time purer (and therefore higher) type of authority connected with the office of guardianship (walaya).”

• Rooted in the Qur’an, Explains distinctive mode leadership in Shi’i thought: “This teaching is based on the Qur’an, where the noun wali occurs in several important contexts. Most important for this discussion are all those Qur’anic verses that describe God as the wali of the believers? or the single verse that says that walaya belongs to God alone (18:44). The general meaning of wali in these instances is “protector,” “friend,” and “guardian.” By extension, and in the context of the most urgent doctrinal need of the Shi i community, namely to explain the system of distinctive leadership which it developed, walaya came to mean “religious authority”: believers are bound to obey what God, their best friend and guardian, ordains.

• Only the “Family of God” are conduits for this special religious authority: “The “Family of God,” to use the Bab’s distinctive terminology, are the only conduits of this divine protective friendship, particularly in the context of the earliest struggles for leadership within the Islamic community where one could make the error of choosing the wrong “protecting friend” as a leader. Shi’ism says that this is precisely what happened to those Muslims who chose ‘Abu Bakr and the other two early caliphs as leaders.”

• In some senses an elevated essential quality over nubuwwa: “While prophethood is in some sense superior to guardianship because only a prophet receives revelation through direct inspiration (wahy) and the task of a prophet is to establish a code of law (shari a), walaya is essential because only through this office or institution can true religious authority be continued beyond the death of the prophet. Furthermore, it is thought to be superior to nubuwa because unlike that institution, it is related directly to God. God is frequently called a wali in the Quran, but never a nabi. In this way walaya is seen to be a divine attribute certainly shared by all prophets, with nubuwwa representing in some ways a subfunction of walaya. Postprophetic guardians (awliya) do not have nubuwwa; it is only by virtue of their walaya that they have authority in the community to interpret (never reveal) scripture. But their interpretation has the authority of revelation.”

Further Reading:

[1] Encyclopedia Iranica Entry on Awliya’

[2] Tafsir as Mystical Experience: Intimacy and Ecstasy in Quran Commentary by Todd Lawson

[3] A Most Noble Pattern: Collected Essays on the Writings of the Báb,`Alí Muhammad Shirazi (1819-1850) (George Ronald 2012) ed. by Todd Lawson and Ghaemmaghami

[4] Gnostic Apocalypse and Islam: Qur’an, Exegesis, Messianism, and the Literary Origins of the Babi Religion (Routledge 2012) by Todd Lawson

[5] Alone with the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn ‘Arabi by Henry Corbin

[6] Sufism and Taoism by Toshihiko Izutsu

[6] The Man of Light in Iranian Sufism by Henry Corbin

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Dear readers,

As part of this publications’ continuing efforts to support accessible, public scholarship in Baha’i Studies and to contribute to enriching intellectual life in the community, I am offering (free!) for the first time an 8-week online seminar, starting end of August or early September.

This weekly reading and discussion group will study one of the most important texts within the Babi and Baha’i corpus: the Báb's “Qayyúm al-Asmá”, also known as the “Commentary on the Surih of Joseph”, and described by Baha’u’llah as the "First, the Greatest and Mightiest of all books". This incredible text revolutionized religious life in 19th c. Persia and ignited a widespread social and spiritual movement that crystallized into a new world religion. It was the work begun by Báb on that fateful night, in May 1844, the first words of Revelation heard by the ears of Mullá Husayn Bushru’i, the Báb’s first disciple. It soon ignited a firestorm throughout the land of Persia. Yet, despite this importance, it has gone understudied outside the original context.

In this seminar, we will study a privately produced and provisional compilation of the Qayyúm al-Asmá that combines the authorized translations from Selection of the Writings of the Báb (~3-4% of the text) with all available provisional translations by reputable and reliable scholars. With these additions, the compilation represents about 20% or more of the original, and is currently 80+ pages in length.

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I hope you enjoyed this article from Lamp of Search. Substack is a platform for supporting independent media, often through subscriptions. Lamp of Search is envisioned as a collaborative platform for Baháʼí scholarship. If you wish to reach out to make guest contributions please do so.

If you wish to directly support my work here I have a public “wish list” of scholarly books that would advance for my intellectual projects. You can also metaphorically ‘buy me a coffee’ through Ko-Fi, a peer-to-peer ‘tipping’ platform. Any contributions are appreciated and help sustain my work.

‘This post contains a provisional translation; it is solely an individual effort and reflects only my personal understanding of the original language conveyed into English. If shared outside the context of this post please ensure that it is clearly designated as a provisional translation by this author. Any comments on the accuracy of the translation are welcome below.

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The following is a provisional translation of a short Tablet revealed in Persian by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. It can be found as part of the collection Áyát-i-Bayyinát, no. 89, p. 596 (Tablets to Samandar, Nabíl ibn-i-Nabíl, and their families) and in Ṭaráz-i Iláhí (Biography of Tarazullah Samandari), vol. 1. This Tablet is given the identifier AB07557 according to Steven Phelp's Partial Inventory. According to Ṭaráz-i Iláhí, this recipient of this Tablet was one Jináb-i-Mullá ʿAlí, son of Mullá Ḥusayn of Rúdbár, Qazvín, and referred to as “Jinab-i-Muallem”. In light of his devotion to knowledge and education of Baha’i children, Bahá’u’lláh bestowed upon him the title “the First Teacher”, praising him for acting in accordance with the Kitáb-i-Aqdas’ instructions on the education of children (KA ¶48).

“He is God!

O teacher in the School of ‘Irfán!* The Ishraqí sages [e.g. the Illuminationists*] have, until now, referred to two well-known personages by the honorary title of ‘Teacher’. One is the renowned Aristotle, and the other the far-famed [al-]Fárábí.* Ibn Síná claimed to be a third teacher, but as he could not meet the necessary conditions*, he is entitled ‘Pre-eminent’ [Rá’is] instead.* Thou shouldst now, in the Schoolhouse of the Primordial Covenant [‘ahd] of ‘Alast’ [‘Am I not your Lord?’, cf. Qur’án 7:172*], teach the Divine Testament [mítháq] and deliver lessons on faith and the Divine Pact. I swear by the Lord of Existence, thou shalt become a teacher of those who bow down in adoration before God, and in the world of the Heavenly Kingdom [Malakut] shall become renowned as an educator. Therefore, O student, incline thine ear to the True Teacher. Listen and endeavor in exaltation of the Divine Word. spread abroad the fragrances of the All-Merciful, and strive until thou becomest a teacher of all the worlds [áfáq] through the power of Divine Illumination. Upon thee be the Glory [of God]! ع ع.”*

Notes:

* School of ‘Irfán [Dabestan-i-’Irfán]: ‘Irfán, often ‘divine knowledge’, or ‘True Understanding’ in Baha’i parlance; more generally ‘Gnosis’. School of ‘Irfan is a phrase seemingly original to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá that He uses on a few occasions.

** Sometimes translated in older texts as ‘Illuminati’, properly speaking the Ishraqi or Ishraqiyun are those philosophers in the tradition of the philosophical school of ‘al-Shaykh al-Muqtal’ Shihab al-din Suhrawardi (d. 1191), also called “Oriental Wisdom/Theosophy” but most often known as the Illuminationist school. His philosophy centered on a metaphysics of essences and light.

*** First and Second Teacher: Aristotle is universally known in the Arabic intellectual tradition as “al-Mu’allim al-Awwal” (The First Teacher) and al-Fárábí as “al-Mu’allim al-Thani” (the Second Teacher). The only other thinker known to have gained such a title (by his successors and certain others) is Mir Dámád (founding figure in the “School of Isfahan”) who some called al-Mu’allim al-Thalith (Third Teacher) though this is certainly not universally agreed upon.

**** Necessary Conditions: Ibn Sina, despite being a monumental figure of immense influence, has not universally or consistently been designated with that title. ‘Abdu’l-Baha refers to certain ‘necessary conditions’ required to have gained such a title. He discusses this in a reported talk in Europe. See ‘On the Meaning of ‘Teacher’ in Divine Philosophy’ below.

***** Rá’is: Ibn Síná is known in the Islamic world as al-Shaykh al-Rá’is, the “Preeminent Master”.

****** On the Primordial Covenant and the Day of ‘Alast’ see Qur’án 7:172 “And ˹remember˺ when your Lord brought forth from the loins of the children of Adam their descendants and had them testify regarding themselves. ˹Allah asked,˺ “Am I not your Lord?” [alastu bi rabbikum] They replied, “Yes, You are! We testify.” [bala shahidna] ˹He cautioned,˺ “Now you have no right to say on Judgment Day, ‘We were not aware of this.’”

******* Special thanks to Adib Masumian for helpful comments on the above translation attempt.

Original Text

هولله

اى معلّم دبستان عرفان، حکماى اشراق گويند بلقب معلّمى تا بحال دو شخص موسوم. يکى ارسطوى معروف و ديگرى فارابى مشهور. ثالث ابن سينا دعوى معلّمى نمود و چون از عهدۀ شروط برنيامد به رئيس ملقّب گشت. حال تو در دبستان عهد الست درس ميثاق گو وسبق ايمان و پيمان ده. قسم بربّ وجود که معلّم اهل سجود گردى و درجهان ملکوت به معلّمى مشهور شوى. پس اى ّ متعلّم از معلّم حقيقى بشنو و سعى و کوشش نما و در اعلاء کلمۀ الهيه و نشر نفحات رحمانى همتى کن تا معلّم آفاق بقوۀ اشراق شوى والبهاء عليک. ع ع

On the Meaning of ‘Teacher’ in Divine Philosophy

In the above ‘Abdu’l-Bahá plays on two different meanings of the same term ‘Teacher’ above, one referring to philosophers and great intellects in the philosophical tradition, and the other referring instead to the ‘True Teacher’ [mu’allim-i-haqiqi], namely the ‘Manifestations of God’ in their capacity as Divine Educators of mankind. His reference to the ‘necessary conditions’ by which Ibn Sina did not qualify as a ‘Third Teacher’ is expanded by him below, in a reported talk delivered by Him in Europe:

“By ‘teacher’ is meant the True Educator, Who is the Manifestation of divine attributes, one of which is the attribute of a nurturer. Among the attributes of God, glorified and exalted be He, is the attribute of fatherhood, inasmuch as He is the Source of all existence, and the Dawning-place of the divine names and attributes. He is a Mirror that reflects the Sun of Truth.

In the parlance of the philosophers, the term ‘teacher’ refers to a person who is without peer. Until now, two such teachers have appeared in the midst of the philosophers. The first is Aristotle, who excelled at all the disciplines of his day, and the second is Fárábí, who once spoke these words: ‘I am the second teacher.’ The king of Fárábí’s time convened a gathering to which he summoned the masters of every discipline; Fárábí competed with each and every one of them, even the foremost instructor of music, and defeated them all. Then was the title of ‘second teacher’ accorded him.

A third person who should be mentioned is Avicenna, in whose day a similar gathering was convened. He defeated all his competitors except for the instructor of music, who proved to be his equal in that field. For this reason, the title of ‘teacher’ was not given to him, though he was referred to as a ‘leader’, since he had a peer in the field of music.

This is the usage of these terms among the philosophers. According to our terminology, however, Jesus Christ was a Teacher, which is to say that He was a Focal Point of divine splendours, even as a perfectly stainless mirror that reflects the light of the sun. Our usage of the term ‘teacher’ refers to the Centre of all perfections in the world of humanity, and the supreme Intermediary between God and His creation.”

-‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Europe, p. 323; cataloged in the Partial Inventory as ABU1498

* Translated by Adib Masumian, special thanks to the author for calling my attention to this excerpt.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr also offers a definition of the qualifications to be deemed a great ‘Teacher’ in the Islamic tradition: one who systematizes and determines the limits and boundaries of the branches of sciences, advances methods and means for attaining knowledge, and retains their essential unity and integral nature of knowledge. In other words, they play a foundational pedagogical and epistemologic role, not just having made monumental contributions to knowledge. [cf. “Why Was al-Fārābī Called The Second Teacher?*” in The Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Mehdi Amin Razavi]

I hope you enjoyed this article from Lamp of Search. Substack is a platform for supporting independent media, often through subscriptions. Lamp of Search is envisioned as a collaborative platform for Baháʼí scholarship. If you wish to reach out to make guest contributions please do so.

If you wish to directly support my work here I have a public “wish list” of scholarly books that would advance for my intellectual projects. You can also metaphorically ‘buy me a coffee’ through Ko-Fi, a peer-to-peer ‘tipping’ platform. Any contributions are appreciated and help sustain my work.

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"Man is the supreme Talisman. [انسان طلسم اعظم است​] Lack of a proper education hath, however, deprived him of that which he doth inherently possess."

- Baháʼuʼlláh, Gleanings No. CXXII​

"Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focused the radiance of all of His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own Self. Alone of all created things man hath been singled out for so great a favor, so enduring a bounty."

- Baháʼuʼlláh, Gleanings, No. XXVII

“Likewise, reflect upon the perfection of man’s creation, and that all these planes and states are folded up and hidden away within him.

‘Dost thou deem thyself a small and puny form, When thou foldest within thyself the greater world?’

We must therefore labour to destroy the animal condition, till the meaning of humanity cometh to light.”

- Baháʼuʼlláh, the Seven Valleys, the Valley of Wonderment, with a saying often attributed to Imam ‘Ali

‘‘وَعَلَّمَ ءَادَمَ ٱلْأَسْمَآءَ كُلَّهَا”

“and He taught Adam the Names, all of them…”

- Quran, Surah 2:31

“O Son of Being! Bring thyself to account each day ere thou art summoned to a reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall come upon thee and thou shalt be called to give account for thy deeds.”

- Baháʼuʼlláh, the Hidden Words, Arabic no. 31

We live in an era where we routinely face intense self-doubt and social forces that undermine our worth, dignity, and self-perception.

At times, these influences are external. Our social environment may lead us to diminished self-worth when we encounter a domineering culture of conflict that puts us down for perceived inadequacies. We face intense social coercion and pressure to conform. Sometimes the forces external to us may be ideological. The theology of ‘original sin’ has led many to believe that our nature is inherently corrupt. Pyschological egoism and evolutionary psychology claim either that altruism is impossible or subject all behavior to crudest of biological reductionism. Alternatively, the dominance of secular nihilistic attitudes leave many feeling compass-less, as though existence is purely absurd or meaningless, and that our actions don’t matter.

At other times, it is mostly an internal battle. We often think our ego only seeks self-aggrandizement. Ironically, it often seeks to diminish us by attacking any sense of healthy self-worth and dignity; this serves to keep us locked in a place of egoistic gratification or to prevent the progress that would ultimately lead us beyond the dictates of our lower nature ego.

Even more confusingly, these messages that erode self-worth are also counterbalanced by an intense culture that vaunts ‘the Self’ and ‘individualism’ to an extreme degree. At least in ‘the West’, the self is the predominant conceptualization of the human being, the pinnacle and locus of all fulfillment and success. Personal and social progress is weighed purely according to this doctrine of human nature. Ironically, this vaunting of the self is manifestly conformist and ultimately deprives us of the libertarian freedom it purports to promote.

In this maelstrom of conflicting messages, some leading to egoistic aggrandizement, others to diminishing true human dignity, the Baháʼí Writings stand out as a lighthouse amidst stormy waters, offering lamps of guidance for every affliction we face in this era:

• The human being is not a blank slate, but a “mine rich in gems of inestimable value”.

• Our existence is not an accident of nature, nor ruled by it, rather our creation is imbued with profound purpose.

• We are not doomed and corrupted by our inherent sinful nature; our nature is inherently noble, “noble have I created thee”, as Baháʼuʼlláh states. We have the capacity to transcend the dictates of our lower nature.

• The fulfillment of the individual lies in sacrosanct harmony with that of the collective; a dynamic unity of individual with with community and society.

To say the least. These are but a few of the ideas that, in their full scope, would reshape the dynamics sketched above by articulating a reinvigorated vision of human nature, something we might call a ‘spiritual anthropology’.

A ‘spiritual anthropology’ founded in the Baháʼí Writings offers us a compelling vision of the odyssey of the human soul and a counterbalance against the crises of meaning and ruptures afflicting modern life: we have an origin in God, our soul’s creation and descent into material nature serves as the testing grounds for spiritual perfection, and our return journey of ascent through perfections leads us back towards God.

Turning to the Quranic episode of the creation of Adam cited above, we see that God has bestowed knowledge of the ‘Names of All Things’ within the ‘nature of Adam’, with Adam here indicating in part 'innate human nature’ (Adam being the symbol for archetypal Man). This indicates the potentiality of the primordial human nature [our ‘Adamic soul’], which God imbues with the possibility of encompassing the knowledge of all things (names being a manner of understanding the reality of each thing in that to name something is to define its identity and relationality). ‘Names’ also signify the attributes of God that we can manifest within our character (wisdom because God is named ‘the All-Wise’, loving-kindness, justice, mercy, and so on).

Baháʼuʼlláh reflects on this same primordial potentiality imbued in the human being, describing our nature as a mirror upon which is focused all these realities: "Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focused the radiance of all of His names and attributes”. This is a reality unique to the human being, “Alone of all created things man hath been singled out for so great a favor, so enduring a bounty."

In the opening quote, Baháʼuʼlláh adopts the imagery of the “supreme talisman” to describe these innate potentialities. He makes it clear that education, which is essentially the actualization of these potentialities, alone is capable of unlocking this inherent value: “Lack of a proper education hath, however, deprived him of that which he doth inherently possess." He continues: “Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit there from.” In the excerpt from the Seven Valleys, describing the dynamics of the spiritual journey we take in this life, He encourages us towards this process of education and edification, which is also the abandonment of our animal, or lower nature: “We must therefore labour to destroy the animal condition, till the meaning of humanity cometh to light.”

We see just from the above that we have strong cause to redefine our self-conceptualization of our innate nature. Does it make sense to pursue a path defined by a voracious gratification of the self, to the detriment and ignorance of others, if we recognize that our potential to be kind, just, loving is what truly describes the fabric of our being? How might a vision of our inherent dignity reshape our social interactions, our treatment of others, our tolerance of their treatment of us? Are we not better prepared to maintain honor and dignity and fend off ideological forces that would diminish and demean us if we appreciate that we are not corrupt by nature, but noble instead? Does not knowing the capacities latent in us help empower us to overcome lethargy and apathy promoted by the meaninglessness on offer today?

Our journey in this life is just one stage of this process, and we are told also in the text of all holy religions that by the end of our passage through this life we will face an ‘unveiling’ to our self of the fruits (or lack thereof) of our efforts and progress in refinement. This is one significance of the concept of the ‘Day of Reckoning’ or the ‘Day of Judgment’: the reckoning we face in the ‘Hereafter’.

The symbology of this reckoning, of standing trial in light of our deeds is a potent one that features throughout the religions of the past (from ancient Egypt, to Zarathustra, to the Abrahamic faiths and more). Given that these ideas have been around for millennia, we should carefully take stock and reconsider the way they are thought of in light of how the Baháʼí Writings reframe them.

Firstly, is that they tend to be taken literalistically. In the literalist view judgment and reckoning refer catastrophic endtimes, to universal bodily resurrection on earth, to titanic battles against literal Satanic forces, and so on. In the Baháʼí Teachings these ‘events’ are all of a spiritual nature. The ‘Endtimes’ of the Day of Judgment" is in actuality the coming of a new Revelation from God, the catastrophic upending of age-old beliefs, the reinvigoration of religion in a new era, and the symbolism is interpreted in that light.

Secondly, Judgment is often laced with certain doctrines that are mostly a human invention. Original sin, or the doctrine of predestination, for instance. Accountability for our deeds makes far less sense outside the context of belief in free will.

Thirdly, past scriptures sometimes emphasized God’s retribution against wickedness over God’s mercy.

Fourthly, we recognize that ‘Reckoning’ and ‘Judgment’ is not just a spiritual-historical event but a personal event that comes at the end of our own lives. Upon death, the veils of material existence will fall away, truths will come to light, and all things unknown before will be made clear. However this is also something we prepare for in this earthly life by the perfection of our character. We can hasten the realization of these truths in this life and begin taking account of our deeds. In effect, we reorient ourselves in advance of that ‘reckoning’. Baháʼuʼlláh states:

“O Son of Being! Bring thyself to account each day ere thou art summoned to a reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall come upon thee and thou shalt be called to give account for thy deeds.”

Finally, we should also be vigilant to take stock of how the present-day environment of individualism and its toxic undermining of self-worth and human dignity discussed above may affect our understanding of these matters.

One such dynamic to consider is this: when face to face with the idea that we will one day account for our actions, our lower nature-ego can undermine us by proposing that we cannot possibly reach that standard, or to cling to the idea that we are hopelessly corrupt or worthless. We may fear that moment out of a belief in our own incapacity and feebleness. This rears its head in increasingly subtle ways as we conquer the outer reaches of self.

In reality, we should find it empowering that we will encounter a reckoning, as it only makes sense in light of our potential to exemplify all the heavenly characteristics and noble deeds we are capable of. Let’s explore exactly how this might be.

The Reciprocal Nature of Judgment and Our Potentiality

A brief review: that life is a proving grounds for the testing and refinement of our character, that we will encounter judgment and atonement for our deeds upon death, these are quintessential ideas in a Baháʼí spiritual anthropology.

We’ve covered also that the human being is the "supreme talisman" because the human being alone encompasses all the names and attributes of God (in potentia), and that education can alone cause it to reveal those gems.

Taking a close look, these ideas are actually far more intertwined than they first appear.

In fact, there is an inherent reciprocity between our nobility, our nature as "supreme talismans" encompassing divine attributes, and the judgment of our deeds in the Hereafter. It centers on the justice inherent to judgment. To explore how, a brief philosophical aside will knit together the ideas proposed above from the Writings.

A Philosophical Examination of the Dynamics of the Day of Judgment

In the writings of a famous 17th-century Iranian Islamic philosopher and mystic, Sadr al-Din Shirazi, better known as Mulla Sadra (d. 1641), we find a striking passage that touches on points central to our discussion here. He was known for, amongst other influential doctrines, his eloquent and transformative expositions on the soul’s journey from its origination with God (al-mabda’) to its Return to Him (al-ma’ád) - the arc of descent and ascent alluded to above - topics that feature prominently throughout the Baháʼí Writings.

The following quote from his work, ‘The Elixir of the Gnostics’, neatly ties into some of the ideas explored above and provides an interesting logical basis for understanding the judgment that comes at our life’s end.

First, a brief introduction: As we understand in the Baháʼí Teachings, the path of the human being is one of "recognition" or "true understanding" ('irfan), which in the Faith culminates in attainment to belief in the Manifestation of God for our day and following their commandments. As we’ve explored, what this recognition looks like within our soul is the attainment of our inherent nobility and the cultivation of our divine qualities, something that occurs in accordance with those Teachings. This cultivation of heavenly qualities also necessitates, as Baháʼuʼlláh makes clear, that we “labour to destroy the animal condition, till the meaning of humanity cometh to light.”

Mulla Sadra, in the section preceding the following excerpt, says much the same, indicating that the soul’s perfection implies a gradual disengagement from ‘embodiment’ and ‘materiality’, parts of our ‘animal condition’ or lower nature. Being a ‘knower’, a ‘man of insight’ (an ‘arif, one engaged in ‘irfán) hinges on this disengagement and self-mastery, such that our vision becomes gradually more and more encompassing. What it encompasses are those universal divine realities, the Names, embedded within the microcosm of our own being:

"The gnostic (e.g. the knower) who gazes at things through the light of inspiration [núr al-ilhám] sees the high and low at once, and he also witnesses the past and future all at once, with a gauge that he finds from his own world in his essence ...

He knows that the Author (of Existence, e.g. God) has subjected the human dominion [e.g. the Realities of God's attributes latent within] along with everything within it to the [essential identity of the soul, al-huwiyya al-nafsániyyih] so that it may know the scale [mizán] of all things and the reckoning of contingent realities. This is why it is made to stand up at the Day of Resurrection - so that its deeds and acts may be weighed with justice on the Day of Reckoning. Were the guide posts and scale of all things not implanted within the innate Adamic disposition [e.g. universal human nature], no one would be recompensed by them on the Day of Resurrection, nor would the soul be taken to task in the presence of God for its neglect and be punished by its castigation and going astray."

