Baha\'u\'llah - The Summons of the Lord of Hosts

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by Baha'u'llah

Edition 1, (October 28, 2005)

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CONTENTS

Baha'i Terms of Use
Introduction
Suriy-i-Haykal
Pope Pius IX
Napoleon III
Czar Alexander II
Queen Victoria
Nasiri'd-Din Shah
Suriy-i-Ra'is
Lawh-i-Ra'is
Lawh-i-Fu'ad
Suriy-i-Muluk
NOTE ON THE TRANSLATION
KEY TO PASSAGES TRANSLATED BY SHOGHI EFFENDI

INTRODUCTION

The years following Baha'u'llah's arrival in Adrianople witnessed His
Revelation's attainment, in the words of Shoghi Effendi, of "its meridian
glory" through the proclamation of its Founder's message to the kings and
rulers of the world. During this relatively brief but turbulent period of
the Faith's history, and in the early years of His subsequent exile in
1868 to the fortress town of 'Akka, He summoned the monarchs of East and
West collectively, and some among them individually, to recognize the Day
of God and to acknowledge the One promised in the scriptures of the
religions professed by the recipients of His summons. "Never since the
beginning of the world", Baha'u'llah declares, "hath the Message been so
openly proclaimed."

The present volume brings together the first full, authorized English
translation of these major writings. Among them is the complete
Suriy-i-Haykal, the Surih of the Temple, one of Baha'u'llah's most
challenging works. It was originally revealed during His banishment to
Adrianople and later recast after His arrival in 'Akka. In this version He
incorporated His messages addressed to individual potentates--Pope Pius IX,
Napoleon III, Czar Alexander II, Queen Victoria, and Nasiri'd-Din Shah.

It was this composite work which, shortly after its completion,
Baha'u'llah instructed be written in the form of a pentacle, symbolizing
the human temple. To it He added, as a conclusion, what Shoghi Effendi has
described as "words which reveal the importance He attached to those
Messages, and indicate their direct association with the prophecies of the
Old Testament":

Thus have We built the Temple with the hands of power and might,
could ye but know it. This is the Temple promised unto you in the
Book. Draw ye nigh unto it. This is that which profiteth you,
could ye but comprehend it. Be fair, O peoples of the earth! Which
is preferable, this, or a temple which is built of clay? Set your
faces towards it. Thus have ye been commanded by God, the Help in
Peril, the Self-Subsisting.

During the last years of His ministry Baha'u'llah Himself arranged for the
publication for the first time of definitive versions of some of His
principal works, and the Suriy-i-Haykal was awarded a prominent position
among them.

Of the various writings that make up the Suriy-i-Haykal, one requires
particular mention. The Lawh-i-Sultan, the Tablet to Nasiri'd-Din Shah,
Baha'u'llah's lengthiest epistle to any single sovereign, was revealed in
the weeks immediately preceding His final banishment to 'Akka. It was
eventually delivered to the monarch by Badi', a youth of seventeen, who
had entreated Baha'u'llah for the honour of rendering some service. His
efforts won him the crown of martyrdom and immortalized his name. The
Tablet contains the celebrated passage describing the circumstances in
which the divine call was communicated to Baha'u'llah and the effect it
produced. Here, too, we find His unequivocal offer to meet with the Muslim
clergy, in the presence of the Shah, and to provide whatever proofs of the
new Revelation they might consider to be definitive, a test of spiritual
integrity significantly failed by those who claimed to be the
authoritative trustees of the message of the Qur'an.

Included in this collection, as well, is the first full translation of the
Suriy-i-Muluk or Surih of the Kings, which Shoghi Effendi described as
"the most momentous Tablet revealed by Baha'u'llah in which He, for the
first time, directs His words collectively to the entire company of the
monarchs of East and West". It sets forth both the character of His
mission and the standard of justice that must govern the exercise of their
rule in this Day of God:

Lay not aside the fear of God, O kings of the earth, and beware
that ye transgress not the bounds which the Almighty hath fixed.
Observe the injunctions laid upon you in His Book, and take good
heed not to overstep their limits. Be vigilant, that ye may not do
injustice to anyone, be it to the extent of a grain of mustard
seed. Tread ye the path of justice, for this, verily, is the
straight path.

The Tablet introduces some of the great themes that were to figure
prominently in the Writings of Baha'u'llah over the next two and a half
decades: the obligation of those into whose hands God has entrusted civil
authority to institute the reign of justice, the necessity for the
reduction of armaments and the resolution of conflicts among nations, and
an end to the excessive expenditures that were impoverishing these rulers'
subjects.

