. | . | . | . | ||||||||||||||||||||
. |
The Gems of Mysteries was written before Kitáb-i-Íqán; in the
latter, Bahá'u'lláh has referred to it as the "Arabic Tablets", as
Gems of Mysteries is entirely in Arabic. Its English translation
would probably comprise about 130 pages, if we were to compare it
to Íqán in terms of number of pages. The first portion of it is
similar to Íqán in style: Bahá'u'lláh quotes from the Bible, the
Quran, and traditions in order to prove the new Revelation, explain
pre-requisites for searching truth, etc. For instance, He explains
the meaning of the coming of the Son of Man in clouds, accompanied
by angels. From the content, we can guess the type of questions that Hájí Siyyid Muhammad Isfahani, to whom this Tablet is addressed, must have asked. He was concerned about the signs of the coming of the Promised One, the stages of search, distortion of Holy books, and other concepts similar to those treated in Íqán. Bahá'u'lláh must have been surrounded with enemies at this time, as He makes references to enemies who were actively plotting against Him. Next Bahá'u'lláh describes the calamities heaped upon the Manifestations of God from non-believers, who in their ignorance, think that by doing this they are defending the religion of God. It is possible that Siyyid Muhammad has had mystical tendencies; Bahá'u'lláh's language in this tablet is more mystical than in Íqán, even in the first section where He deals mostly with theological issues. For example, we come across terms such as Veiled Maidens, Black Dust, Crimson Earth, Thrones of Lahot & Jabarot, Egypt of Ama', and others. Similar to the verses at the beginning of the Book of Aqdas, Bahá'u'lláh says that the standard for judging truth from falsehood is the Word of God which is brought to people by His Manifestations. Should one fail to recognize the Manifestation of God and obey Him, he has gone astray, even though he be the author of every good (because the measure of goodness and badness, again, is the Word of God in every age). In the second portion of the book, which is similar to the Seven Valleys, Bahá'u'lláh says that in response to Siyyid Muhammad's questions He will briefly address the pre-requisites and stages of the mystic path. (I should mention at this point that I have arbitrarily divided this Tablet into two portions based on the contents, viz., theological & mystical, otherwise the Tablet itself does not have such a division). In this section The Blessed Beauty describes the seven valleys, but the names and orders of valleys are slightly different from those found in the book of Seven Valleys. Here is a list of valleys or stages, which you can compare to those in the book of Seven Valleys:
Finally, Bahá'u'lláh tells Siyyid Muhammad to ponder upon these Words in order to gain all the knowledge and reach the station of true understanding. Briefly, these are some of the main topics of this important Book of the Blessed Beauty.
|
. | |||||||||||||||||||||
. | . | ||||||||||||||||||||||