An Introduction to Tablet of Mulla Baqir

simply on the basis of his own being and his own words. This is an extraordinary statement. In search after the truth of the Promised One, it is not simply the opposition of the Babi high scholars that should be ignored. Rather, one should also ignore the hypothetical rejection of him by all the letters of the living and by the Bab himself. We can now partly understand why majority of the Babis could ignore the rejection of Baha’u’llah by Mirza Yahya Azal. The Bab had educated his followers to ignore the judgment of anyone, and arrive at the sanctuary of heart where no one exists except God. This is what he says in Tablet to Mulla Baqir: Beware, beware lest, in the days of His Revelation, the Váhid of the Bayán shut thee not out as by a veil from Him, inasmuch as this Váhid is but a creature in His sight. 17 Needless to say these strong words are addressed to one of the letters of the living himself. The Bab strongly chastises his letter of the living for daring to ask any question that may constrain the Promised One by anything other than his own being. Recognition of the Promised One is not dependent on any statement in the Bayan Another unique message of the writings of the Bab, expressed succinctly in Tablet to Mulla Baqir, is that recognition of the Promised One should not become conditioned on any idea that is derived from any of the writings of the Bab. The word Bayan, which usually refers to two specific works of the Bab namely Persian Bayan and Arabic Bayan, refers in general to every and all writings of the Bab. 18 The Bab emphatically affirms that no word of the Bayan, no interpretation of the Bayan, no deduction from the Bayan should turn into a constraining condition for the revelation of Him Whom God shall make manifest. Yet, in recognizing the Promised One, the main message of the Bayan, the essence of the Bayan that must always be remembered and followed is precisely this unconditioned character of the next revelation and the fact that the Promised One should be judged and known simply and only through himself and his divine verses. 19 The first major expression of this principle in Tablet to Mulla Baqir is the following statement in which this same principle is defined as the essence of the Bayan. It should be noted that the word gem-like is the translation of Jawhara which means both essence and gem: I have written down in My mention of Him these gem-like words: “no allusion of Mine can allude unto Him, neither anything mentioned in the Bayán.” Yea, By His glory! Those words are, before God, far mightier than all the deeds of worship of all who dwell on earth, inasmuch as the essence of all those deeds returneth unto the import of those same words. Therefore, recognise thou Him Whom God shall make manifest by the same testimony by which thou hast recognised God. 20 As we noted, Tablet to Mulla Baqir begins with the command that the reader first engage in a spiritual ritual recitation that brings humility before the unconstrained sovereignty of the Promised One. The first and immediate statement of the Bab in the substantive part of the tablet is that language, including the language used in the writings of the Bab, is incapable of describing the Promised One. Therefore, the reality of the next Manifestation cannot be limited or constrained by anything that is conveyed by

17 Ibid. 18 The Bab, Persian Bayan 3:17. 19 Ibid, 6:8. 20 The Bab, Tablet to Mulla Baqir.