‐Mulla Sadra, “the Elixir of the Gnostics”, Chittick transl., p. 36, adapted with my own glosses and some adjustments to the translation

This notion of seeing past limitations of past and future and taking an encompassing view of reality should be familiar; it is a central feature of the Valley of Knowledge, and subsequent stages in the ‘Seven Valleys’.

After the famous story of the ‘watchmen’ we find Baháʼuʼlláh enjoining us first to see ‘the end in the beginning’, “Now if the lover could have seen the end, he would from the beginning have blessed the watchman, prayed God on his behalf, and seen his tyranny as justice; but since the end was veiled to him, he lamented and made his plaint in the beginning. Yet those who journey in the garden land of true knowledge, since they see the end in the beginning, behold peace in war and conciliation in enmity” (SV:29). However, later still we are encouraged to flee from limitations of end and beginning, first and last, entirely: “the people of the valleys above this see the end and the beginning as one. Nay, they see neither ‘beginning’ nor ‘end’ and witness neither ‘first’ nor ‘last’. Nay rather, the denizens of the city of immortality, who dwell in the celestial garden, see not even ‘neither first nor last’: They fly from all that is first and repulse all that is last.” (SV:30)

We then find in Mulla Sadra’s exposition the logical crux underpinning the justice behind judgment in the Hereafter; this justice links together the ‘universe wrapped up in us’, the ‘focused radiance’ of all of divine names and attributes, the Names inscribed onto our ‘Adamic’ nature, and the eventuality of standing in account for our deeds.

What we can take from this is that such a judgment only makes sense in that our soul is capable of exemplifying all the attributes in the first place, that the scale and reckoning of all things is within our grasp, capable of leading us high or low. We can only be adjudicated after having had the potential in the first place.

In other words, in order for us to be justly and satisfactorily judged and held accountable, it is only with respect to the great potentiality inherent within our very nature. This is to be seen as a bestowal, rather than a burden. If we should fear it is only that we waste the potential.,

This the reciprocity in the day of reckoning. Within us is placed such great potential, and we are only able to be judged on that basis. But the basis for that judgment is also our deliverance in that it testifies to our very worthiness from the start. If we really meditate on it, that is surely an inexhaustible form of spiritual power.

I hope you enjoyed this article from Lamp of Search. Substack is a platform for supporting independent media, often through subscriptions. Lamp of Search is envisioned as a collaborative platform for Baháʼí scholarship. If you wish to reach out to make guest contributions please do so.

If you wish to directly support my work here I have a public “wish list” of scholarly books that would advance for my intellectual projects. You can also metaphorically ‘buy me a coffee’ through Ko-Fi, a peer-to-peer ‘tipping’ platform. Any contributions are appreciated and help sustain my work.

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“Research Notes” is an ongoing series to present interconnected notes, provisional translations, observations, and insights from research on diverse topics, especially those that are more obscure and perhaps note suitable for a formal article format with a specific thesis. Instead, research notes take a more loose exploratory format and are designed to evolve over time as additional reflections are added and content updated. The intent is to “work with the garage door open”, making otherwise obscure topics and scholarly investigation more accessible.

In these notes:

The Islamic background on the use of carnelian • The Symbolism of Precious Stones and Minerals in the Writings of the Báb • Provisional Translations from the Bayán and Qayyúm al-Asmá' • Carnelian in Bible and Sufi traditions • On the Mystical vs the ‘Magical’: What do we make of talismans and ‘practical’ devotional arts?

Background

Carnelian is a semi-translucent variety of chalcedony that displays a stunning spectrum of tones from vibrant oranges to deep reds, and is one of a number of precious stones and minerals of significance that appear throughout the Báb's Writings. The Báb most often ties these references to highly allusive imagery carrying complex spiritual meanings. At times these references symbolize attributes such as subtlety, refinement, and more generally the process of spiritual “transmutation” (perfection of the base self of ‘hard stone’ → purified self, a ‘priceless gem’); at others, they are symbolic of eschatological themes or ontological realities (cosmology or heavenly worlds or the Station of the Manifestation); in other cases still they take the form of practical instructions for believers to craft and wear such as objects as rings, amulets, or talismans as markers of devotion and recognition of their belief in the Manifestation.

Historically, carnelian has long been used throughout the Islamic world as objects of symbolism and spiritual contemplation, and as “talismans”, objects imbued with ‘magical’ significance and common in many folk religious practices. Outside the Islamic world, carnelian has long been admired for its beauty in diverse spiritual traditions, stretching back into antiquity. Indeed, the beauty and feel of an exquisite piece of carnelian is quite alluring.

One specific reason for the popularity of carnelian among makers of seals, rings, and amulets in the Islamic world is due to a hadith attributed to Prophet Muhammad, where He is reported to have said that wearers of carnelian rings bring divine favor and good luck into their lives:

“‘Wear a ring of carnelian; it is blessed and one who uses a ring of carnelian has a good chance to end up in goodness.’”

Kitab Al-Káfi - Volume 6 Book 7, Ch. #22

Islamic traditions state that Muhammad wore such a ring.

As a result, engraved carnelian rings and seals, especially red carnelian (‘aqíq al-ahmar) with Quranic verses are abundant. White carnelian (‘aqíq al-abyad) is more rare, but also prized. Many originals from over the centuries are extant, and newly produced rings and jewelry made of carnelian remain popular to this day.

On the topic of Carnelian (‘aqíq) in the Writings of the Báb

Carnelian and references to talismanic arts appear from the earliest stages in the Writings of the Báb and formed a distinctive part of the religious devotional practice of the early Babis. In the Báb’s “Treatise of the Seven Directives" [Risála Khaṣá'il Sab'a] the Báb directs His followers towards 7 practices that served to distinguish them as a nascent community. The first of these includes carrying a “talismanic circle”, while the seventh of these instructs them to wear a “white carnelian signet ring” with a specific verse engraved onto the carnelian. (cf, Lambden, Hurqalya; Saiedi, Gate of the Heart p. 300)

An example of a Shi'i talismanic scroll contemporary to that period featuring a “da'ira” circular talisman.

Carnelian in the Persian Bayán

In the Persian Bayán, the Báb instructs that a carnelian ring should be placed upon the finger of the deceased (Váhid 5:12), engraved with a specific verse as a testament of faith, a recognition of God's authority over all things, and as a blessing for the passing of the body and the ascent of the soul. In the Arabic Bayán a similar instruction is found, but with explicit reference to "He Whom God Shall Make Manifest" [the Promised One of the Babi Faith], orienting believers towards the necessity of recognition of Him for their belief to be of any true worth.

All believers should have a ring of red carnelian with a verse in Arabic inscribed on it. In Persian Bayán Váhid 8:2, 19 engraved rings are instructed to be left as inheritance for one's heirs. In Persian Bayán Váhid 6:10 instructions are provided for a ring with a specific verse engraved on it:

“The Tenth Gate of the Sixth Unity: On that every soul is obliged to engrave upon [a ring of] red carnelian this Verse: "‘Say: God is the Truth, all save God is His creation and all are His servants.'”

"The substance of this gate is that no emblem in the Bayán is more beloved in the sight of the Lord, than that upon his [the believer's] hand a ring of red carnelian be worn upon which is engraved this Most Mighty Verse [in Arabic]: 'Say: God is the Truth, all save God is His creation and all are His servants.' [قل الله حقّ و ان ما دون الله خلق و کلّ له عابدون]."

- Persian Bayán 6:10, provisional translation, Aaron Ferguson

In this excerpt, the practical implement wearing of a ring engraved with a special verse is said to be beloved by God as an emblem or testament to one’s faith. Similarly, the verse to be inscribed is characteristic of the Báb’s favored style of condensing quintessential truths of religion into short expressive formulations; the truths in these verses are ones we are supposed to always keep active in our hearts and minds and sometimes feature as repetitions to be used in dhikr (devotional remembrance). The very purpose of reality and our creation is encoded into such statements. The act of wearing this kind of ring is intended to align us closer to that purpose by serving as concrete “remembrance” of this truth.

Later in that same chapter (Persian Bayán 6:10), for talismanic protection, instructions are provided for the creation of a round carnelian amulet to be inscribed with a da'ira (circular talismanic pattern) of five circles, with specific verses written within the circles:

"If anyone should wish to enter into the talismanic protection of God (hirz-i-Allah]), he should order inscribed on a round carnelian a dá'ira of five circles. In the first circle, there should be written the Throne Verse [Q2:255], in the second the name of the circle, in the third the letters of the basmala, in the fourth the six names [i.e., al-fard, al-hayy, al-qayyúm, al-hakam, al-adl, and al-quddús), and in the fifth whatever is conformable to the individual's condition and intention, but to no more than nineteen letters. Similarly, it is considered pleasing to God if no more than nineteen letters be inscribed in the first and second circles."

- Persian Bayán, 6:10; provisional translation, MacEoin, 'Sources', p. 101

This excerpt extends the use of carnelian from a practical spiritual devotional act, as in the ring, to an assurance of ‘talismanic protection’. The word in use here, hirz [حرز], implies both refuge, sanctuary, and impregnable protection but is also the word for a type of talisman/amulet. Specific aesthetic instructions are provided, such as that no more than 19 letters be inscribed, or that the individual should imbue a certain intention into its creation.

Finally, immediately following this speaks on the very purpose behind creating such an amulet: “All this, however, provided that at the [time of the] Appearance of ‘Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest’ one mayest apprehend what hath been inscribed.” (Persian Bayán, 6:10, provisional translation, Aaron Ferguson).

Carnelian in the Qayyúm al-Asmá' (the Commentary on the Surah of Joseph)

Carnelian or agate are also referenced in certain verses of the Qayyúm al-Asmá', the Báb’s earliest major work after His declaration. In the Surát al-Khátam, appropriately, carnelian rings are mentioned:

“O Qurratu’l-‘Ayn [Solace of the Eye*]! Say: Verily God hath adjudged the merit of the ‘those who Proceed’ [in Faith]** to be as of a ring of crimson carnelian, and that of the believers to be as of a ring of yellow pearl, while that of the idolaters is as a ring of green iron. And God hath verily placed this judgment in Thy Hands, upon the Truth, by the Truth, that Thou mayest dispense with it as Thou pleaseth and God hath ever been, in Truth, Exalted and All-Encompassing!”

- Qayyúm al-Asmá' 25:13, provisional translation, Aaron Ferguson

* In the Qayyúm al-Asmá', Qurratu’l-‘Ayn is principally a title of the Báb Himself, mostly in cases where the Báb is directly addressed by God. Later this title is also granted to Tahirih, His most esteemed female disciple.
**e.g. Sábiqín, 'the first to believe in the Báb, the 18 believers who became known as the ‘Letters of the Living’; see also Surát al-Sabiqín of the QA.

Here we see something of a staging or hierarchy of significance in the use of color symbolism also found in Sufism (examples provided later). The ‘stages’ reflect the kind of ‘journeys’ of spiritual refinement and perfection with different minerals and colors standing in as emblems of attainment to certain stages on the path of mystical ascent. The idea that the non-believers (idolaters) would be of the worth of iron (cold, grey, crass, and inert) is contrasted to the vibrancy, life-like glow, and energy of the crimson carnelian (here standing in for the spiritual worth and capacity of those who were first to believe in Him). The believers meanwhile are at the stage of ‘yellow pearl’, and aspire to attain that higher vibrancy of the spiritually enlightened. This evokes also the staging of ‘red’ as the final stage of the process of alchemy (whether practical or spiritual) given that the philosopher’s stone (hajar al-hukamá) is understood to be a red stone; ‘red sulphur’ [kibrít ahmar] is another referent for this legendary stone, and used by both the Bab and Baha’u’llah in this same manner when they say a 'true believer rarer than red sulphur'.

In another verse, from the Surát al-Mu'minín, He states:

“…O My servants! Prostrate thyself, then, before God and serve Him in the Path of this Most Great Gate … take for thy self a ring made of crimson carnelian, upon which is [engraved] the name of the Gate [the Báb] that ye may, in the sight of God, the Ancient One, be remembered [as a follower, circling] around that Most Exalted Gate.”

-Qayyúm al-Asmá' 111:22, provisional translation, Aaron Ferguson

Again we find a practice of spiritual and practical devotion signifying one’s belonging to the movement of the Báb, but also a hope in attainment to an exalted station through ‘remembrance’ (dhikr) by God, which is to say that one has been accounted as a true believer.

Finally, in a verse from the 94th Suráh of the Qayyúm al-Asmá' (variously titled as al-Ishhad, al-Ishhar, or al-Tarbi’), we find:

“O People of the Throne (al-’arsh)! Circumambulate round the [Sacred] House, and lend ear to My Call from [within] that crimson chamber, [cut of] a fragment of ripe carnelian…”

-Qayyúm al-Asmá' 94:4a, provisional translation, Aaron Ferguson

Here, the symbolism invokes a higher register of spiritual reality than the previous references. This excerpt is not concerned with practical implement, or even symbolic of a certain mystic attainment. Instead, it conveys a mystery on the level of ontological reality: the station of Most Sacred of the Sacred, the Person of the Manifestation. The addressees, the “People of the Throne”, evokes imagery of the highest realms of the divine worlds (the denizens circling the heavenly ‘Throne of God’). The Call (neda’) is the summoning of the Messianic Figure, inviting each soul to knowledge and worship of God. The crimson chamber hewn of ripe carnelian implies a kind of ecstatic direct encounter with the divine in a transcendent environ as if one were invited to an audience; the intensity of red ‘ripe’ carnelian speaks to the spiritual potency of the Manifestation, implies a type of ‘cloistering’ within a hidden chamber. This interlinks with a web of intense spiritual imagery found in other passages conveyed in this same register.

We see already the diversity of contexts a stone such as carnelian may appear in the Writings, from the practical and ethical, to the spiritual and mystical.

Other Precious Stones and Minerals

Carnelian is but one among a number of precious stones and minerals favored by the Báb, each with their own significance and intersections with weighty and mystical spiritual concepts.

Other such stones and minerals besides carnelian include:

• Diamond

• Emerald

• Ruby

• Garnet

• Red Sulphur

Pearl, crystal, and glass are also referenced in similar contexts. Each of these merits in-depth analysis on their uses and what they signify [more on these in future posts].

Ruby, for instance, is an especially potent symbol often used in connection with the coming of the Babi Promised One. It is often associated explicitly with Bahá (Glory or Splendour), as seen in a verse from Qayyúm al-Asmá' Surah 29, "…I am the Maid of Heaven begotten by the Spirit of Bahá, abiding within the Mansion hewn out of a mass of ruby, tender and vibrant." (Súrat al-Ḥúríyyih, SWB, 2:20) The concentration of eschatological focus in the color red/crimson and the mineral ruby gives us insight into how these became symbols of special focus in the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh (cf. ‘the Crimson Tablet’, ‘the Crimson Ark’, the ‘Ruby Tablet’, etc.)

When emphasizing these prized stones and minerals and giving practical instructions for their use the Báb almost always ties their significance to specific spiritual symbolism that reveals the true intent/value behind these practices. In the case of the ring for the deceased, it is tied to a spiritual concept of the correspondence between the body and soul via the analogy of the physical frame of the body serving as the ‘throne’ of the ‘inner temple’ (our spiritual essence). Inasmuch as the body serves this role, respect for it is symbolic of respect for the true nobility of our inner being:

“Since this physical body is the throne whereon the inner temple is established, God hath ordained that the body be preserved to the extent possible, so that nothing that causeth repugnance may be experienced. The inner temple beholdeth its physical frame, which is its throne. Thus, if the latter is accorded respect, it is as if the former is the recipient. The converse is likewise true. Therefore, it hath been ordained that the dead body should be treated with the utmost honour and respect.” (SWB 3:23, p. 122)

Often the highest significance is attached to how these practices relate to the all-important Day of Resurrection and the coming of the Babi Promised One. The Báb is at pains to instill a constant awareness and a warning of the predestined arrival of that Figure. Devotional practices, ethical principles, and even codes of personal conduct are all oriented around perfection, refinement, and preparation to recognize this Figure when He reveals Himself.

We see then that exoteric practices, both personal and social, become an arena for concrete expressions of deeply meaningful esoteric spiritual truths (the relativity of religion, the succession of Manifestations, or the practical work of spiritual refinement). One almost always gets the sense that the objects are not significant in and of themselves, but only in relation to the importance of the spiritual act of recognition. The Báb often states this directly. We this for example in Persian Bayán 4:4, where the Báb relates that a diamond of unparalleled value found in the possession of a believer derives its greatness and value principally from its association with the believer. This dynamic is true of all things.

The Intersection of Minerals, Colors, and Systems of Symbols

What’s most important to recognize is that each of these minerals are referenced alongside other notable ‘symbolic systems’ of meaning found in the Báb’s Writings. The mystical symbolism of colors, for instance, intersects with the various minerals mentioned above; each of them further corresponds to a range of other equivalences (more on this in future posts).

For instance, the colors white, yellow, green, and red each correspond to a specific mineral (Diamonds, Yellow Garnets, Emeralds, Rubies, respectively), and altogether these correspond further to the four classical elements (fire, air, water, earth) and then also to fourfold schema of the human being: Heart (qalb), Spirit (ruh), Soul (nafs), Body (jasad). Hence one is likely to find references to ‘snow-white’, crimson, yellow, or green ‘leaves’ or branches in one context, while finding references to white, yellow, green, or red ‘lights’ in another, and the meaning and purpose may overlap, but at others may be distinct.

The meaning of Carnelian as a red mineral can thus be intersected with the symbolism of other imagery that intersects with the color red (the red sulphur of alchemy, or the messianic implications of red ruby, etc.). The “Mansion hewn out of a mass of ruby” and the ‘crimson chamber of ripe carnelian’ have clear overlapping meaning despite different minerals being used, as they intersect at the level of color, in their aesthetic and reverential beauty of the symbols, and the literary device of their contexts.

The key resources on the color symbolism in the Báb’s writings thus far is Vahid Rafati’s “Colours in the Writings of the Báb” and various portions of Saiedi, ‘Gate of the Heart’ (pp. 135-138, passim) which review many of these symbols.

Understanding the intersectionality and structure of these systems of symbolism can bring us closer to understanding their highly varied use in throughout the Báb’s Writings, as it unlocks connections between diverse texts and showcases the Báb’s highly charged pattern of revelation. With effort, otherwise bewildering verses become somewhat less bewildering.

A Biblical Reference to Carnelian (and Emerald) in the St. John’s Book of Revelation

Revelation 4:2-4 “[2] At once I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne standing in heaven, with someone seated on it. [3] The One seated there looked like jasper and carnelian, and a rainbow that gleamed like an emerald encircled the throne. [4] Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and on these thrones sat twenty-four elders dressed in white, with golden crowns on their heads.”

• The topic of the “Throne of God” (al-‘Arsh) is an important feature of the Qur’án and its unique expression of late antique near-east cosmology [cf. Q13:2]; the mystical emphasis on the Throne has roots stretching back into the Jewish mystical tradition, especially the “Merkabah literature” (“chariot mysticism”, often reports of mystical ascent through the seven heavens to the Throne of God). Celestial thrones, mansions, temples are common also to gnostic and ‘orthodox’ Christianity, (cf. Christ’s “in My Father's house are many mansions”). The description of the Throne of God (pillars, corners, composition) was a focal point of these mystical traditions inviting great speculation; various minerals were posited, sometimes composed of sapphire, sometimes emerald, sometimes carnelian.

• The Báb and Bahá’u’lláh extend the use of this mystical symbolism in numerous instances, as seen in the analogy above of the body as a ‘throne’ for the inner temple that is the human soul. The 16th Surih of the Qayyum’u’l-'Asma is titled 'Surat al-’Arsh, and the ‘People of the Throne’ (ahl al-’arsh) are among the most common addressees in that work, as seen in the excerpt on the crimson chamber; other references to the Throne are pervasive in that text and the Persian Bayán.

• Importantly, these references (as well as references to anthropomorphic features of God) are not to be taken literally as they were in antiquity and in certain Islamic schools of thought, where there were long debates over such matters as whether God’s “hands” are meant to be understood literally. Although in the early Islamic milieu the cosmology of the Qu’rán was certainly understood through the lens of late antique thought, and thus, as a ‘literal’ map of reality, the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh have clearly established the insufficiency of literalistic interpretations of the Holy Texts [cf. the Bayán, the Iqán, Gems of Divine Mysteries].

• On the topic of the “24 elders” in this verse, see ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s commentary and interpretation in Some Answered Question, no. 11.

Why were Carnelians and Precious Minerals (including not just their symbolism but practical ‘implementation’) a focus of the Báb? What are we to make of these many passages?

A few hypotheses that may be worth considering:

1. Conformity to Spiritual-Historical Circumstances:

   Revelation is a transhistorical spiritual phenomenon. Manifestations of God conform their language and teachings in accordance with the capacity of the people. The Báb made reference to such topics as carnelian, precious minerals, color mysticism, and talismanic arts chiefly in light of their prominence and significance among the people, His immediate audience. He used these as vehicles to convey profound spiritual truths, and the significance of the symbols or objects themselves is ultimately of lesser importance. Although carnelians and minerals continued to have relevance principally as spiritual symbols in Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings, and early Bahá’i’s continued certain practices (for instance, many early Bahá’i’s were known to have carnelian rings), the practical devotional emphasis on such objects decreased and they are no longer as relevant.

   Bahá’u’lláh seems support this view directly when He says: "Say: Truly, He who uttered the Qayyúmu’l-Asmá’ desired only to mention what was prevalent amongst the people lest those held sway by the promptings of their own delusions be chased away, but [instead] may turn toward a station praised, in Truth, from all eternity to all eternity. By my life, were it not for the feebleness of the people not a word would He have mentioned of the stories uttered in days past.” (La'ali'ul-Hikma, vol 2, p. 47, provisional translation, Aaron Ferguson)

   
   The centrality within Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation of such principles as the harmony of science and religion, the value of banishing superstition, and a stronger emphasis on reason may encourage us to reconsider these practices. Bahá’u’lláh leveled potent critiques of Sufism and excess of mystical speculation; practices such as alchemy were discouraged, and monasticism and asceticism were abolished. Bahá’u’lláh can be seen as having recast the whole mystical tradition in an entirely new light through his weighty contributions. In these, He confirmed many aspects of these traditions, while totally disconfirming and rejecting others. In effect, He established a new criterion.

2. Aesthetics of Revelation and the Special Personhood of the Báb:

   
   Carnelian and the spiritual symbolism of precious minerals are integrated into the Báb’s Revelation as an expression of His Aesthetics of Revelation, His character, and His religious devotion. In emphasizing these practices the Báb expresses a genuine appreciation for the beauty of such devotional objects and the associated practices, while taking care to recontextualize their use away from pure superstition. He elevates them by making them relevant to higher spiritual truths: for instance, an object testifies to your belonging to His movement, it serves as a reminder of one’s commitment to recognizing the Promised One, it symbolizes and reignites our focus on personal refinement and purification, and more. The precious stones he emphasizes are all genuinely beautiful and worth appreciating so long as they do not become attachments or stand-ins for what they represent; they form (in the Babi Revelation) part of a rich pattern of spiritual life combined with recitation of the Names of God (dhikr), practice of certain prayers, and emphasis on specially powerful verses of God found throughout the Báb’s works. The Báb had a keen eye for beauty, a refined artistic spirit and a love for concrete expressions of lofty spiritual concepts. [On this topic, cf. Momen, 2011 “Perfection and Refinement: Towards an Aesthetics of the Bab’; the Báb’s artistry is also a topic explored variously in Todd Lawson’s works]

   
   As in 1, the succession of the Báb’s Revelation into Bahá’u’lláh’s leads to a different range of expression as they are distinct Persons & Revelations, even as they are ultimately One in Essence. Bahá’u’lláh had His own aesthetics and unique purpose in revealing practices for the Bahá’i world to follow, as compared to the Babi Revelation which He abrogates/elevates. Bahá’u’lláh clearly emphasized less the practical use of such minerals and more the transcendent spiritual symbolism.
   

