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by Hooper Dunbar, published by George Ronald - paperback available from the Bahá'í Publishing Trust
Bahá'u'lláh said of the Kitáb-i-Iqán that "...all the Scriptures and the mysteries thereof are condensed into this brief account." In the brief foreword to his translation Shoghi Effendi describes it as "...this book of unsurpassed pre-eminence among the writings of the Author of the Bahá'í Revelation". A letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi says it is "...the most important book written on the spiritual significance of the Cause". (1) It is therefore appropriate that it be the first subject in George Ronald's new Study Companions Series, nor is it surprising that A Companion to the Study of the Kitáb-i-Iqán should be twice as thick as its subject.
As has been said before in this column, we stand very close to the beginning of our Faith and this brings both many benefits and some difficulties. One of the latter is that while we have a wealth of revealed scripture, much of it has yet to be translated, and what is available often lacks the sort of study materials that followers of other faiths take for granted. Even long-published and tremendously important works such as the Kitáb-i-Iqán lack such aids. George Ronald's series will, one hopes, address this, and if this book is anything to go by it will be a great success.
A Companion to the Study of the Kitáb-i-Iqán approaches its subject in a number of ways, all of them useful. It contains background information about the Kitáb-i-Iqán which sets it in its milieu and explains its origin and structure. It contains explanatory notes which deal with many related subjects. It explains, among other things, the significance of the Biblical and Qur'ánic quotations which appear in it. Its annotations cover many other items of significance which appear in the holy text.
A real bonus in the book is a detailed and useful index to the Kitáb-i-Iqán which will be a boon to anyone who does not have the computerised Refer system, and to many who do. The final section is a "Suggested Course of Study for the Iqán" which features a whole range of questions suitable both for individual and for group study.
The book even addresses the problem of locating references by using paragraph numbers. This standardisation will be welcome to anyone who has looked up a quotation on a given page in their own copy of the Kitáb-i-Iqán only to find it was not there because the page number deals with another edition. We are told this will be standard practice in the future, that subsequent editions of the Iqán will be printed with these paragraph numbers. However it means that current readers have to go through their own copies and insert numbers themselves (omitting the invocation and starting with the sentence "No man shall attain..."). Not everyone will want to do that, but even if they do not the book more than justifies its purchase and use.
A Companion to the Study of the Kitáb-i-Iqán is recommended enthusiastically and unreservedly.
Dr Iain S Palin
1. Light of Divine Guidance Vol I p37