Surveying the principal contents of Baha'u'llah's majestic call to the
kings and rulers of the world, Shoghi Effendi has written:

The magnitude and diversity of the theme, the cogency of the
argument, the sublimity and audacity of the language, arrest our
attention and astound our minds. Emperors, kings and princes,
chancellors and ministers, the Pope himself, priests, monks and
philosophers, the exponents of learning, parliamentarians and
deputies, the rich ones of the earth, the followers of all
religions, and the people of Baha--all are brought within the
purview of the Author of these Messages, and receive, each
according to their merits, the counsels and admonitions they
deserve. No less amazing is the diversity of the subjects touched
upon in these Tablets. The transcendent majesty and unity of an
unknowable and unapproachable God is extolled, and the oneness of
His Messengers proclaimed and emphasized. The uniqueness, the
universality and potentialities of the Baha'i Faith are stressed,
and the purpose and character of the Babi Revelation unfolded.

The summary draws attention to Baha'u'llah's uncompromising indictment of
the conditions of human society for which its leadership is held primarily
responsible:

Episodes, at once moving and marvellous, at various stages of His
ministry, are recounted, and the transitoriness of worldly pomp,
fame, riches, and sovereignty, repeatedly and categorically
asserted. Appeals for the application of the highest principles in
human and international relations are forcibly and insistently
made, and the abandonment of discreditable practices and
conventions, detrimental to the happiness, the growth, the
prosperity and the unity of the human race, enjoined. Kings are
censured, ecclesiastical dignitaries arraigned, ministers and
plenipotentiaries condemned, and the identification of His advent
with the coming of the Father Himself unequivocally admitted and
repeatedly announced. The violent downfall of a few of these kings
and emperors is prophesied, two of them are definitely challenged,
most are warned, all are appealed to and exhorted.

In a Tablet, the original of which has been lost, Baha'u'llah had already
condemned, in the severest terms, the misrule of the Ottoman Sultan
'Abdu'l-'Aziz. The present volume includes, however, three other Tablets
which address two ministers of the Sultan, whose selfish and unprincipled
influence played an important role in Baha'u'llah's successive
banishments. The Suriy-i-Ra'is, which addresses 'Ali Pasha, the Ottoman
Prime Minister, was revealed in August 1868 as the exiles were being moved
from Adrianople to Gallipoli, and exposes unsparingly the abuse of civil
power the minister had perpetrated. The Lawh-i-Ra'is, which also contains
passages directed to 'Ali Pasha, was revealed shortly after Baha'u'llah's
incarceration in the citadel of 'Akka and includes a chilling denunciation
of the character of the Minister. The third Tablet, the Lawh-i-Fu'ad,
revealed in 1869 shortly after the death of Fu'ad Pasha, the Ottoman
Minister to whose machinations it refers, describes the spiritual
consequences of the abuse of power, and foretells the imminent downfall of
his colleague, 'Ali Pasha, and the overthrow of the Sultan
himself--prophecies that were widely circulated and whose dramatic
fulfilment added greatly to the prestige of their Author.

It seems especially appropriate, as Baha'u'llah's influence penetrates
ever more deeply the life of the larger society throughout the world, that
the full texts of these great Tablets should now be available for a broad
readership. We express to the committees who were commissioned to
undertake and review these translations the deep gratitude we feel for the
care and sensitivity they have brought to the task. Baha'is will recognize
key passages from several of the Tablets that were introduced to the West
by Shoghi Effendi. His translations into English of the Baha'i Holy Texts
provide an enduring standard for the efforts of those who rise to the
challenge of preparing appropriate renderings into English of these
treasures of the Faith.

The Universal House of Justice

SURIY-I-HAYKAL

_This is the Surih of the Temple which God hath ordained to be the Mirror
of His Names between the heavens and the earth, and the Sign of His
Remembrance amidst the peoples of the world._

He is the Most Wondrous, the All-Glorious!

1 Glorified is He Who hath revealed His verses to those who understand.
Glorified is He Who sendeth down His verses to those who perceive.
Glorified is He Who guideth whomsoever He pleaseth unto His path. Say: I,
verily, am the Path of God unto all who are in the heavens and all who are
on the earth; well is it with them that hasten thereunto!