3. The Phenomenological-Anthropological View on Magic:

   
   Such objects do indeed have a certain type of positive influence in one’s life as practical concrete symbols of spiritual realities. Although they may not be ‘magical’ in the sense popularly conceived, or cannot be said to invoke some kind of definitive supernatural causation, they may be seen as a type of “spiritual technology” that prompts genuine spiritual growth and invites spiritual blessings and refinement of the soul.
   

   There is a thinner line between ‘licit’ practices of prayer, ritual, supplication, and the ‘illicit’ ‘magical’ practices (divination, curses, charms, certain rituals, etc.) than many in the ‘Revealed Faiths' might admit. The key distinction between ‘magic’ as popularly conceived and the ‘practical spiritual work’ envisioned in the monotheistic traditions is the total reliance on God and the spiritual truths of the Holy Text for ‘power’, rather than invoking ‘infernal’ worldly powers, elevating the self, or falling prey to vain imagination. This is the reason behind the emphasis of Divine Names or Verses, for instance, or the subjugation of otherwise ‘magical’ artifice within higher spiritual symbolism rooted in Sacred Text.
   

   The anthropological or phenomenological understanding reframes ‘magical’ practices as techniques or even ‘technologies’ to accomplish certain aims in concert with seen and unseen forces, those in our control and subject to our influence, and those outside it. Such practices can be seen as ‘technologies of self’ (to appropriate Foucault’s term); by them we hope to shift matters in our favor or prevent those we wish to avoid, but also to become someone we desire to be (or avoid that which we wish to avoid). The word for this practice in theistic contexts may be more properly called ‘theurgy’ (θεουργίᾱ, quite literally, ‘divine’ or ‘God work’) rather than ‘magic’ (with its pejorative superstitious connotations). This is especially in the sense of the Neoplatonists Proclus and Iamblichus, but more generally formulated in the late antique Greco-Egyptian-Roman world. This would later cross-pollinate and be taken up into the Islamic world in the first few centuries after the rise of Islam, influencing the vocabulary and metaphysical underpinnings of Islamic thought that finally the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh interfaced with in their day.

   
   Stepping further back from such considerations, even today we recognize popularly that ‘magic’ is a shifting, fuzzy category: technology is one step away from magic (when ‘sufficiently advanced’) and magic is one step away from prayer/devotional practice (or equivalent, for many materialists). Perhaps these are all bedfellows. The phenomenological view seeks to suspend rationalist judgment on efficacy and causality and asks instead about meaning: How did these objects, practices, and the nexus of ideas they represent function within extremely rich and meaningful social worlds? How did their use bring comfort, express faith, infuse potent cultural ideas, refine craftwork practices, convey beauty? How did they strengthen one’s relationship with the sacred, bring the sacred into everyday life, empower you to act with the hope of protection and blessings? What do they tell us about our place in society and in the cosmos? These are all questions eminently relevant to the Báb’s deployment of these objects, symbols, and practices regardless of whether we ultimately consider them as crossing the line into superstition, as sayings & practices merely suited to the people of that time and destined to fall away, or even as continuingly meaningful symbols in their own right.

Disclaimer: These are all merely provisional and not meant to be comprehensive.

Naturally, some combination of the above ideas is plausible as they are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Others may have different ideas altogether.

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Further Antecedents in Prior Traditions

Najm al-Din Kubra (d. 1221CE): Carnelian, Ruby and Color Symbolism as Stages in the Sufi Path of Mystic Ascent

“On the mystic journey there is a well* corresponding to each act of being. The categories of being are limited to seven*; it is to this that the number of the Earths and the Heavens alludes*. Therefore, when you have risen up through the seven wells in the different categories of existence, lo and behold, the Heaven of the sovereign condition (rububiya) and its power are revealed to you. Its atmosphere is a green light whose greenness is that of a vital light through which flow waves eternally in movement towards one another. This green color is so intense that human spirits are not strong enough to bear it, though it does not prevent them from falling into mystic love with it. And on the surface of this heaven are to be seen points more intensely red than fire, ruby or carnelian, which appear lined up in groups of five. On seeing them, the mystic experiences nostalgia and a burning desire; he aspires to unite with them" (transl. Corbin, MoL:77-78, §18)

• The symbolism of “wells” is analogous to the ‘Valleys’, ‘Cities’ or stages of the mystical journey found in Seven Valleys of Bahá’u’lláh and prior literature in the Sufi tradition. The metaphor of the well implies a journey of ascent from darkness (at the base of the well) to light (at the height or aperture) [cf. Henry Corbin, Man of Light in Iranian Sufism].

• Najm al-Din Kubra was a successor in the ‘Oriental Theosophy’ tradition of Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi (d. 1191), who promulgated a school of Islamic philosophy centered on harmonizing late antique philosophies as diverse as Platonism & Aristotelianism, Hermetism, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and more. He founded a metaphysics focused on light, radiance, and intuitive experiential knowledge (Hikmat al-Ishraqi, “Illuminationism”, the Ishraqi school). As explored above the close association of colored lights with specific minerals is also found in the works of the Báb, linking together a whole complex of symbols, colors, minerals, spiritual concepts, and ontological categories.

The Sufi Poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi

[forthcoming]

A ray of sunlight am I…
شعاع آفتابم من اگر در خانه‌ها گردم

Carnelian and gold and ruby am I, though I am born of water and clay

عقیق و زر و یاقوتم ولادت ز آب و طین دارم

تو هر گوهر که می بینی بجو دری دگر در روی

که هر ذره همی‌گوید که در باطن دفین دارم

https://ganjoor.net/moulavi/shams/ghazalsh/sh1426

and elsewhere:

“When I go into the mine he is the carnelian and ruby;

When I go into the sea he is the pearl.

When I am on the plains he is the garden rose; when

I come to the heavens he is the star...”

al-Biruni and the Kitāb al-Jamāhir fī Maʻrifat al-Jawāhir ("The Book Most Comprehensive In Knowledge On Precious Stones")

• [forthcoming, the naturalistic understanding of minerals]

A New Contribution on the Baha'i Teachings and Evolutionary Science

'On the Originality of Species: The Convergence of Evolutionary Science and Baha'i Teachings' is a recently published (late 2023) work by the Baha’i author, Bryan Donaldson, that attempts to reconsider ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's statements on evolution in light of some interesting prospective developments in evolutionary theory and modern genomics, developments that may necessitate re-envisioning evolutionary thought. It is the first book-length treatment on the subject of evolution and Baha’i belief in the last 15 years, and for this it deserves credit as a contribution sparking further interest in this somewhat languishing topic of study.

This work is also notable for being the first Baha’i work to focus on addressing specific scientific research that accords with taking at face value ʻAbdu'l-Bahá’s statements on evolution, statements that, from a certain glance, appear to conflict with conclusions in modern evolutionary science. Donaldson attempts to take the overt meaning of these statements to their logical conclusion through direct recourse to emerging scientific evidence, evidence that he suggests may amount to an alternative scientific model that explain humanity’s emergence through an independent natural evolutionary origin.

Whether you find the arguments ultimately convincing or not, this book treads new grounds on a few fronts: in light of its consolidation of Baha’i statements on the subject, reflections on the updated translations of ‘Some Answered Questions’, and through the bold step of attempting to explore correspondence of applying Baha’i thought through select scientific advancements in the field. It offers a useful summary of all the available direct statements on evolution in Baha’i Scripture, and for that alone, it is worth a read. Similarly, readers wanting to find an enjoyable read that introduces scientific topics in evolution will find Donaldson capable of sparking interest in important topics in the field.

In the interest of providing conclusions up front, my key takeaways are the following:

• The book is eminently useful in its review of this topic from a Baha’i perspective and the resources it centralizes into a single place.

• Donaldson is an able writer, the book is an enjoyable read and is accessibly written.

• It takes great courage to pursue a heterodox approach to scientific evidence, and I commend the author for his willingness to do this. Whatever its flaws, this isn’t ‘crackpot’ thinking, it is not Creationism and is genuine in its engagement with scientific evidence. Scientists and interested readers will benefit from a willingness to ask ‘what if?’ and to entertain alternative perspectives. Indeed, this is necessary for scientific development.

• I am broadly sympathetic to its goals, although I am not personally convinced that the proposed model will consolidate into a novel synthesis of evolutionary science. However, I do not believe that any single book is capable of demonstrating such a development, or at least this is not such a book, as I will explore more below. The presentation is nonetheless worth contemplating even if it only serves to affirm that the route it follows is presently a lost cause.

What follows is something of a book review; in this my aim is not to systematically evaluate the validity of the research it presents. Rather it is a reflection on belief, scientific models, and the value of contributions such as this book to the evolving discourse on humanity’s self-knowledge in relation to scientific evidence of our origins. As a reminder, the views expressed in the book and in review of it are merely the impressions of the authors. Buckle up, this is a lengthy one!

Evolution and Baha’i Belief

In the modern era, evolutionary science has become one of the stark dividing lines in the ‘battles’ over the conclusions of the Enlightenment, scientific thought, and the intellectual and spiritual heritage of religion and antiquity. For some, it is the cornerstone of the very falsification of religion itself and the crowning gem of materialistic philosophy. For others it is a rallying cry to the banners of an insistent religious piety and entrenched fundamentalism. Much like other features of modernity, this impels some members of the world’s major traditional religions (certain wings of Christianity, Islam) to retreat into a kind of traditionalism and pining for the premodern, an overriding desire to restore the purity of their movements as they originally were founded. Ironically, this effort to reclaim the ‘original truth’ of those traditions is decidedly modern.

For Baha’is, it is none of these things, as we will explore.

My first real run-in with young earth creationism was when I was 10 years old. For fifth grade, my parents sent me to a private 'church school’ organized by the local Seventh Day Adventist community in our remote community in NW Alaska. Not because I or my family were Christian (I was raised as a Baha'i), but because it was more or less the only option left for my schooling. I lived in a small, remote community where educational opportunities were slim and I had already burned through the two other options for schooling (the local public elementary school that I had dropped out of the year prior and home-schooling) at the time. As long as I was getting a good "private school" education, and they were respectful that I wasn't Christian, how bad could it really be?

That year of school turned out to be one of the most absurd experiences of my life, but one for which I am surprisingly grateful. The whole year was a complete mess, but very memorable. At one point, myself and 3 classmates got lost on the open tundra for over 2 hours in a freak blizzard because the school’s idea of ‘recess’ was sending 30 kids out into the barren tundra with shovels for an hour a day. We were blamed, of course. Students were punished for any perceived misbehavior by being forced to copy line-by-line from pages of the dictionary. Certain offenses were known as a one-, two-, three-, or 'ten-pager', respectively. I attribute my wildly precocious vocabulary to the amount of dictionary pages I had to copy that year. Naturally, we devoted an inordinate amount of time throughout the week to bible study where, even as a 10-year-old, I would ask probing questions about passages that did not accord with my understanding of Baha’i beliefs, or that simply seemed nonsensical.

The positive side effect was that I found such bible study sessions (10:00 am daily) actually quite fascinating, despite not being Christian. I credit my knowledge and interest in the bible to those classes, though they likely had the opposite effect intended. Already at that age, I'd had a strong awareness of my Baha'i identity, the history of our Faith, and the central principles. I knew that Jesus' teachings formed a bedrock of the Faith, but also discerned that the Bible was a complicated collection of conflicting narratives that came with a variety of interpretations (and misinterpretations), some of which I could clearly tell didn't align with personal sensibilities or from a Baha'i perspective. One, among many, was the idea that the Earth was less than 6,000 years old, which just so happened to be a strong point of emphasis during many study sessions at this church school. I had taken a strong inclination to science & history in those years and found these discussions quite laughable. I vividly remember one day, returning home, absolutely flabbergasted that we were discussing, in school, that if dinosaurs were real Jesus must have walked with them. Or that the reason they died out must have been because they didn't make it onto Noah's Ark.

Baha’i Beliefs on Evolution

It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I truly began to explore the specific Baha’i Writings on evolutionary science. The most important principles relevant to the discussion are the core principles of progressive revelation and the harmony of science of religion. These are ideas that all Baha’is are familiar with but, as they are truly bedrock principles, the exact way they trace out for individuals’ interpretations of scientific evidence on subjects like evolution will naturally vary, as we will see.

Let’s get one thing out of the way quickly: Is this book advocating for an alternative to evolution?

No. It is perhaps more akin to how Modern Synthesis is a significant adaptation and extension to Darwin’s original model, or Extended Evolutionary Synthesis is an adaptation to Modern Synthesis. The proposal Donaldson explores would be a marked shift in the scientific consensus, no doubt, and more far-reaching in implications than ones seen so far due to the weight of evidence in favor of the consensus. But it is not entirely inconceivable, even if the ground remains shakey. Hence, this book is definitively not evolution vs contraevolution, or science vs pseudoscience. Rather it is the current model of evolution vs a proposed extension, revision, or revolution of it. It leans closer to revolution in the size of its claims, and for this it unavoidably falters, for one can only go so far in demonstrating such grand new syntheses within such a confined format.

What exactly is he proposing?

One of the most prevalent allegories for evolutionary origin relates to evolutions most fundamental principle: that life on earth all emerged from a common point (universal common ancestry) and thereafter diverged into varying branches continuing and diverging into own subsidiary limbs, twigs, etc. This produces an image of a standard tree and forms the basis of ‘phylogeny’ and is largely responsible for sensibility and explanatory power of evolution as a framework. The vision that this book proposes is one where instead of a single ‘tree of life’ with the universal common ancestor of all life at it’s root, there are instead multiple ‘trees’ with intersecting roots systems and overlapping branches, creating an altogether more complex picture of evolutionary development. It seeks to justify this vision via a set of mechanisms that explain phenomena such genetic similarity, that traditionally undergirds analysis of common ancestry, by recourse to alternatives that may explain the same observations (these being horizontal gene transfer, convergent evolution and parallel evolution, constrained evolutionary pathways emphasizing evolutionary modularity and repeatable origins, and others). This provides a model to explain the varying origins of species while also explaining ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s statements, taken literally, suggesting man has always been man. In this vision not only would human beings be able to trace their own unique lineage to a common matrix of organic life, but so would other groups of species.

So the Baha’i Faith believes in evolution?

When it comes to evolution, as Donaldson emphasizes well in his introduction, Baha’is do believe: (1) that humans have gradually evolved into their present form, (2) that cosmological and mythic origin narratives (a la Adam and Eve) from past religions are not to be viewed literally but allegorically/spiritually, (3) that human beings are subject to dictates of material nature including forces like natural selection, (4) that this occurs on the scale of millions and billions of years. It’s settled then, right?

Well, not exactly.

The crux of the distinction of Baha’i belief from the present state of science is this: supporting as it does, the scientific endeavor of investigating reality and coming to an evermore clarified picture of natural processes and material reality, Baha’i thought contends that although human beings share, to some degree, the natural and evolutionary processes that determine animal species and the nature of other organic beings, we remain definitionally and distinctly human in our powers and capabilities—in our essence—and are not to be viewed merely as animals.

That this is an evident fact is, I think, borne out from the totality of Baha’i Writings on human nature and spiritual reality irrespective of whether we had any of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá’s statements on human origin and His reflections on the materialist philosophy of evolutionary science of His time (the turn of the 20th century, during which He wrote, spoke, and toured the West and expounded Baha’i principles on this subject). This is an important point to clarify because it has a bearing on the ultimate conclusions of the Baha’i contribution to discourse on human nature and origins, no matter the exact interpretive framework you take on the subset of Baha’i scripture that deals explicitly with the philosophy of evolutionary thought.

I say philosophy specifically for a certain point. ʻAbdu'l-Bahá did not conduct scientific investigation. Although responding to the prevailing science of His time, His statements are not strictly scientific, which is to say He is not a practicing scientist despite His able vision, keen mind, and infallible role in the Baha’i community. This isn’t to deny any relevance of His statements as applied to scientific bodies of knowledge, as there is natural crossover. Rather, it is to position these as primarily rational and spiritual proofs demonstrating certain truths, from the collective body of religious and philosophical knowledge, that have a bearing on how we interpret material evidence. They are foundational arguments, and thus generative of programs of investigation in philosophical and scientific thought, but not science strictly as such. This observation is critical in two key respects:

1. As philosophical and religious statements, we have a primary obligation to seek recourse to philosophy and religion to weigh and consider them.

   1. To some extent they will involve truths that are not scientifically falsifiable (which is not to say they are not verifiable or true). A corollary to this is that although one day we may with sufficient clarity affirm one or another interpretive lenses on His statements as a result of scientific advancements, they embody a core truth that is true beyond what affirmations science may hope to offer. This primacy dispels some of the tension that Donaldson attempts to accomplish through a literal resolution by recourse to scientific backing before we even get to the question of how his statements relate to scientific inquiry.

2. Statements such as those on evolution are relevant to the extent they overlap with scientific truths and investigation, but this is secondary, and not primarily from the perspective of scientific method or science as a body of knowledge.

   1. The relevance and degree of overlap is subject to significant debate not only due to varying scientific frameworks and natural differences in scientific approaches and interpretation, but also because it proceeds from their clarity in their primary domain as philosophical statements. This means even the same set of scientific evidences will play out differently with respect to one’s foundational perspectives via theology and philosophy. This will become clearer shortly.

The inverse would be true for a primarily scientific statement.

To be clear, I do not mean to suggest a vision of science and religion as completely separate domains, neither infringing on the other. I am proceeding from an understanding of these as complementary, harmonious, overlapping, yet unique ‘systems of knowledge and practice’.

Bryan Donaldson pursues an exploration of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá’s thought mostly with respect to the second point above, seeking to consider how scientific evidence may or may not validate the overt import of certain statements in scripture; however, I think the first point about the primary obligation of weighing philosophy and religious statements overrides the strengths of his aims.

Proving Human Origins: To what end?

First and foremost of these is this: let us take for granted that his novel interpretation of the scientific evidence is correct, and human beings have a distinctive evolutionary origin compared to animalian life, and we, therefore, cannot strictly say human beings are animals. What then?

Well, not would change as one might hope.

Let me say first that I first affirm the value of it as an alternative model, because it would be fascinating if it were true, and it is worthy of investigation.

The interesting thing about attempting to prove this evolutionary alternative—that human beings emerged in their own evolutionary lineage—is that while such ideas are hotly contested between opposing camps of religionists/idealists vs materialists, and is taken to be a civilization-shaping debate of the modern era, e.g. the light of scientific rationality vs the dark of traditional superstition and myth, I don’t actually believe that the scientific evidence being proven true in favor of a separate lineage would shift this debate as much as you’d think, nor would it actually prove the presumed cherished premise (e.g. that man was created by God or that animals and humans are only then definitively proven as distinct). To illustrate the conundrum, one just needs to push the argument even further and grant that humans have a distinctive evolutionary line. Every prevailing philosophical challenge would remain, just at a new locus of the problem of resolving our ultimate origins. It would merely grant a certain mechanism to what is ultimately a matter not reducible to mechanism anyway. While perhaps some may be more convinced if this version of our origin were true, materialist thought could continue unabated just fine, and still consider humans as more akin to animals, as material beings, and deny the prerogatives of the spiritual should they so wish. That’s because the root of the matter still lies in metaphysical and philosophical resolutions of the question of ultimate origins, whether we are talking about evolutionary start points, the genesis of organic life itself, or the most minute components of reality.

The stakes may be large, but maybe not as impactful as one might think. The example Donaldson gives to signpost an example of how his alternative, rooted in religious text, may be legitimate after all, is that of the Quran and heliocentrism, and actually demonstrates this quite well. Islamic scholars had for centuries renegotiated signs in the Quran that can be taken in favor of heliocentrism and instead continued in the tradition of the then dominant model of geocentrism. Later, we validated that actually the Text was correct all along and found we need'nt have done that renegotiation. But has this truly advanced Quranic proofs in the eyes of skeptics? Has it proliferated the Word of God in any grand sense or served it beyond serving as a note of interest or inspiration for a subset who’ve found it confirming? Were the centuries of believers laboring under the false alternative of geocentrism diminished in their Faith as a result? I think the answer to these is actually no. The benefit for this discussion is that we can take this paradigm shift as being an example similar in scope to this question of human origins, and if our answer to these questions is no, what might it tell us about the answer for the question about human origins?

In such a hypothetical where our distinctive origin is maintained scientifically, it remains possible that one could consider humans as having emerged on a unique evolutionary tree and still consider them not to have been ‘created’ by God, nor as being more than physical. We are still discussing a fundamentally physical process which does not resolve questions that are definitively not merely physical. Indeed, the very fact that such a claim could be proven through science de facto testifies that it has remained in the realm of the material ontology. So, if this did emerge as a theory around which evolutionary science consolidated, it does not 'answer' the question of whether humans were 'created'. To suggest so would be to make a categorical error, suggesting that science can prove matters not amenable to scientific proof. Certainly it would offer many new substantive material facts to think about, but I suggest it is actually only one among many stepping stones between such major conclusions about the universe and our place in it.

Why point this out? For cooler heads to prevail in our understanding of the world, resetting our perception of the stakes can facilitate more sober analysis and free us from constrictions. If we are able to defang the intense debate between materialists and idealists, we can better weigh the evidence and admit when it leans towards one direction or another, rather than graft on questions that were never going to be fully answered no matter how the science shakes up. In fact, to invest too much into one side or another of this may unwittingly reinforce the supposed conflict between science and religion, while avoiding attending to the philosophical-theological basis of our understanding that otherwise gets neglected.

In sum: (1) I consider that we already have sufficient philosophical and religious knowledge (actualized or available to us) to demonstrate that human beings are essentially distinct from the animal which is the more important matter to beging with; (2) the domineering urge to overemphasize physical mechanism admits an untenable misconception of scientific and religious knowledge.

On this first point. Many of these same stepping stones in this grand journey self-discovery concerning humanity and our origins are ones we already have recourse to philosophy and religion to answer. Key among these is that on purely philosophical and theological grounds we already have sufficient reason to consider the essence of human being, the intellect or ‘rational soul’, as something purely immaterial, and thus not to be demonstrated in a mechanistic process anyway.

I will say in favor of strict skepticism, that I grant that scientific evidence could possibly disprove once and for all, some such philosophical-theological beliefs. Why? The demonstrable track record of falsified philosophical or religious ideas borne out of improved rational investigation is certainly impressive, and its helpful to acknowledge that possibility, as a matter of epistemic humility. There is indeed a productive dialectic at play here—a key perspective afforded by the Baha’i view on harmony of science and religion—that we will always benefit from.

But would all such beliefs fall prey?—say, for example some final, definitive evidence of the materiality of consciousness? Such a proposal that all such beliefs will inevitably fall to science is ultimately an inference that is decidedly non-scientific, and demonstrably philosophical (and probably not merited). This leads us straight back to the domain of philosophy for answers, and not strict naturalistic science, which is exactly my point. Now, let us turn to the second point, on scientific and religious knowledge.

