Tablet to Shaykh Kazim-i-Samandar II (Lawh-i-Shaykh Kazim-i-Samandar II)

by Bahá'u'lláh

translated by Hasan M. Balyuzi
published in Eminent Bahá'ís in the Time of Bahá'u'lláh, pages 47-48
Oxford: George Ronald, 1985

He is the Consoler in this Sublime, Supreme Station!^[1] O Samandar!^[2] Verily, He, Who is the Supreme Ordainer, consoleth Himself for that which came upon Him from those who took to oppression and turned their backs on justice, following the path of satanic souls who aspire to evil ways. Verily, the people of ’Ád and Thamúd meted unto Sálih and Húd^[3] that which caused the Sadratu’l-Muntahá^[4] to lament and the Concourse on high to wail. Unto that beareth witness this Wronged One, sorrowful and exiled. By God, they crucified the Spirit,^[5] hamstrung the She-Camel^[6] and smashed the Ark of the Covenant. Thy Lord well knoweth and expoundeth this unto thee. He eulogizeth His chosen ones and consoleth His loved Ones on this affliction which hath caused justice to moan and the Faithful Spirit^[7] to wail. Thus hath the decree been fulfilled and yet most of the people are of the heedless.

   O Samandar! Verily, We have seen the beloved Joseph caught by the fangs of wolves, and Husayn^[8] captive in the claws of tyrants. By God, this nation hath done what the Jews did not do to the Spirit^[9] nor Abú Jahl^[10] to Muhammad, My Apostle, Whom We adorned with the mantle of the ‘Seal’,^[11] and sent unto the denizens of heaven and earth. They have, verily, committed that which no one in the world had committed, and to that beareth witness the Lord of Eternity from this Scene of transcendent glory. After Hasan and Husayn had attained their station, and some days passed, We laid hands on the source of tyranny and oppression, through Our Sovereignty.^[12] Verily, thy Lord is the All-Powerful, the Almighty. Great is the blessedness of those who drew nigh unto them and visited their resting-places. They are, verily, the people of God in the kingdom of creation. Thus did the Most Exalted Pen decree in this glorious, incomparable Book. Woe betide them who have cast the Tablet of God behind them^[13] and followed everyone who hath been a worker of iniquity and hath gone far astray.

   Ponder, O My Samandar, My patience and forbearance notwithstanding My power and might, and My silence in spite of the penetrative influence of My word which standeth supreme over all worlds. Should We have wished, We could have seized those who have wronged Us outwardly with the hand of one of the servants of God, or through the intervention of well-favoured angels. We act according to the dictates of wisdom which We have set to be a guiding light for My people and the denizens of My Kingdom. Verily, thy Lord is the All-Knowing, the Wise. Ere long, We shall take hold of those who have acted with tyranny as We seized others before them. Verily, thy Lord commandeth what He willeth.

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Notes

^[1] Source Text: Ishráq-Khávarí. Kitáb-i-Núrayn-i-Nayyirayn [Book of the Twin Shinning Lights], pp 172-4. The Leiden List of the Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, only makes mention of these Tablets collectively as Alvah-i-Nayyirayn (Tablets of the Twin Luminaries), of which there seems to be over 100 extent (MF’s note, based on information found in Leiden List of the Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh).

^[2] A devoted believer of Bahá’u’lláh, born in 1844 in Qazvín. Raised in a Bábí household, he was the son of Shaykh Muhammad, surnamed Nabíl, who had served both the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. He showed interest in the affairs of the community from his earliest days, and associated with many of the Letters of the Living. When news of the split between Bahá’u’lláh and Mirzá Yahyá reached Qazvín around 1866, he made an exhaustive study of the Báb’s Writings, and then wrote a long treatise, denouncing the claims of the pretender brother. Bahá’u’lláh bestowed the title of Samandar upon him as a result of this effort. He was an outstanding teacher of the faith, paying particular interest in education of his own children and helped to defend the covenant at the time of Bahá’u’lláh’s passing in 1892. His son, Mírzá Tarázu’lláh-i-Samandarí, who attained the presence of his Lord 4 times in ’Ákká (See Moments with Bahá'u'lláh. Los Angeles, Kalimát Press, 1995), was later appointed as a Hand of the Cause of God by the Guardian, Shoghi Effendí. See Taherzadeh, ’Adib. The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. Vol 3. pp. 88-91. (MF’s note).

