COMMENTARY UPON

I have translated نخله طوبی nakhla[t]-i ṭūbā, "Blessed Palm-Tree" and رنّه ورقا rinnih-yi warqā, "Melody of the Dove". In describing himself as a "Palm-Tree" Bahā’-Allāh is probably alluding to Qur'ān 19: 23ff (cf. Qur'ān 13:28) where it is narrated that the Virgin Mary retired to a distant place and gave birth to Jesus near a palm-tree (nakhla) which subsequently (miraculously) provided her with ripe dates (cf. Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew XX.lff). The "Blessed Palm-Tree" may be thought of as a symbol of prophethood; the tree of reality which proffers the `fruit' of spiritual nourishment.

In certain Shī`ī traditions (ḥadīth) and in the writings of such Sufi thinkers as Ibn al-`Arabī (d. 638 / 1240), the palm-tree (nakhla) is given a variety of esoteric meanings. Created from the surplus clay from which Man / Adam was made and being feminine in Arabic the nakhla is, for the Great Shaykh, symbolic of the Celestial Earth, the Divine Feminine, "Adam's Sister", the Mystic Eve. In the VIIIth book of his al-Futūḥāt al-makkīya ("Meccan Openings/Revelations" ) he writes:

The ninth Sūrat al-sirr ("The Sūra of the Mystery" on Q. 12:8) of the Qayyum al-asma' of the Bab contains lines based upon the 19th sūra of the Qur’ān in which the Bāb seems to identify himself as one named `Alī with the sacred نخله (“Palm-Tree”), laden with the “fresh dates” of divine guidance;

Both the Bāb and Bahā’-Allāh frequently refer to themselves as a ورقا warqā' (loosely) "Dove" ( actually female pigeon); that is, an heavenly bird that coos on the branches of the celestial Tree (i.e. reveals heavenly verses). The invitation to `Behold the Melody of the Dove!' is an invitation to experience the verses revealed by Bahā’-Allāh.

The second hemistich of line 12 indicates that the revelation of Bahā’-Allāh the غنّه ابهی ghunna-yi abhā', the "All-Glorious Lament [Song]" , rains down from the lam`-i safā' , the "Brilliancy of Purity" (alternatively, `Glittering / Flashing / Splendour / Shinlng of the Limpidity / Clearness / Felicity / Serenity -- it is unlikely that is here indicative of the mountain near Mecca. As the (Arabic) superlative of bahā' (= "glory / glorious") abhā' indicates the person of Bahā’-Allāh or the nature of the "Lament [Song] which derives from him -- could be translated "Lament [Song] of the All-Glorious"). Theلمع صفا flows down from that (heavenly) sphere which radiates the "Brilliancy of Purity" (?).

Observe the Iraqi Harmony! Behold the Hijazi Tambourine!

     ahang-i `iraqī bīn, daff-i ḥijāzī bīn.

            Bahā’-Allāh here represents himself as communicating the ADD āhang-i `iraqī, "Iraqi Melody" and the دفّ حجازی daff-i ḥijāzi "Hijazi Tambourine (`Drumbeat’) the heavenly melody and rhythm the like of which was produced in, belongs to, or is expressive of Iraq and the Hijaz (= Ottoman Iraq [`iraq-i ajam + `iraq-i `arab] and Mecca, Medina and the adjacent territories). His person and revelation communicate the highest good symbolized by the most blessed Islamic regions. The Hijaz was, of course, the scene of the mission of the Prophet Muhammad. Iraq harbours the shrines of Imam `Ali (Najaf), Imām Husayn (Karbala), Imām Mūsā and Imām Muhammad Taqī (Kazimayn) and Imām `Alī Naqī and Imam Hasan Askarī (Samarra).

            In several of his later writings Bahā’-Allāh, in various ways, describes himself as `Hijazi' and `Iraqi'. With his exile to Iraq (Baghdad) such ways of referring to himself took on a concrete dimension. In his Lawḥ-i Madinat al-Tawḥīd (late Baghdad period) he, at one point writes:

"Hearken [on this] Day [in which] the [eschatological] Caller (al-munād) crieth out in the midst of the immortal realm and the Dove of Hijaz [= Bahā’-Allāh] warbleth in the region of Iraq (fī shatr al-`iraq) summoning all unto concord..." (Text in Mā’idih 4: 326-7).

            In the 17th line of his Halih Halih Halih yā bishārat (1862-3), possibly alluding to his exile from Iran to Iraq, Bahā’-Allāh states:

“This Hijazi Falcon came with `Iraqi accents from the forearm of the Shāh (or King)." (Text inGanj 34.).

