The Bab and the Perspective of the Heart

The Bab and the Perspective of the Heart Nader Saiedi

1. According to Foucault, traditional cultures and religious discourse have been based on a perspective that he calls it the epistemology or perspective of resemblance. This means that the relation of various social groups to each other resembles the relation of God to his creatures. Therefore, the absolute superiority of God to his servants becomes the model for various forms of social hierarchy in society. For example, the relation of men to women becomes a repetition of the relation between God and his creatures. Similarly, the relation of owners of slaves to slaves mirrors the relation of God to the world. Relation of the king to his subjects, relation of the believers to the non-believers, relation of the priests and mullahs to the ordinary believers are also a repetition of the relation of God to the creatures. We can see that in this perspective all forms of inequality and oppression are justified in the name of God and religion. In fact, the appearance of this perspective is that it sees everything from a spiritual perspective and it is in this way that it rationalizes various forms of injustice and bigotry. But from the point of view of the writings of the Bab and Baha’u’llah, such perspective is not a spiritual perspective. Rather, it is the perspective of the jungle, namely a materialistic perspective that sees humans as objects and beasts struggling for existence in a meaningless and cruel world. Both the Bab and Baha’u’llah reject this perspective of resemblance and replace it with a perspective of the heart. The perspective of the heart sees the entire reality as the mirrors of divine attributes. It is the perspective of reflection and revelation (Tajalli). Therefore, the truth of everything and everyone is ultimately one and the same, and that is the reflection of divine attributes. In this way all become sacred, all become beautiful and all become endowed with rights. Not only humans become all equal, nature has also its own right. Nature is a reflection of God, and therefore it has to be protected and respected. I give an example: In his book Kitab al-Asma’ (the Book of Divine Names), the Bab discusses various names of God. One of these names is the name Zari’ namely the farmer, the peasant, or the cultivator. The Bab says that the people think that only humans are farmers, and that the farmers are the lowest occupational group in society. He says that this is not true. The supreme farmer is God. God is the best farmer because he plants the seeds of his words in the heart and soul of the people. They should purify the soil of their heart so that this seed would instantly grow in to a mighty tree and yield fruits. Then the Bab says that both the kings and the famers are reflections of the names and attributes of God. Consequently, people should treat the farmers with the same dignity and respect that they treat their kings. Both are equal and both are reflections of divine names and attributes. Here we are in the realm of the heart. In everything nothing is seen but God and his attributes. Therefore, all become equal, sacred and beautiful. 2. Writings of the Bab can be divided in three stages. In the first stage the dominant element is interpretation of the Qur’anic chapters. The second stage discusses philosophy and metaphysics. The third stage legislates new laws, and abrogates previous religions. In all these stages the Bab writes on the basis of the perspective of the heart. As an example, here I briefly discuss the approach to interpretation in the writings of the Bab: The first expression of the presence of the perspective of the heart in his commentaries is the very act of interpretation by the Bab. His early writings, for example his Commentary on the

Surih of Joseph, interprets the Quranic words. However, interpretation belongs to either the Imams or the scholars who try to explain the meaning of divine verses, the words of God. No Imam can bring divine verses, rather it is only the prophet of God who can receive divine verses. But in the case of the Bab we see that it is not the Imam or the scholar who interprets the divine verses. Rather it is the prophet, the Bab, who interprets his own words. From the point of view of the Bab all prophets are one and the same. Therefore, the Bab is the truth of Muhammad who is the source of the Qur’an. Now that same reality is interpreting his own words. In the case of interpretative writings of the Bab we see that the writer of the book and the interpreter of that book are one and the same. This becomes even more obvious when we note that the work of the Bab, Commentary on the Surih of Joseph, is written itself in the form of divine verses. Therefore, divine verses are being interpreted by divine verses, and this means that the work of the Bab is the same as the Qur’an and all other scriptures of God in the past. But the way the Bab interprets