Tablet on the Birth of the Greatest Name (II)
1.
He is God![1]
2.
O concourse of the lovers of God!
By the righteousness of the Almighty!
3.
This, verily, is a night the like of which hath never been manifested in the world of creation.
Truly, this bounty is from God, the All-Powerful, the Beneficent.
4.
On this night, the Spirit spoke with a voice that threw into commotion the realities of men:
"Rejoice, O Concourse on high in the inmost essence of Paradise!"
Thereupon, God cried out from behind the Holy Veil of divine bestowals:
"This, truly, is a night during which the Reality of the All-Merciful hath been born
and the meaning of every eternal decree hath been divulged by the Pen of the All-Glorious."
Therefore, rejoice and exult, O people of the Bayán!
During this night, the Nightingale lifted up Its voice upon the boughs and branches, proclaiming:
"Rejoice, O citizens of Paradise!"
Say:
This night the veils of glory concealing the light of certitude were rent in twain
and the Dove of Heaven chanted and sang in the midmost heart of Paradise.
Therefore, rejoice O Temples of Holiness dwelling in the city of time!
On this night, God revealed His light through every exalted Name.
Moreover, He hath been established upon every pure and radiant heart.
So rejoice, O ye people of the Bayán!
During this night, the oceans of forgiveness have surged and the breezes of divine bestowals were wafted.
Therefore, rejoice with exceeding gladness, O companions of the All-Merciful!
On this night, all the sins of mankind have been forgiven.
This is a joyous message unto all created things!
Say:
This, verily, is a night during which a pre-ordained measure of bounty and grace hath been decreed in the Scrolls of celestial glory and certitude,
so that sorrow may be dispelled from all created things forever more.
Therefore, rejoice in thy hearts, O ye who hath entered the realms of being and creation!
At this, the Herald of the Spirit crieth out in the midmost heart of eternity — the center of transcendent glory and sublimity.
This is by the grace of God, the Omnipotent, the Beneficent!
By God! The Hand of Power, endowed with ascendant sovereignty, hath opened the musk-scented seal.
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Verily, this bounty is from God, the Exalted, the Beneficent!
Through the Beauty of the All-Glorious, the hand of the Divine Joseph hath borne round the cup of pomegranate[2] wine.
Verily, this bounty is from God, the Exalted, the Beneficent!
Therefore, O peoples of the world, hasten and partake of this Salsabil[3] of everlasting life.
Verily, this bounty is from God, the Exalted, the Beneficent!
Say: O concourse of the lovers of God!
The unveiled and naked Beauty of the Beloved hath shone forth.
Verily, this bounty is from God, the Exalted, the Beneficent!
O concourse of the loved ones of God!
The Beauty of the Best-Beloved hath risen above the Horizon of Holiness.
Therefore, bestir yourselves and arise, O people of the Bayán!
Verily, this bounty is from God, the Exalted, the Beneficent!
The Testimony[4] and the Proof[5] hath appeared, for the Resurrection hath come to pass through God’s Manifestation of His own Self, the Ancient of Days.
Verily, this bounty is from God, the Exalted, the Beneficent!
The ages have persisted, the cycles have repeated, and the Lights have rejoiced, for God hath shed the splendor of His effulgent glory from the branches of every Tree.
Verily, this bounty is from God, the Exalted, the Beneficent!
Bestir yourselves, O chosen ones of God, for the spirits have emerged, the divine winds have been diffused, the likenesses of God have been torn asunder, and the Tongues of Eternity have sung upon the boughs of every Tree.
Verily, this bounty is from God, the Exalted, the Beneficent!
By God! The veils have been rent asunder, the dense coverings have been consumed by fire, the abstruse allusions have been unveiled, and the subtle signs have been unraveled by Him Who is endowed with Power and Omnipotence.
Verily, this bounty is from God, the Exalted, the Beneficent!
Rejoice and silently conceal this secret and hidden Symbol, lest your foes learn of that which ye have quaffed from this wine of rapturous joy.
Verily, this bounty is from God, the Exalted, the Beneficent!
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O people of the Bayan! I swear by God!
The favour of God is fulfilled, His mercy perfected,[6]
and the light of the divine visage hath shone forth with exultation and rapture.
Verily, this bounty is from God, the Exalted, the Beneficent!
Drink ye, O concourse of people and assemblage of God’s loved ones,
from this effulgent and radiant Salsabil!
Verily, this bounty is from God, the Exalted, the Beneficent!
Translated by W. F. McCants
2. Commentary
by Ahang Rabbani
On 10 November 1882, the brother-in-law of the Bab wrote to the standard-bearer of their family, the far-famed Aqa Mirza Aqay-i Nuri'd-Din, about the passing of his sister, Khadijih Begum, the widow of the Bab. In this letter, Haji Mirza Abu'l-Qasim asked Nuri'd-Din to inform Bahá'u'lláh of the ascension of Khadijih Begum as result of her profound disappointment in not being able to visit her Lord. Nuri'd-Din wrote as bidden, and in response to his missive he received a Tablet from Bahá'u'lláh which contained a Tablet of Visitation revealed in honor of Khadijih Begum.
Mirza Habib-i Afnan concludes his chapter of memories of the widow of the Bab with the text of this Arabic Tablet.
This Tablet of Visitation appears in 4 places:
Athar-i Qalim A`la, vol 4 (i), 125BE pub., pp 201-4;
Athar-i Qalim A`la, vol 4 (ii), 133BE pub., pp 339-341;
Khandan-i Afnan, pp 184-6
Khatirat-i Hayat, unpublished autobiography of Mirza Habib-i Afnan.
As is to be expected, there are some very minor differences among all of these sources. The version from Khandan-i Afnan is used here because, there we not only find an accurate typed script, but a facsimile of the Tablet in the hand of Khadimu'llah (Mirza Aqa Jan). The other advantage of using Khandan-i Afnan is that the full text of Bahá'u'lláh's Tablet to Aqa Mirza Aqay-i Nuri'd-Din appears on pp 181-6 (and really the facsimile is of the entire Tablet).
Also in Khandan-i Afnan, pp 186-187, we find two other Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh addressed to the wife of the Bab. On pages 188-190, we find a Tablet from Bahá'u'lláh to the wife of Aqa Mirza Aqa, a woman by the name of Maryam Sultan Begum, which largely is about the wife of the Bab.
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The other two important Tablets in the same book are on pages 190-191, revealed through the Pen of Abdu'l-Bahá, where in the second Tablet He speaks of some future time when an appropriate Shrine will be erected over her resting spot and He calls on the Afnan to regularly visit and circumambulate that grave on behalf of himself, Abdu'l-Bahá.
I should add that in this last Tablet, `Abdu'l-Bahá notes that the spirit of the Holy Ones circumambulate in adoration the resting place of Khadijih Begum — the very same comment that Bahá'u'lláh has made in the Tablet of Carmel about the Shrine of the Bab.
As a footnote I should add that Mirza Habib has pulled together great many letters to and from Khadijih Begum during her final year — two of them from Akka by Munirih Khanum. All of these have been translated and some day will be published as part of Afnan's autobiography.
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