Thanks to Adib Masumian, we have more information on Baha’u’llah’s attitude to martyrdom. In a previous post, I shared my translations of Arabic hidden words 44-46, and showed that there is a conceptual link between them. The link is between the idea of testifying to one’s truth and the idea martyrdom. That is, a person can testify to their truth at three levels of reality: within themselves, with speech in society, and with their bodies in martyrdom. I based this on the following analysis of Arabic hidden words 44-46: ——————— What is interesting is that Baha’u’llah uses the same [Arabic] root ..read more

Rainn Wilson’s latest book, Soul Boom: why we need a spiritual revolution, is out. I didn’t think I’d read it. I have never related to Rainn’s public persona, and assumed his book would not interest me. But in the end, I was intrigued to know how he’d put the book together; after all, I’m writing a book about Baha’u’llah’s teachings and wanted to see how Rainn approached the task of writing about Baha’i spirituality. In the introduction, Rainn claims it isn’t about the Faith; nevertheless, it was clearly an effort to ‘teach’. “After all, this is not a book about the Baha’i Faith or for Baha’is ..read more

Throughout April, our intrepid translator Adib Masumian has been uploading to his website a series of tablets all with the title Lawh-i-quds (Tablet of Holiness). There are seven Tablets of Holiness. Adib seems to like this approach of translating in batches according to the title, for he has also covered the Tablets of the Hair, of which there are 12, and Tablets to Karim (Lawh-i-Karim), of which there are four. It certainly is a good way to clear the translation field, so to speak. It also sorts the problem of readers not knowing which tablet is being referred to when one is quoted.  Al ..read more

I am now converted to the idea that artificial intelligence can translate Baha’u’llah’s writings. My conversion was brought on by the release of GPT-4, which has amazed the world. It has amazed me too. I would never have believed what GPT-4 can do, but you can’t deny the truth when it stands before you. Of course, the translation isn’t perfect, but the program is still in its infancy and is ever being developed. Also, the accuracy of the translation is affected by the amount of information the program is given, so results can be improved on that level as well. Back in 2016, I initiated a proje ..read more

In the compilation of prayers by Baha’u’llah called Supplications is a post-Naw Ruz and pre-Ridvan prayer. It is meant to be read during the month between Naw Ruz and Ridvan. Supplications is a collection of 200 prayers translated by Joshua Hall. Because it is not well known, the prayer is not well known either, so I thought I’d write a brief word about it here. The following is the paragraph from the prayer that mentions this interval between the two festivals. “The days in which Thou hast obliged Thy servants to observe the Fast have ended, O Lord, and the days of Riḍván, which Thou hast ma ..read more

I learned pretty much everything I know about the Baha’i mashriqu’l-adhkar (house of worship) from a handbook by Sen McGlinn called A Mashriqu’l-Adhkar Handbook, which is available on Amazon in kindle format for a couple of dollars. For those without a Kindle, Laura Foster has written an excellent essay about the mashriqu’l-adhkar, which gives a user-friendly overview of the material in the handbook. In this informative little handbook I discovered that, in the thought of Abdu’l-Baha, the mashriqu’l-adhkar is not exclusively a building but also the radiant heart of the believer and a devotiona ..read more

Baha’u’llah explains that religious laws are of two kinds – the ones that don’t change and the ones that do. From what I can make out, most laws do in fact change. This is in keeping with the law of change in the contingent world, which guarantees that everything changes. It stands to reason, then, that religious law has to change too. Religion needs to be constantly updated so that it continues to be relevant. One of the principal tasks of the prophet, or Manifestation, of God, is to update the divine law. Each time a Manifestation of God comes, humanity has an entirely different worldview an ..read more

Baha’u’llah refers to the heart throughout his writings, and places a great deal of importance on it. For example, he says in Arabic hidden word no 59 that the heart is his home: “O child of existence, your heart is my home, sanctify it for my appearance, your spirit is my place of revelation, purify it for my manifestation.” And he says in the Kitab-i-Iqan that the heart is the place where he unfolds his mysteries to a person: “O my brother, when a true seeker determineth to take the step of search in the path leading to the knowledge of the Ancient of Days, he must, before all else, cle ..read more

In this blog post, I continue my commentary on Baha’u’llah’s Tablet of the Son. The previous blog post in this commentary can be found here: Tablet of the Son: paragraphs 15-17. The entire commentary so far can be found here. In this post, which focuses on paragraphs 18-20, Baha’u’llah is quoting from a letter he wrote to a Christian priest. His purpose is to explain that his own coming, and influence on the world, is the same as that of Jesus, and that this influence is not just about changing the laws and social principles of humanity, but to totally transform humanity so it becomes unr ..read more

Baha’u’llah sets a high standard when he asks us to be respectful toward others no matter what they say or how they behave. In other places, he counsels us to be humble before others, such in Arabic hidden word 30: “Deny not My servant should he ask anything from thee, for his face is My face; be then abashed before Me.” And he asks us to be content with the believers: “Whoever is content with God, his lord, will be content with his servants… For a servant’s satisfaction with God cannot be demonstrated save by his satisfaction with the friends of God, who have detached ..read more