anything including the Qur’anic surihs is qualitatively different from the way others have interpreted Qur’an or other texts. The Bab says that to truly interpret a word one must show the truth of that thing that the word refers to it. Therefore, the purpose of interpretation is to unveil the hidden truth of things. But according to the Bab the real truth of everything is nothing but the divine revelation within that thing, or it is the divine attributes that is the hidden reality of that thing. Since everything is ultimately a mirror of God, therefore the ultimate and highest truth of everything is divine revelation. That is why when the Bab interprets anything they refer to the supreme unity of divine revelation. For example, let’s see how the Bab interprets the story of Joseph. In the interpretation of the Bab, joseph is Joseph but then he becomes the Imam Husayn and then he becomes the Bab. This interpretation is already expressing one of the most important expressions of the perspective of the heart, namely that the truth of all prophets of God is one and the same reality. The interpretation of the Bab is very intriguing. We know that the brothers of Joseph wanted to get rid of him and therefore left him in a dark well, and then returned to their father. But in the interpretation of the Bab, the brothers of Joseph become the other eleven Imams. But why the eleven Imams who are sacred people want do such a terrible thing to Imam Husayn? However, the Bab interprets the story of Joseph from the perspective of the heart. What he says is that Husayn symbolizes the truth of Islam which was beyond understanding of the people at that time. Martyrdom of Imam Husayn symbolizes the station of the heart, and the absolute unity of God (Ahadiyyat) where God is above any description or attribute. The Imams knew that people in the age of Islam are not yet ready to understand the truth of Islam, and therefore Islam had to be presented in a symbolic language so that people could understand. Therefore, they left Husayn, the divine secret, in the dark well of Ahadiyyat or in the realm of the heart, where God is above any description and therefore there is nothing to see or know. Then the Imams went back to their father and presented Islam in the realm of vahidiyyat namely the realm of unity of God where God has various attributes like Omniscient and Omnipotent and Merciful. This Husayn remains in the hidden and dark realm of the heart till humanity becomes ready to enter the perspective of the heart. It is at this time that Husayn comes out of the well in the form of the Bab and teaches the people the divine absolute unity or ahadiyyat. In order to understand the logic of interpretation in the writings of the Bab it is necessary to know that according to him everything and particularly the divine words possess infinite

meanings. But among these infinite meanings there is one meaning that is superior to all other meanings. Unveiling that supreme meaning is the highest form of interpretation. The key to understand that highest meaning is to go beyond the differences of words, sentences, paragraphs and chapters. Therefore, the highest meaning of the Qur’an is understood when in reading of the Qur’an we do not pay attention to the diversity of the letters and words and chapters of the text. Rather we see the entire Qur’an as one thing, namely its supreme truth, which is the pure revelation of God. In this way the main message and meaning of the Qur’an becomes affirmation of the ultimate truth of everything, namely the pure divine revelation. In this way the Qur’an is also the same as Gospel, Torah, Avesta, and all other sacred scriptures. Unlike the interpretation by the clerics of different religions who emphasize the differences and oppositions of various scriptures, the Bab sees in all scriptures their common truth which is the utter pure revelation of God, and that is the very truth of everything. Consequently for the Bab the highest meaning of the Qur’an or other scriptures is the unity of all beings, the sacred character of all, and the necessity of respecting and loving all human beings and all nature. This is the hidden secret of Islam, the Husayn, which was hidden in the realm of the heart. In order to better understand this perspective of the Bab I quote a statement of the Bab from his Commentary on the Surih of Kawthar. Kawthar is the fountain of plentitude, the water which is the source of all waters. In discussing this water, the Bab says: “Shouldst thou declare that the bed of this river is established of water, and the ark moving upon it is made out of water, and the mariner and those who enter the ark are fashioned out of its water, and the waves and all that lieth deep within are from the same substance of its water, thou verily wouldst have uttered the truth. For verily the inner essence of that crystal water referreth to naught but its outer manifestation; likewise, its outer manifestation revealeth naught but