2 Glorified is He Who sendeth down His verses to those who comprehend.
Glorified is He Who speaketh forth from the Kingdom of His Revelation, and
Who remaineth unknown to all save His honoured servants. Glorified is He
Who quickeneth whomsoever He willeth by virtue of His word "Be", and it
is! Glorified is He Who causeth whomsoever He willeth to ascend unto the
heaven of grace, and sendeth down therefrom whatsoever He desireth
according to a prescribed measure.

3 Blessed is He Who doeth as He willeth by a word of His command. He,
verily, is the True One, the Knower of things unseen. Blessed is He Who
inspireth whomsoever He willeth with whatsoever He desireth, through His
irresistible and inscrutable command. Blessed is He Who aideth whomsoever
He desireth with the hosts of the unseen. His might is, in truth, equal to
His purpose, and He, verily, is the All-Glorious, the Self-Subsisting.
Blessed is He Who exalteth whomsoever He willeth by the power of His
sovereign might, and confirmeth whomsoever He chooseth in accordance with
His good pleasure; well is it with them that understand!

4 Blessed is He Who, in a well-guarded Tablet, hath prescribed a fixed
measure unto all things. Blessed is He Who hath revealed unto His Servant
that which shall illumine the hearts and minds of men. Blessed is He Who
hath sent down upon His Servant such tribulations as have melted the
hearts of them that dwell within the Tabernacle of eternity and the souls
of those who have drawn nigh unto their Lord. Blessed is He Who hath
showered upon His Servant, from the clouds of His decree, the darts of
affliction, and Who beholdeth Me enduring them with patience and
fortitude. Blessed is He Who hath ordained for His Servant that which He
hath destined for no other soul. He, verily, is the One, the Incomparable,
the Self-Subsisting.

5 Blessed is He Who hath caused to rain down upon His Servant from the
clouds of enmity, and at the hands of the people of denial, the shafts of
tribulation and trial; and yet seeth Our heart filled with gratitude.
Blessed is He Who hath laid upon the shoulders of His Servant the burden
of the heavens and of the earth--a burden for which We yield Him every
praise, though none may grasp this save them that are endued with
understanding. Glorified is He Who hath surrendered the embodiment of His
Beauty to the clutches of the envious and the wicked--a fate unto which We
are fully resigned, though none may perceive this save those who are
endued with insight. Glorified is He Who hath left Husayn to make His
dwelling amidst the hosts of His enemies, and exposed His body with every
breath to the spears of hatred and anger; yet do We yield Him thanks for
all that He hath destined to befall His Servant Who repaireth unto Him in
His affliction and grief.

6 While engulfed in tribulations I heard a most wondrous, a most sweet
voice, calling above My head. Turning My face, I beheld a Maiden--the
embodiment of the remembrance of the name of My Lord--suspended in the air
before Me. So rejoiced was she in her very soul that her countenance shone
with the ornament of the good pleasure of God, and her cheeks glowed with
the brightness of the All-Merciful. Betwixt earth and heaven she was
raising a call which captivated the hearts and minds of men. She was
imparting to both My inward and outer being tidings which rejoiced My
soul, and the souls of God's honoured servants.

7 Pointing with her finger unto My head, she addressed all who are in
heaven and all who are on earth, saying: By God! This is the Best-Beloved
of the worlds, and yet ye comprehend not. This is the Beauty of God
amongst you, and the power of His sovereignty within you, could ye but
understand. This is the Mystery of God and His Treasure, the Cause of God
and His glory unto all who are in the kingdoms of Revelation and of
creation, if ye be of them that perceive. This is He Whose Presence is the
ardent desire of the denizens of the Realm of eternity, and of them that
dwell within the Tabernacle of glory, and yet from His Beauty do ye turn
aside.

8 O people of the Bayan! If ye aid Him not, God will assuredly assist Him
with the powers of earth and heaven, and sustain Him with the hosts of the
unseen through His command "Be", and it is! The day is approaching when
God will have, by an act of His Will, raised up a race of men the nature
of which is inscrutable to all save God, the All-Powerful, the
Self-Subsisting. He shall purify them from the defilement of idle fancies
and corrupt desires, shall lift them up to the heights of holiness, and
shall cause them to manifest the signs of His sovereignty and might upon
earth. Thus hath it been ordained by God, the All-Glorious, the
All-Loving.

