Prov. trans.  Stephen N. Lambden 

         Part VII of the provisional translation of the Qayyūm al-asmā’ (= QA) of the Bāb (mid. 1844/1260) with brief introduction and selective notes consists of a full versified English translation of the Sūrat al-Ziyāra (Surah of the Visitation). This translation was done in the early 1980s though not from any critical edition. I simply consulted several good mss. The versification of the surahs of the QA is uncertain. It is included for the sake of reference and commentary. The Bāb himself stated that there should be forty two verses in each surah (abjad of (Ar.) lī (= l+y = 30+10, "before me", +2 = 42 Q.12:4b) of the QA though I cannot always see quite how this figure is arrived at. The division into ADD verses in QA7 is largely speculative. It would often seen that the versification of the surahs at forty two appears more symbolic than the concrete, clear cut existence of 42 bayts (verses) of rhymed prose (saj`).

        QA 7 opens with the basmala followed by the citation of Q.12:6 upon which it briefly comments in rewritten fashion in the course of the Surah of the Visitation (Sūrah al-Ziyāra). Two isolated letters (al-ḥurufāt al-muqaṭṭa`āt) open the Surah proper; the letters Ṭ-S (Ṭā’-Sīn, abjad 69) which also occur once at the opening of the 27th Surah of the Q. Aside from being neo-qur’anic their exact significance is at present unclear.

        The first verse of QA7 shows how intimate is the relationship between the Q. and the QA. The QA is the Q of the Dhikr-Bāb who is a herald of the good news of the eschatological Kingdom. That the Bāb-Dhikr stands as a "harbinger" or "warner" (nadhir ) situated upon the straight, undeviating, possibly cosmic equatorial line or perhaps the alphabetical line. The khaṭṭ al-istiwā' , may also indicate the "Point" or Reality of the Bāb which traces the "letters" which form the nexus of reality and write the new revelation.

        According to QA7:2 the Bāb, echoing qur’anic claims, has it that through the "favour" (ni`mat) originating with the Dhikr, God has "perfected our favour upon the people of the heavens and of the earth" (cf. Q.12:6b). The latter day "Most Great Favour" (a`ẓam al-na`ima) is the being of the exalted "Remembrance of God" (dhikr Allāh al-`Alīyy). Additionally, God has singled out the Bāb for receiving the deep, inner interpretation of the Book (ta'wīl al-kitāb). The Bāb was "foremost" in responding (al-ijāba) to the divine comission, presumably in comparison with the four celebrated Gates (al-abwāb) operative during the time of the lesser occultation of the hidden Imam.

        QA7:5ff again takes up the special chosen nature of the third Imām Ḥusayn (d. 61/680), referring to him as "an Imam and a martyr [witness] (shahīd) who excelled his "brothers", the other Imams, "in the knowledge of the All Merciful". This was evidently said in the light of his special knowledge of one of the letters (ḥarf an) which is deeply shrouded in mystery. Rewriting Q. 12:6b, God is said to have "perfected His favour upon Imam Ḥusayn and his successors (awṣiyā’) " whose superiority is likened to God’s own priority over all the worlds of creation. The exaltedness of Imam Ḥusayn in Bābī-Baha’i imamology is evident here as elsewhere in numerous other scriptural writings. In his God Passes By , for example, Shoghi Effendi explicitly stated this in commenting upon Baha’u’llah’s parentally bestowed name Ḥusayn (GPB:XX).

        QA7:7 indicates that God accepts the one who performs religious visitation (zā’ir) to the shrine of Imam Ḥusayn as one who has performed the visitation unto the True One Himself (bi-ziyārat al-ḥaqq bi-nafsihi), proBābly indicating the person of the Dhikr-Bāb. The scene of Ḥusayn’s martyrdom as a celestial "battleground" (maṣra`) is a transcendentalization associating the scene of martyrdom with the celestial the region of around the heavenly Throne (`arsh) of God. According to QA7:9 God has made inscrutable the interpretation (ta'wīl ) of even a single letter of the letters (ḥarf min al-ḥurūf) of his Ḥusayn's (messianic?) mystery (?). God has ordained that the one who visits the shrine of (Joseph =) Ḥusayn in Karbala has experienced the very encounter with His own Self, the eschatological liqā Allah / nafsihi....