            In the Persian section of his Lawḥ-i bulbul al-firāq (`”Tablet of the Nightingale of Separation”; mid 1863 This Table was written at the time of Bahā’i’llāh’s departure from Baghdad to Constantinople. it may be noted at this point, Bahā’-Allāh reminds his devotees that he had, in his earlier Tablets (alwāḥ) anticipated that the "Iraqi Bird" (ṭair-i `iraqī) = Bahā’-Allāh) which sings with the "Melody of Hijaz" (ahang-i ḥijāz) would hasten on elsewhere or sing out in another accent.(i.e. leave Iraq) ( Ibid.: 44. cf. also Bahā’-Allāh, Lawh-i Gull-i Ma`nawī in AQA. Vol, 4. pp. 326-8).

           In place of   "Behold the Hijazi Tambourine”, INBMC appears to read   ADD "Behold the Rhythmic Drumbeat!" (reading: daff-i nawā'ī or alternatively `Melodious Tambourine.').



[13b]

كف الهی بين كز جذبه لا ميريزد

See thou that the Rapture of "No" ( lā' ) rains down from the Divine Hand!

     Kaff-i ilāhi bīn; k-[a]z jadhbih-yi lā mīrīzad.

            The second hemistich of the 13th line of the Rashḥ-i `amā'   literally indicates that the    jadhba' lā (loosely) "Rapture of لا   (lā' ) flows down "from" the "Divine Hand"   kaff-i ilāhī [lit. "Divine Palm (of the Hand)]).

          What exactly is here meant by the ¼ £I YO is not obvious. If the  لا is a cipher for      Lāhūt (cf. line 6) the rapture of heavenly beings might be intended ("”Lā" being the first two letters of Lāhūt = the celestial realm of the Divine theohany). It is more likely however, that  لا "La" is the Arabic particle of negation which stands at the beginning of the Kalimat al-ṭawḥīd,    ADD .. La ilāha illa' anā = "No god is there except ADD add “Divine Hand [Palm]" for ADD kaff, is used in Bahā’-Allāh's writings (as doubtless in the Rashḥ-i `amā' here) in order to indicate the "Snow-White Hand" of Moses who, on Sinai, heard the declaration of Divinity (cf. line 16 and the note).

            The motif of the miraculous `snow-white' palm or hand is Sinaitic as is that of God's voicing his absolute Divinity which is indicated by "Lā". Bahā’-Allāh apparently conflates the white brightness of Moses' "palm" with the Sinaitic Fire from which the declaration of Divinity was heard -- mystically speaking the interior being or "heart" of Moses himself, the locus of "Divinity" in exalted Prophets. There is a connection between the `snow-white' palm' motif and the declaration of Divinity (see further below on line 16. cf. Bahā’-Allāh, Baz Av Bidih Jāmī` (Ma'idah 4: 186-7) line 10 (p.187); Qasīda al-warqā'īya (in ibid. pp. 197-209) line 43 (p.201); Qur'ān 20:14).

            As far as I am aware the only other use of theلا Lā (= "No") in Bahā’-Allāh's writings comparable to its occurrence in line 13 of the Rashḥ-i `amā' is in the 11th line of the Halih.. yā bishārat;

ADD

            "This Song of the Spirit came to the lovers from the Nightingale of Lā"

(Ishrāq Khāvarī, Ganj-i Shāyīgān: 34).

            Bahā’-Allāh apparently speaks of his coming with the "Song of the Spirit" from the "Nightingale of Lā". It may be that he is to be thought of as the "Nightingale of Lā" which utters the "Song of the Spirit" in order to attract the "lovers" (= the Bābīs) to himself. Since Sinaitic imagery clusters around line 11 (see lines 10 and 12) his song may be "No god is there except Me" (or the like) indicated by the use of لاLā".

            Lying behind Bahā'-Allāh's use of   لا "Lá'" (= "No") in the Rashḥ-i `amā’ and the Halih..Yā bishārat is the cryptic and mystical use of this Arabic particle in classical Sufi poetry. In her Mystical Dimensions of Islam, Schimmel writes:

.Special importance is attributed [in Sufi poetry] to the connection lām-alif, lá, which if read لاas one word, means lā "no", and is thus the first word of the [Islamic] profession of faith. The lām-alif, though combined of two letters, was often regarded as a single letter and endowed with special mystical meaning. It is most commonly a metaphor for the closely embracing lovers who are two and one at the same time. Because of its shape the letters lām-alif or the word lā   لا has often been compared to a sword, particularly the dhu'l-fiqār, `Alí's famous two-edged sword, or to scissors: "I made mute the tongue of speaking with the scissors of lā" (B [=Rúzbihán Baqlí, "Sharh-i Shahiyat,".. Ed. H. Corbin (Tehran & Paris 1966), paragraph] 196). The believer is expected to cut all but God with the sword of lā, i.e., with the sword of the shahāda, "there is no deity but God." Whatever is created should be destroyed by the powerful sword of lā, "no". That is, however, only the first step in the path of the Muslim mystic -- he has to go upward (bā lā), to reach the illā, "save God" which is achieved, in Arabic writing, by putting an alif before the lā لا ..." (Schimmel 1978:419)

            The same writer in the course of clarifying an aspect of the theology of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī explains that the,

.. constant tension between negation and affirmation, of being naughted and being quickened, was symbolized by many Sufis, and thus by Rúmí, in the words of the profession of faith. The    ADD      لا   formula lá iláha illá Alláh `There is no deity but God' offered itself to the poets and mystics as the best, indeed a Divine symbol for expressing their spiritual journey. The lá points to the negation of everything besides God, including man's own wishes and ambitions, his own self; it is a fiery word which indeed `burns the two worlds' [Diwan 155/1768]. The poet [Rumi] therefore calls man to dig out his heart and cast the net of the heart into the ocean of lá [Mathnawi VI. 1376]...Rumi may also speak of the torrent `lá' which carries away joy and pain, gain and loss, fear and hope, body and soul [Diwan 152/1743]. But this..is only the preparatory stage: Who knows God (iláh)? Someone who is saved from the lá. And who goes from the lá, say? The lover who has experienced afflication, (balá) [Diwan 2406/ 25415].

Love is the power which annihilates everything in the world. This is expressed in rather strong language in the story of the Queen of Sheba

Gardens and castles and the water of the river became before the eye like an ash-house through love, Love in the moment of overpowering and anger makes lovely things hideous for the eye. The jealousy of love makes every emerald look like a leek: that is the inner meaning of lá. [Mathnawí IV. 865]

The very moment man is captured by Divine love, he sees nothing but God, everything is negated, cut off, swept away; only the Beloved --illa Alláh remains. Then the lover will `cut the head of the lá, and reach the illá' [Diwan 212/ 2372], or will ask the beloved to consider him to be a lá and to transform him into an illá [Diwan 1912/20116] i.e. to see him as nothing and bring him to true exiatence in and through God...

     Rumi praises Shams al-Din saying:

Whoever found help from your hand, became an illá'í (a positive affirmant of God) without the vestige of lá; [Diwan 2725/ 28944]

but in another verse he calls himself `intoxicated by negation, not by positive affirmation' [Diwan 336/ 3640], which shows, once again, his inconsistency in the use of images, which change according to his spiritual stage." (Schimmel 1980:320-1; see also 185, 308-9;315, 351).

As one point in her As Throuigh A Veil Schimmel also writes,

“The predilection of mystical poets for contrasting pairs of concepts shows itself also in another frequently used phrase, namely the bipartite profession of faith, lā ilāha illā Allāh. This formula is used by many Sufi orders as dhikr, and has been connected by lbn `Arabi with Divine breathing: lā ilāha, "there is no deity" is the existentialization of the world which is outside God, and illā Allāh, "save God," is the taking back of the   Divine breath into the eternal and unchangeable Divine essence. In the poets' eyes, lā, which looks in its graphic form like `Ali's famous two-edged sword Dhu'l-fiqar, or like scissors or a broom, serves to clean the heart from everything that is not God, for the full realization of mystical tauhīd was the goal of all mystical poets. Therefore the lā was even compared, by Jami, to a crocodile which swallows everything that is not God.

After "cleaning the house with the broom of 'no'" the poets recognized God everywhere, as their favorite Koranic phrase states: ''Whithersoever ye turn there is the Face of God" (Sura 2/l09). This experience (or, in many cases, the imitation of this experience) led the poets to sing that God manifests Himself under different guises, as the color of the bottle colors the water in it, an image Junaid had used and 'Attar had repeated in a fine passage in the Ushturnāma..” [`Attar, Ushturnāma, 137-9] (Schimmel 1982:59-60).

