Tablet of Unity
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of Unity, bahai-library.com.
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Tablet of Unity

Bahá'u'lláh

Juan Cole, translator

1996
original title

Lawh-i-Ittihad

He is God. Exalted be his station, of wisdom and utterance.

A letter reached this wronged one from one of those Sayyids who had
advanced toward God, had heard and replied to their lord, the kind, the
generous. All are mentioned before the most great countenance. We ask the
Eternal Truth to confirm all of them in that which will cause them to be
mentioned forever.

You asked about unity. On the primary level is unity of religion. This
unity has ever been the means by which the cause of God has been made
triumphant, throughout the centuries and ages. Gathering together is
itself the spiritual sword of God. For instance, if a government noticed
that the majority of the country's inhabitants had pierced the veils and
advanced toward the horizon of the divine revelation, it would fall silent
and listen to what was being said. And every soul who grants it a hearing
will attain to mystical insight into the Eternal Truth, may his glory be
glorified-save for those souls who are altogether distant from divine
compassion and who unreservedly deserve divine wrath and chastisement.
Such souls are in any case deprived and stunted.

On another level, unity is unity of speech. This is most necessary. For
instance, consider that if two souls from among the friends of the Absolute
Truth arrive in a land and speak about a matter so as to dispute with one
another in their discourse, this would become a cause for contention. They
and all the others would thereby be deprived of the bounty of unity that
has been revealed by the pen of the lord of creation. Among the helpers of
God is discourse. In this greatest of dispensations, deeds and ethics are
the armies of God, and are busy aiding him. If discourse is delivered in a
measured fashion, it is a divine mercy. If it goes to excess, it becomes
destructive. In the tablets, we have advised all to employ a sort of
discourse that has the characteristics of milk hidden within it, and to
nurture the children of the world with it so that they might be brought to
the age of maturity. In every station, discourse becomes apparent by
virtue of some quality, and shines because of some impact. The scent of
good or bad wafts from it.

In another station, by unity is meant unity of deeds. For differences
therein become a source of difference. When this wronged one was exiled
from Baghdad to Edirne, on the road I arrived at a mosque. Different daily
prayers could be seen in that place. Even though it would be correct to
describe each as the daily prayer, each was distinguished in some respects
from the other. If the party of the Qur'an had truly implemented what was
revealed by the pen of the All-Merciful, everyone on earth would have had
the honor of believing in Islam. Differences in deeds became a cause of
difference in the cause itself, and the cause was weakened. One prayed
with hands clasped, another with hands open. One pronounced greetings
during the bearing of witness, while another said "Peace." Beyond these
examples, one group danced about and called it the remembrance of God. I
take refuge in God, who is sanctified and purified of above such forms of
mention, and is innocent of them.

Consider the Law of the messenger [Muhammad] of God--may the spirits of all
else be his sacrifice--as a sea. They have hived off from this sea
innumerable straits, and this has weakened the Law of God among his
servants. Even to this day neither kings nor subjects, nor the poor, have
understood the reason, nor how lost honor could be restored and lost
knowledge recovered. They were not aware, nor are they still. One strait
is Shi`i and another is Sunni; another yet is Shaykhi. One strait is
Ni`matu'llahi, another is Naqshbandi. One is Malamati, another is Jalali.
One is Rifa'i, another is Kharabati. "If you count the paths to hell, you
will never reckon them all." Now, stones cry out and the most high pen
wails. Consider what happened to this system of religious Law, the light
of which was the illumination of the world, and the fire of which was the
guide for peoples-that is, the fire of its love. Blessed are those who
think, and those who discern, and those who are fair. This difference in
deeds caused the edifice of the cause of God to be shaken. People of the
Bayan, listen to the call of the wronged one. Do not inflict calamities on
yourselves as past religious communities have done. He revealed the proof
and made manifest the path. Take care not to differ with regard to what
was revealed from the heaven of the will of your lord, the mighty, the
omnipotent.

By the life of God, if someone else could have been found to speak or to
arise, this servant would not have uttered a single word. The point is
that God would not have delivered him into their hands-that is, the hands
of the people of the Bayan. Consider, people of insight. Purify and
sanctify your hearts and breasts with the water of life that flows from the
pen of the All-Merciful. Busy yourselves with helping, with the troops of
good deeds, pleasing ethics and divine words. This is the counsel of God
that has been revealed by the most high pen in the tablets.

