A prayer of Mirzá Yahyá Núrí Subh-i-Azal from his ETHICS OF THE SPIRITUALLY-MINDED (akhláq al-rúháníyyín)
قدسان ربّنا الازلي
The following is my translation of a prayer by Mirzá Yahyá Núrí Subh-i-Azal (d. 1812) from his seminal doctrinal work the Ethics of the Spiritually-Minded (akhláq al-rúháníyyín). The longer Arabic version of this work presently exists only in a handful of manuscripts. A Persian translation and summary by Hádí Dawlatábádí can be found, here.
The prayer below constitutes the conclusion of this abridged Persian version of the longer Arabic work. See my critical notes below the prayer regarding this important Bayání work.
~
Glorified art Thou, O God my God, I
indeed testify to Thee and all-things at the moment when I am in Thy
presence in pure servitude, upon this, that verily Thou art God, no
other God is there besides Thee! Thou art unchanged, O my God, within
the elevation of Grandeur and Majesty, and shall be unalterable, O my
desirous boon, within the pinnacle of power and perfection inasmuch as
nothing shall frustrate Thee and nothing shall extinguish Thee! Thou
art unchanged as Thou art the Capable above Thy creation and Thou art
unalterable as Thou indeed shall be as from before inasmuch as nothing
is with Thee of anything and nothing is in Thy rank of anything! Thou
accomplisheth and willeth and doeth and desireth! Glorified art Thou, O
God my God, with Thy praise, salutations be upon the Primal Point, the
Chemise of Thy Visage and the Light of Thy direction and the
Luminosity of Thy Beinghood and the Clarity of Thy Selfhood and the
Ocean of Thy Power by all that which Thou hath bestowed upon Him of Thy
Stations and Thy Culminations and Thy Foundations, for nothing shall
frustrate Thee of anything and nothing shall extinguish Thee of
anything! No other God is There besides Thee, for verily Thou art the
Lord of all the worlds! And blessings, O God my God, be upon the one
who was the first to believe in Thee, the Visage of Thy Selfhood and
the Decree of Thy direction; and upon the one who was the last to
believe in Thee, the Essence of Thy direction and the Visage of Thy
Holiness; and upon those whom Ye have made martyrs/witnesses (shuhadá’)
unknown except by Thy Command nor restrained except by Thy Wisdom;
then upon those to whom Ye have promised that Ye shall make Him
manifest on the Day of Resurrection and He whom Ye will upraise on the
Day of the Return by all which Thou will bestow upon Him of Thy Power
and Thy Strength, for nothing shall extinguish Thee and nothing shall
frustrate Thee! Ye determine all-things, for verily Thou art powerful
over whatsoever Thou willeth! And I indeed testify, O my God, between
Thy hands that verily there is no other god besides Thee and that He
whom Ye shall make manifest on the Day of Resurrection is the Chemise of
Thy Creativity and the Visage of Thy Manifestation and the direction
of Thy Victory and the substance of Thy Pardoning and the branch of Thy
Singularity and the clarity of Thy Unicitarianism and the Pen [of the
Letter] Nún (al-qalam al-nún) within Thy Beinghood and the setting of
the Cause-Command within Thy Essentiality inasmuch as there is no
difference between Him and Thee except that He is Thy servant in Thy
grasp, such that whatsoever is in the Heavens and the earth and what is
between them will then be filled by His Name and by His Light until it
be made apparent that no other god is there besides Thee and no Beloved
is there like unto Thee and no Desired One is there other than Thee
and no Dread is there of Thy like and no Justice of Thy equal! No other
god is there besides Thee! Glorified art Thou, O God, and by Thy
praise, blessings, O my God, be upon the Guide to the Throne of the
Hidden Cloud and the Path to Thy Presence in the Sina'i of
Authorization and the Caller by Thy Logos-Self and the Crier of Thy
Permission between Thy Hands and the Ariser of Thy Attendance by Thy
Command; then the Triumph, O my God, by all that which Thou will bestow
upon Him of Thy Power, then that which will be made manifestly
apparent of the Word upon the earth and what is upon it by Thy
grandeur, and also in this that nothing shall ever put out His Light!
Verily nothing shall frustrate Thee of anything and nothing shall
extinguish Thee of anything! Thy mercy encompasseth all-things and
verily Thou art powerful over what Ye have willed; and to the one who
prays to Thee, Hearing, Answering, for verily Thou art Observant over
us, and verily Thou art High, Praised beyond that which the inner
hearts can comprehend!