        It would seem possible that QA 7:11 indicates that God decreed the quadrangular figure as the four lettered name Y-W-S-F ( = Yūsuf = Jospeh) to be mystically identical with the quadrangular figure of Ḥ-S-Y-N (= Ḥusayn), which also has four letters. It is al-tarbī` fī ‘l-tarbī` lit), "the fourfold [quadrangular] in the fourfold [quadrangular]". This is thus a visitation within a visitation. It is "among the paths of the visitation with in the visitation (al-ziyāra fī’l-ziyāra)." QA 7:12 states that God singled out for Joseph "a letter configured in mystery (ḥarf an min al-sirr)". For his two "forefathers" of former times the figures Abraham and Isaac (see Q.12:6b) are allocated "a letter (harfan) within the qabbalistic or alphabetical (?) row (min al-sar) of letters which are again something "veiled in the vicinity of the mystery". These latter figures may relate to the two B’s in the word Bāb, its two letters "A" and "B" , or allude to the antitypes of Muhammad and `Alī (cf. Abraham and Isaac) as the two components of the Bāb’s own name.

---

 

QAYYŪM AL-ASMĀ' 

Part  VII [7]

 

Sūrat al-Ziyāra

سورة  الزيارة

(The Sūra of the Visitation)

on

Qur'ān 12:6

 

[1]

 

بسم اللّه الرّحمن الرّحيم

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

[2]

وَكَذَلِكَ يَجْتَبِيكَ رَبُّكَ وَيُعَلِّمُكَ مِنْ تَأْوِيلِ الأَحَادِيثِ وَيُتِمُّ نِعْمَتَهُ عَلَيْكَ

َعَلَى آلِ يَعْقُوبَ كَمَا أَتَمَّهَا عَلَى أَبَوَيْكَ مِنْ قَبْلُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْحَاقَ إِنَّ رَبَّكَ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ

 

"In this way shall thy Lord choose thee and teach thee the interpretation of dreams (lit., stories; ta'wil al-aḥadīth) and perfect His favour (ni`mat) upon thee and upon the family of Jacob, even as he perfected it in former times upon thy ancestors Abraham and Isaac. Thy Lord is All-Knowing and All-Wise." (Q.12:6).

[3]

 Ṭ-S  (Tā'. Sīn).

[4]

اللّه قد انزل الفرقان علی ذكرنا ليكون للعالمين بشيرا و علی خطّ الاستوإ نذيرا

God sent down the Qur'ān upon Our Remembrance (dhikr) that he might be a herald of good-tidings unto all the worlds and a  harbinger [warner] 

 through the undeviating Script [Line] (khaṭṭ al-istiwā').

[5]

انّا نحن قد اتممنا نعمتنا علی اهل السّموات و الارض من جود الذّكر علی الحقّ بالحقّ انعاماً

 

We, through a favour (ni`mat) of the bounty of the Remembrance (dhikr) have, in very truth, perfected our favour

upon the people of the heavens and of the earth (cf. Q.12:6b).

[6]

و انّ اللّه قد جعل اعظم النّعماء  فی يومكم هذا ذكر اللّه العلیّ و كان اللّه علی كلّ شیء شهيداً

God hath, on this your Day, made the Most Great Favour (a`ẓam al-na`ima) to be the exalted Remembrance of God (dhikr Allāh al-`Alīyy).

And God is powerful over all things.

[7]

و كذلك قد اجتبيناك بالحقّ و علّمناك من تأويل الكتاب ما لاينبغی لاحد دونك انّك قد كنت فی الاجابة للّه العلی سابقا علی الابواب بالحقّ علی الحقّ مذكوراً

Thus hath God in truth chosen thee [sing., the Bāb] and taught thee of the [deep inner] interpretation of the Book (ta'wīl al-kitāb)

what is fit for none except thee.

Before God the Exalted, thou (the Bāb), verily, wert foremost in responding (al-ijāba) [to the divine comission]

relative to the [four] celebrated Gates [of the past] (al-abwāb). 

[8]

و انّ اللّه قد اجتبی الحسين من عباده و قد جعله علی الحقّ بالحقّ اماماً و شهيداً

God, verily, hath chosen [Imām] Ḥusayn from among his servants and, in very truth, made him an Imam and a martyr [witness] (shahīd).

[9]

و انّه لمّا سبق اخوته من علم الرّحمن حرفاً مقنّعاً علی السّرّ بما كان فی مستسرّ السّطر من سرّ السّر مستوراً

Indeed He [Joseph= Ḥusayn] excelled [outstripped] his brothers [the tribes / Imams] in the knowledge of the All Merciful

as regards a letter (ḥarf ^an) shrouded in mystery, inasmuch as it was veiled in the heart of the row [of letters?] (mustasirr al-saṬr)

 by the inmost veil (min sirr al-satr mastūr an).

[10]

و انّ اللّه قد اتمّ نعمته علی الحسين و اوصيائه بان جعل اللّه فضلهم كفضل نفسه بالحقّ علی العالمين جميعاً

God, verily, perfected His favour upon (Q. 12:6b) Ḥusayn and his successors (awṣiyā’) in that God made their priority [ superiority] to be,

 in very truth, the like of His own priority over all the worlds.

