A Provisional Translation of a Tablet on the Covenant addressed to Jamál-i-Burujirdí
[1]O Name of
God![2]
In this Day, the criterion and balance of all things and the magnet for
attracting divine confirmations is the Covenant and Testament of the
All-Glorious Lord. It is incumbent on thee to invite all to this impregnable
foundation. For the Covenant is none other than the powerful and robust edifice
erected by the Manifest Beauty. Any soul who is firmer in the Covenant is the
recipient of greater confirmations and assistance. However, should the Holy
Spirit incarnate
Itself[3]
and become embodied as a
Person[4]
and yet make the slightest hesitation in this regard, It would become a lifeless
corpse, a discarded carapace. For the foundation of the Religion of God and the
cause of exaltation of the Word of God and promotion of His Faith resides in
this. But suppose a suckling baby should arise with utmost steadfastness in the
Covenant, all the hosts of the Abhá Kingdom will rush to that
child's aid and the Concourse on High will hasten to help that babe.
Erelong, this amazing mystery will become apparent to all. Thus should you and
all of us - all the loved ones of God - undeviatingly focus and concentrate our
sight on this Lordly,
pearl-like[5]
Essence so that all affairs will progress as it is desired and loved.
May glory rest on thee!
Notes
[1] Translated
in honour of the Day of the Covenant, 2003. The Persian original is in
Makátib Vol. 2, p. 126; also in Má'idih, Vol.
5, p. 98. Referred to in Bihjatu's-Sudur, p. 441. The Tablet is dated to the early years of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's ministry in 'Akká (i.e. between 1892 and 1900). (KF's note, modified slightly by MW).
[2] Yá Ismu'lláh, that is 'Ismu'lláhu'l-Jamál' (The Name of God, Jamál), a title bestowed to Jamál-i-Burujirdí by
Bahá'u'lláh. Formerly a great teacher of the Faith,
Jamál-i-Burujirdí, proud, ambitious, deceitful and egotistical,
became a Covenant-Breaker after the passing of Bahá'u'lláh and served as Mírzá Muhammad-'Alí's ablest and most prominent lieutenant in Persia. 'Adib Taherzadeh writes of him:
Before embracing the Faith during the Ministry of
Bahá'u'lláh, Jamál was an accomplished Muslim
clergyman. He was knowledgeable, a notable orator. When he accepted the Faith,
he did not relinquish those practices which were characteristic of the Muslim
clergy. For instance, he continued to wear cleric's robes, and never gave up the
trait of superiority and pride which had been ingrained upon his character in
his former days. He continued his customary Islámic practice of making
his hands available for those believers who would wish to kiss them. He used to
explain that although Bahá'u'lláh had forbidden the
kissing of hands in this Dispensation, Jamál had decided that in the
circumstances prevailing at the time, such a practice would be conducive to the
exaltation of the Cause! Yet, in spite of all this, when he entered the Faith,
the believers in Persia gathered around him, for he was a man of learning and
knowledge.
It must be understood that in those days the people of Persia -- most
of whom were illiterate -- were brought up to follow the clergy. In Islamic
countries, men of learning were highly revered by the masses. There is no clergy
in the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, but He has exhorted His followers to
honour the truly learned in the Cause, those whose knowledge and learning have
not become the cause of pride and self-glorification.
No doubt it is concerning such people that Bahá'u'lláh has revealed in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas:
Happy are ye, O ye the learned ones in Bahá. By the Lord! Ye are
the billows of the Most Mighty Ocean, the stars of the firmament of Glory, the
standards of triumph waving betwixt earth and heaven. Ye are the manifestations
of steadfastness amidst men and the daysprings of Divine Utterance to all that
dwell on earth. Well is it with him that turneth unto you and woe betide the
froward. [KA 173]
A person who is truly learned in the Faith is one who reaches such
heights of detachment that he sincerely regards his learning as utter
nothingness compared with the truths of the Cause of God. He becomes the
embodiment of humility and self-effacement. Unfortunately Jamál did not
fall into this category of 'the learned ones in Bahá; he was a deceitful
and hypocritical man who longed for glory. Yet the great majority of the
believers did not realize this; they considered him a man of God and treated him
with great respect.
Till the end of His earthly life Bahá'u'lláh
showered His bounties upon Jamál. He concealed his faults and
shortcomings and instead exhorted him to righteousness and piety. In one of His
Tablets, Bahá'u'lláh explains that through His
attribute 'the Concealer', He has concealed the faults and
shortcomings of many deceitful men, who, as a result, have thought that the
Manifestation of God was ignorant of their evil deeds. These men did not realize
that, through the knowledge of God, Bahá'u'lláh was
fully aware of their wrongdoings. The sin-covering eye of God did not disclose
their iniquities, and only when they were about to rise up against the Centre of
the Cause and involve themselves in activities which harmed the Faith, did
Bahá'u'lláh expel them from the community of the Most Great Name.
('Adib Taherzadeh, The Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 208-9).
Shoghi Effendi notes that Jamál "fell a prey to a fatal
and loathsome disease..." (See Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p.
319). (KF's note, modified by MW).
[3] According
to Hají Mírzá Haydar 'Alí's
Bihjatu's-Sudur,
this Tablet was sent by the Master to Jamál-i-Burujirdí warning
him that, even if he should consider himself the incarnation of the Holy Spirit
[Ruhu'l-Quds], but
fail in his allegiance to the covenant of God, he would become as nothing. (See
Hají Mírzá Haydar 'Alí,
Bihjatu's-Sudur, Hofheim, 2002, p. 360). (MW's note).
[4] C.f. See
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh,
Section XX, p. 49: "Know thou of a certainty that the Unseen can in no
wise incarnate His Essence and reveal it unto men." (MW's note).
[5] Perhaps an
allusion to Shawqí Afandí (Shoghi Effendí),
referred to as 'the Priceless Pearl' in the Will and Testament of
'Abdu'l-Bahá', p 3. (MW's note).