9 O people of the Bayan! Would ye deny Him Whose presence is the very
object of your creation, while ye rejoice idly upon your couches? Would ye
laugh to scorn and contend with Him, a single hair of Whose head
excelleth, in the sight of God, all that are in the heavens and all that
are on the earth? O people of the Bayan! Produce, then, that which ye
possess, that I may know by what proof ye believed aforetime in the
Manifestations of His Cause, and by what reason ye now wax so disdainful!

10 I swear by Him Who hath fashioned Me from the light of His own Beauty!
None have I ever seen that surpasseth you in heedlessness or exceedeth you
in ignorance. Ye seek to prove your faith in God through such holy Tablets
as ye possess, yet when the verses of God were revealed and His Lamp was
lighted, ye disbelieved in Him Whose very Pen hath fixed the destinies of
all things in the Preserved Tablet. Ye recite the sacred verses and yet
repudiate Him Who is their Source and Revealer. Thus hath God blinded your
eyes in requital for your deeds, would ye but understand. Day and night ye
transcribe the verses of God, and yet ye remain shut out, as by a veil,
from Him Who hath revealed them.

11 In this Day the Concourse on high beholdeth you in your evil doings and
shunneth your company, and yet ye perceive it not. They ask of one
another: "What words do these fools utter, and in what valley are they
wont to graze? Do they deny that whereunto their very souls testify, and
shut their eyes to that which they plainly behold?" I swear by God, O
people! They that inhabit the Cities of the Names of God are bewildered at
your actions, while ye roam, aimless and unconscious, in a parched and
barren land.

12 O Pen of the Most High! Hearken unto the Call of Thy Lord, raised from
the Divine Lote-Tree in the holy and luminous Spot, that the sweet accents
of Thy Lord, the All-Merciful, may fill Thy soul with joy and fervour, and
that the breezes that waft from My name, the Ever-Forgiving, may dispel
Thy cares and sorrows. Raise up, then, from this Temple, the temples of
the Oneness of God, that they may tell out, in the kingdom of creation,
the tidings of their Lord, the Most Exalted, the All-Glorious, and be of
them that are illumined by His light.

13 We, verily, have ordained this Temple to be the source of all existence
in the new creation, that all may know of a certainty My power to
accomplish that which I have purposed through My word "Be", and it is!
Beneath the shadow of every letter of this Temple We shall raise up a
people whose number none can reckon save God, the Help in Peril, the
Self-Subsisting. Erelong shall God bring forth from His Temple such souls
as will remain unswayed by the insinuations of the rebellious, and who
will quaff at all times of the cup that is life indeed. These, truly, are
of the blissful.

14 These are servants who abide beneath the shelter of the tender mercy of
their Lord, and who remain undeterred by those who seek to obstruct their
path. Upon their faces may be seen the brightness of the light of the
All-Merciful, and from their hearts may be heard the remembrance of Mine
all-glorious and inaccessible Name. Were they to unloose their tongues to
extol their Lord, the denizens of earth and heaven would join in their
anthems of praise--yet how few are they who hear! And were they to glorify
their Lord, all created things would join in their hymns of glory. Thus
hath God exalted them above the rest of His creation, and yet the people
remain unaware!

15 These are they who circle round the Cause of God even as the shadow
doth revolve around the sun. Open, then, your eyes, O people of the Bayan,
that haply ye may behold them! It is by virtue of their movement that all
things are set in motion, and by reason of their stillness all things are
brought to rest, would that ye might be assured thereof! Through them the
believers in the Divine Unity have turned towards Him Who is the Object of
the adoration of the entire creation, and by them the hearts of the
righteous have found rest and composure, could ye but know it! Through
them the earth hath been established, the clouds have rained down their
bounty, and the bread of knowledge hath descended from the heaven of
grace, could ye but perceive it!

16 These souls are the protectors of the Cause of God on earth, who shall
preserve its beauty from the obscuring dust of idle fancies and vain
imaginings. In the path of their Lord they shall not fear for their lives;
rather will they sacrifice their all in their eagerness to behold the face
of their Well-Beloved when once He hath appeared in this Name, the
Almighty, the All-Powerful, the All-Glorious, the Most Holy.

17 O Living Temple! Arise by the power of Thy Self in such wise that all
created things will be moved to arise with Thee. Aid, then, Thy Lord
through such ascendancy and might as We have bestowed upon Thee. Take heed
lest Thou falter on that Day when all created things are filled with
dismay; rather be Thou the revealer of My name, the Help in Peril, the
Self-Subsisting. Assist Thy Lord to the utmost of Thine ability, and pay
no heed to the peoples of the world, for that which their mouths utter is
like unto the droning of a gnat in an endless valley. Quaff the water of
life in My name, the All-Merciful, and proffer unto the near ones amongst
the inmates of this lofty station that which shall cause them to become
detached from all names and enter beneath this blessed and
all-encompassing shadow.