its inner essence. . . . Those who traverse the path of this river and quaff thereof behold in it naught but the pure and absolute revelation of the divine outpouring, which only referreth unto the Sovereign Source of Revelation Who hath shed upon them, and through them, the splendors of His Revelation. It is a river that by its very essence drowneth all the Names and Attributes.” ان ﻗﻠت انٌ ارض اﻟﻧﮭر ﻣن ﻣﺎﺋﮫ وانٌ اﻟﺳﻔﯾﻧﮫ ﻓوﻗﮫ ھﯽ ﻣن ﻣﺎﺋﮫ اﻟﻣﻼٌ وانٌ ح وﻣﺎ ﯾﺳﺗﻘرٌ ﻋﻠﯾﮭﺎ ﻓﮭو ﻣن ﻣﺎﺋﮫ وانٌ اﻻﻣواج وﻣﺎ ﯾﺳﻛن ﻓﯽ اﻟﻣﺎء ھو ﻣن ﻣﺎﺋﮫ ﻟﻘﻠت ﻛﻠﻣﺔ ﺣق ﻻنٌ ذﻟك ﻣﺎء ﻻ ﯾدلٌ ظﺎھره اﻻٌ ﺑﺑﺎطﻧﮫ ... ﻻ ﯾری اﻟﺳﺎﻟك ﻓﯾﮫ و اﻟﺷﺎرب ﻣﻧﮫ اﻻ ﺻرف ظﮭور ﺗﺟﻠٌ ﯽ اﻟﺑﺣت اﻟﺑﺄت اﻟٌ on a mountain of ice, an ocean of water. Of course water and fire are the opposites of each other. But the Bab is the unity of the opposites because he is the revelation of God, the word of God, who is the source of a civilization in which there are all things with all kinds of diversities and oppositions. But from the point of view of the Bab, the truth of fire and water is one common thing, namely the utter pure revelation of God. Therefore, one of the oppositions that he overcomes is the opposition between the material and spiritual worlds. Traditionally, the realm of nature is perceived as the opposite of the divine realm. Therefore, we can become spiritual only if we oppose the realm of nature. For the Bab, however, the truth of the material word is also spiritual. All beings are sacred, and all beings are

ﻟن ﯾدلٌ اﻻٌ ﻋن اﻟﻣﺗﺟﻠٌ ﯽ ﻟﮫ ﺑﮫ وھو ﻧﮭر ﺑذاﺗﮫ ﻣﻐرق اﻻﺳﻣﺎء واﻟﺻﻔﺎت 3. The perspective of the heart represents the unity of opposites. In his Commentary on the Surih of Joseph the Bab constantly talks of himself as the truth of all prophets of God, who is the point in the midmost of fire upon the ocean of water. He is the fire of the burning bush but this fire is

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interdependent, and everything can be found within anything. All beings are reflections of divine attributes. Therefore, the spiritual attitude means seeing God present in everything and seeing everything as related and united with everything. It is only the attitude of looking at things and people as separate and defining oneself as separate from other beings and acting in a selfish way, and turning things in to just instruments for one’s own desire that is opposed to a spiritual orientation. Therefore, life in this world should become a mirror of spiritual life. For example, in his Commentary on the Surih of Kawthar the Bab says that if he wants he can unveil the hidden meaning of the fountain of Kawthar in the very tea that he is offering to his guest, Vahid, the addressee of that work of the Bab. At first, this seems strange. But in his various writings he actually unveils this mystery. In his Commentary on the Surih of Joseph the Bab explains that the fountain of Kawthar is the pure divine revelation which is the source of all things. The immediate product or expression of this fountain is the four rivers of paradise that are mentioned in the Qur’an. According to the Qur’an there are four rivers in paradise: water, milk, honey and wine. According to the Bab these four rivers really mean the four styles or modes of divine writing. Namely the revelation of God which is the fountain of Kawther takes place through water which is divine verses (ayat), milk which is the prayers (ad’iyih), honey which is the interpretations (tafasir), and wine which is the rational explanations (‘ilmiyyih). It is now very interesting to see why the Bab refers all these four rivers of paradise to his offering tea to his guest. According to the Bab, drinking tea in a spirit of spiritual orientation is the experience of the four rivers of paradise. Tea served by the Bab consists of four elements. It first consists of water, but then the Bab offers milk with the tea as well, and he also offers sugar with the tea. Finally, the tea leaves function as wine producing a feeling of relaxation. We can see here that according to the Bab every simple event of life in this material world is simultaneously a mirror of the paradise and spiritual reality. We do not need to go to the next world to experience a spiritual world. All beings are in their truth spiritual, and the perspective of the heart is precisely the perspective that sees and finds in everything the divine presence. 