On Scientific Revolutions & Scientific Models

Scientific Revolutions

I digress into this subject because I believe the book has admirable rhetorical and intellectual goals, however, I think it would get more mileage in these aims at this moment in scientific development through a demonstration of the philosophical validity of its exploration, rather than focusing mostly on a possible emerging evidentiary basis to the detriment of the philosophical, especially when the evidentiary basis remains too tendentious at this time comes at the expense of other justifications. The heart of the book centers on giving a fair shot at an under-explored interpretive framework: taking ʻAbdu'l-Bahá’s overtly in an effort to resolve the apparent tensions between these statements in Baha’i literature and the scientific consensus of the past century and a half. In doing so it focuses entirely on plumbing the scientific literature for some fascinating signs of progressions and interesting concepts that—assembled together and isolated from their interpretation in the dominant evolutionary model—could be viewed as movement towards an alternative synthesis of evolutionary theory. The impulse for open and inventive thinking, and pushing the needle forward within scientific thought is praiseworthy, and such reconceptualizations necessary. At their best, I argue that such efforts can counteract the stultifying influence of what Thomas Kuhn calls ‘normal science’ in his groundbreaking work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

In Kuhn’s sociologic and philosophical observations on the nature of science, scientific revolutions are major shifts and anomalies in scientific consensus at the level of entire scientific communities that motivate novel syntheses of scientific fact in the face of crises that threaten an established consensus. The movement from geocentrism → heliocentrism can be seen as one example of this kind of shift. When enough evidence consolidates that leads to an unprecedented and new solution to an emergent problem, scientific activity then reconsolidates around this new paradigm to justify its validity and undertake to prove its success. Eventually, as such a paradigm matures, a type of scientific activity sets in that Kuhn calls ‘normal science’. This is that kind of regular scientific activity in pursuit of providing general evidence around an established scientific paradigm; but despite the original revolutionary impetus of a new scientific paradigm, eventually, the activity of scientists within it shift to a kind of ‘puzzle-solving’ activity that takes for granted the established paradigm, rather than generating anew from first principles which led to the creative disruption in the first place. The novelty diminishes and conclusions become more dogmatic, more focused on edge cases and trivialities. The theory may become overextended, or focused on ever more specific and esoteric aspects of its implications, to the detriment of serious scientific progress. In the end, a theory or scientific paradigm as a whole will need either a major modification as it bumps into newly emergent problems. Sometimes it leads to a grand new paradigm altogether. Crucially, such changes occur on the scale of decades and centuries. These are all facets at the heart of science as a sociologic phenomenon that I consider essential for one’s understanding of science, and Kuhn is still widely inspirational for the fields of philosophy of science, science and technology studies, and in the social sciences. Sadly, the implications of these reflections are still often lacking in the natural sciences.1

The relevance of this for Donaldson’s efforts is that situating efforts contra ‘normal science’ and the dominant framework requires a robust framework to distinguish the effort from mere rejection. A more rigorous basis allows for more nuance in advocating for reconceptualizing existing evidence. Further, recognition that new paradigms don’t just emerge around new evidence, but also reconceptualize existing ways of thinking about observations already made lends credence to the radical shift in mindset required to see familiar things in a new light. I think Donaldson’s work would be more persuasive if his proposals were contextualized in greater depth in light of such understandings of the sociologic process of scientific advancement, and not just possible mechanics and new evidences. This is both for his sake, in terms of clarity of thinking and grounding within a framework, but also for readers who need the guidance to contemplate a wholesale re-envisioning. This emphasis on the sociologic foundations of science opens the door to a focus not just on empirical evidence to shift one’s conception of evolution, but on how Evolution (writ-large) as a model is also an assemblage of background metaphysical and philosophical premises. One other relevance of this is that it legitimates thinking of multiple possible models of reality that have coterminous conclusions but radically different assumptions and processing of even mostly the same data, which we will explore next.

Scientific Models

Let’s take this one step further by reflecting on some meta-perspectives on scientific models. What I refer to as ‘scientific models’ here may variously be known as conceptual models, conceptual frameworks, models of reality, or at their grandest level, akin to Kuhn’s paradigms. For now, we can suffice with the provisional definition that scientific models are: (a) tools for scientific questions, (b) they depend on a mix of testable and untestable axioms and assumptions, and (c) they are capable of generating conclusions based on prevailing sets of facts, evidences, subsidiary models, and theories.

Models may coexist with each other or be mutually exclusive. At their largest level such models represent grand syntheses more akin to Kuhn’s idea of a paradigm (such as Modern Evolutionary Synthesis or General Relativity), while in certain disciplines models may be circumscribed to more specific domains of thought (cf. the Socioecological Model in Population Health). Critically, the model itself is a conceptual or intellectual reality that maps out reality on the ground; they are not reality itself and this confusion is perilous. Conclusions are only as reasonable as the model and the data that informs it, and as fallible as the humans that craft them. As the oft-cited statistical aphorism goes, “All models are wrong, but some are useful.” This helps us keep a healthy distance from the tendency in science to slip into dogmatic thinking and reject unorthodox thought, a type of thinking that can lock us into to the ‘normal science’ pattern described by Kuhn [for more on models, see here].

The biological anthropologist Richard McElreath, a Professor at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, offers an extremely helpful illustration of the dynamics mentioned above in his book ‘Statistical Rethinking’, alongside other important musings on how to think about scientific models.

Caption: A useful diagram that helps us think about scientific/conceptual models, from McElreath’s “Statistical Rethinking: A Bayesian Course with Examples in R and Stan”, p. 6

The above diagram is framed specifically around hypotheses → process models → statistical models, but does well to illustrate the dynamics of scientific models in their broadest scope as I am describing. It also has the added benefit of focusing on evolution. It points out that there are elements and subsidiary models within evolutionary theory that explain entire sets of observations from research, that may have their common origin in one or another distinct hypotheses. As it states, ‘hypotheses do not imply unique models, and models do not imply unique hypotheses’ and ‘this fact greatly complicates statistical inference’. I would suggest this applies to scientific inference and consensus broadly as well, and is an under-appreciated component of scientific thought. This is what I mean when I say that multiple adjacent scientific models (in the sense of Modern Evolutionary Synthesis as a “Theory” / “proven” model to explain reality) may in fact have coterminous conclusions but radically different foundational assumptions, and then also different processing of even mostly the same sets of data or subsidiary models.

I will summarize the substance of my point as follows:

1. Taking these factors into account can give more weight to the validity of exploring alternative syntheses; ideas such as ‘parallel evolution’ [reading this term in the context of Donaldson’s proposal] or ‘epigenetics’ that may at one time have been a laughing stock of scientific communities may, upon reconsideration, emerge as an adjacent scientific model that does powerfully explain sets of evidence and make veridical predictions to explain common phenomenon. It may even rise to the level contra the established consensus (a sign that we’d gain from adopting that model as preferable to the other). In the case of independent human origins as described in this book, whether Donaldson’s presentation justifies a displacement, or whether it really stacks up evidentially is for others to determine. A comparison at this level of model vs. model, keeping in mind these dynamics, would aid tremendously the clarity of such a determination. Ultimately my suggestion is for healthy skepticism of our skepticism, and adopting a more holistic view of scientific advancement than is usually subscribed to by those reject alternative views out of hand. Naturally those who propose alternatives must also anticipate scrutiny and be prepared for such.

2. Given that paradigms shift on the scale of decades and centuries, and true scientific models (on the scale of evolutionary theory) only emerge as (a) the synthesis of entire fields of endeavor, (b) intensive reconceptualization of existing bodies of evidence, (c) formulation of entirely new approaches in the field, and (d) entire communities of scientists working together, I think it is wise to weigh accordingly the efforts of one motivated thinker wishing to explore the implications of these questions in a particular direction. It is very challenging to think against the status quo, to do so with an aim to be rigorous and scientific, and advocate for a total reconception of existing frameworks. While it may not pan out or collapse under the weight of the endeavor, to the extent that we discourage such efforts (when genuine), even when they are indeed wrong, we face the unintended downstream consequence of discouraging movement towards those actual radical shifts in scientific thought that we depend on for long term progress.

General Impressions

This book is genuinely one of the more useful compilations or one-stop-shop collection of resources on the topic. It’s presented in a lucid and unassuming way—sometimes tongue in cheek and almost always accessible. Whether or not you walk away with a conclusion in support or against that of the author, you will benefit from the collection of quotes, even if you're already familiar with many of them. You will also gain from the exercise of considering the significance of the presentation of scientific concepts. The scientific evidence presented is indeed worth reviewing, and represents a smattering of interesting advancements in the field, some possible only recently, especially via technological and conceptual advancements, that offer genuine potential to reshape our understanding of human origins. One weakness of the book is that Donaldson doesn’t depict how these advancements are being conceived by those drawing on them for in favor of the consensus or in favor of less expansive revisions than his. His isn’t the only game in town. However, in reviewing this book my focus has been more on its positioning and context than the interpretation and evaluation of the scientific literature provided, which is a separate matter.

One takeaway for readers that I hope is evident is that the Baha’i approach to evolutionary allows nuance. Taken correctly, this book can help to distinguish a Baha'i understanding of evolution from the unfortunately regressive anti-science efforts of our fellow religionists from certain communities (creationism and the like) or the general impulse among many people of faith to reject scientific evidence in favor of their cherished (but untenable) beliefs. The book also demonstrates a healthy range of intellectual diversity simply by pursuing its aim with earnest, and comparing its conclusions to the existing body of literature by Baha’is, who have otherwise tended to invest more effort into contextualizing ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s statements away from denying contemporary science.

The implications of the proposal in this book are too large to ascertain in the short term. As I hope I’ve made clear, when considering sea changes in the story of scientific development, changes in the discourse of this magnitude play out on the scale of decades, sometimes centuries. We are now nearly 150 years into the ‘Darwinian era’. Is it ripe for such a disruption? The challenge is like that of the classic duck or rabbit illusion (or the modern ‘blue-black vs gold-white’ dress): the change is not always just a matter of what is added or missing in the picture, but a monumental shift in perspective in how one interprets what is present. Donaldson’s approach is to suggest such a shift in interpretation while focusing on some fascinating but inconclusive evidence proposed to motivate such a shift in the model of evolution as we have inherited it [pun intended]. Whether these changes will really amount to a generational re-envisioning, to a more modest shift that explains them via the existing model or some adaptation of it, the implications are reviewed with clarity even if ultimately one finds them inconclusive or erroneous.

To dismiss this solely as just another misguided approach by religious communities to cling to a falsified idea in their scripture would be shortsighted. This isn't a crackpot attempt to come up with an entirely different model for human origins or reject scientific thought; the author shows an able grasp of scientific thinking and mounts a genuine attempt to reckon with some an interesting possible alternative models within a scientific framework. The mere fact that it challenges the consensus AND aligns with a religious belief is often enough to dismiss outright what may be found to be challenging questions that confront the contemporary scientific paradigm. But as I suggest the philosophy of science supports, there is often more of a social component to scientific activity and interpretation than we admit. It is now genuinely not out of the question that leveraging new technologies, novel research methodologies, and more complex understandings of evolutionary possibilities that conflict with the more simple (and perhaps more simplistic?) notion of universal origin proposed by Darwin and his successors will lead to such a sea change. This doesn’t mean that Donaldson’s specific proposal will pan out, but that it would be unsurprising that a major revision or revolution will occur nonetheless. To think otherwise is to buy into a kind of dogma that undermines the value of scientific thinking itself. What that leaves us with is a pragmatic assessment of where we stand when we attempt to grasp the possibility of such a disruption when it is still perhaps glimmers on the horizon.

Some Shortcomings

A comprehensive view on the Writings

As able an exploration of the direct references to evolution in the Baha’i Writings as this book provides, the book would have benefitted from a firmer grounding in the wider totality of the Baha’i Writings. The book attempts to hone in on the specific ‘controversy’ of evolution and then seek out a possible scientific backing to explain to proposed discrepancy. Some will, on this account, dismiss this as subjecting the analysis to selection bias and motivated reasoning. I will point out that in doing so it falls victim to an all too narrow treatment of Baha’i thought, when in reality the resolution may need to be through a more comprehensive approach than analytic study the direct quotes about evolutionary philosophy alone. The quote that begins this article, “The human spirit, which distinguishes man from the animal, is the rational soul”, which obviously merits direct consideration, but is curiously missing from the analysis, is one example of what I’d expect to find but don’t. The nearest the book gets is Chapter 7, which draws from a broader range of concepts, but ends up being too thin and not integrated with the rest of the book, as a survey of the sources cited shows.

There are many other directions the exploration of Baha’i teachings could take but if you’ll indulge me I will provide one other of great importance in the at-present divergent dialogue between religion and science: teleology. Transcending a teleological cosmology or view of history has long been seen as one of the key achievements of Darwinian thought and rationalism in general. ‘Abdu’l-Baha, in the very same book as we find that core discourse on evolutionary philosophy, affirms Aristotle’s fourfold model of causality: "the existence of each and every thing depends upon four causes: the efficient cause, the material cause, the formal cause, and the final cause." (SAQ#80)2 Donaldson rightly brings out this quote in his exploration of the essence of humanness, but I’d like to dwell on it a little further to illustrate it’s relation to the core contention of the book.

Science, for it’s part, has dismissed formal causes and final causes as being outside the materialist’s purview in the course of the last few centuries of the Enlightenment. Suffice it to say we have reason to consider this a mistake. As it turns out, causation is one of the most critical topics in scientific thought and the common source of many a revolution within varying domains of scientific thought. Many fields are being reshaped in light of new conceptions of causation, even in some corners of thought, remarkably, in favor of teleology or attempting to account for purpose and consciousness-driven visions of reality. Some in the field of biology are even beginning to consider this possibility with respect to evolution. To give one precise reason why this alone would change the equation of how we conceive of evolution in Baha’i thought: the Baha’i view has already been informed by a rich depiction of the teleological purpose imbued in reality, and already affirms a critical part of the process of evolution that has everything to do with spiritual and metaphysical causation and not material. What is this you ask? The Manifestations of God. In this we already have an existing model, par excellence, that explains how humans are led to higher stages of evolution via the instrumentality of Divine Will, rather than solely driven by natural materialistic mechanisms.

The thought is this: if human beings have always been human beings, even given differences in material form, and there have always been “Manifestations” guiding us, even back into the nameless unknown time of prehistory, even pre-species, perhaps even latent in matter, then this instrument showcases the 'superstructure' of Divine Guidance leading humanity forward, ensuring the non-accidental nature of man without the need for a divergent or unique material 'base' pushing us forward. Such an instrumentality, in the Baha’i view, is perfectly capable of assuring the final cause, the telos, of the human form and its distinction in the rational soul, while allowing this to occur within the matrix of materiality, common to the animal.3 Taking this into perspective the independent or common origin of man and animal becomes of less concern. We can see this as the difference between push and pull. The two competing models posed against each other by the book attempt to explain the discrepancy solely through different 'pushing' mechanisms, while leaving behind an account for this existing clear mechanism in the Faith’s ontology of the human origins whereby humans are ‘pulled’ towards this eventuality. To this instrumentality attest the following quotes and many others:

• "...the Manifestations of His Divine glory and the Daysprings of eternal holiness have been sent down from time immemorial, and been commissioned to summon mankind to the one true God." —Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings, LXXXVII

• “...For every age requireth a fresh measure of the light of God. Every Divine Revelation hath been sent down in a manner that befitted the circumstances of the age in which it hath appeared.” —Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings, XXXIV

• “The holy Manifestations of God come into the world to dispel the darkness of the animal, or physical, nature of man, to purify him from his imperfections in order that his heavenly and spiritual nature may become quickened, his divine qualities awakened…” — ‘Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 465-466.

• “Thus there have been many holy Manifestations of God. One thousand years ago, two hundred thousand years ago, one million years ago the bounty of God was flowing, the radiance of God was shining, the dominion of God was existing.” — ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Foundations of World Unity, p. 108

Here instead of the push of evolutionary forces driving humanity we see the pull of divine guidance that we are affirmed ‘has never been absent from human’ and without which we would not be human. Again, returning to the quote at the beginning of this article: “the human spirit, unless it be assisted by the spirit of faith, cannot become acquainted with the divine mysteries and the heavenly realities”. Which is to say, our humanness is dependent on (caused by) these immaterial spiritual realities for its perfection, and this is as true of the individual as it is of the collective human spirit and its emergence in time.

My point in articulating this example is to emphasize that there is far more to consider on the topic of evolution in the Baha’i thought than just the direct statements, and the over-focus on those alone can come at the expense of the holistic view. This approach runs the risk of neither clarifying and advancing our understanding on the side of the relevant theological framework, nor of servicing and demonstrating the scientific evidence in turn. This subtly reinforces the conflict the book hopes to dispel by trying to reason about Baha’i thought from a too limited domain within it (comments about evolution) at the expense of a broader synthesis (one that may satisfactorily resolve the matter altogether). I have little doubt the author is capable of and aware of those requisite broader themes, and the effort he has included is working towards this end, so I wonder if it is simply the razor-thin focus within the topic that hinders a more holistic view, leading to an overcommitment to landing on one or another ‘side’ of the seeming controversy that may be self-imposed.

Leaving supporting evidence on the table

In terms of conceptual frameworks and bodies of knowledge not from the Baha’i Faith, the book stands to have gained from incorporating broader implications and frameworks in biological anthropology and recent developments in the philosophy of evolution. Indeed, there is somewhat a fissure in traditional biological circles and anthropological circles, with bioanthropology as a field more willing to integrate robust perceptions of environmental and epigenetic intercession on the simplistic view of genetic determinism, more holistic approaches to understanding human nature, and avoid the tendency to reduce humanity to genes, genomes and physiological processes. As well as these, there is also the integration of the role of cultural evolution, and others, all of which have bearing on Donaldson’s goals. Integrating more insights from that ‘biocultural’ approach in anthropology, or their to accounting for more complex environmental effects that complicate overly deterministic views of genes and genomes; indeed there is much there that may clarify some of the proposed evidence that Donaldson review. Alongside this there are other emerging alternative frameworks in philosophy of biology & evolution that don’t always align exactly with his thesis, but a depiction of them I think would enhance the intellectual rigor of the book. Good faith articulation of alternatives—since it is not just the dominant model and his at play—strengthens the relative merit and would bring much needed clarity on how others are interpreting the evidence he presents. In all, finding more sources with common cause to reconceptualize the prevalent evolutionary model would have strengthened the book.

A programme of action

This brings me to my final point. Donaldson is not an evolutionary scientist, which he is forthright about, and this is certainly not to be held against him. I am also not an evolutionary scientist. I approach this topic from an academic training in anthropology (predominantly cultural), history, scientific training in population health, and philosophy of science. My understandings of evolutionary origins of humanity come from what I’ve gleaned through some general study of biological anthropology, mostly at the undergraduate level and certainly not from a position of authority. Others will more suitably emphasize promises or faults in the evidence, hence why my review focuses more on issues of philosophical and methological import.

I emphasize this not to dissuade any capable thinker, such as Donaldson, from the admirable goal of reviewing the evidence, posing lines of inquiry, and contributing to thought in some discipline. There is room for a whole spectrum of practitioners in any discipline, not just those doing that work ‘professionally’, and this improves science generally. I am a firm advocate of open science and scholarship.

However, the most distinctive limitation here has to do with the nature of scientific models I present above, and its not to do with lack of ability to understand the science (or even whether the interpretation is right or wrong). Rather, there simply comes a time in the work of a practical scientific field, such as biology, where one just must put into effect the research programme entailed by a certain model that you advocate for. Major advancements in science are most often measured in the span of a lifetime or decades of research, which means that in pursuit of a vision you are inspired to contribute, you may need to spend your lifetime doing so. This is all the more the case with conclusions that go against a status quo and a seeming mountain (or perhaps continent) of evidence. This occurs solely within a community of scientists oriented around pursuing a common goal to articulate a specific theoretical edifice and body of evidence towards that end. Without this, there is simply only so much ground one can cover, only so much vision one can convey, only so much buy-in you can generate in a ‘shift’, and in the end may result in merely ‘gesturing’ at potential improved models of reality and grand syntheses beyond the horizon. You also run the serious risk of being haphazard in analysis and assembling your proposals when they are not borne out in a framework of action and practice. To use an analogy from my favorite science fiction series, Frank Herbert’s Dune:

"A good hunter always climbs the highest dune before his hunt. He needs to see as far as he can see." - Jamis

*a quote from the film adaptation, Dune part 2, adapted from a quote, below, in Dune Messiah

In this case, the hard work of ascending the ‘dune’ is the process of engagement in the scientific discourse and the work of scientific activity. In replace of this there is no other suitable prism; it is not an atheoretical enterprise as some entertain, but neither can it solely be in theory. From the crest of the dune, you can take in the environs: “I see where you do not see. And, among other things, I see mountains which conceal the distances.” If you really wish to see, you must do the climb.

Conclusion

This book best services those of a Baha'i background who wish to engage with the question of the Baha'i understanding of evolution, provided that they hold it as provisional, accept it as a personal viewpoint, and inquire further into the scientific concepts it represents in its pages. While I don't think the exploration of scientific literature will be suitably thick and persuasive enough to please a thoroughly acquainted expert in biology and human origins, I do believe it is a worthwhile exploration, because it provokes questions about the relationship between science and religion that have the potential to challenge simplistic impressions. I only would have hoped that the book framed such matters more deliberately, beyond the more general discussion of science and religion it provides. On the other hand, it does keep the work more accessible.

Ideally, this book serves as a springboard to deeper contemplation on the validity of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's statements, and how they do or do not reconcile with contemporary scientific thought when taken overtly. The outcome, a more refined understanding of the spiritual foundation for Baha'i theological beliefs, will serve any Baha'i eager to advance their clarity on the topic. However, on the evidentiary and scientific side I believe the book sets up a challenge that, at best, cannot be satisfied at this time with the existing evidentiary basis. Donaldson acknowledges this, takes this challenge in stride, and tries anyway. What would need to occur is far too large a shift than the proposed alternative evidentiary basis would allow. Alternatively, the book falls under the weight of unclarified philosophical premises—the value of the search for a physiological distinction for humanity—that may actually be somewhat of a moot point, as the greater distinction has always clearly been in the spiritual distinction of reason and intellect, and the essential attributes of humanity that will remain the defining nature of humans regardless of the precise mechanism of our creation. To this testifies the bulk of the Writings and is the basis for the best arguments in favor of religious contributions on the question of human origins generally.

I am perhaps more willing than others to entertain alternative models to envision their potential to better explain existing evidence and observed phenomena; in any case I think it is worthwhile to ask yourself: if this was true, how interesting would that be? what would it mean? what does it change, what does it allow? Being willing to really see that through, even to read as if it were true (even if you know otherwise), is an invaluable skill. But one really has to weigh this with the ultimate question of the conclusions it empowers us to pursue, the axioms that accompany it, and what the attempt really has the power to shed light on, not to mention the efficacy of the evidentiary nuts and bolts it presents. In this case, I don't believe that the given conclusion resolves as many conundrums as one might hope. Although, if it were true, it could constitute one further notch towards belief rather than agnosticism, in reality I think the significance is ‘lost in the mix’ in comparison to far more compelling philosophical arguments—and more importantly noetic, gnostic, experiential knowledge, which is to say, the core of religious truth itself—that completely sidestep the necessity of independent material human origins in the first place. Nonetheless, it remains essential to undertake these investigations and we owe a debt of gratitude to Bryan Donaldson for his willingness to do the hard work of seeing how far we can take this position and proposal at the present time.

Some Further Resources

• You can purchase the book here.

• Since the release of Donaldson’s book, a host of newly translated talks and remarks have been released by author and translator Adib Masumian, many of which touch on the topics of humanity’s material nature, science, and the distinction of human from animal. See the book, and it’s supplement of transcribed talks.

• I drafted this review after first reading the book in the months after it was released. Since then, a formal review of the book was published in the Journal of Baha’i Studies that is worth reading, and aligns with some of my impressions here, with the added benefit of being by a cell biologist, who touches on the scientific evidence presented.

• The book Evolution and Baha'i Belief, by Keven Brown and Eberhard von Kitzing, remains essential.

• The following presentations are worth viewing

  • “Evolution and the Baha'i Faith” by Steven Phelps

  • “Evolution and the Baha’i Faith - Redefining Humanity | part 1” by Bridging Belief

"Resort ye, in times of sickness, to competent physicians; We have not set aside the use of material means, rather have We confirmed it through this Pen, which God hath made to be the Dawning-place of His shining and glorious Cause." - Bahá'u'lláh, Kitáb-i-Aqdas, par. 113

As a Physician Associate (PA) with 35 years of experience as a family medicine provider, I have encountered many people who have acknowledged being challenged when making important medical decisions. I have, for many years, filled the role of being that “go to source for all things medical” for patients, family, and friends.

Medical decision making can be a daunting task for any person, how much more for the many people who have no medical training to help guide them. Many may not feel comfortable making important medical decisions for themselves or a family member without consulting their primary medical provider, or the counsel of family and/or friends. This makes sense for Baháʼís as we are directed to ‘consult on all matters’ with the community or the institutions, and in following the directive of Bahá'u'lláh’s Kitab-i-Aqdas quoted above to ‘resort to competent physicians’. This raises important questions, however, as to what constitutes a ‘competent’ physician, and how do we come to sound conclusions in our consultation on matters of health?