18 O Living Temple! Through Thee have We gathered together all created
things, whether in the heavens or on the earth, and called them to account
for that which We had covenanted with them before the foundation of the
world. And lo, but for a few radiant faces and eloquent tongues, We found
most of the people dumbfounded, their eyes staring up in fear. From the
former We brought forth the creation of all that hath been and all that
shall be. These are they whose countenances God hath graciously turned
away from the face of the unbelievers, and whom He hath sheltered beneath
the shadow of the Tree of His own Being; they upon whose hearts He hath
bestowed the gift of peace and tranquillity, and whom He hath strengthened
and assisted through the hosts of the seen and the unseen.

19 O Eyes of this Temple! Look not upon the heavens and that which they
contain, nor upon the earth and them that dwell thereon, for We have
created you to behold Our own Beauty: See it now before you! Withhold not
your gaze therefrom, and deprive not yourselves of the Beauty of your
Lord, the All-Glorious, the Best-Beloved. Erelong shall We bring into
being through you keen and penetrating eyes that will contemplate the
manifold signs of their Creator and turn away from all that is perceived
by the people of the world. Through you shall We bestow the power of
vision upon whomsoever We desire, and lay hold upon those who have
deprived themselves of this gracious bounty. These, verily, have drunk
from the cup of delusion, though they perceive it not.

20 O Ears of this Temple! Purge yourselves from all idle clamour and
hearken unto the voice of your Lord. He, verily, revealeth unto you, from
the Throne of glory, that there is none other God save Me, the
All-Glorious, the Almighty, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.
Erelong shall We bring into being through you pure and undefiled ears
which will heed the Word of God and that which hath appeared from the
Dayspring of the Utterance of your Lord, the All-Merciful. They shall
assuredly perceive the sweet accents of Divine Revelation that proceed
from these most blessed and hallowed precincts.

21 O Tongue of this Temple! We, verily, have created thee through Our
name, the All-Merciful, have taught thee whatsoever had remained concealed
in the Bayan, and have bestowed upon thee the power of utterance, that
thou mayest make mention of Mine exalted Self amidst My creatures.
Proclaim, then, this wondrous and mighty Remembrance, and fear not the
manifestations of the Evil One. Thou wert called into being for this very
purpose by virtue of My transcendent and all-compelling command. Through
thee have We unloosed the Tongue of Utterance to expound all that hath
been, and We shall again, by My sovereign power, unloose it to speak of
that which is yet to come. Erelong shall We bring into being through thee
eloquent tongues that will praise and extol Me amongst the Concourse on
high and amidst the peoples of the world. Thus have the verses of God been
revealed, and thus hath it been decreed by the Lord of all names and
attributes. Thy Lord, verily, is the True One, the Knower of things
unseen. Nothing whatsoever shall prevent these tongues from magnifying
their Creator. Through them, all created things shall arise to glorify the
Lord of names and to bear witness that there is none other God save Me,
the All-Powerful, the Most-Glorious, the Best-Beloved. Nor shall those who
make mention of Me speak aught unless they be inspired by this Tongue from
its lofty station. Few, however, are they who understand! No tongue is
there that speaketh not the praises of its Lord and maketh not mention of
His Name. Amongst the people, however, are those who understand and utter
praises, and those who utter praises, yet understand not.

22 O Maid of inner meanings! Step out of the chamber of utterance by the
leave of God, the Lord of the heavens and the earth. Reveal, then, thyself
adorned with the raiment of the celestial Realm, and proffer with thy ruby
fingers the wine of the heavenly Dominion, that haply the denizens of this
world may perceive the light that shone forth from the Kingdom of God when
the Daystar of eternity appeared above the horizon of glory. Perchance
they may arise before the dwellers of earth and heaven to extol and
magnify this Youth Who hath established Himself in the midmost heart of
Paradise upon the throne of His name, the All-Sufficing Helper--He upon
Whose countenance shineth the brightness of the All-Merciful, from Whose
gaze appear the glances of the All-Glorious, and in Whose ways are
revealed the tokens and evidences of God, the omnipotent Protector, the
Almighty, the All-Loving.

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