4. Previously, it was said that the perspective of the heart is related to the absolute unity of ahadiyyat of God, whereas ordinary perspective sees God in the realm of unity or vahidiyyat. We can now discuss this issue. The fact is that in the writings of the Bab the concept of God is reconstructed. Traditional conceptions of God are anthropomorphic (Human-like) conceptions of God. In this definition of God, God is like human beings. Humans have knowledge, God also has knowledge, humans have power, God also has power. The only difference is that God’s knowledge and power is infinite and perfect whereas human knowledge and power is limited. That is why in this anthropomorphic conception of God, God has all various attributes like mercy and knowledge and power. The position of the Bab is completely different: For him, God is a transcendental God namely he is above all attributes and praise. All these attributes are characteristics of the creatures of God and God is sanctified above such characteristics. Even in traditional conception of God, God is one, and therefore, he does not consist of different parts. Therefore if God is absolutely one then his knowledge and his power and his mercy should be absolutely one and the same. But if that is the case we have no idea of what is the power of God or the knowledge of God. The Bab frequently gives this example: if an ant would be given intellect and wants to praise God, it looks at itself to find out what is perfection. For the ant his antenna are the sources of perfection in its own life. Therefore, if the ant wants to define and praise God it would say God is that being whose antenna extends to

infinity. For us humans this is not the true God and we even may laugh at the ant. But we humans are doing precisely the same thing. In our world and our life, on the basis of our characteristics, certain things are useful and therefore we define them as perfection. When we want to define God we take our own characteristics and extend it to infinity and call it God. But God is as sanctified from the praise of the ant as is sanctified from our praise. This is actually the main reason Feuerbach and Marx rejected God and argued that God is a creation of human imagination. Feuerbach argued that God as worshipped by people in human history is always the externalization and estrangement of human nature. We take our human characteristics, project it to the clouds, exaggerate it, and create the illusion of God. Therefore, God is created by humans and not humans by God. Of course Feuerbach and Marx were wrong, but they were wrong because God is not an anthropomorphic God. From the point of view of the Bab God is above any human quality, and he cannot be described or praised in terms of any attributes. Humans cannot know God because God is absolute. But the fact that humans have so far understood God in terms of their own characteristics does not mean that there is no God. God is absolute and beyond definition and description. But if humans want to conceptualize the absolute they will do that in terms of what is familiar to them. Here it is that the Bab brings new insights to the conception of God and his unity. The Bab says that God is supremely beyond any praise and description. Yet the purpose of creation is that the created beings know and experience the absolute Beauty and Perfection, namely God. Therefore, according to the Bab, God engages in a self-description for the sake of the created being. God describes and defines himself not at the level of his own true essence and reality- because that is not understandable for humans-, but rather he defines himself for the people in a way that they can understand. This self-description of God is not the essence of God. Rather it is something created by God. It is the first and the supreme creation of God. This divine self description is the truth of the prophets of God and in a secondary way it is the truth of everything. Therefore the truth of prophets of God is the self description of God which is the revelation of God as it appears in the mirror of the created world. This divine self description is the “word” by which God creates all beings. This word is not the essence of God but the first creation of God. This word is the pure utter revelation of God in accordance with the limitations and characteristics of the world. Therefore, God is above any description. But the only way that we can understand God is not God itself but the revelation and reflection of God in this world. It is this reflection of God which is the real anthropomorphic God. Therefore, all attributes that human beings so far have attributed to God is really the attributes of the “word of God” who is the truth of the prophets of God, who are also the self-description of God for humanity. The ultimate truth of everything is also the reflection of divine revelation and attributes. In other words, the traditional conception of God namely the anthropomorphic definition of God is the truth of everything. But its supreme reality is the common truth of all the prophets of God, what the Bab called the Manifestations of God. But this is true, not because the Bab sees the prophets of God as God. Rather the opposite is the case. Since the Bab sees God as transcendental and sanctified above the limited human understanding, therefore, he is adding to the traditional conception of God a new transcendental conception of God. Prophets of God are all pure nothingness in the realm of the real transcendental God because at the level of God only God exists and nothing else ever exists with God.