Given the highly personal nature of making medical decisions, we are likely to be selective in who we choose to consult with, however, I know of many Baháʼís who have successfully consulted on health issues with Baháʼí institutions and members of the community-at-large. The efforts of Baháʼís and their communities in contributing to personal and societal wellness will undoubtedly benefit to the extent that our consultations are guided by the Baháʼí Teachings. In that light we will turn to some of these resources in this article. In addition to the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, a perusal of the Baháʼí compilation Lights of Guidance compiled by Helen Hornby allows us to appreciate the volume of letters on health issues from ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, Shoghi Effendi, and the Universal House of Justice, the majority being in response to questions posed by individual believers. In this article and one that follows we will consider some facets of the Baháʼí teachings on the topic of seeking a competent physician, the contributions of other highly trained medical providers towards one’s health, and the challenges that persist when making decisions about one’s health.

Health and Wellness in an Age of Misinformation

Medical decision making is challenged in this day due to the public and highly partisan assault on science and the erosion of truth in what some have characterized as a ‘post-truth society’. It is not uncommon to encounter conspiracy theories with the most outlandish statements regarding health issues from all levels of government, religion, the media, and the public. Agencies (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute of Health, others) that were once held in the highest regard have been manipulated and censored, creating mistrust in the very health agencies that are supposed to provide the best scientific evidence to guide the public. People do not know where to turn for scientific truth, and this has further muddied the medical decision-making "waters."

Many people simply do not know where to begin when confronted with making important medical decisions. I am often asked by patients, family members, and friends, "Who do I turn to?", '“How do I know if this medical statement in the news or on television is true or false?", "How do I know if this drug or treatment is safe?", "Can I trust my medical provider(s) to give me the best information?", "I've seen several medical providers and they all tell me to do something different to treat my medical issue!" Part of the issue here relates to the concept of “health literacy”, a term, according to the National Institute of Health, describing one's ability to "... find, understand, and use information and services to inform health-related decisions and actions for themselves and others." (NIH website accessed 2.26.25)

Health literacy is a significant concern in the U.S. (and globally) contributing to the challenges involved in medical decision-making due to leaving patients disempowered, uninformed, or lost in a sea of misinformation. It has been my experience that, as with the general decline in trust in institutions and watering down of truth broadly, many people do not know how to find dependable medical/health information sources. Many do not know how to access research articles on medical topics, and if they do access such articles using the many on-line search engines, many do not know how to determine the credibility of the medical information published. They are bombarded with medical content daily, especially about prescription drugs, as the U.S. is one of a handful of industrialized nations that allows direct-to-consumer advertising from pharmaceutical companies. This only serves to confuse the citizenry who lack medical training. It also puts added pressure on medical providers by having to expend significant effort to correct the misinformation common in the media and popular culture.

A patient encounter comes to mind from years ago demonstrating the challenges of medical decision-making for both the patient and the medical provider. Years ago, when the drug esomeprazole (Nexium) was made available for prescribing, I was covering for a colleague one day when a patient presented to clinic adamant that they should be discontinued from their chronic acid reflux medicine omeprazole (Prilosec) and prescribed esomeprazole (Nexium) in its place despite their formulary-accepted omeprazole working effectively. The patient was unaware of the pharmacological similarities and differences between the two drugs. They were unaware that the two medicines were "cousins" from the same drug class called Proton Pump Inhibitors. I began by asking why they wished to switch to the newer Nexium, and the only response was that the patient wanted to take "the purple pill" because the television ad from the pharmaceutical company said it was the best and they should "consult their doctor today." I have had many similar patient encounters over the years, especially when a new drug "hits the market."

Direct-to-consumer advertising has opened a pandora's box for medical providers who now must address many drug-related issues with patients who have little to no training in the complex science of pharmacology. It has also presented challenges to citizens who are bombarded with advertisements telling them they need to consult with their medical provider immediately about this drug or that treatment. It can cause a lot of anxiety and worry, not to mention much confusion in the medical decision-making process.

To further complicate the matter, there is often conflicting medical information in the news or on the internet muddying the waters and making it difficult for the public to make clear decisions about their medical care. I have encountered patients who have elected to avoid coming into the clinic for much needed care simply because they were confused about how to proceed. The result of this confusion was to avoid the healthcare system all-together. Out of sight-out of mind. Most people, even some trained medical providers, do not know how to read a medical research article to assess its validity and then determine if the findings can be generalized to their specific condition/situation. In Part II of this article, I will present easy to understand tips for the layperson to help with this validation process.

What goes into Medical Decision-Making?

Medical decision-making, even concerning relatively “straightforward” health matters, involve a whole complex of factors. These include:

• Cultural norms

• Personal/spiritual beliefs & values

• Personal autonomy & agency

• Cognitive ability to make medical decisions for oneself.

• Prior experience or lack of experience in the healthcare system.

• Financial and socio-economic status

• Nature of the diagnosis

• impact of medical decisions on quality of life.

• Access to affordable healthcare, adequate healthcare resources & access to health insurance

• Formularies

• Understanding risks and benefits of various medical decisions

• Having a dependable social support system

• Influence of family members, friends, mentors

• Weighing advice from one's healthcare provider.

and more.

At times people make medical decisions simply based on statements from influential public figures such as political or religious leaders, “influencers”, or statements based on ideology and misinformation that often directly conflict with established scientific evidence. Such statements cause further confusion in the medical decision-making process. The Covid-19 crisis is a prime example of leading figures in government, medicine, and religion making erroneous claims about the nature of the virus or the viability of specific treatments leading to tremendous suffering and death. It caused global confusion on a scale not seen for years.

Let’s face it, medical decision-making is challenging under the best of circumstances. The Baháʼí community is by no means exempt the challenges I’ve outlined above. We are fortunate, however, that the Baháʼí Teachings do offer a wealth of wisdom and insight on a broad range of medical issues. We have many valuable insights in the Writings to draw upon addressing:

• physical, mental, and spiritual health,

• general advice on healing, nutrition, sickness and disease, cleanliness,

• laws regarding avoidance of harmful & addictive substances,

to name a few.

Perhaps the most consequential is the powerful obligation in the Sacred Text cited at the beginning of this article that we must seek guidance from a competent physician, alongside the critical principle of harmony of science between religion. Additionally, we have benefitted greatly from a host of questions posed to Bahá'u'lláh, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, the Guardian, and the Universal House of Justice that explore such subjects, and we also benefit from papers and compilations written by Baháʼí scholars on health topics.

A Baháʼí System of Healing?

What the Baháʼí Teachings do not offer is a recommendation of any specific system of medical practice the believers should turn to. In a June 6, 1948, letter to an individual believer written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Baháʼí Faith from 1921-57, his secretary writes on his behalf, "There is no such thing as Baha'i Healers or a Baha'i Type of Healing. In His Most Holy Book (The Aqdas) Baha'u'llah says to consult the best physicians, in other words, doctors who have studied a scientific system of medicine..." (Directives of the Guardian p. 36)

The Universal House of Justice reiterated this in a January 24, 1977, letter to an individual believer stating, "No specific school of nutrition or medicine has been associated with the Baha'i Teachings. What we have are certain guidelines, indications and principles which will be carefully studied by experts and will, in the years ahead, undoubtedly prove to be invaluable sources of guidance and inspiration in the development of these medical sciences. Moreover, in this connection the Guardian's secretary has stated on his behalf that 'It is premature to try and elaborate on the few general references to health and medicine made in our Holy Scriptures.’ The believers must guard against seizing upon any particular text which may appeal to them and which they may only partially or even incorrectly understand..." (Lights of Guidance #1015 р. 298)

There is much to unpack in these two quotes. A logical place to begin is to acknowledge what both the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice have stated: There is no Baháʼí system of medicine or identified Baháʼí healers. An example of a religious community that does have designated healers is Christian Science. Christian Science practitioners offer healing through prayer and turning to the teachings of Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy.

While the Baháʼí Faith does not have a recognized system of medicine or designated Bahai healers, we have access, as illuminated in the quotes above, to "certain guidelines, indications and principles which will be carefully studied by experts and will, in the years ahead, undoubtedly prove to be invaluable sources of guidance and inspiration in the development of these medical sciences." We must remember that the Baháʼí Faith is still in its infancy and as the Faith evolves and develops over the course of decades and centuries, Baháʼís trained in medical science will make important contributions to the field of medicine and healthcare. The beginnings of this are already evident in the Baháʼí experience over the past few decades. In time, more and more Baháʼí medical providers will deeply study the Bahai Writings on health and healing and engage in medical science research inspired by them, contributing to the discourse on health and healing and making important contributions to the field of medicine. This will go a long way towards providing assurance to the friends as they make important decisions about their health and wellbeing.

To give an example of the diversity of training pursued by various Baháʼís there are many Baháʼís who have received training as medical providers from a variety of systems of healing (both scientific and traditional knowledge systems) including, but not limited to, western conventional medicine (also known as ‘biomedicine’), Naturopathy, Homeopathy, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Ayurveda, Unani, among many others. Certainly, in the many countries and territories around the world where Baháʼís are found and the medical systems referenced above are still practiced, there will be Baháʼís trained in those systems or who seek advice from practitioners in those diverse traditions of medicine (sometimes understood via the anthropological moniker ‘ethnomedicines’). The Guardian reminds us in the passage above of Bahá'u'lláh’s injunction to seek the advice of a competent physician when we are ill. This refers to the verse found in the Kitab-i-Aqdas found at the beginning of this article, which states, "Resort ye, in times of sickness, to competent physicians..." (KA, K113, p. 60) ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, the Guardian, and the Universal House of Justice have all restated this teaching.

Bahá'u'lláh’s statement above warrants deeper exploration, especially in today's medical environment of intersecting medical systems where there are medical providers in many disciplines who do not have the title of "physician" yet are highly competent and considered experts in their fields of medical practice. Clarification on this point can go a long way towards alleviating some of the confusion for the Baháʼí friends as they make decisions about which direction to turn and who they should believe when making important decisions about their health.

Accreditation

In our society, a provider's training, licensure, certification are all important considerations when determining a provider's competency. For example, the provider's medical training program allows you to determine if that center of medical training is accredited. Accreditation information is public knowledge and easily accessed online at the training center's website. A medical practitioner from an unaccredited or "accreditation pending" medical institution, while not conclusive of incompetence, should raise yellow or red flags about the quality of training the provider has received. A medical training program that is accredited denotes that the school has attained a standard of training competence expected of all similar training programs.

Licensure and Professionalization

Licensure and professionalization refer to the provider keeping current with professional continuing medical education (CME) requirements for the state in which they practice. This is critical in assessing a practitioner's competency. This means that they are keeping up with current medical knowledge which they can then apply to their practice of medicine. In making important medical decisions, one would be putting themselves at risk by choosing to be treated by an unlicensed medical provider. We may think this to be rare; however, it is not impossible. The practitioner will usually have their medical license posted in their office for the public to view. You can always ask to view the medical provider's medical license or go to the state medical board website to determine if a provider is licensed.

Obviously, there are highly competent healers from traditional indigenous healing systems where licensure and accreditation are not part of the training. A person seeking healthcare in such a system would need to be familiar with the system and the competency of the practitioner when making important medical decisions.

Certifications

Certification is important because it demonstrates the practitioner having passed periodic rigorous medical board examinations demonstrating proficiency in their medical discipline. As a family medicine PA, I was required to pass an initial comprehensive national medical board exam upon graduation followed by similar recertification examinations every ten years thereafter. Physicians have a similar requirement. Many Physicians, PAs, and Nurse Practitioners (NPs) take advanced training courses and get certifications in areas such as Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS), Advanced Life Support Obstetrics (ALSO), Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), among others, to specialize their expertise. Practitioners often have their various certificates hanging on a wall in their office or waiting room for the patients to view. This can be reassuring when making important medical decisions knowing that the medical providers have the general required certification of their profession and demonstrating competence in additional advanced training certifications. It also provides the patient with reassurance that such medical provider can effectively make referral to competent “specialists” when more advanced assessment is required that is out of the scope of practice of the general practitioner.

Medical Boards and Regulations

It can be reassuring for people to know that each state in the U.S. has a medical board whose role is to determine practice regulations for all recognized medical providers (MD, DO, PA, NP, Chiropractor, ND, Licensed Acupuncturists, others) and ensure provider compliance to those regulations. The medical boards carefully vet each applicant to make sure they are qualified to practice medicine according to their professional standards. You can explore the state medical board website of your state to learn more.

Transdisciplinary Teams

Medicine in the U.S. has adopted a patient-centered model of care where the person's needs, values, and preferences are considered front and center in all facets of medical decision making. This commonly includes a transdisciplinary team of medical professionals that might include a physician, PA, NP, Behavioral Health provider, Occupational and/or Physical Therapist, Psychologist, Pharmacologist, Medical Social Worker, among others. In many settings, it is not unusual to see such a transdisciplinary team additionally including a Naturopath, Licensed Acupuncturist, Chiropractor, Massage Therapist, among others. Involvement of such diverse providers in the medical decision-making can be a great source of reassurance to the patient.

Medicine is often provided by a professionally diverse team of competent practitioners and not one practitioner or modality alone. This proceeds from the recognition that any one type of practice has a range of validity and types of health situations they are best equipped to address. A well-trained naturopath with extensive training in nutrition and ample time devoted to personalized care and follow-up may be more equipped for certain chronic and nutritional health conditions than an emergency physician, who would be better suited than the naturopath for emergency procedures or hospital care, for instance.

Indeed, there are many practitioners of the holistic medical systems above who have attained the highest levels of competence in their fields and may not be designated as "physicians” yet can be considered highly qualified practitioners. While this offers the Baháʼí friends a wealth of options to choose from, it can also lead to further confusion especially if the friends are unfamiliar with those holistic medical systems and the practitioners. In the passage above the Guardian's advice to the individual believer was inclusive of "...doctors who have studied a scientific system of medicine..." (Directives of the Guardian p. 36) While individual interpretations may vary, this is a fairly broad statement that leaves a range of options available to the friends, but it requires diligence in investigating the various systems of medicine before committing to receiving care from one of their providers.

What makes a ‘doctor’?

The word doctor originates from the Latin word docere, which means "to teach." The title was initially used in the 14th century to identify highly educated Catholic theologians and later scholars more generally. Only later, during the 17th century and the emergence of contemporary western biomedicine, some medical schools adopted the word to denote a medical physician specifically, and this has become the widely adopted use of the term today. Today, the term doctor or physician is used to describe those with extensive postgraduate training in fields of medicine but still refers to such training in fields such as law, education, philosophy, and other fields (PhD).

When one hears the word doctor, it may often register in their mind as a medical doctor, however, the word doctor also usefully describes specialists such as naturopaths (ND-Naturopathic Doctor), osteopaths (DO-Doctor of Osteopathy), optometry (OD-Doctor of Optometry), occupational therapy (OTD-Occupational Therapy Doctorate), physical therapy (DPT-Doctor of Physical Therapy), audiology (Au.D-Doctor of Audiology), and the list goes on. The point I am making with this discussion is that the term doctor has many professional designations and the training for each varies in length and obviously in content. So, what do we make of this diversity of training pathways for making medical decisions?

My personal feeling is, in today's world with a wide diversity of highly trained medical providers, the important take home message is to seek out competent medical practitioners with the demonstrated expertise, credibility, and training suitable to help you make important healthcare decisions, while appreciating that these providers most often do not work alone but are engaged with other medical professionals as part of a diverse transdisciplinary healthcare team. This opens the door for the friends to seek out qualified practitioners from among the systems of medicine referenced above with confidence, knowing that they need not rely only on one stream of expertise to resolve their health needs.

Confusion can arise if one's primary medical provider is unfamiliar with other holistic practitioners and the services they provide. A patient may decide they would like to see a licensed acupuncturist for treatment of pain. For years, western conventional medical providers resisted referring patients to a licensed acupuncturist because not much was known about such treatment in the west and the service was not covered by health insurance. Now, however, western conventional medical providers have been educated about the utility of acupuncture, many have taken acupuncture training themselves, most state medical boards have regulations for and now license acupuncturists, and acupuncture referrals are now common.

The same can be said for chiropractors. They are licensed to practice in most, if not all, states, their practice is regulated, and referrals are common and often covered by health insurance. From there we can assess the competence, track record, and demonstrated expertise of a particular chiropractor for our health condition, and in consultation with other trusted health providers, our families and others in our community make an informed decision. While there is obviously more to our understanding of medical competence than just the factors I’ve identified, these are a few of the factors we can weigh to determine which path or modality of treatment we wish to pursue for our specific health needs.

Challenges persist, however, when a patient asks their western conventional medicine provider for information about, for example, Ayurveda or Traditional Chinese Medicine and if those holistic systems of medical practice might be beneficial for them. These and other holistic systems of medical practice are still not as well known in the west. However, those cross-trained in western medicine and the holistic systems of medicine referenced above and those who have studied “Integrative Medicine” are all familiar with such holistic systems of medical practice and may be better equipped to make specific recommendations about when those systems of medicine may be beneficial or not. As scientific understanding about these systems of knowledge and how they may be best put to use evolves, our understanding of human health advances, and disciplines refine their methods and training accordingly. I believe it is here we will find further confirmation of the transdisciplinary approach mentioned above that draws on diverse modes of care.

Conclusion

The Baháʼí community is fortunate to have a wealth of resources to turn to on matters of health and medical science to assist the friends in making important decisions about their health and wellness. We have scant Writings of the Bab on this theme available in English and in the future will have translations of the Writings of the Bab that address this theme in greater detail.

Bahá'u'lláh has provided us with Writings on health and healing, the most well-known being His Lawh-i-Tibb (Tablet on Medicine) which offers the believer insight into several health topics such as nutrition, exercise, avoidance of harmful habits, the importance of purity and cleanliness, among other topics. The tablet also is the source of the "short healing prayer" found in the Baháʼí prayer book that begins with the words "Thy Name is my healing..." The Lawh-i-Tibb has not yet been authoritatively translated into English, however, there are provisional translations and studies of it available online which offer the believer a glimpse into the topics above and Bahá'u'lláh’s recommendations. Portions of the Lawh-i-Tibb can also be found in the Baháʼí periodical from the early 20" century, Star of the West, and in Dr. John Esslemont's introduction to the Baháʼí Faith, Bahá'u'lláh, and the New Era. As noted earlier, Helen Hornby’s compilation Lights of Guidance is also a great source of information.

The Writings of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá contain numerous tablets to individual believers on health and healing topics as do the letters from the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice. The best sources for ʻAbdu'l-Bahá’s Writings include Selections from the Writings of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, the 3-volume set Tablets of ʻAbdu'l-Bahá, Star of the West, and Lights of Guidance (all available via www.bahaireferencelibrary.org; www.bahai-library.com) As mentioned above, a great source for references to health and healing topics from the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice is the compilation Lights of Guidance, and the House of Justice's compilation on Health and Healing. There are also compilations by individual authors such as ‘The Throne of the Inner Temple’ compiled by Elias Zohoori, and ‘Prescription for Health-A Comprehensive Guide on Health Issues’ by Dr. Manouchehr N. Nadimi.

It is my hope that this general discussion has been enlightening and will set the stage for the medical decision-making tips I will share in Part II of this article.

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Recently while engaged in study of the Persian Bayán, the magnum opus of Siyyid ‘Ali Muhammad Shirazi (best known by His title the Báb), I revisited a section wherein the Báb makes a fascinating avowal that got me thinking about the rise and fall of religion and the changing nature of human devotion.

In this chapter (2:3) He states that there will one day come a time when (paraphrasing the untranslated Persian) people would willingly pay 1,000 mithqals of gold for a fine copy of the Bayán. A ‘mithqal’ is a traditional unit of mass in the Arabic world equivalent to 4.25 grams in the metric system. This is equivalent, given the gram-price of gold today (USD88.28), to fetching a price >$375,000! At the time He wrote this, the Báb was a prisoner confined to a remote mountain fortress in Northwest Persia, where, as He states, “except for one soul” not a single other person was present for company and “there [was] not at night even a lighted lamp!” (SWB)

The Bábi movement, begun some 4 years earlier, was at that moment facing the cruel and ever-tightening grip of persecution that would later erupt into widespread massacres of His followers. His own imprisonment would last until the eve of His life and eventual martyrdom at the hands of the Persian authorities just two years later. To any onlooker, such a state of affairs would have appeared to signal the death knell of this battered community, and yet here He was foreseeing that one day His works would be highly sought after by future generations, subject to devotion and esteem rather than persecution.

While at first glance such a claim about your works may appear in a sense boastful, one of the core thematics of the Persian Bayán, the absolute essential unity and co-identity of the religions of God, helps us see this in its intended light: as a metacommentary on the nature of religion, and an extension of the ‘inimitability’ of the Word of God. Let’s explore.

Inimitability of the Sacred Word

Woven throughout many sections of the Bayán the Báb makes various statements that attest to 'inimitability' ('ijaz).1 Inimitability is the incontestible quality of superhuman uniqueness and peerlessness, which is taken in Islam as a core criterion of the Qur'án’s divine origins. The Qur'ān itself issues the following famous challenge laying claim to such inimitability: "Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “If ˹all˺ humans and jinn were to come together to produce the equivalent of this Quran, they could not produce its equal" [Q17:88, cf. also Q10:38, Q11:13, others].

The Báb in His own works draws on this same concept as a demonstration of their Revelatory status. It occurs as early as His first major revelatory work, the Qayyúm al-Asmá' (also known as the Commentary on Surah of Joseph), and throughout the Persian Bayán. The concept of inimitability as we’ve seen, is rooted in the Qur'án and forms a quintessential part of the self-identity of Islam. For the Báb to lay claim to inimitability is not just a testament to the uniqueness and divine origin of His own Revelation, but also lays claim to ‘coidentity’ with the foundational Sacred Text of Islam, which is to say that the Bábi Faith embodies and fulfills the essence of that Faith, and by consequence should (and will) earn the allegiance of those truly faithful to Islam.

It is in this sense that the prediction—that assuredly one day His works would capture the devotion and reverence of the people—can be seen as deliberate extension of the quality of inimitability. It follows from a view of the essential unity of these two Faiths and the Báb uses this as a vehicle to reflect on the trajectory of Islam, the meaning of devotion and even the fickleness of humanity. To see how, let’s dive into the chapter this idea comes from.

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The Message and the Messenger: Proofs of Divine Revelation

The matter of inimitability of the Verses connects to a broader vision of religion in the chapter the excerpt about the future price of the Bayán is found in (Váhid 2:3). After an introductory title in Arabic, it begins with this opening:

"The substance of this chapter is that there are two Proofs [Ḥujjat] imparted by the Creator unto all people: the Verses [áyát] of God, and the One unto Whom these verses were revealed.”*

*Persian Bayan, Vahid 2:3, provisional translation from Persian by AJRF

He goes on to say (paraphrasing): ‘that first proof’ [the Verses] abides until the Day of Resurrection’, while ‘the second [the Manifestation] are apparent until the moment of their concealment’. In the Persian Bayán, this ‘moment of concealment’ is symbolically represented by the metaphor of the setting sun (more on this shortly). Indeed, ‘the Sun’ (shams) is the quintessential symbol in the Bayán for the Manifestations of God—the concept which features as the centerpiece of the Báb’s entire theology and science of religion. It is a symbol He uses hundreds of times throughout the Bayán. Most commonly it is rendered in such constructions as ‘the Sun of Truth’ (shams-i-haqq) or the ‘Sun of Reality’ (shams-i-haqiqat) which each illuminate new dimensions of understanding of this core symbol.

By establishing this theme of ‘Proof’, the Báb expresses the two major concepts or dynamics which are used to explore and define the nature of Religion throughout much of the Bayán. The first ‘Proof’ addressed above, which can be seen variously as ‘Revelation’, the ‘Word of God’, the ‘Message’, the ‘Teachings’, is here typified specifically as the ‘Verses’ of God. More abstractly this is the communication of the Divine to humanity, the dialogue on the sacred delivered to human minds and hearts. This applies as much to oral and ecstatic sacred traditions of the past as it does to the cosmopolitan and systematic Faiths with well-defined texts and canons; the form and media of communication may change but the act of communication remains present.