[11]

و هو الّذی قد تقبّل من زائره بزيارة الحقّ لنفسه و قد دعی لمصرعه علی الحقّ بعرشه

 فلا اله اّلا هو من غير تشبيه علی الحقّ و ما قدّر اللّه لسرّه علی حرف من الحرف تأويلاً

He [God] is the One who accepts whomsoever visiteth him (zā’ir) [Ḥusayn, at his shrine]

as such as have performed the visitation unto the True One, before [ through] His Logos-Self [Himself] (bi-ziyārat al-ḥaqq li-nafsihi).

He hath in very truth, named his [Ḥusayn's] battleground (maṣra`) [the region of] His heavenly Throne (`arsh).

No God is there except Him, One, in very truth, without a like.

And God hath not decreed [that any grasp] the interpretation (ta'wīl an) of  even one of its letters respecting his [Husayn's?] Mystery (li-sirrihi).

[12]

و هوالّذی قد وعد لزائرة لقاء  نفسه و قد كان وعد اللّه بالحقّ علی الحقّ مفعولاً

He [God], in very truth, hath promised the one who visiteth him [Joseph = Ḥusayn, at his shrine in Karbala], the Ziyārat (visitation) of the very meeting [encounter] with His Logos-Self (li-nafsihi) for such a promise of God hath indeed, in very truth, ever found realization (maf`ūl ^an).

[13]

و هو الّذی قد قدّر التّربيع فی التربيع  من سبل الزّيارة فی الزّيارة علی الحقّ بالحقّ

 و قد كان الامر فی ام الكتاب حول النّار مقضيّاً

He, verily, is the One who hath decreed [that] the quadrangular figure [Y-W-S-F = Joseph?] existing in the quadrangular figure [Ḥ-S-Y-N = Ḥusayn?)

(al-tarbī` fī al-tarbī`) be, in very truth, among the paths of the visitation within the visitation (al-ziyāra fī’l-ziyāra).

And this matter (al-amr) was, in very truth, ordained in the Mother Book in the vicinity of the [Sinaitic] Fire (al-nār).

[14]

و هو الّذی قد اختار ليوسف حرف من السّرّ و لابويه احرفا  من السّطر حول السّرّ مستوراً

He [God] is the One Who chose for Joseph a letter configured in mystery (ḥarf an min al-sirr) and, for his [two] forefathers of former times

[cf. Abraham + Isaac, Q.12:6b]

single letter of the letters (ḥarf min al-ḥurūf) of his [Ḥusayn's?] mystery (min al-saṭr) [also] veiled in the vicinity of the mystery /

 a letter (harf ^an) within the [alphabetical] locus [line]

[15]

و هو الّذی كان ولم  يك* شیء معه علی الحقّ بالحقّ مذكوراً

He [God], in very truth, is the One who existed independently of the mention of any other thing.

[16]

و هو الكاءین لم يزل و لايكون فی رتبته شیء علی الحقّ بالحقّ موجوداً                      

He is One eternally Existent on whose level, in very truth, nothing  is found to  exists.

[17]

و هو الّذی قد علّمك من تأويل الاحاديث كما شئت بما شئنا علی الحقّ بالحقّ من الحقّ بديعا

He [God] is the One who hath taught thee [the Bāb] the interpretation of the narratives [dreams] (tā'wīl al-aḥadīth, cf. Q.12:6a)

since thou hast, in very truth, willed the like of what We hath wondrously willed of the Truth.

[18]

و هو الّذی قد ارفع الهندسة من ذلك الباب اعزاز علی الباب كان اللّه علی كلّ شیء قديراً

He is the One [God] who hath raised aloft the letters of the alphabet (al-hindisa) through that Gate (al-bāb),

honoured indeed above the Gate (al-bāb). And God is Powerful over all things.

[19]

فاتّبعوا ما انزل اللّه اليكم بالحقّ فی شأن الذّكر جهرة بالحقّ الاكبر و علی الحقّ الاعظم سرّاً

Then follow ye that which God hath, in very truth, sent down unto thee (pl.) about the importance of the Remembrance (fī sha'n al-dhikr),

manifestly, as befits the Most Great Truth (al-ḥaqq al-akbar) and according to the mysterious Supreme Truth (al-ḥaqq al-a`ẓam sirr ^an).

[20]

فانّا نحن لانريد لانفسكم اّلا جنّة العدن من حول الرّضوان بالحقّ موجودا

 For yourselves We have desired naught but the Garden of Eden (jannat al-`adn) located, in very truth, in the vicinity of Riḍwān (Paradise).