5. Bab’s perspective of the heart offers an entire reconstruction of the concept of religion as well. In the past we have had two conceptions of religion. The traditional conception of religion which is offered by the clerics of various religions, sees religion as the embodiment of the absolute will of God. Religion becomes a set of eternal laws that God arbitrarily imposes on human beings. These laws have no relation to the dynamics of history or the characteristics and the stage of the progress of humanity. For that reason, the will of God is absolute and unchangeable. In this conception of religion, religion is the imposition of the unchangeable will of God on humans and therefore, all religions perceive themselves to be the last and final religion. The opposite perspective belongs to the materialistic sociology. This perspective rejects God and revelation and therefore, sees each religion as the reflection of particular culture and characteristics of a society. Religion is simply a social phenomenon that is determined by social structure and culture of a people at a specific time. Therefore, there always will exist a plurality of religions because there always exists a plurality of cultures. The perspective of the heart offers a new understanding of religion. Religion is the reflection of divine will in the mirror of human capacities and potentialities. This means that religion has two dimensions. On the one hand, it source is God and divine revelation. On the other hand, the will of God is reflected in accordance with the needs of the time, the levels of spiritual development of humanity, the social conditions of a culture. Therefore, the will of God manifests itself in different forms at different times in accordance with the level of advancement of human societies and their specific needs. Religion in other words, is a product of a dialogue between humanity and God. It is neither simply a divine phenomenon, nor merely a human and social phenomenon. Instead, it is both divine and social, a product of the interaction of the divine will and the human level of spiritual development. This is the reason why the religion of the Bab begins not at the time that the Bab becomes conscious of his prophetic station, but rather, it begins when a human being has become ready to receive the revelation of God. It is through the dialogue between the Bab and Mulla Husayn, his first believer, that the Babi religion is born. But if religion is an interactive process, a dialogue between God and humanity, it means that religion is both one and many. The truth of all religions is one and the same reality. But that truth has to manifest itself at different stages of human development in new forms. Since there is no end to development of human and social reality there can be no final religion. Divine revelation will always renew itself corresponding to the new needs of historical developments of humanity. The laws of no religion can be applicable to the entire human history. Instead, each new religion abrogates the previous laws and bring new laws that correspond with the needs of humanity in its new stage of development. For example, none of the previous religions had outlaws slavery but in this day, Baha’u’llah has categorically rejected slavery. Of course the truth of all religions is emphasis on the nobility of all human beings, but in the past people were not yet ready to understand this truth. Therefore, past religions brought laws that were understandable in the past. Humanity has developed to a higher stage now and therefore the Will of God now manifests itself in the form of outlawing slavery. 6. I finish this discussion of the perspective of the heart by noting a central new idea in the writings of the Bab. Since the Bab sees all religions as historically-specific, his worldview is one of unity in diversity. The unity of the prophets of God reflects itself in the diversity of religions as diverse expressions of the same truth. This is a dialectical perspective. The perspective of the heart is the perspective of the unity of opposites, where the unity of the revelation of God is realized