~
Critical notes to Akhláq al-Rúháníyyín
The Akhláq al-Rúháníyyín, or the ‘Ethics of the Spiritually-minded’,
is originally a Baghdád era work of Subh-i-Azal’s (1852/3-1863)
dealing with the moral imperatives and ethical propaedeutics of
spiritual wayfaring (sulúk) from the Bayání perspective. While
broaching much in terms of both ethical and prescriptive matters, this
work pretty much belongs to the genre of ‘irfán (gnosis and
esotericism). Its original recipient was one Aqá Abu’l-Qásim Káshání
who was later murdered in Baghdád by the Bahá’ís during the period of
the Direful Mischief (fitna-i-saylam) in the mid/late 1860s. Two different versions of this work presently exist: 1) a longer Arabic version by Subh-i-Azal and 2)
an abridged Persian summary translation of the longer Arabic by Hádí
Dawlatábádí undertaken at the request of one Hájj Muhammad Hussein
Isfáhání, see Yád-dásht-há-ye Qazvíní (Qazvini’s notes), (ed.) Iraj Afshár, Tabríz 1363 shamsí, vol. 7-8 (in one), p. 260.
Unfortunately Qazvini’s notes do not indicate when Hádí Dawlatábádí’s
translation was actually undertaken. It should be noted, however, that
the scan of the longer Arabic ms. version in our possession
contains sixty-two (62) folio pages with fifteen (15) lines per page --
and no colophon. Our word-processed Persian rendition of Hádí
Dawlatábádí’s adaptation, minus the translator’s preface, is
forty-three (43) pages long with thirteen (13) lines per page. We
should mention here as well that we have not perused Dawlatábádí’s
original but only the PDF kindly forwarded to us in August 2009 by a
member of the Iranian Bayání community: i.e. a word processed
typescript set in a fine nasta’lîq font. Omitting the entirety of
the exordium as well as the initial doxography, while including the
opening words of the opening address (i.e. occuring just after the
second lengthy doxology following the exordium in the original Arabic),
Dawlatábádí’s translation properly begins on page 4, starting at line
4, of our lengthier Arabic text and concludes with the prayer
commencing on page 32, line 14, ending at the top of page 35, line 3,
of the Arabic ms.
The main body of the text of Akhláq al-Rúháníyyín is
divided into six sections constituting the response to six questions
posed by our original querent Aqá Abu’l-Qásim Káshání. Our Arabic ms.
contains a seventh and eighth section as well. The seventh (pp. 35-47)
seems to be addressing the community of the Bayání faithful as a whole,
or several specifically unnamed individuals, as it begins immediately
after the aforementioned prayer and with the interjection ‘yá ‘ibád’,
O servants! The following eighth section deals with a response to a
question posed by one Hajjí Kamál Daráyih (pp. 47-62). Pending
consultation of another complete ms. of Akhláq al-Rúháníyyín, we are
presently working with the assumption that the seventh and eighth
sections constitute a contiguous unit to the overall piece, or even
appendices to the preceding six sections, and not another work appended
to our text. But since the Persian rendition does not include these in
its abridgement, here we will limit our summary only to the six main
sections of the text, concluding with a translation of the prayer
[already provided above - NWA] mentioned which closes section six
(note: the benediction opening the prayer in the Persian rendition does
not occur in the Arabic text). Our page numbering below refers to our
ms. of the Arabic text.
The first section (pp. 3-19) deals with the preliminary characteristics necessary of the spiritual seeker (sálik)
to embark upon the path of wayfaring, particularly in acquiring the
requisite behaviours and attitudes incumbent on its success -- viz. makárim al-akhláq,
praiseworthy character traits, which involves cutting the worldly
bonds and fetters and purifying the inner life such that the inner and
outer characteristics fully accord with one another becoming one and
the same, etc. In this section Subh-i-Azal also explains how the
various levels of wayfaring build upon each other whilst corresponding
such levels of wayfaring to the metaphysical presences of the Divine,
i.e. háhút, láhút, jabarút and malakút. One
by one the various moral and ethical necessities requisite to success
are detailed while the numerous pitfalls and dangers of the path are
likewise spelled out. Practical instructions follow with specific
rejoinders regarding the prescriptive ordinances laid out in the Bayán,
including prayers, specific verses and the number of daily scriptural
recitations to be made, including the introduction of doxological
formulas by Subh-i-Azal, which are then clarified as regards their
inner significance as well as metaphysical correspondences. Throughout
the discussion the pivotal importance of maintaining the correct
attitude towards Tawhíd (the Unicity of the Divine),
particularly in its Bayání enumeration, as well as towards the Living
Mirror who is the dispenser of Divine grace as its vicegerent, are
reiterated thereby rooting the full spectrum of the individual
spiritual quest firmly within the larger soteriological orbit of the
Bayán.
Section two (pp. 19-23) is Subh-i-Azal’s response regarding the
question of the Threshold/Gate of Knowledge (báb al-‘ilm) of the era.