The second Proof referred to is, in Bábi terms, the ‘Manifestation’ of God, which is to say the ‘Divine Person’, ‘Revelator’, ‘Prophet’, or more abstractly the one who communicates the divine message. This constitutes the other major component to understand Religion. Alongside humanity as recipients of this sacred dialogue, there are figures created and inspired by the Divine to act as the vehicles and intermediaries of this communication.2 Again, this applies as much to the varying forms of religion—the ways we navigate our relationship with the sacred—the locus or focal point of communication merely shifts. To return to the analogy of the setting of the Sun; concerning the Manifestation this refers to moment their earthly presence ceases (e.g. at the end of their life). The light of their Revelation continues through the Verses, and constitutes the essential life of a religion after its founder, but this too eventually ‘sets’.

This theme of proof is underscored thoroughly two chapters earlier (2:1) and constitutes a major theme running through the second ‘book’ (Váhid II)3 of the Bayán, and further extends this dyadic idea of ‘Message and Messenger’. Speaking on verses, and connecting it explicitly with inimitability, He states:

“the proof of revealed verses doth, alone and of itself, conclusively demonstrate the utter impotence of all created things on earth, for this is a proof which hath proceeded from God and shall endure until the Day of Resurrection …

Were all the people that dwell on earth to assemble together,‌ they would be unable to produce a single verse like unto the ones which God hath caused to stream forth from the tongue of the Point of the Bayán …

…the religion of God is too mighty and glorious for anyone to comprehend through aught but itself; rather by it all else is understood." (Persian Bayán 2:1, SWB, pp. 135-136; 140-141)

We see here the connection of ‘conclusiveness’ and ‘proof’ with the inimitable quality of divine verses. We also see one version of the claim leveled about this inimitability, akin to the Quranic verse cited previously, that humanity would be incapable of producing even a single verse like it.

While on one level the Bayán is ostensibly an exposition on the laws, ethics, and sociology of the emergent Bábi Faith, on a deeper level the Bayán is far more concerned with the expression of transcendent inner spiritual truths and unveiling the dynamics of religious Revelation in spiritual history. These excerpts makes that particularly evident, as we see already near the beginning of the Bayán4 the Báb is articulating the core elements of a framework to interpret the nature of religion, one He expands in great depth throughout the remaining 7 books of that work.

With the overlaying context of this chapter in sight, we can see that underlying the avowal found in this section is an extension of this meta-commentary on religion. Proceeding from the essential unity of the Manifestations and the essential unity of their religions, we can sketch out an arc or trajectory that religions follow. The metaphor of the Sun mentioned earlier serves us well here. Much like the Sun successively rises and sets each day, the Sun as ‘Manifestation’ similarly rises and sets each ‘Day’ of God. This rising and falling action of 'Religion' writ-large in history contextualizes the coming and going, succession, and progression of religions throughout time. At the moment of the rising of the Sun of a New Day, the light may be but a faint glimmer, attracting fewer souls. At its height all witness its transcendence and feel its warmth, provoking the act of recognition and devotion.

His point in this chapter reflects that even the greatest and most beloved of religions, with the sincerest devotees, at one point lingered in complete obscurity, and not a person could be found to turn their attention to it, or to its Message and Messenger. They would not even be willing to acquire such a work, let alone study it and follow its message.

Later, at a religion’s height, there are those who wouldn't rest to express their preoccupation with devotion, even to the point of extravagance.5 If the Báb’s claim is true indeed, that these creeds have a fundamental unity, then there is a paradox or even tragedy at play here. Just as the religion of those devoted followers was once its own small band of believers, not meriting attention, this new Message is now in such a condition, but something has veiled the recognition of that unity in the eyes. The Báb is seeing the ‘end in the beginning’ and decrying that the most devoted souls of a Faith tragically fail to rediscover its very essence when it returns.

The Báb often reflected on the fickleness of mankind’s attention—that in later ages the people would yearn to have been there to recognize a great faith at its start or encounter its Founder, but at its fulfillment in the Day of Resurrection, so many fail to recognize that same spirit of the Teachings and Teacher they are devoted to. Indeed, in His famed last words, He returns to this very same tragedy.6

He comments further underscoring this matter, two chapters before, on the fact that acts of piety and worship, the most sacred and holy sites are, in truth, ennobled by their association with the inner spirit of what made them sacred in the first place, and not in and of themselves:

“if ye circle round the Ka‘bah, it is merely because I have called it My House; and if ye magnify the Qur’án, that is solely because it is My Word. [. . .] But today is the Day of My own Revelation, appearing by My Self." (Persian Bayán 2:1, prov. transl. by Nader Saiedi, GoH pp. 290-291)

This misidentification, what the philosophers might term the confusion of substance and form, or the mistaking of the outward semblances with inner realities, underlies this tragedy the Báb observes. Through such confusion we may miss the chance to find the fulfillment of faith in the Return of that beloved reality in a new stage, or to use another symbolism of the Báb, fail to have ‘harvested the fruit (thamara) of their existence’ or to “partake of the choice fruits of the paradise of His divine Oneness” (Persian Bayán 2:16, SWB p. 99).

Conclusion

A 'science of religion' rooted in the Bábi and Baha’i Writings helps us see this inherent life cycle of religion in spiritual history and the co-identity of spiritual traditions in relation to a singular divine reality; religions unfold not merely as historical accidents or material exigencies, but as organic processes of growth, maturation, and renewal. It is dialogic: a conversation between humanity and the sacred, proceeding via Message (the Verses, the Book of God) and Messenger (the Prophets and Manifestations of God). The rise of a new cycle inherently speaks to its zenith and later succession by a new message, and we must take a view with this scope in mind. This in turn speaks to the the sacred unity underlying these faiths, the nature of religious belief, and the truth of recognition.

For my part, I can see how this prediction of the Báb would come true. Just 5 years ago, a copy of the Qur'án from the Timurid era sold for an astronomical $8.6 million.7 Is this extravagance or devotion? A confusion of form with substance? That may be in the eye of the beholder, but it does testify as an example of the arc of a religious text that once was scarcely written at all, and then at first only on scattered parchment and the shoulder blades of camels, and now some thousand plus years later, as elaborately crafted copies selling for vast sums of money. It really is not such a stretch to imagine that the Bayán (and subsequently the Baha’i Faith), claiming as it does essential unity with the Revelations of all religions, may follow a similar trajectory.

I hope you enjoyed this article from Lamp of Search. Substack is a platform for supporting independent media, often through subscriptions. Lamp of Search is envisioned as a collaborative platform for Baha’i scholarship. If you wish to reach out to make guest contributions please do so.

If you wish to directly support my work here I have a public “wish list” of scholarly books that would advance for my intellectual projects. You can also metaphorically ‘buy me a coffee’ through Ko-Fi, a peer-to-peer ‘tipping’ platform. Any contributions are appreciated and help sustain my work.

Many of us can probably vividly remember the feeling of being young enough to still have an early bedtime, but old enough to know just how special it was to stay up late. Maybe it was seeing your older siblings getting to stay up later that made your skin prickle with envy, or you intuited that conversations got much more interesting after a certain hour. You knew about and looked forward to those ‘privileges’, but were still too young to grasp them yourself quite yet.

At times I tried to arrange to stay up later with my parents, my mom would recall wagers with her father when she was young, begging to stay up. His crafty response was: “If you lay down with the lights out and are still awake within an hour, you can come out and join us”. I tried this myself. Invariably, no matter my best efforts, it wouldn’t be long before I slipped into the replenishing, careless, and dream-filled sleep so common in childhood. My mom said the same thing always happened to her. Of course, it never occurred to me that having such a full night’s sleep would be something my future self and many others would look at with great envy!

Envying the Blissful Sleep of Childhood

Growing into my teenage years I loved to stay awake late into the night, writing out song ideas and poetry, working on projects, or having meaningful ‘late-night’ conversations with friends. I was (and still am) a true night owl. But I certainly did love to sleep, and dreams became a huge source of inspiration, comfort, and even spiritual exploration.

The realization of how valuable sleep is truly dawned on me during my teenage years when I dealt with long bouts of insomnia. The norm at that time was for me to lay awake in bed for hours upon hours, often taking 3 or more hours to fall asleep. This was something I’d been dealing with on and off since even as early as sixth grade but worsened dramatically in my high school years. It seemed no matter what I did, no matter what time I went to sleep, my mind was too active and kept me awake (and this was before I ever drank coffee). Half the time I would just give in and stay up to spend my time doing other things (being creative, reading, or just wasting time with TV and video games). I knew I wouldn’t be asleep at a normal time anyways, so I thought, why bother?

One such night, during the summer when I was 14 or 15, I was so fed up with another night of restlessness, that after laying in bed for several hours unable to sleep I decided to spend the night reading the Writings. I flipped open Tablets of Baha’u’llah and turned to the Súriy-i-Vafá and read for the first time:

“Behold how the thing which thou hast seen in thy dream is, after a considerable lapse of time, fully realized.”

I was blown away! This was something that had occurred many times for me up to that point. Sometimes I chalked it up to deja vu but it had happened often enough that I really began to wonder. I had even experienced some surprising personal revelations in the space of dreams around that time of life.

I eagerly read on:

“the world in which thou livest is different and apart from that which thou hast experienced in thy dream. This latter world hath neither beginning nor end. It would be true if thou wert to contend that this same world is, as decreed by the All-Glorious and Almighty God, within thy proper self and is wrapped up within thee. It would equally be true to maintain that thy spirit, having transcended the limitations of sleep and having stripped itself of all earthly attachment, hath, by the act of God, been made to traverse a realm which lieth hidden in the innermost reality of this world.” - Bahá’u’lláh, Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 187-188

I was hooked.

I read everything in the Writings I could find about dreaming, sleep, and meditation and went on to explore many other traditions and religions and their contributions on this topic. By the end of the summer, through trial and error and extensive digging around on the internet, I’d crafted a reliable routine of nightly dream meditation practices that allowed me to conquer the bouts of insomnia I faced at that time, practices I’ve returned to many times ever since that have had tremendous impacts in my life.

Our Troubled Relationship with Sleep

I wish I could say I’ve always kept up with those practices, but just as with most positive habits and practices in life, they’ve ebbed and flowed based on what’s going on with life at various times (college, first job, grad school, first baby, etc.). We live in an era where sleep is treated like a commodity, to be exchanged in favor of whatever seeming incentive offered, ignorant of just how disruptive this can be to our health and wellness. This mentality also causes us to sacrifice other foundational life practices (meditation, mindfulness, seclusion, quietude). Modern life is like the New York Stock Exchange for ‘Faustian bargains’.

With the breakneck pace of contemporary culture, and our minds so bombarded with stimulation throughout the day, I’m sure I’m not the only one who sometimes feels pangs of guilt about not setting aside enough time for these practices of mindfulness, prayer, and contemplation. But this isn’t just a personal failure. The very social structuring of modern life pushes us to the brink of exhaustion and burnout in pursuit of ‘life priorities’. Ironically, in our rush to face these supposed ‘priorities’, we haphazardly do away with the foundational practices that spiritually and physically sustain us, undermining the core of our spiritual and physical well-being.

Of course, I don’t want this to be another source of guilt or provide a vague list of ‘tricks’ or ‘hacks’ that just lead to more worry. Rather, I want to propose a simple pathway of spiritual sustenance that has been rewarding in my life as a counterbalance to the type of modern culture that has us quite literally hacking away at our health and well-being in pursuit of things that are ultimately of lesser importance.

The best part is that it works no matter whether you feel you have enough time in your day, week, or month for extra devotion to spiritual growth.

We all have the same number of hours in a day or week, but what if I told you that you could reclaim untold hours of fruitful time for contemplation and growth, just by attending to some critical practices related to your life of sleep?

First, A Powerful Conceptual Shift

It starts with a simple conceptual switch: too many of us are conditioned to equate ‘life’ with what we do when we are awake. We consider our useful hours as those hours of wakefulness during the day, chip further and further away at our night’s rest, and at best consider it a tool to enhance our daytime hours. Do away with this distinction.

Upon reflection, it’s no surprise that our ‘productivity’ obsessed culture would look down on sleep, rest, and repose as ‘wasted time’. So step one is reframing (and reclaiming) our approach to this part of our life.

The truth is every hour of our time, and more importantly, how we spend it in each moment contributes to the whole. This includes when we are asleep and especially when we are dreaming. Thinking of your time as your ‘waking life’ and your ‘dreaming life’, all part of one whole, can help you realize that a massive portion of your life—26 years of the average human life span, to be specific—has gone almost unnoticed and unvalued.

Promisingly, the scientific literature in recent years has started to recognize many of the more profound benefits of sleep. We’re learning more about how essential sleep is to our physical and mental health and many have begun to buck the trend of burning our life away in pursuit of empty goals. Key among these scientific advances is that different phases of sleep are now better recognized for their unique contributions to physical recovery, deep rest, memory processing and consolidation, learning, and much more. We stand to gain a lot just from attending to how sleep affects diverse arenas of life, from exercise to depression, from learning to recovery from illness.

But approaching our sleeping life with higher intention can also provide an expansion in our ability to navigate life’s spiritual tests and difficulties, not to mention, that it can also be a great source of joy and renewal. Our dreaming life has much to teach us about our inner psyche, our deeper motivations, yearnings, hopes, and aspirations, and drives a lot of our personal advancement in subtle ways.

These processes of contemplation are already going on underneath the surface: we actively react to daily life throughout our nighttime repose, and the thoughts in our mind before going to sleep have a strong impact on the quality of sleep and the content of our dreams—in fact, this is occurring constantly whether or not you recognize it or remember your dreams the next morning or after. There’s a feedback loop here. The more we investigate and open our eyes (metaphorically) to what goes on in our night’s sleep, the more we’ll realize an entire world of significance, meaning, and possibility lies underneath the surface.

Spiritual and mystical traditions have long recognized the fascinating potential of our dreams and the nighttime hours of our lives. There is a huge world here that we could only begin to scratch the surface in just one post, and there is more to come on this in future posts. I’ve already touched on one excerpt from the Baháʼí Writings on dreams, but there is much more.

The long tradition of Tibetan Buddhist ‘dream yoga’ is a particularly significant major body of practices and one that I’ve spent the most time with.1 It was responsible for helping me overcome the sleeplessness during my teenage years that I talked about earlier.

The practices of ‘yoga nidra’ that have become popular in recent years are another popular source, as are ‘lucid dreaming’ techniques that are widespread in popular literature and internet communities. There are also expansive and thoughtful explorations in the Western and Islamic esoteric traditions (Hermeticism, Neoplatonism, Islamic philosophy, mysticism, and others) and a range of relevant Baháʼí’ understandings I hope to explore in future posts. There are extensive practices and protocols you can learn and experiment with from across all these traditions.

With these things in mind, the question then is: where do we even begin?Luckily there are already many established resources, both secular and spiritual, and even a growing array of tools (oura ring, sleep timer, guided sleep meditation apps, smart watches, etc.) that might aid you in your path. But to get started I want to share a simple and ageless tool that you’re likely already familiar with: nightly prayer.

Reconsidering the Power of Prayer

Together in our communities, Baháʼí’s around the world are already engaged in a learning process around what prayer looks like on an individual and collective level. Through service and community action, we’re seeing the fruits that come from building the ‘devotional character’ of our neighborhoods and praying alongside our families, friends, and community members. We learn fundamental features of prayer: how it is a ‘ladder for our ascent’, that it can “burn away the veils” of separation from God. When we translate this into collective worship, we can draw on prayer to impel progress in our community life and witness the beauty it brings to community relations.

Although we are asked to pray morning and evening, it seems we mostly think of these powers of prayer in relation to our waking life. We actively pray for success for our families, friends, and for our personal endeavors; we pray to overcome inhibitions and strengthen our virtues. We pray for prayer’s sake, because it’s beneficial for us, and maybe, for God’s sake alone.

But if we think about it in light of that holistic shift in thinking we posed earlier, these are just as relevant to our sleeping life as well. Seeing prayer in this manner, our evening, pre-sleep prayers take on a whole new significance, as do our morning, post-sleep prayers. They are not merely thoughts and wishes for a new day, but are actually preparation for sleep and ‘hygiene’ for our soul’s journey inward during the nighttime. We can pray for spiritually illuminating dreams, we can pray for restfulness and recovery, and for spiritual exploration during our sleep. After all, our body may be at rest but our souls never cease activity. What a remarkable shift in thinking this provokes! As we’ll see in future posts, this is directly supported by quotes from the Baháʼí’ Writing on the topic of sleep and prayer.

With some of these thoughts in mind, I want to offer a simple nightly routine to help heighten our intentions as we pray before sleep:

A Simple Sleep Meditation Practice

Falling Asleep

1. Beginning in the hour before bedtime, start thinking about your night’s sleep, and how you hope to have fulfilling dreams tonight. As it turns out, the very act of thinking about and attending to sleep and dreams is a powerful trigger to your mind that makes you more likely to remember your dreams and promote illuminating dreams. Try to build excitement about the possibilities of new understandings that might come, or how the joy from dreams can give you a good start to the next day.

2. Select a prayer or meaningful quote to meditate on before sleep. It can be about any topic, especially those that have been most interesting to you as of late. Pray in your preferred manner. The last topics or thoughts on your mind before you sleep have a powerful influence on your night’s dream activity, so reserve the selected prayer/quote as the last reading before lying down to sleep.

3. Read the quote or prayer and meditate and reflect on it. Then select a short section, either a phrase or a line from that reading you find particularly interesting. As you make yourself comfortable and fall into sleep, repeat (‘make mention’) this line or phrase to yourself as you fall asleep.2 You can also intersperse short accompanying phrases such as:

   1. ‘I will dream hopeful/joyful/meaningful/rejuvenating [whatever is most relevant that night] dreams tonight’

   2. or ‘Baha’u’llah/’Abdu’l-Baha, please aid me in dreaming tonight’

   3. Draw on the Greatest Name (Allah’u’Abha) or other such phrases and repeat it as you drift to sleep

Waking Up

When you wake up, take a moment to lightly reflect on how you feel. Perhaps you will remember distinct dreams, be in wonder over a fantastical dream narrative you experienced, or even feel joy or sadness from being visited by the memory of old friends or lost loved ones. Or you may feel just an array of indistinct emotions. These are all to be expected. Whatever you feel, take notes on a piece of paper or in a dedicated journal (a ‘sleep’ or ‘dream journal’), as the act of writing down your dreams will steadily increase how much you remember each night (you can even end up remembering 3 or more distinct, full-fledged dreams each night!).

As you incorporate this practice into your nightly prayer routine, you will begin to see a connection between your daily moods and experiences and the content of your dreams. You may also begin to notice more acutely how your activities before bed (eating late, too much screen time vs calm reading or dedicated meditation) can influence how you feel after a night’s rest and affect the quality of your day. Ideally, these practices will reinforce a broad feeling of rest and repose in your life and can stimulate deep spiritual reflections. It takes discipline, but you’re already sleeping every single night anyway, so you might as well make it more meaningful. At the ‘cost’ of practically no extra time in your day, you can open up a whole new world of significance in your life.

Conclusion

I hope this can become an enlivening practice and will help open new doors of spiritual investigation! As I’ve focused on healthy and fulfilling sleep over the years, I’ve marveled at how intentional sleep hygiene can alleviate the feeling of being “stretched thin” that so many of us feel in contemporary life. At the very least it can lead to a fuller appreciation of how active our mind and spirit really are when we are supposedly at rest. These and other practices can be an amazing pathway to new spiritual insight and a new kind of ‘awakening’ that you may not have appreciated before in life.

If you’re craving more, join me in part two for a ‘virtual’ prayer visit as we dive into further writings on these topics, including analysis of prayer from the ‘Evening’ section of the Baha’i Prayer book.

I hope you enjoyed this article from Lamp of Search. Substack is a platform for supporting independent media, often through subscriptions. Lamp of Search is envisioned as a collaborative platform for Baha’i scholarship. If you wish to reach out to make guest contributions please do so.

If you wish to directly support my work here I have a public “wish list” of scholarly books that would advance for my intellectual projects. You can also metaphorically ‘buy me a coffee’ through Ko-Fi, a peer-to-peer ‘tipping’ platform. Any contributions are appreciated and help sustain my work.

In recent years, I regularly return to an idea of prayer and devotion as a kind of pure transcendent yearning, a realization of the necessity of prayer as an almost inescapable sensation in the core of your being that draws you to reorient towards the All-Highest, purely for the sake of that yearning.

Perhaps predictably, this sensation sometimes is reached during moments of serious tests & difficulties in life. It forces you to return to this core truth. When you feel a sense of both complete surrender and detachment, but also the recognition of the need to cling to spiritual practices such as prayer & meditation as a life raft. But I ask myself, does it need to only come when I’m most in need? Or can I cultivate this yearning more regularly?

This feeling is markedly different from the more conventional need for prayer we feel in life. Like many things in life, it comes in waves and there is a rhythm to it. At times we are particularly devoted to a strong habit of reflection and devotion. Other times we may falter or fall out of practice. This is natural (in my own humble experience).

In my observation, this flow manifests in three discernible types of prayer, that follow out of a basic recognition of the value of prayer & commitment to meditation in one’s life. As we’ll find from reviewing excerpts from the Baha’i Writings, one of these types is the most exalted.

The Three Types of Prayer

On the most basic level, there is prayer because we are obliged. This is the fruit of recognizing and accepting that prayer and meditation is a requirement of our lives as spiritual beings. With this understanding, we see prayer as being like breathing and commit to its practice for this sake. We put into action this recognition of prayer as a fundamental necessity of the soul, and as a ‘ladder for its ascent’. It emerges from a genuine desire to abide by the exhortation to recite “the verses of God every morn and eventide”. At its best it involves the noble desire to follow the commandments of God. In other words, we appreciate the obligatory nature of prayer and make it a centerpiece of our habits in alignment with an appreciation for its purpose in our life. At this level we conceive that ‘we pray because it is good for us to pray, we pray because it is a requirement’.

Although this undoubtedly can be a pure intention, we also may encounter some pitfalls. We can fall prey to an instrumental or rote understanding of the role of prayer in life. We may slip into an overly functional view of prayer. It might even feel unthinking, automatic, or like you’re checking off a box. We might have a practice of prayer, but upon reflection, is it truly driving us toward fundamental transformation? towards ascent? How do we know we are really drawing closer to the divine?

Another form of prayer, one that often shakes us from the pitfalls of viewing prayer habitually or functionally, is the kind of prayer that emerges from deeper within the heart, especially in moments of profound difficulties or in the face of the immediate exigencies of life.

We can all think of those moments. Perhaps a whole night spent in rapturous remembrance and deep focus. Maybe we recite a certain especially meaningful prayer, such as the Tablet of Ahmad or the Fire Tablet, many times. Our whole being concentrated on some pressing matter of great significance.

Often, these moments are extremely fruitful. They can serve as reminders of the power of prayer and devotion. Maybe we had even forgotten what that level of devotion is supposed to feel like. Maybe we reach new realizations about the direction of our life or find renewed strength to carry forward.

Sometimes it is deeply cathartic; we might have even fallen short of that regular obligation of daily prayer, stuck in a bad habit or rut, or maybe kept the regular practice but had fallen into that trap of habitual and unthinking devotion. In these moments the difficulty or pain can shock us out of that malaise and prevent us from drifting into prayer as a ‘empty form’. It is a reminder that our tongues should not “pay lip service in praise of God”, as the Báb states, while our hearts are not “attuned to the exalted summit of Glory, and the Focal Point of communion.”1

Tests and difficulties definitely have a way of restoring that attunement, and prayer in those moments can be filled with ecstatic and transcendent feeling. Because such major life struggles come and go in cycles, and serve for our development and progression, we shouldn’t be surprised that they aid our practice of devotion. Again we see such cyclical patterns are a natural part of our life. We likely feel great appreciation for those moments of profound supplication in the face of grating difficulties, and for good reason.

And yet, there is still a form of prayer higher than this. That is prayer purely for the sake of God, out of love and devotion, and animated by this alone. This is the mode, as Baháʼu'lláh relates in the Long Obligatory Prayer, of “make of my prayer a fire that will burn away the veils which have shut me out from Thy beauty”, the mode of pure emptiness of self and detachment of any of those veil. As we’ve seen from reflection, such veils can include prayer for a certain end, whether for our soul’s sake, for growth, or for overcoming difficulties.