through historical developments of various stages of spiritual progress of humanity. Intellectuals, including Iranian intellectuals, have always been fascinated with the concept of dialectics that is developed by Hegel and partly Marx. But the concept of dialectics ultimately refers to one German word which is impossible to translate in other languages. Dialectics means that each new stage of history is both a negation and an elevation of the previous stage. In other words, the new stage is the unity of opposites. These opposites are the previous stage, and the negation of the previous stage. The new stage is neither negation of the previous stage, nor the same as the previous stage. It is the unity of both. Hegelian dialectic is based upon one concept in German language which is the essence of this dialectical worldview. This word is “Aufhebung”. The word Aufhebung simultaneously means both negation and preservation, cancellation and affirmation, destruction and elevation, rejection and exaltation. Thus a new stage of development is an Aufhebung of the previous stage, namely in appearance it has destroyed and canceled the previous stage but in reality it has preserved the truth of that previous stage and has elevated and exalted the previous stage in the form of the new stage. It is now amazing to see that the young prophet of Shiraz, independently from German philosophy, has brought about a dialectical perspective in the realm of religion. The Bab has coined and created a new word in order to describe the process of spiritual development of humanity. This word is Irtifa’. The word irtifa’ simultaneously means cancellation and elevation. In other words it exactly is the same as the German word Aufhebung. For the Bab each new religion is an Irtifa’ of the previous religion. Each new divine book is an irtifa’ of the previous divine book. Therefore, the Manifestations of God are all one, all religions are one, all scriptures are one, and yet they manifest their identical truth in a higher, more exalted, and more elevated form to humanity in the form of a new spiritual civilization. Therefore, the Qur’an is the irtifa’ of the Gospel, namely it apparently cancels and abrogates the Gospel while in reality it preserves that same truth and manifests the Gospel in a new and higher form. The book of the Bab, the Persian Bayan, is therefore the Irtifa’ of the Qur’an. Each book of God desires to attain its perfection which is its realization in the form of the next book of God. Thus it is through the new word of God that the previous word of God finds exaltation, perfection, and happiness. Each religion is the perfection of the previous religion, and in turn it longs to be elevated in the form of the next religion. That is why, the Bab says in Persian Bayan that at this time nothing is sadder than the Qur’an because the Qur’an longs to become the Bayan and finds affirmation and elevation in the form of the Bayan, but those who claim to love the Qur’an are preventing it to realize its desire. I finish this discussion by referring to two statements of the Bab about Irtifa’: In Persian Bayan the Bab says: O people of the Bayan! Do not act like the people of the Qur’an and become not veiled from your Beloved by anything, for the irtifa’ of the Bayan is its ascent towards Him Whom God shall make manifest. (3:3) ای اھل ﺑﯾﺎن ﻧﮑرد ه ﻣﺛل آﻧﭼﮫ اھل ﻓرﻗﺎن ﻧﻣوده و از ﻣﺣﺑوب ﺧود ﺑﮭﯾﭻ ﺷﯾﺊ ﻣﺣﺗﺟب ﻧﮕﺷﺗﮫ ﮐﮫ ارﺗﻔﺎع ﺑﯾﺎن ﻋروج ﺑﺳوی اوﺳت. In Panj Sha’n he writes: Focus your gaze on the day of Resurrection which is the next Revelation, for the irtifa’ of the first Revelation is the in the inception of the next Revelation. (p. 303) ﻣدّ اﻋﯾن را آﺧرت ﻗرار دھﯽ ﮐﮫ ظﮭور آﺧر ﺑﺎﺷد ﮐﮫ ارﺗﻔﺎع ظﮭور اوّل در ﺑدء ظﮭور آﺧر اﺳت.