            Also lying behind Bahā’-Allāh's use of لا lā (“no”) in the Rashḥ-i `amā'   are a variety of complex qabbalistic passages in the writings of the Bāb -- associated لا "Lā" with (for example) the kalimat al-tawḥīd (which contains three different letters -- alif, lām and hā', the lām following the alif   = the source of all the letters and being followed by hā'   which can symbolize the temple of prophethood) and also begins with لا "Lā" (= "No"). which lies at the heart of hia qabbalistic system and enshrines the alphabetic potencies which are the locus of prophethood -- the letter alif; --Alif, the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, is the gematric primogenitor (its abjad value is one) of all the other letters. Lām is its primary manifestation in the all-highest realm. cf. the Qur'ānic disconnected letters ADD = Alif. Lām. Mīm.the period Moses spent on Mount Sinai (see Qur'ān 7:142 and for example, the Bāb, Tafsīr sūrat wa'l-asr in INBMC 69:41; Tafsīr sūrat   al-kawthar, Browne Coll: MS. Or.F.10[7]), fol.19(b) the Christian derivation of the symbol of the cross (seen as an heretical image of God as "the third of three") and a host of arcane mysteries surrounding the gematric significances of the letter add "L" (Lām). Details cannot be gone into here. The reader is referred to the Bāb's comments on the letter ADD lām of   ADD li-rabbika   (= "to the Lord", Qur'ān 108:2) and its association with   لا "Lā" in the Tafsīr sūrat al-kawthar.

            Understood in the light of the Sufi use of لا   lā “no” -- certainly reflected in the Bāb's qabbalistic interpretations of the kalimat al-tawḥd -- the second hemistich of line 13 of the Rashḥ-i `amā’ could be understood in a variety of ways:

a) The ADD لا "Rapture of lā"   is that of Bahā'-Allāh himself, as a lover perfectly united with the Beloved or one before whom all else is mystically annihilated. His spiritual ecstacy derives from the "Divine Hand" which is symbolic of the sphere of the affirmation of Divinity. It is important to note that the ADD    derives from the ADD kaff-i ilāhī , the sphere of `affirmation', indicated by the use of ilāhī (“divine”/ ”Divinity”/”God”).

b) the "rapture of lā" is that of the lovers (Bābīs), those in the `sphere of negation' whose spiritual love and mystic nullification is fuelled by the person of Bahā'-Allāh as the "Divine Hand"; the Divinity before whom all are `annihilated'.

        It is of considerable interest that INBMC reads ADD jadhba ' thā, "the Rapture of thā'" and not ADD "the Rapture of Lā". If this is the correct reading or that of an early (alternative) version of line 13 (second hemistich) of the Rashh-i `amā' it is most likely an allusion to the leadership role of the Bāb or his appointee Mīrzā Yaḥyā Nūrī (c. 1830-1912) Bahā’-Allāh's half-brother -- he was appointed by the Bāb and generally considered to be the (nominal) leader of the Bābī community after the Bāb's martyrdom in 1850. Yaḥyā was initially supported in this role by by Bahā’-Allāh. He was referred to by the Bāb as al-thamara = "the Fruit [of the Dispensation of the Bayān]". Since the first letter of thamara is thā' ( BM ) Yaḥyā used this letter as a means of self-identification. In his early Kitāb al-wāhid (early 1850's?) he very frequently refers to himself as al-thā'. (On the Kitāb al-wāhid and the use of the see Appendix.)

      Assuming that ADD jadhba ' thā, thā' is an early reading and does allude to the person of Mīrzā Yaḥyā the second hemistich of line 13 -- which could be translated, "See thou that the Rapture of thā' raineth down from the Divine Hand [Palm]" -- might mean-:

a) Bahā’-Allāh acknowledges the leadership role of Mirza Yahya whose revealed verses originate in the Sinaitic heights, the "Divine Hand [Palm".

b) As the half-brother and (outwardly -- in the early 1850's) mouthpiece of Yahya, Bahā’-Allāh alludes to himself as the ADD whose revealed verses originate in the Sinaitic heights, the "Divine Hand [Palm]"

c) Bahā’-Allāh expresses his superiority to Yaḥyā by alluding to himself as the real "Fruit" of the Bayān or the "Divine Hand [Palm]" which is the Sinaitic source of Yaḥyā's inspiration.

        Only further research will suggest which of these possibilities might be correct -- assuming of course that XXXX is not a late (post-1850's) Azalī interpolation, unlikely though this is, and that   BM   is not used in the general sense of thamara without there being allusion to Yaḥyā's person. Important in this respect would be the examination of more Mss. of the Rashḥ-i `amā': bearing in mind possible scribal errors, divergent reidings originating in oral transmission and/or the existence of several recensions of the Rashḥ-i `amā' originating with Bahā’-Allāh himself.

From the outset and elsewhere in the opening lines of Rumī's Mathnawī there is considerable utilization of the imagery of the Persian-flute (nāy).