The Báb reminds us of this most exalted standard in this powerful exposition from the Persian Bayán (7:19), where He states:

"WORSHIP thou God in such wise that if thy worship lead thee to the fire, no alteration in thine adoration would be produced, and so likewise if thy recompense should be paradise. Thus and thus alone should be the worship which befitteth the one True God. Shouldst thou worship Him because of fear, this would be unseemly in the sanctified Court of His presence, and could not be regarded as an act by thee dedicated to the Oneness of His Being. Or if thy gaze should be on paradise, and thou shouldst worship Him while cherishing such a hope, thou wouldst make God’s creation a partner with Him, notwithstanding the fact that paradise is desired by men.

Fire and paradise both bow down and prostrate themselves before God. That which is worthy of His Essence is to worship Him for His sake, without fear of fire, or hope of paradise.

Although when true worship is offered, the worshipper is delivered from the fire, and entereth the paradise of God’s good-pleasure, yet such should not be the motive of his act. However, God’s favor and grace ever flow in accordance with the exigencies of His inscrutable wisdom.

The most acceptable prayer is the one offered with the utmost spirituality and radiance; its prolongation hath not been and is not beloved by God. The more detached and the purer the prayer, the more acceptable is it in the presence of God.

~ The Báb, Selections from the Writings of the Báb, p. 78

‘Abdu’l-Bahá too is reported to have stated that “in the highest prayer, men pray only for the love of God, not because they fear Him or hell, or hope for bounty or heaven…”, rather as an expression of pure love and remembrance, “when a man falls in love … it is impossible for him to keep from mentioning the name of his beloved. How much more difficult is it to keep from mentioning the Name of God when one has come to love Him…”.2

In this mode of devotion, we strip away any notion of benefit or recompense, of the self, of the exigencies and requirements of life, and our own frailties and doings. We worship for the sake of worship because it is the pure expression of our own nature as spiritual beings. It is prayer as a way of being.

This mirrors the very nature of God’s love, which is best seen not as an act, but as an outpouring of His pure and transcendent Existence, as a shedding the light of His Reality over all created things. Just like the ceaseless giving of the sun is an expression of its nature and essence, so too is prayer solely for the sake of God a matter of our essence. It is pure expressiveness that is beyond even need or want, beyond words. It is an exalted ideal we should strive for.

It should be said that neither of the prior two forms of prayer are ‘unacceptable’ per se. Naturally, our prayer may take those forms at many times throughout our lives. The act of refining this power takes time and stretches our inherent capacities. We should remember that regular prayer has been made a law for a reason, we should follow it as such, and we are obliged to it as a practice for our benefit. Certainly, we should not overlook this fact.

And so too is prayer in moments of difficulty received by God as He determines. We can rely on God’s Mercy to come to our aid in times of need and this should not stop us from those rapturous moments of devotion in the face of life’s challenges.

Additionally, perhaps it is true that, in this stage of our existence, we cannot always be in such a transcendent electrifying state of pure worship. Such moments of transcendence may just be too exalted to be a permenent state in this life. However, as these quotes demonstrate, our aim should be towards this third most ideal form of prayer.

Beyond Prayer, the exalted station of all things ‘for God’ in all aspects of life

To conclude, we’ll consider how this theme of transcendent purity of motive and devotion extends beyond prayer & meditation.

The notion of doing things purely ‘for God’ is an exalted standard that touches many aspects of our lives, including our rendering of good deeds. It is among the highest standards for true ethical behavior and relationships with others. This comes across in a number of quotes on the theme of doing all things ‘for God’.

The Báb is particularly emphatic about this as an aesthetic and ethical value, especially in the Persian Bayán. Nader Saiedi, in his work “Gate of the Heart”, highlights two instances where this principle is explored, in two provisional translations of the Báb drawing from Persian Bayán 3:17 and 7:2, where He states:

"Indeed the entire mystery of the Bayán is manifest in its name, for the numerical value of the word al-Bayan together with its integrative form of unity equalleth the numerical value of the words, 'for God' (lilláh) [i.e. 95], rendering the word Bayán a mirror for the Point of the Bayán [i.e. the Báb], Which in turn is the supreme Mirror of the words, 'for God', as well as a mirror for Him Whom God shall make manifest [i.e. the Manifestation to succeed the Báb, Baháʼu'lláh], inasmuch as He is the supreme Mirror of the words, 'for God"." ~the Báb, Persian Bayán 3:17, provisionally translated by Saiedi, Gate of the Heart, p. 263

"However, no act will become for God unless the one who performeth the act recognizeth the Tree of Truth [i.e. the Manifestation of God] ... It is not appropriate that anyone perform an act for someone, unless he doeth it for the sake of God, and it will not be for God, unless it is for the sake of the Revelation of that time...." ~the Báb, Persian Bayán 7:2, provisionally translated by Saiedi, Gate of the Heart, pp. 312-313

The centrality of this immensely exalted standard of devotion, implicating that recognition of God’s Messenger (and also the One to follow Him) is essential for our devotion and works to truly ascend towards God, is reiterated also towards the end of the Bayán, in 8:19, where He states:

"Ye perform your works for God from the beginning of your lives till the end thereof, yet not a single act is for the sake of Him Who is the Manifestation of God, to Whom every good deed reverteth…

Behold how great is the Cause, and yet how the people are wrapt in veils. I swear by the sanctified Essence of God that every true praise and deed offered unto God is naught but praise and deed offered unto Him Whom God shall make manifest.

Deceive not your own selves that you are being virtuous for the sake of God when you are not. For should ye truly do your works for God, ye would be performing them for Him Whom God shall make manifest and would be magnifying His Name. The dwellers of this mountain who are bereft of true understanding unceasingly utter the words, 'No God is there but God'; but what benefit doth it yield them? Ponder awhile that ye may not be shut out as by a veil from Him Who is the Dayspring of Revelation." ~the Báb, Persian Bayán 8:19, Selections from the Writings of the Báb, pp. 110-111)

We’ll close with one last case where this exact standard is conveyed powerfully in an oral discourse of Baháʼu'lláh, reported by the illustrious Baha’i chronicler Nabíl-i-Zarandí (note we should not assume that what follows are the exact words of Baha’u’llah). The following excerpt from that discourse was provisionally translated by Adib Masumian; you should review the complete discourse there, but I will reproduce the following section:

“Suppose there is a rich man, who possesseth a wealth so incalculable that it exceedeth even the number of people on this earth, and a poor man, whose indigence is as extreme as the affluence of the rich man. Suppose then that, with generosity and beneficence, the rich man gradually giveth so much of his wealth to the poor man that it doth revert that rich one to his own initial state of poverty. Consequently, as fate would have it, the formerly rich man now oweth a meager sum to another, yet this is a debt he is unable to pay. In the markets and in the streets, people arise to punish and torment him, and his deliverance from this state remaineth unimaginable until his debt is paid. It is under these circumstances that the formerly poor man cometh upon the formerly rich man, to whom he oweth his superior wealth. As the gaze of the formerly rich man falleth upon his friend, he thinketh to himself, “Would that this friend of mine remember my charity unto him, that he might rescue me from this plight!” Yet, the very moment the thought “I rendered charity unto him” entered the mind of the formerly rich man, all his good works sank into nothingness. He was, moreover, held back from obtaining the good-pleasure of God, and shut out as by a veil from the true meaning of humanity. In like manner, suppose the formerly poor man—indebted to the formerly rich man for the degree of affluence he now enjoyeth—should think to himself, “How excellent! Because of the infinite kindnesses this man rendered unto me, I am able to rescue him from his hardship and secure his comfort for the remainder of his life.” In thinking that he saved his friend through his kindness or his generosity, and not through humanity alone, this man depriveth himself of the chalice of pure intentions, and—despite the immensity of his wealth—departeth to the valley of eternal baseness and perpetual poverty, unless the beneficence of the formerly rich man be rendered purely out of humanity and strictly for the sake of God, and the act of the formerly poor man be carried out for God alone without consideration of previous or subsequent circumstances. “We nourish your souls for the sake of God; we seek from you neither recompense nor thanks. [Quran 76:9]” ~an oral discourse of Baháʼu'lláh transcribed by Nabíl-i-Zarandí, titled Panj Kanz (Five Treasures), provisionally translated by Adib Masumian

As we can see, this powerfully illustrates that our deeds of giving and our very self-conception should be permeated by this idea of ‘for God’. It confirms this ultimate ideal of purity and devotion that should drive our lives, whether in prayer or in service and the day-to-day acts we partake of. With this exalted ideal in mind, we should strive to refine our prayers and deeds to reflect this exalted standard.

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“The Word of God hath set the heart of the world afire; how regrettable if ye fail to be enkindled with its flame!”

- Bahá’u’lláh

The phenomenon of Revelation is inextricably linked with language. The centrality of Arabic for Islam and the Qur’an, Sanskrit for the Vedas, Hebrew for the Tanakh, and Avestan for Gathas of Zarathustra (Zoroaster) are but a few examples that attest to this.

For the Baháʼí Faith, the original languages of sacred scripture are Arabic and Persian. This prompts the question, what is our relationship with the Word of God and with the original languages of Revelation?

In the first part of this series, we’ll start with a few meditations on the nature of the Word of God, then review some extracts about the praise and encouragement given for learning Persian and Arabic in the Baháʼí Writings and the value of translation. We conclude with some encouraging thoughts on endeavoring to learn these languages. In the next part of this series, we’ll explore some practical steps and approaches we can take for actually starting this journey.

On the Word of God, Transcendent and Eternal in its Essence, but Manifest in Accordance with Human Needs throughout History

Through the prism of language, the eternal metaphysical reality of the ‘Word of God’ is percolated through concepts, form, symbolism, analogy and reference, and, inevitably, socio-historical context. In this way, ‘Revelation’ inherently interacts with the limitations of the material world, whether by the natural limits of human language and understanding, or the prevailing cultural and historical context.

This exchange between essence and context represents a dialogue between the all-potent and inexhaustible influence of the Word of God, and our finite, temporal, and ephemeral reality:

"the Word of God – exalted be His glory – is higher and far superior to that which the senses can perceive, for it is sanctified from any property or substance.  It transcendeth the limitations of known elements and is exalted above all the essential and recognized substances.  It became manifest without any syllable or sound and is none but the Command of God which pervadeth all created things.  It hath never been withheld from the world of being.” - Bahá’u’lláh, Tablets of Baha’u’llah, p. 140

"…the Word of God and all the potentialities thereof shall be manifested unto men in strict conformity with such conditions as have been foreordained by Him Who is the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. We have, moreover, ordained that its veil of concealment be none other except its own Self." - Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings, p. 76

"Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “If the ocean were ink for ˹writing˺ the Words of my Lord, it would certainly run out before the Words of my Lord were finished, even if We refilled it with its equal.” -Qur’an, Surah 18:109

Upon reflection, it is clear that the Word is, in its essence, transcendent beyond all these matters of human knowledge, place, context, and culture. Indeed, it must be. We ask ourselves as seekers aiming to recognize divine truth in its many manifestations: why would the transcendent Word of God be limited to one circumscribed perspective of human experience, at one particular moment, in one corner of human history, and limited to the realm of possibilities imaginable within that one frame of reference?1

This dialogue constitutes the succession of divine guidance that never ceases to flow, but seeks to be expressed and re-expressed as ages pass and humanity changes. A balance between the ever-flowing and inexhaustible essence and the human need to be spoken to in terms that we can understand.

Recognition of this conditional and historical nature of the Word of God—expressed as it is in a particular language, at a particular time, in a certain cultural context, by a certain divine Messenger—is a central pillar of Baháʼí belief. Religion is the ongoing evolutionary process unfolding across different times and places in humanity’s history. It is always suited to the needs and character of the people of that time and place where and when it is received.

It follows, then, that Revelation is expressed not just conceptually or historically, but linguistically in accordance with the understanding of humanity at that time. This motivates the need for a fresh share of Revelation at later periods as humanity changes in our understandings, across history, and even changes in linguistic context. The significance of one language or another may change across time and Revelation.2 It also presents the challenge of conveying meaning not just across time but across the diversity of human languages in each era, especially this globally interconnected one, which brings us to our relationship with the original languages of the Baháʼí Revelation.

Arabic and Persian in the Baháʼí Writings

In the Baháʼí Faith, we recognize the special potency of the original languages that the Prophet-Founders of the Faith wrote and spoke in. Reading the Writings it is clear that both the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh had a profound love and appreciation for both these languages, especially the exquisite literary, mystically-rich, and expressive character of Persian, and the power, depth and theological relevance of Arabic.

In the past 20 years, some of the foremost works of scholarship on the Báb have come a long way in demonstrating that the Báb’s use of Arabic makes Him one of the most original, creative, and challenging writers of Arabic in history. Regarding Persian, the Báb went as far as reserving a special status for it, designating His works composed in Persian as a standalone ‘mode’ of Revelation and explicating its significance in great depth in such works as the Persian Bayán and the Panj Sha’n (Five Modes).

Among Bahá’u’lláh’s most outstanding characteristics was His superb mastery of the intricacies of both Arabic and Persian, despite never receiving more than a basic education expected of Him as a child of a Persian noble family. Indeed, even some of his most trenchant critics and enemies often praised His command over the languages, declaring that anyone who came into contact with Him was often left ‘spellbound’ by His power of utterance. The fact that one of His most important works, the Kitab-i-Iqan (the Book of Certitude)—written in transcendent, persuasive, and masterful Persian prose, totaling over 200 pages in the English translation—was composed in just two days and nights is alone enough to testify to His magisterial facility with language.

In one work, the Tabernacle of Unity, Bahá’u’lláh helpfully explores in one short exposition the comparative merits of Arabic and Persian. He begins by praising both languages, especially Persian for its sweetness and its status as the native tongue of the Manifestation of God for this day: "The Persian tongue is in truth exceedingly sweet and pleasing…” and “Both Arabic and Persian are laudable. That which is desired of a language is that it convey the intent of the speaker, and either language can serve this purpose. And since in this day the Orb of knowledge [e.g. the Messenger of God] hath risen in the firmament of Persia, this tongue deserveth every praise.”

Later He goes on to indicate that there is indeed a particular advantage of Arabic, however:

Encouragement to Learn Persian and Arabic

Both Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (His son and appointed Successor) praised the efforts of the believers to learn both these languages. Bahá’u’lláh states that because "The Beloved of the world speaks in the Persian language” it is most praiseworthy if the “loved ones also converse and write in this language".3 In another Tablet, He states that God would be pleased if all the peoples of the world were to choose to speak the Arabic language, but that it is not a requirement that Arabic be chosen for this purpose.

Similarly, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá encouraged the acquisition of Persian, to better access the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh directly: "Acquire the Persian tongue, so as to learn of the meanings of the divine words and to know the divine mysteries, to develop an eloquent speech and to translate the blessed Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh. The Persian language shall become noteworthy in this cycle; nay, rather, the people shall study it in all the world." (Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Vol. II, p. 306). And also: "Study Persian and acquire it more day by day, for by the study of this language great and boundless results are obtained." (Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 307).

This interaction of language learners with the languages of Revelation is praised for more than just the bounty of accessing the Word of God. It is in fact an essential part of the Baháʼí vision for achieving unity in the world, for it is a means to bind together the human family in mutual understanding and love for one another. One aspect of this is Bahá’u’lláh’s well-known commandment that a universal auxiliary language be decided upon and taught throughout the entire world so that all people can be united in mutual understanding. As alluded to above, the choice of Arabic for this role would be praised by God, but the choice remains left to future generations.

Returning to the power of language to bind people together, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá also states that the very act of learning to speak a common language promotes bonds of unity that can transcend the barriers between nations, and even may be instrumental in abolishing the longstanding differences between 'the East and West’:

“In both countries the respective languages [English and Persian] are being studied. This is in itself a proof that the East and the West (literally, place of sunrise and sunset) shall clasp hands as two families. The standard of unity shall be raised, and the means of love and friendship will be accomplished. Endeavor to complete the study of the Persian thus mayest thou read the Tablets of the Blessed Beauty and mayest translate them, and without the interpreter’s aid thou mayest read all my letter to thee." ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Tablets of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Vol. II, p. 426

The learning of language is also given a paramount ethical importance, especially for the family, which is seen as the bedrock of society and the origin point of all education and perfections in virtue.

Although the Baháʼí conception of the family is predominantly egalitarian, with both parents freely contributing to all needs to the best of their ability as co-equal partners, Bahá’u’lláh places special emphasis on the role of the father in instructing their children in language and writing generally, and in the study of the Holy Writings specifically. Granting direct responsibility upon the father, He states: “Unto every father hath been enjoined the instruction of his son and daughter in the art of reading and writing and in all that hath been laid down in the Holy Tablet.” (Kitab-i-Aqdas). Such is the importance of this commandment that any father who neglects this duty forfeits his right of fatherhood: “Should the father neglect this weightiest of all concerns, which hath been revealed from the Pen of the Ancient King in the Most Holy Book [the Kitab-i-Aqdas], then his paternal right shall be forfeit and he shall be accounted guilty in the sight of God.”4

How do translations fit in with efforts to learn Arabic and Persian?

Two points are worthy of mention here, related to translation and our attitude towards learning the original languages: we should not presume that learning the original languages grants one any sense of spiritual authority, or consider that those who don’t speak them somehow are lacking guidance or access to the breadth of Revelation. Let’s briefly explore why this is the case.

Translation is clearly of immense importance for access to and study of Baháʼí scripture, a theme we have explored in prior posts on ‘provisional’ translations. It is instrumental in providing access and spreading abroad the “sweet savours” of His word in the diverse tongues and languages of the world.

When dealing with the Word of God we recognize that there will always be some aspect of the original languages that cannot be ‘captured’ in the process of translation, especially given the hyper-potent and inexhaustible nature of the Word that we spoke of earlier. This is certainly one key motivation for learning the original languages; another is to be of service in rendering the original texts for the speakers of the many languages of the world, knowing that not everyone can or will end up becoming fluent in the original languages. This is especially important for speakers of less common languages.

Even still, Baháʼís also recognize that while it is not possible to convey every aspect of the depth of the original in translations, accessing the Word of God through translations is in no wise a barrier to achieving spiritual growth and access to the truth. After all, we know that human learning is not the ultimate means of achieving true understanding; rather, as Bahá’u’lláh states in the Kitab-i-Iqan, it is dependent solely on the grace of God, “purity of heart, chastity of soul, and freedom of spirit.”5 Great spiritual advancements are assuredly available and open to all who endeavor with a pure heart, regardless of the languages one speaks, or one’s educational attainments, as attested in the quote “one hour’s reflection is preferable to seventy years of pious worship”.6

We see then that Bahá’u’lláh has placed this emphasis on learning the original languages for our benefit and encouragement, and for the necessity of conveying the Word throughout the world and in its many languages. The diversity of language is certainly a gem among the diversities of the human family, not a stumbling block. We recognize that the act of learning the languages of Revelation is highly meritorious, and yet not a requirement for spiritual advancement. Nor does the learning imbue one Baháʼí with an exalted or special status. We are all seekers, standing in awe at the shore of the Ocean of His word. Learning the original language does open many doors for service, since you can then explore works that are not yet translated and assist others with access to some of the fruits of those works.

Such translations are critical, and skilled Baháʼí’s with deep familiarity of Persian and Arabic are needed to assist with translating the Baháʼí Writings. The Baháʼí Writings are already available in well over 800 of the diverse languages of the world, but given the vastness of Baháʼí scripture, the work of translation will occupy us for many years to come.

Conclusion

Do you see yourself joining in on these highly needed efforts? Have you always wanted to learn but never gotten around to it, or is it a new interest that you never realized you wanted? Are you worried about the challenge?

First, let’s mention a few things that may be helpful and motivating:

• The Perso-Arabic script (32 main characters in total) is NOT as hard to learn as it might seem! Most people could get basic functionality in a few weeks of focused study using the right method.

• You can learn one without the other! Arabic is certainly considerably more challenging than Persian.

• You don’t have to become absolutely master both or either language to benefit!

  • There are many levels to learning a language. Perhaps it may suit your goals just to be able to look up the original word in a few cases, to be able to read the script when needed. Even just familiarity with a dozen or so key words from the original language can enhance your study meaningfully. Decide what kind of learning goal is right for you.

  • Maybe you just want to be a passable reader, but don’t feel the need to learn to speak it conversationally. It doesn’t need to be an all-or-nothing proposition.

• You don’t need classes to begin benefitting from study, it’s possible to become a self-sustaining learner (more or less on your own)

• You’ll begin seeing the spiritual fruits of your learning immediately because you can genuinely begin studying the original language texts on day 1 of learning

• There is perhaps no better time in Baháʼí history to acquire the languages - the number and quality of tools available to assist us in this has grown greatly

• Language learning is no doubt always challenging, but the benefit of learning Arabic and/or Persian is that you automatically have a major motivating force - getting to spend some portion of the study you already do of the Baháʼí Writings, instead reading in the original languages. It’s a natural way to regularly bolster your acquisition of the languages

Join us in the next part of this series and we will dive into some practical approaches that can help you decide how far you want to take your learning, how you get started, and explore how much this learning process transforms your study.

Join the conversation below to share your thoughts and reflections!

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Featured here is an annotated compilation on a theme of tremendous significance for our understanding of Divinity and the fundamental ontology animating all of existence.

Of importance is the clear identification of the First Intellect (or Universal Divine Intellect) with the ‘Primal Will’ in the excerpt by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá; the concept of the ‘Primal Will’ is of paramount importance in the Bahá'í Writings, especially in the works of the Báb, whose treatment of the theme is uniquely fervent.

This co-identification of the Primal Will with the First Intellect opens the door for drawing on and correlating a range of philosophical and esoteric writings from the past, including Platonism/Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, Islamic philosophy, and others, as the notion of the First Intellect is threaded through the work of centuries and millennia of thinkers across different traditions. Alongside quotes from the Bahá'í Writings, some excerpts from notable past thinkers are featured. Clarity on these metaphysical themes is essential for weighing the philosophical output of these traditions, with the various understandings and, at times, differing theological conclusions that religious communities have derived from what is ultimately a common framework for transcendent reality.

In that light, we can begin to assess the unique contribution of Bahá'í philosophy to this discourse. The selection from the Bahá'í Writings comprises only a fraction of a fraction on this theme but demonstrates clear parallels with the excerpts from prior philosophical and esoteric traditions and opens a productive dialogue for advancing personal and collective understanding.

“If the wayfarers be among them that dwell in the court of the All-Praised, this is the station of the Intellect, which is known as the messenger of the realm of the body and the most great pillar. That which is intended, however, is the universal divine Intellect [‘aql-i-kullíy-i-ilahí], whose sovereignty fostereth the growth of all things, and not every vain and feeble mind.”

~ Bahá’u’lláh, The Four Valleys (Chehar Vadi)

“God, the Most High, hath placed these signs in men so that veiled minds might not deny the mysteries of the life beyond, nor belittle that which hath been promised them. For some hold fast to reason and deny whatever reason comprehendeth not, and yet feeble minds can never grasp the reality of the stages that we have related: The universal divine Intellect alone can comprehend them.”

~ Bahá’u’lláh, The Seven Valleys (Haft Vadi)

"Intellect hath various degrees… It is nonetheless indisputably clear and evident that the minds of men have never been, nor shall they ever be, of equal capacity. The Perfect Intellect [‘aql-i kámil] alone can provide true guidance and direction…

By the Intellect mentioned above is meant the universal divine Mind [‘aql-i-kullíy-i-ilahí]. How often hath it been observed that certain human minds, far from being a source of guidance, have become as fetters upon the feet of the wayfarers and prevented them from treading the Straight Path [sirát-i-mustaghim]! The lesser intellect being thus circumscribed, one must search after Him Who is the ultimate Source of knowledge and strive to recognize Him.”