Here the Gate of Knowledge is identified in the first instance as being
the Point of the Bayán and in the second instance as Subh-i-Azal
himself as the Mirror to this Point, with the latter explicitly
asserting his complete spiritual identity with the Essence of the Seven
Letters. The characteristics of what constitutes a genuine Point of
Knowledge are enumerated, such as unacquired and inspired knowledge,
which is then contrasted to any who might falsely claim such a position
without possessing the qualification detailed. Without naming any
individual claimants, Subh-i-Azal categorically rejects such claims by
others as malefically inspired and thus manifestations of satanic
motivation. It should be noted that while the Persian editor of Hádí
Dawlatábádí’s adaptation has placed remarks parenthetically within the
text suggesting Mírzá Husayn ‘Alí Núrí Bahá’ and the Bahá’ís as the
possible identify of the suggested culprit(s), it needs to be emphasized
that, until the mid-1860s when the Bahá’í founder made his own claims
explicit, several other claimants had also arisen positing similar
claims. We mention this because the word processed Persian text appears
to generate some ambiguity about the actual location and dating of the
original of this piece, when it is a Baghdád era work.
Section three (pp. 23-26) responds to a question regarding the differences amongst the creatures of creation as regards faith (imán) and infidelity (kufr),
or why some are guided and others misguided and so led to error from
the truth, even though the totality of creation in-itself is considered
equal from the Divine point of view. Here Subh-i-Azal instances the
examples of light and darkness, life and death, etc., as the dual
contrasting elements determined by the singular determination of the
Divine providence itself. As such, while on one level faith
constitutes the individual determination of drawing nigh unto the
Divine, and conversely infidelity its turning away, from another point
of view such guidance or misguidance is also simultaneously to be deemed
providentially determined by God in illo tempore in the primary instance.
Section four (pp. 26-27) responds to a question regarding the primal life (hayyát al-úlá) or the life of the world (hayyát al-dunyá) and the hereafter (ákhira).
Here Subh-i-Azal posits the symbolism of two lights and two fires,
namely, the light of the world and the light of the hereafter, and the
fire of the world and fire of the hereafter. The light of the world
corresponds to the light of the hereafter and likewise the fire of the
world to that of the hereafter. Whomsoever enters the light of the
world, so long as he/she remains steadfast to this light in the world,
will enter the light of the hereafter, and conversely those who are
with the fire of the world will enter that of the corresponding fire of
the hereafter. Light represents faith, specifically in the Bayán and
its Speaker (here Subh-i-Azal), and fire represents rejection and
infidelity. This reoccurring symbolism is one of the key themes and
motifs in both the Persian and Arabic Bayáns as well as throughout the
entirety of the corpus of the writings of the Essence of the Seven
Letters from 1847-50. It should be noted that one of the epithets of
Subh-i-Azal was Light (núr) such that here the intention is
explicit as to who and what the Light of the world denotes, and
conversely what (and later, who) the fire (nár) is. It should
also be noted that this theme is also one reoccurring within the
writings and sayings of the Shi’ite Imáms, particularly in the
collection compiled by Kulayní, see especially Mohammad Ali
Amir-Moezzi, The Divine Guide in Early Shi’ism: The Sources of Esotericism in Islam, (trans.) David Streight, Albany, 1993, pp. 87-88, passim.
Section five (pp. 28-30) answers questions regarding marriage.
Here Subh-i-Azal prescribes marriage with believers only and stipulates
that marriages contracted not exceed beyond two wives, the exceeding
of which is scripturally proscribed (harám). He encourages
mutual respect within matrimonial life, supports equality in the
relationship, and likens spouses as mirrors to each other and as two
equal limbs within the same metaphoric body. Since this work is a
Baghdád era work it is interesting to note that such a position, already
enunciated earlier in the Bayán by the Essence of the Seven Letters,
is even more strongly voiced by Subh-i-Azal in this epistle at such an
early period; that is, a period well over a decade or more before Mírzá
Husayn ‘Alí Núrí Bahá’ articulated the same position verbatim in his
own tablets and book. Among other principles plagiarized by the Bahá’í
founder from the Bayán and the writings of Subh-i-Azal, this is yet
another glaring example. Even the choice of symbolism and metaphor here
employed by Subh-i-Azal, not to mention the number of wives not to be
exceeded, are identically the same ones drawn on in the 1870-1871 period
when Mírzá Husayn ‘Alí Núrí Bahá’ composed his assorted tablets and
the Kitáb-i-Aqdas where such principles are likewise articulated.
Additionally in this section Subh-i-Azal reiterates several Bayání
prescriptions regarding the ritual impurity of unbelievers and the
duties of future Bayání rulers regarding relations with unbelievers.
Section six (pp. 30-35) rearticulates the points already
detailed in the first section as a conclusion. It once again
re-emphasizes the central importance of maintaining the correct
attitude towards Tawhíd as enumerated in the Bayán and
concludes with offering the following prayer translated below [provided
above - NWA] as an obligatory prescription to be recited by the
querent.
(2009)