Among them is the unity of station. This unity is the basis for the rise
and exaltation of the cause among the servants. When the idea of being
higher and better appears among the servants, the world is destroyed and
desolated. Those souls who have drunk from the sea of the discourse of
the All-Merciful and are gazing toward the highest horizon must view
themselves as dwelling in a single locality and having a single station.
If this matter is established and is realized by the power and might of
God, the world will become the most glorious paradise. Yes, human beings
are precious, just as it is said in every one of God's verses. But to see
oneself as most learned, most just, most judicious, most virtuous, most
pious and most exalted is a serious error. Blessed are those souls who are
adorned with the ornament of this unity and given success by God.
Consider the clergy of Iran. If they had not considered themselves the
most exalted and the best of the people, their poor followers would not
have busied themselves with cursing and pronouncing imprecations on the
desire of the worlds. A person-no, an entire world-stands bewildered at
those artificial and negligent persons. The fire of pride and haughtiness
has consumed all, but they are unaware and still oblivious. They have not
attained even a droplet from the sea of knowledge and learning. Shame on
them, and on what they have said and done on the day of recompense and on
this day wherein the people have risen up for the lord of the worlds. If
the most high pen desired, it could mention the levels of unity in
everything and in every affair in their entirety. but this task would
require it to be occupied for years.

Among them is the unity of persons and wealth, and with this station we
will close our discussion of unity, by our own decree, and we are the
mighty, the sovereign. This is a unity that forms the wellspring of
gladness, joy and delight, if they only knew and understood. The negligent
mullahs should not say, 'To whom should this wealth return?' It should
return to everyone. This unity produces philanthropy, and philanthropy is
beloved in the divine Book, before and after. This philanthropy relates to
wealth, not to anything else above and beyond it: "Preferring others above
themselves, even though poverty be their portion. And whoso is guarded
against the avarice of his own soul, those-they are the ones who prosper."
(Q. 59:9). This station is above equality. Equality involves depriving
the servants of God of the things he had graciously bestowed on them.
Enjoy the comforts of life and help others like you to enjoy them. This
station is most beloved, so that all might share in the bounty and have a
portion of grace. Those who prefer others to themselves enjoy, in reality,
a station above other stations, and what was mentioned by the All-Merciful
in the Qur'an bears witness to this saying.

Party of God: Shall the highest pen lament for itself or for what has
occurred in the world? Matters have come to such a pass that puddles claim
to be seas and lizards claim to be eagles. What has happened, and what
clouds of smoke have encompassed the world? Does the fragrance of
revelation not waft, and is it not superior to other scents? Can the
straight path not be distinguished from the routes of Satan? No, by my
soul. The Eternal Truth, with all its attributes and actions, is superior
to all else. Those who possess insight are in no confusion about it, nor
shall they ever be. The intent of the unity of souls is love of God, and
the word of God, such that all should gather around it and cling to it.
Everyone with insight and intellect confirms what has been revealed by the
most high pen. Each of the unities that have been mentioned is a troop in
the army of God and a party of the parties of God and a cause among the
causes of God. The unity of souls has ever, from the beginning of creation
until the present, been a help to and support for God-that is, the unity
that came about because of the command of God and his divine legislation.
In this station unity does not go beyond this level. The most high pen at
this time ever counsels its friends to unity and concord, so that thereby
the cause of God, the guardian, the subsisting, can be made manifest.
The same considerations exist with regard to wisdom. Some of the divine
friends have not observed wisdom and have remained oblivious to its
station. They have provoked an uproar in some lands. Listen to the call
of this wronged one and act in accordance with what was revealed in the
tablets. Until you have a hearing, do not open your lips. Until you find
blessed and fertile soil, do not sow the seed of wisdom. One shares the
divine word when one finds willing eyes and ears. The same is true with
regard to fertile soil. Some have occasionally spoken things that went on
to cause harm to the original Lote Tree. Say: People, fear God and do not
be among the wrongdoers. Fear God and do not be among the ignorant.
Barren land is unsuitable for planting. The ears of idolatry are unsuited
to hearing about monotheism.

Party of God, from the most high pen there has been revealed that, which
is the cause of the life of the world. All must for the sake of God
contemplate the divine unity, so that you will not be like adherents of the
previous religion who spoke the word but were derived of the meaning, and
worshipped mere names, just like those who adore idols. Even so, they
considered themselves monotheists and possessors of certainty. But the
Eternal Truth revealed the deeds that had been hidden and the punishment
meted out to that people. On the day of judgment their degree of
exaltation, loftiness, high station, status and belief in the unity of God
has become clear and apparent to the peoples of the world.

My name: Deliver the greetings of this wronged one to the divine friends.
Advise them to follow what God has counseled them in psalms and tablets.
Blessed are the emigrants who relocated for the sake of God, until at last
they arrived at this might prison. They advanced for the sake of God and
turned toward God. Their reward shall be bestowed by the one who
fashioned, created, nourished, aided and taught them, and who caused them
to speak his mention and praise. He is, in truth, powerful above all
things. The glory shining from the horizon of the heaven of my compassion
be upon those whom God has made successful in acting in accord with what
was revealed in his firm and incontrovertible book. Praise be to God, the
lord of the worlds. We ask him at the close of this Tablet to aid and help
them with both invisible and visible troops, and to make them victorious in
his Cause. He is, in truth, powerful over what he wills, and in his grasp
are the reins of all things. No God is there but he, the one, the mighty,
the all-knowing.

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-- Tablet of Unity (Used by permission of the curator)