Chapter 28
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Newer translation of the Tablet of the Branch omits key words. Last updated: May 23rd, 2024.
Passage 1 is a newer translation of the Tablet of the Branch, which omits the words, "Verily, this most sacred temple of Abha", from the original tablet (passage 2). Keeping in mind the teaching not to deviate from what Baha'u'llah, the Most Great Infallibility, revealed, not "even to the extent of a hair's breadth". "Temple" is one of many terms used in the Holy Writings to refer to the two classes of Prophets,
and is obviously an important term in the relevant contexts.
Baha'u'llah applies it to himself in passage 3, he also applies it to Imam
Ali (the first Dependent Prophet in the era of Muhammad) in passage 4.
One of the most important tablets revealed by Baha'u'llah is called the
"Surih of the Temple". Omitting the words, "Verily, this most sacred temple of Abha" from the new translation obscures the station of Abdu'l-Baha as a Temple, as a Dependent Prophet of Baha'u'llah; and is not a faithful translation.
1)
Say: Out of this Most Great Ocean
there hath branched the Pre-existent Sea; blessed the one that hath
attained and found repose upon its shores.
There hath branched from the
Sadratu’l-Muntahá this sacred and glorious Being, this Branch of
Holiness; well is it with him that hath sought His shelter and abideth
beneath His shadow.
-- Baha'u'llah, The Tablet of the Branch - new translation from bahai . org
In the Suriy-i-Ghusn (Tablet of
the Branch) the following verses have been recorded: "There hath
branched from the Sadratu'l-Muntaha this sacred and glorious Being,
this Branch of Holiness; well is it with him that hath sought His
shelter and abideth beneath His shadow.
-- Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 134
2)
Say: Verily, the ocean of pre-existence [Abdu'l-Baha] hath branched forth from this most great Ocean [Baha'u'llah]. Blessed, therefore, is he who abides upon Its shores, and is of those who are established thereon. Verily, this most sacred temple of Abha [Glory] -- the Branch
of Holiness hath branched forth from the Sadratu'l-Muntaha. Blessed is
whosoever sought shelter beneath it and is of those who rest therein.
-- Baha'u'llah, The Tablet of the Branch - from Bahá'í World Faith, Pages: 204-207
Take heed lest ye alter or pervert the text of the Word of God. Walk ye in the fear of God, and be numbered with the righteous.
-- Baha'u'llah, Surih of the Temple, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 18
Whoso interpreteth what hath been sent down from the heaven of Revelation, and altereth its evident meaning, he, verily, is of them that have perverted the Sublime Word of God, and is of the lost ones in the Lucid Book.
-- Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 57
3)
Thus have We built the Temple [Baha'u'llah, the Independent Prophet] 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. Follow ye His bidding, and praise ye
God, your Lord, for that which He hath bestowed upon you. He, verily,
is the Truth. No God is there but He. He revealeth what He pleaseth,
through His words "Be and it is".
-- Baha'u'llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 136
4)
Say I swear by God! They to whom you attribute knowledge and have
accepted them as your divines they are in the sight of God the worst of
men nay the quintessence of evil flees from them. Thus has the matter
been inscribed in the scrolls of God's knowledge. We testify that they
have not drunk from the fountains of knowledge and they have not
attained unto a word of Wisdom and have not become aware of the
mysteries of Revelation and have been racing in the land of their
selfish desires. Nothing of rejection and denial against a prophet or a
successor of a prophet has come to pass except after their permission.
Thus has always been their injunction carried out on the Countenances of holiness.
Say to them: O ignorant ones! Did We not reveal in the past: "A Day that God shall come in the canopies of clouds."[4] How is it that when He came down in the clouds of Revelation in the Temple of 'Ali [Imam Ali],
you turned away and rejected Him and waxed haughty and brought about
your own perdition?[5] Was it not also revealed in your Book: " the Day
when Thy Lord comes or certain of the signs
of Thy Lord."[6] And when He did come with evident signs wherefore did
ye turn away from those signs and veiled yourselves with the veils of
self?..
[4] Qur'án 2:210.
[5] Qur'án 25:18 and 48:12.
[6] Qur'an 6:158.
-- Baha'u'llah, Surih-i-Sabr (Lawh-i-Ayyúb), Surih of Patience or Tablet of Job -- (translation by K. Fananapazir)
2:208. O ye who believe! enter into Islam whole-heartedly; and follow
not the footsteps of the Evil One; for he is to you an avowed enemy.
2:209. If ye backslide after the clear (signs) have come to you, then know that Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise.
2:210. Will they wait until Allah comes to them in canopies of clouds, with angels (in His train) and the question is (thus) settled? But to Allah do all questions go back (for decision).
2:211. Ask the Children of Israel how many Clear (Signs) We have sent
them. But if anyone, after Allah's favor has come to him, substitutes
(something else), Allah is strict in punishment.
2:212. The life of this world is alluring to those who reject faith,
and they scoff at those who believe. But the righteous will be above
them on the Day of Resurrection; for Allah bestows His abundance without measures on whom He will.
-- The Qur'an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 2.
5)
For the prophets and messengers do serve as intermediaries for the
divine emanation, and whatever reacheth the creatures from the Eternal
Truth is by means of these temples of sanctity and essences of abstraction, these mines of knowledge and manifestations of the divine command.
-- Baha'u'llah, Tablet on Hinduism and Zoroastrianism - Provisional translation by Juan Cole.
6)
1.12
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 [Baha'u'llah, the Independent Prophet], the temples [Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah] 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.
-- Baha'u'llah, Surih of the Temple, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 8.
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