An Introduction to Tablet of Mulla Baqir

that the universal prohibition of public prayer in the religion of the Bayan implicitly points to the fact that the end of the dispensation is not a remote event in the future. At the time of each new revelation the leaders of the past religion fail to accept the new Manifestation. One of their arguments against the new revelation is precisely this same fact. They argue that they are letters of light and therefore they cannot be wrong. According to the Bab the exact opposite of this claim is true. He makes a universal principle: At the time of the revelation of a new Manifestation all people become equal before God. No one is at that time really a letter of affirmation or a letter of negation. This is the moment of attaining the presence of God, the Day of Resurrection, when people are judged by God and sent to hell or heaven. It is the recognition of the manifestation that distinguishes fire from light. The previous light by failing to recognize the new revelation turns into fire, and by accepting the new revelation, one who was not even a believer in the previous manifestation becomes a letter of light. This point is emphasized in many of the writings of the Bab including Tablet to Mulla Baqir. Tablet to Mulla Baqir emphasizes that at the time of the revelation of the Promised One, all people are equal before him. It is his binding word that creates distinction among the people after their absolute equality at the moment of revelation. If he decides to make a person a prophet he would become a prophet and whomever he defines as Guardian and vicegerent would become guardian and vicegerent. It is recognizing him that turn the letter of affirmation into letter of negation and vice versa: In the day of the revelation of Him Whom God shall make manifest all that dwell on earth will be equal in His estimation. Whomsoever He ordaineth as a Prophet, he, verily, hath been a Prophet from the beginning that hath no beginning, and will thus remain until the end that hath no end, inasmuch as this is an act of God. And whosoever is made a Vicegerent by Him, shall be a Vicegerent in all the worlds, for this is an act of God. For the will of God can in no wise be revealed except through His will, nor His wish be manifested save through His wish. He, verily, is the All-Conquering, the All-Powerful, the All-Highest; and He is the All-Victorious, the All-Exalted, the All-Sublime. Recognising Him turneth the servant into the letter of affirmation, and being veiled from Him turneth him into the letter of negation. Shouldst thou believe in Him, whether thou possessest any knowledge or not, thine excellence would not be lessened. However, wert thou to be veiled from Him, even though thou possessest all knowledge, naught would benefit thee. 29 A universal principle discussed in the writings of the Bab in this regard is also emphasized at the beginning of the Tablet to Mulla Baqir. The Bab contrasts the Manifestation of God with all elite believers. The Manifestation is the real Sun in heaven. The elite believers, if they are real believers, are only mirrors in which a reflection of the Sun is present. They are praised by the attributes of the Sun because they turn towards the Sun and reflect its image. But of course the Sun in heaven is not the same as the suns in the mirrors. Mirrors are praised as letters of light as long as they turn to the Sun. If they turn away, they become letters of negation and their sun turns into darkness: Doth it beseem the sun that lieth in the mirrors of His revelation, manifested through the Point of the Bayán, to enquire of the Transcendent Sun before Whose Countenance, in the Day of His manifestation,

29 The Bab, Tablet to Mulla Baqir.