^[3] Sálih and Húd are both recognized in the Bahá’í Writings as Messengers (or Manifestations) of God, as they are both mentioned in the Qur’án; Húd was sent to the people of ’Ád, and Sálih to the tribe of Thamúd (See Qur’án 7:73, 75; 11:61, 26:142, 7:65, 11:50, 46:21; cf. Bahá’u’lláh, Kitáb-i-Íqán, p. 9-10). These two peoples collectively occupied a region in southern Arabia. Sálih and Húd were both sent as warners to the people, to turn them towards the worship of one God, according to the Qur’án, but both were spurned. (See Taherzadeh, ’Adib. The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, Vol. 4, pp 425-8). The teachings do not provide any additional information as to the dates of these Manifestations, or their lives (See Helen Hornby, ed. Lights of Guidance, entry on “Hinduism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism”), but archeology has discovered what is likely the main city of the people of ’Ád, called Irám in the Qur’án, or also Ubar, in a place called Shisur, on the Omaní coast (See Nicholas Clapp, The Road to Ubar: Finding the Atlantis of the Sands. Mariner Books, 1999). The Thamúd tribe was said to have existed roughly 200 years after the people of ’Ád, occupying the areas between southern Arabia and Syria (MF’s note).

^[4] Literally “the furthermost Lote-Tree”, translated by Shoghi Effendi as “the Tree beyond which there is no passing”. This is used as a symbol in Islám, for example in the accounts of Muhammad’s Night Journey, to mark the point in the heavens beyond which neither men nor angels can pass in their approach to God, and thus to delimit the bounds of divine knowledge as revealed to mankind. Hence it is often used in the Bahá’í Writings to designate the Manifestation of God Himself (Universal House of Justice, Kitá-i-Aqdas, n. 128.

^[5]Yeshua (Jesus Christ) (Balyuzí’s note, modified slightly by MW)

^[6] i.e. of Sálih. Regarding the story of the Prophet Sálih, mentioned in Qur’án 91:11-15, ’Adib Taherzadeh writes in The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, vol. 4, App. I:

‘Abdu’l-Bahá’, in a Tablet, explains that the She-Camel was symbolic of the holy spirit of Sálih, and the milk was symbolic of the spiritual food which his spirit offered to the people. The significance of the she-camel being hamstrung is the suffering inflicted by the wicked people on that holy soul, Sálih. The spring of water which the people denied to the she-camel signifies life on this earth. The people were so attached to earthly things that they could not recognize the gifts of God to them, and so they rose up in opposition to Sálih, and when he departed from their midst they became deprived of his spiritual influence. His absence was the calamity which caused them to be deprived of the bounties of God and consequently they perished spiritually. (Balyuzí’s note, expanded by MF).

^[7] Gabriel (Balyuzí’s note).

^[8] That is Imám Husayn (MF’s note)

^[9] Yeshua (Jesus Christ) (Balyuzi’s note, modified slightly by MW)

^[10] ’Abu’l-Hakam ’Amr ibn Hashám, titled ’Abú-Jahl (Father of Ignorance). One of the most inveterate persecutors of Muhammad in the early days of His ministry. ’Abu’l-Hakam was of the Quraysh clan of Banú-Makhzúm. He fell during the battle of Badr (2 A.H./623 A.D). See H. M. Balyuzí. Muhammad and the Course of Islám. p. 29, 65-8 (MF’s note).

^[11] Qur’án 33:40

^[12] The individuals who were jointly responsible for murder of Mírzá Muhammad-Hasan and Mírzá Muhammad-Husayn both suffered miserable deaths. Shaykh Muhammad-Baqír, surnamed ’the Wolf’ (Dhi’b) lost his power and prestige in Isfahán and died miserably in ’Iráq, abandoned by all (See The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, vol. 4, p 100). As for the instigator of the plot, the ‘She-Serpent’ (Raqsha), Shoghi Effendí writes in God Passes By (p. 233):

Mír Muhammad-Husayn,.... wandered from village to village, contracted a disease that engendered so foul an odor that even his wife and daughter could not bear to approach him, and died in such ill-favor with the local authorities that no-one dared to attend his funeral, his corpse being ignominiously interred by a few porters.

The editor thanks James Goldsmith for this reference (MF’s note).

^[13] Perhaps a veiled reference to Napoleon III (MF’s note).