~ Bahá’u’lláh, Tabernacle of Unity

"The universal divine Intellect [‘aql-i-kullíy-i-ilahí], which transcends nature, is the outpouring grace [fayd] of the pre-existent Power. It encompasses all existing realities and receives its share of the lights and mysteries of God. It is an all-knowing power, not a power of investigation and sensing. The spiritual power associated with the world of nature is the power of investigation, and it is through investigation that it discovers the realities and properties of things. But the heavenly intellectual power, which is beyond nature, encompasses, knows, and comprehends all things; is aware of the divine mysteries, truths, and inner meanings; and discovers the hidden verities of the Kingdom. This divine intellectual power is confined to the holy Manifestations and the Daysprings of prophethood. A ray of this light falls upon the mirrors of the hearts of the righteous, that they may also receive, through the holy Manifestations, a share and benefit of this power."

~ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, No. 58

"If we look objectively upon the world of being, it will become apparent that from age to age, the temple of existence has continually been embellished with a fresh grace, and distinguished with an ever-varying splendor, deriving from wisdom and the power of thought. This supreme emblem of God stands First in the order of creation and First in rank, taking precedence over all created things.  Witness to it is the Holy Tradition [hadith], ‘Before all else, God created the mind (‘aql) [awwal u mā khalaqa allāh al-ʿaql-u].’"

~ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 1

“It follows that all things have emanated from God; that is, it is through God that all things have been realized, and through Him that the contingent world has come to exist. The first thing to emanate from God is that universal reality which the ancient philosophers termed the “First Intellect” [‘aql-i-avval] and which the people of Bahá call the “Primal Will” [mashíyyat-i-avvaliyyih]. This emanation [sudūr], with respect to its action in the world of God, is not limited by either time or place and has neither beginning nor end, for in relation to God the beginning and the end are one and the same. The pre-existence of God is both essential and temporal, while the origination of the contingent world is essential but not temporal.”

“Though the First Intellect is without beginning, this does not mean that it shares in the pre-existence of God, for in relation to the existence of God the existence of that universal Reality is mere nothingness—it cannot even be said to exist, let alone to partake of the pre-existence of God.”

~ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, No. 53

"This is the fruit of the existence of all things [all humans], since all things depend upon the Primal Will for their existence, and naught is seen in everything but the revelation of God, in accordance with the degree of the reality of any entity which beareth the divine revelation."

~ The Báb, Persian Bayán 2:8, provisionally translated by Nader Saiedi, Gate of the Heart, p. 184

“That which hath been mentioned in the Heavenly Books concerning 'attainment unto His presence' [liqā’-i-ū]* is attainment to the presence of God's Manifestation who is none other than the Point of Truth [Nuqtiyih Haqíqat] and His Primal Will [Mashíyyat-i-Avvalíyyih].”

~ the Bab, Persian Bayan 3:7, provisionally translated by Shahrouk Monjazeb

* see Surah 13:2 or Surah 33:44 on the concept of ‘Attaining His Presence’, the Eschatological meeting with God

The Correlation of Intellect and the Primal Will with the Realms (ontological categories, hypostases) of ‘the Universal Manifestation’ [Láhút] and of Dominion [Jabarút]

“These Suns of Truth are the universal Manifestations of God in the worlds of His attributes and names”* … "These Manifestations of God have each a twofold station.  One is the station of pure abstraction and essential unity*.... The other station is the station of distinction, and pertaineth to the world of creation [‘alam al khalq], and to the limitations thereof."

~Bahá’u’lláh, the Kitab-i-Iqán, paragraphs 31 & 161

*e.g. the unity of the Manifestations in the ‘station of pure abstraction’ pertains to Láhút, the level of reality where the Names and Attributes are united in the Universal Manifestation, that is, the Universal Divine Intellect or Primal Will. Their differentiation and distinction unfolds afterwards, from whence they obtain individuation, a reality that obtains in Jabarút

"Know thou that each letter thereof [the Morning Prayer of Imam 'Ali] pertaineth to seven stations that were enjoined by the Imam to Jabir in reference to true recognition.  Every one of these stations referreth to the four worlds that are at times referred to as Divinity (Lahut), which is the realm of the heart… Dominion (Jabarut), which is the realm of the Intellect... and the Contingent Kingdom (Mulk), which is the realm of the soul as well as the third witnessing spot and the declarative word of Divine Unity; and finally the Kingdom (Malakut), which is the station of testimony as well as the fourth witnessing spot and the world of magnification.  Each one of these realms applieth to all the eight rings of the chain of being, as realized by the people of truth."

~ The Báb, provisional translation by Nader Saiedi, Gate of The Heart, p. 117

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The Origins of the conception of the ‘First Intellect’ in Plato, its Exegesis and Formalization in Neoplatonic Philosophy

Some of the foregrounding of the concept of the ‘First Intellect’ in relation to the One, or 'the Good’, can be found in Book VI of Plato’s Republic, in a largely allegorical discussion. Reasoning from the general category of beautiful and good things to the form or Idea of Beauty and Good, and examining their relationship via a useful metaphor of the sun and sight, Plato then establishes that:

"For the things which are known [i.e. that are intelligible - or have their ground in Intellect], say not only that their being known comes from the Good, but also that they get their existence and their being from it as well - though the Good is not being, but something far surpassing being in rank and power.”

~ Plato, Republic, Book 6.507

In the Timaeus, the epitome of Plato’s cosmology (at least insofar as his exoteric teachings concern), Plato envisions the creation of the universe by the hands of a ‘demiurge’ or ‘Divine Craftsmen’, depicted as the benevolent, rational, and purposive causal agent behind the genesis of reality. This demiurge ultimately appears to be a manifestation of the Intellect and the account laid the seeding ground for the consolidation of the Three Hypostases (the One, the Intellect, the World-Soul) of later Platonists (so-called Neoplatonism), most notably Plotinus:

“…the One, perfect because it seeks nothing, has nothing, and needs nothing, overflows, as it were, and its superabundance makes something other than itself. This, when it has come into being, turns back upon the One and is filled, and becomes Intellect by looking towards it.”

~ Plotinus, Enneads V 2.1

“We are saying that Intellect is an image of the One, first - for we should express ourselves more clearly - because that which is produced must somehow be the One and preserve many of its properties, that is, be the same as it, just like the light that comes from the sun. But the One is not Intellect. How, then, does it generate Intellect? In fact, by its reversion to it, Intellect saw the One, and this seeing is Intellect.”

~ Plotinus, Enneads V 1.7

The Co-identification of Nous with Hermes Trismegistus as a Revelatory Figure in a manner not unlike the Bahá'í notion of the Manifestation of God as a Theophany of the Primal Will/Intellect

The ‘Way of Hermes’ and the Hermetic teachings (circa 1st-3rd c. CE) mark the emergence of an altogether more mystical, theological, and devotional approach to this concept, that laid a foundation for the many esoteric traditions/movements that followed:

In revelatory dialogue and ecstatic vision conveyed to His son (‘Tat’), Hermes Trismegistus states: “Rejoice over this … For I see! I see indescribable depths. How shall I tell you, my son? How shall I describe the universe? I am Mind [νοῦς - Nous] and see another Mind, the one that moves the soul! I see the one that moves me... I have found the beginning of the power that is above all powers, the one that has no beginning. I see a fountain bubbling with life… Language is not able to reveal this… And I, Mind understand… Concerning these things I do not say anything, my son. For it is right before God that we keep silent about what is hidden.”

~ words traditionally attributed to the ‘Father of Philosophy’, Hermes Trismegistus, the Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth, Nag Hammadi Library, Codex VI

“Consciousness [Nous], O Tat, comes from the very essence of God… Mind, then, has not been cut off from the God’s essentiality; it has expanded [or emanated], as it were, like the light of the sun.”

~ Corpus Hermeticum, Book XII (Copenhaver)

“Mind [Nous] as a whole, wholly enclosing itself, free of all body, unerring, unaffected, untouched, at rest in itself, capable of containing all things and preserving all that exists, and its rays [ἀκτῖνες - aktínes - or perhaps effulgences] … are the good, the truth, the archetype of spirit, the archetype of soul…

What then is God [θεός - theós]? God is what does not subsist [ὑπάρχων - hupárkhōn] as any of these since He is the cause [αἰτῐ́ᾱς - aitíās*] of their being, for all of them and for each and every one of them that exists… God is not Mind, but he is the cause of Mind’s being.”

~words traditionally attributed to the ‘Father of Philosophy’, Hermes Trismegistus, Corpus Hermeticum, Book II (as translated by Copenhaver, p. 11)

*from whence we get ‘etiology’

The Uptake of the Concept of ‘First Intellect’ in Islamic Philosophy

Greek philosophy, and Neoplatonism especially, went on to have a decisive influence on Islamic philosophy, which found many productive interfaces with Quranic concepts (the Muhammadan Light [nur-i-muhammadi], the Preserved Tablet [Lawh-i-Mahfuz], the Quran as Word of God, and others). The following extracts some examples from Ibn Sina, al-Sijistani, and Suhrawardi:

“From the One, only one proceeds [emanates] (lā yasdur ʿan al-wāhid illā l-wāhid)”*

~ Ibn Sina (d. 980), quoted in Wahid M. Amin “From the One, Only One Proceeds”

*Confer Nader Saiedi’s Gate of the Heart (pp. 96-97, 197-198) for a provisional translation of the Báb commenting on this very quote/concept (and disconfirming it, or rather transcending a problematic that emerges from this maxim)

“The First Creation (al-khalq al-awwal) appeared from perfect goodness, as something perfectly encompassing the entirety of differentiated things… If deserving this name, [Intellect] (’aql) were removed from it, its appearance would be contrary to the Perfect Goodness (al-jūd al-tammām) from the Perfectly Generous (al-jawad al-tammām).”

~ Abu Yaqub al-Sijistani (d. 974), Isbat al nabuwwa, p.25 (courtesy of Khalil Andani)

“Know that from the One, which is one in reality and unique in respect to every mode [or aspect - wujūh], only one [other thing] may be obtained. For if two things are obtained from it, then the exigency of one of them will not be the same as that of the other. Because if their two requirements were the same, then they would be exactly the same… A multiplicity of modes and attributes is impossible in the Necessary Being [wajeb al-wujud]… only one thing becomes existent due to It; and this thing cannot be a body, because a body is a composite… and distinguished by specific differences… the Necessary Being is beyond and absolved of multiplicity.

But attributes and forms require a place in which to exist; therefore that which is obtained from the Necessary Being is neither a thing extended spatially, nor a body, nor [a] bodily attribute …

Therefore, the first thing obtained from the Necessary Being is a substance, and this is the ‘Intellect’.”

~ ‘Shaykh al-Ishraq’ Suhrawardi (d. 1191), in Partonameh (The Book of Radiance), Book 6, “On the Activity of the Necessary Being” (translation by Hossein Ziai)

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In part 1 of this series on healing, energy medicine and the Baháʼí Faith I introduced the topic of energy medicine and explored related passages from the Baháʼí Writings. In part 2 we consider more deeply the topic of prayer and what emerging insights from ‘energy medicine’ can say about spiritual practices such as prayer and meditation and their effect on the body and healing.

The Power of Intoning and Reciting Prayer

Last time, we considered the background of certain energy medicine modalities in light of reflections on these topics in the Writings. When considering these suggestions from the Writings, it appears that there are genuine and notable impacts that can be felt when healers and patients are in tune with some of these dynamics of energy in the body and how this, alongside spiritual practices such as prayer or the impact of healing touch, can promote positive health.

I noted before that the electromagnetic force (EMF) of the heart reaches 3 feet outside of the body in all directions and that the heart’s EMF can directly influence the individual’s cognition, emotions, perception, behavior, performance, and overall sense of health and wellness and influence the heart and nervous system of other humans and animals whom one encounters. When the heart is in a coherent state attained through calming breathwork while focusing on uplifting attributes - what we would call ‘spiritual or divine attributes’ in the Baháʼí Faith such as love, compassion, gratitude, among others - this coherent state can positively influence others in close contact who may be in a depleting or incoherent state dominated by ‘worldly qualities’ such as anxiety, anger, fear, among others.

We can see this as a form of energy medicine demonstrating how the heart, in a coherent state, can have a positive impact on another person. Have you ever been in the presence of someone who is so filled with joy and happiness that it helps create that same joy and happiness in your own heart? This is not uncommon. The opposite effect is true too. How often have you encountered a person filled with negativity and that negativity has dragged you and others down, filling you with sadness. Negative energy can deplete the positive emotions of others just as positive energy can replenish those same emotions in others.

Another form of energy medicine - sound healing - is a perhaps overlooked yet powerful component of the practice of prayer. Sound therapy in various forms has been around for several thousand years and practiced across the vast tapestry of human cultures. ‘Mantras’ are an example of vocalized devotional practice with a deep history in spiritual traditions across many cultures. ‘Mantras’ were commonly used during meditation for spiritual connection, upliftment, and even as part of healing practices. At the heart of sound healing is vibration. All matter vibrates at different frequencies and sound therapy aims to use such vibrations to promote healing. 

In the Baháʼí Faith and other religious traditions, prayer is an integral part of the spiritual practice. Baháʼí’s are encouraged to recite and intone prayers daily. Baháʼu'lláh states:

“Intone, O My servant, the verses of God that have been received by thee, as intoned by them who have drawn nigh unto Him, that the sweetness of thy melody may kindle thine own soul and attract the hearts of all men. Whoso reciteth, in the privacy of his chamber, the verses revealed by God, the scattering angels of the Almighty shall scatter abroad the fragrance of the words uttered by his mouth and shall cause the heart of every righteous man to throb. Though he may, at first, remain unaware of its effect, yet the virtue of the grace vouchsafed unto him must needs sooner or later exercise its influence upon his soul.”

-Baháʼu'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Baháʼu'lláh, p. 295)

The remarkable part of this well-known excerpt is the emphasis on ‘intoning’ and the impacts it describes, which is indicative of the energizing power of prayer when it is recited or expressed vocally. The Long Obligatory prayer also features powerful imagery of the intersection of prayer and feelings in the body: “Thou seest, O my God, how my spirit hath been stirred up within my limbs and members, in its longing to worship Thee… My back is bowed by the burden of my sins… Whenever I ponder my evil doings and Thy benevolence, my heart melteth within me, and my blood boileth in my veins…” (Baháʼu'lláh)

Reciting prayers will not only kindle our own soul but will attract the hearts of others and cause their souls to throb. Such a prayer will exercise influence on these souls whether they are aware of it or not. Baháʼu'lláh further adds to our understanding about the power of the Word of God. He states, “Sanctified be the Lord of all mankind, at the mention of Whose name all the atoms of the earth have been made to vibrate…” (Gleanings p. 16) As mentioned, the use of vibration has been used as a form of energy medicine for centuries. Vibration as part of intoning the Word of God clearly has special potency, far more so than merely repeating the words in our head.

The Role of Prayer in Healing

Indeed, reciting healing prayers also has a special potency according to Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian and leader of the Baháʼí Faith from 1921-1957; he is quoted in Baháʼí Prayers as follows, “These daily obligatory prayers, together with a few other specific ones, such as the Healing Prayer, the Tablet of Ahmad, have been invested by Baháʼu'lláh with a special potency and significance, and should therefore be accepted as such and be recited by the believers with unquestioning faith and confidence…” (p. 209) Prayer clearly has a harmonious role to play alongside energy medicine practices.

Abdu’l-Baha goes further stating the following about prayer and healing,

“…when a healthy person focuses his whole attention upon a sick person, and the latter in turn fully expects to be healed through the spiritual power of the former and is wholly convinced thereof, to such an extent that a strong connection is created between their hearts. Should the healthy individual then bend every effort to heal the sick one, and should the latter have full faith that health will be attained, an excitement may be produced in his nerves from these soul-to-soul influences and bring about the cure.” -Throne of the Inner Temple, a compilation on Health & Healing

The “healer” focuses his complete spiritual attention on the ill person who expects a healing result. The resultant strong connection between their hearts creates excitement in the nerves from “these soul-to-soul influences” leading to a cure. Remember the discussion before about HeartMath? The heart has a direct connection to the brain through the Vagus Nerve. This direct connection opens the door for the influence of the person’s emotions, cognition, executive function, and psyche, all important as part of the healing process.

So, if prayer does seem to have such impacts, do people have to be in presence with each other to feel the effects? ‘Distance healing’ is another practiced recognized as being under the umbrella of energy medicine. It involves intention or prayer but from a distance (not in the immediate presence of the recipients). The degree of distance makes no difference. It could be across the room, in a different town, or a different country. The research demonstrates the positive benefits of distance healing through intention and prayer. A well-known series of studies by Braud (1983, 1985); Radin (1995); and Rebman (1995) have purported to show significant benefits to human subjects’ electrodermal activity (a measure of Autonomic Nervous System function). Studies by Byrd (1988) and Harris (1999) demonstrated shorter hospital courses for cardiac ICU patients than the control group. A study by Sicher (1998) found similar benefits in treating patients with AIDS. Now, do these studies demonstrate without a doubt that prayer exerts effects, regardless of distance? Let’s consider further. 

As we have explored, healing prayers specifically have a “special potency and significance” and should be said with “unquestioning faith and confidence.” Years ago, as part of a Baháʼí children’s class, my wife had the children focus on prayer for a particular plant while purposefully not focusing attention on a second plant. Both plants were in the same location. The plant that was prayed for grew more robustly and appeared healthier. While not a rigorous scientific study, it was an interesting demonstration for the children on the power of prayer. You may have attempted similar ‘experiments’ in your own experience.

Of course, such prayers do not have a “one size fits all” response. What constitutes healing for one person may be quite different than what constitutes healing for another person. By nature, they can be highly subjective. Healing occurs in many varied forms. It may be physical, emotional, spiritual, or all of these. Healing may not be obvious to anyone other than the individual being prayed for. In the case of the studies referenced above, we can measure some specific outcomes demonstrating association but not causality. We cannot state with 100 percent certainty that prayer definitively resulted in the shorter hospital stays in the Byrd study, for example. There is an association, but we cannot prove causality.

We also have to weigh the healing power of prayer with other understandings of prayer and spiritual reality that we find in the Writings. For instance, we know that God’s Will is ultimately inscrutable to all save Himself. We cannot answer why the Creator appears to answer the prayers of some and not others. We understand that spiritual reality by its very nature is not mechanistic. Indeed, the very fact that it is not a mechanistic process means that it would also not be surprising to not find an effect in the context of a scientific study. All we can say is that some respond to prayer in a visible manner and apparent manner, while others - as Baháʼu'lláh indicated earlier - “remain unaware of its effect, yet the virtue of the grace vouchsafed unto him must needs sooner or later exercise its influence upon his soul”. They may receive healing in some other manner not obvious to outsider observation and sometimes not even to the person being prayed for, let alone in a way subject to measurement or scientific study.

Likewise, when Abdu’l-Baha tells us that, “…The power of the Holy Spirit healeth both physical and spiritual ailments…” (Throne of the Inner Temple, p. 85) we can see that this process inherently requires attributes such as faith and confidence that a healing remedy in some form will be granted. What is required is the wisdom to be able to understand what that healing remedy consists of, and the humility to understand that there is far more we don’t know than we do know.

The Nervous System: Intersecting Physical and Spiritual Life

What I hope we can glean from the passages shared on the power of prayer is that prayer has the potential for healing and can be seen as a component of energy medicine practices, some of which were described here and in the first half of this series. Prayer has been used by humanity for thousands of years for beseeching the Creator of the universe for healing, strength, guidance, prosperity, and more, and countless people have found it to be a critical part of a fulfilling life.

I will close this series with a consideration of spiritual components of energy medicine. The above topics all fall under this category in that they involve prayer, faith, devotion and intention. There is, however, a type of energy medicine some have called ‘spiritual energy medicine’ where a healer attempts deliberately to engage in the transfer of spiritual energy to a person, for the purpose of healing. Spiritual energy medicine may involve prayer, meditation, movement, mantras, affirmations, rituals, and more. What interests me about this modality of energy medicine relates to a passage from Abdu’l-Baha on the powers of the sympathetic nerve. In modern biomedicine we refer to this as the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) composed of the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) and Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS).

Abdu’l-Baha stated, in response to a question from a physician regarding the sympathetic nervous system:

“The powers of the sympathetic nerve are neither entirely physical nor spiritual but are between the two (systems). The nerve is connected with both. Its phenomena will be perfect when its spiritual and physical relations are normal.

When the material world and the divine world are well co-related, when the hearts become heavenly, and the aspirations grow pure and divine, perfect connection will take place. Then will its power produce a perfect manifestation. Physical and spiritual diseases will then receive absolute healing.”

- 'Abdu'l-Bahá: Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas, Vol. II, p. 309

What a fascinating statement, suggesting that the ANS is connected to both the physical and spiritual dimensions. We know that the SNS is involved in the fight, flight, or freeze response to danger but also to excitement. The PNS is involved in the relaxation response or to a state of calm or meditation. Both responses manifest a physical response and an emotional (non-physical) or spiritual response. For example, the SNS response to danger or excitement is fast heart rate, rapid breathing, elevated blood pressure, directing all bodily functions away from digestion and relaxation to preparation to fight, take flight, freeze, or exultation.

Have you ever experienced a “spiritual high” or transcendent state at a particularly meaningful gathering, during meditation, or when praying or teaching the Faith? I certainly have, and the activation of the SNS is a real component of this experience and is part of the experience of such transcendent states. The PNS response is the opposite. It calms the person resulting in a slow heart rate, lowered blood pressure, slow respirations, and a meditative state. Do you meditate? I have had experiences during meditation where I have experienced moments of profound spiritual enlightenment. I can truly appreciate how the ANS with its two branches, the SNS and PNS, can be seen as connected to activity in both the physical and spiritual worlds.

Further, Abdu’l-Baha states,

“Remedy the sick by means of heavenly joy and spiritual exultation, cure the sorely afflicted by imparting to them blissful glad-tidings…When at the bedside of a patient, cheer and gladden his heart and enrapture his spirit through celestial power.”

-Selections from Baha’i Writings on Some Aspects of Health and Healing, p. 3

And finally, ʻAbdu'l-Bahá talks also about the “complete and perfect connection between the spiritual doctor and the sick person…causes the excitement of the nerves, and health is produced.” (Some Answered Questions p. 293-95) He talks of nerve excitement in the healing process in other writings. These descriptions sound familiar and are very much akin to arousal of the SNS. They also demonstrate that healing isn’t just the province of trained professionals, but that we all have an impact on each other’s well-being through our ‘heavenly’ interactions, ‘exultations’ and good cheers.

Likewise, regarding meditation, which is facilitated by the PNS, Abdu’l-Baha states:

“Through the faculty of meditation man attains to eternal life; through it he receives the breath of the Holy Spirit -- the bestowal of the Spirit is given in reflection and meditation…

The spirit of man is itself informed and strengthened during meditation; through it affairs of which man knew nothing are unfolded before his view. Through it he receives Divine inspiration… Meditation is the key for opening the doors of mysteries. In that state man abstracts himself: in that state man withdraws himself from all outside objects; in that subjective mood he is immersed in the ocean of spiritual life and can unfold the secrets of things-in-themselves. To illustrate this, think of man as endowed with two kinds of sight; when the power of insight is being used the outward power of vision does not see…This faculty of meditation frees man from the animal nature, discerns the reality of things, puts man in touch with God.”

-Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 175

Again, we see how the PNS branch of the ANS is deeply connected to the spiritual world, through the bodily reception of the impacts of a spiritual practice (contemplation).

Conclusion

From the above quotes, we can glean that spiritual energy medicine practices involving the ANS, with its sympathetic and parasympathetic branches, is associated with or stimulated by both a physical and spiritual response when the ANS is activated. The specific response depends on what action the individual is engaged in (exultation or meditation, for example) and this determines which branch of the ANS is dominant. Perfect balance will be attained “When the material world and the divine world are well co-related, when the hearts become heavenly, and the aspirations grow pure and divine.” Indeed, as we pointed out in part 1, the central goal of energy medicine is to achieve balance.

In closing, I hope I have offered food for thought that the concept of energy medicine has some support in the Baháʼí Writings. This article is by no means exhaustive on the subject, and I hope that others will carry this research further shedding new light on the Baháʼí Writings supporting energy medicine as a viable healing modality.

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