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35]

[36]

[37]

[38]

[39]

[40]

[41]

[42]

 

 

 

______________________________________________

 

 

SELECT CRITICAL NOTES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

________________________________________________

       

[13] He [God], in very truth, is the One who existed independently of the mention of any other thing. He is One eternally Existent on whose level, in very truth, nothing exists. [14] He [God] is the One who hath taught thee [the Bāb] the interpretation of the narratives [dreams] (tā'wīl al-aḥadīth, cf. Q.12:6a) since thou hast, in very truth, willed the like of what We hath wondrously willed of the Truth. [15] He is the One [God] who hath raised aloft the letters of the alphabet (al-hindisa) through that Gate (al-bāb) , honoured indeed above the Gate (al-bāb). And God is Powerful over all things.

        [16] Then follow ye that which God hath, in very truth, sent down unto thee (pl.) about the importance of the Remembrance (fī sha'n al-dhikr), manifestly, as befits the Most Great Truth (al-ḥaqq al-akbar) and according to the mysterious Supreme Truth (al-ḥaqq al-a`ẓam sirr an). [17] For yourselves We have desired naught but the Garden of Eden (jannat al-`adn) located, in very truth, in the vicinity of Riḍwān (Paradise).

[18] By thy Lord! We, of a certainty, have not desired any reward from you as an expression of gratitude towards the Most Great Gate (al-bāb al-akbar), save that is, patience and meekness (al-ṣabr wa’l-`ajz) before God, the Exalted. And He, God is One Mighty, Worthy of Praise. [19] We, indeed have bountifully filled the lands with the grace of your Lord (fayḍ rabbikum), the All-Merciful. [20] We bestowed [favour] upon you just as We did when We originated you but naught do We recite in the Book of God except your rejection of Our numerous verses which come from the Remembrance (al-dhikr). [21] What is it with thee that thou art not in the least mindful of the need for remembrance before God, the True One? How is it that you disbelieve in God, seeing that you are dead? Thou, in very truth, know nothing about the knowledge of the Book. [22] He [God] is the One Who created you, then provided for you; then, if He wills it, He will cause you to die then bring you back to life again (cf. Q. 2:27-28). [23] What then is it with you? The Most-Great Word (al-kalimat al-akbar) is from God though you are fearful of a Day when no patron will at all avail any client (cf Q. 41:44).

        [24] Dominion (al-mulk), this Day of the True One, belongeth unto the All-Merciful, unto the family of God and unto their party (the Shī`īs) as, in very truth, is written in the Mother Book. [25] A Day [shall/hath come] when the Spirit (al-rūḥ) and the angels shall, by the leave of God, in very truth line up in an extended row around and above the Remembrance (al-dhikr). [26] None shall then enter the Garden save such as have a firm covenant (`ahd) suspended about their neck. [27] They have disbelieved who wickedly speak an evil word (kalimat al-sū') contrary to the Truth, [saying]: [28] `None shall enter the Garden save such as practise Judaism or be a Christian.'. By God! This is their [vain and] polytheistic desire. The judgement [regarding such unbelief] is made known in the Mother Book (Q. 2:111). [29] They shall encounter the All-Merciful according, in truth, to a manifest command of the True One. [30] Such persons will prove incapable and unable of performing either good or harm independently of the Remembrance (al-dhikr); except, that is, such as are permitted by the All-Merciful [to speak] and [who] utter, in truth, but a letter of what is right (ṣawāb an) about His Book which is of Our servant [ the Bāb] (Q.78:38).

 [31] "DO men imagine that We are far distant from the people of the world? Nay, the day We cause them to be assailed by the pangs of death (fn 1 = Q. 68:42) they shall, upon the plain of Resurrection, behold how the Lord of Mercy and His Remembrance were near. [32] Thereupon they shall exclaim: `Would that we had followed the path of the Bāb! Would that we had sought refuge only with Him, and not with men of perversity and error! For verily the Remembrance of God appeared before us, (fn 2 = Q. 7:63,69) behind us, and on all sides, yet we were, in very truth, shut out as by a veil from Him" (SWB: [QA VII]:46-47 versification added) ***

Old literalistic trans. of the above paragraph follows:

[31] Do the people imagine that We are remote from [the world of] creation? By no means! A Day will come when We shall lay bare the shin of their cupbearers (yukshaf sāq`an `an sāqīhum; cf. Q.68:42a) that the people might gaze upon the All-Merciful and His Remembrance when brought near in the land of the [eschatological] assembling. [32] Then they will say, `O would that we had taken a path with the Gate (al-bāb)! O would that we had not taken the Gate (al-bāb) which is of [mere] men, a place of return contrary to the Truth! [33] For, verily, the Remembrance (al-dhikr) hath assuredly come unto us, among us, behind us and even to our left, yet were we veiled from him!' (cf. Q.7:63, 69). (cf SWB:46-7).

 

CRITICAL NOTES

[15]

و هو الّذی كان ولا  يك* شیء معه علی الحقّ بالحقّ مذكوراً

He [God], in very truth, is the One who existed independently of the mention of any other thing.