"O Beauty of the All-Glorious! Shouldst Thou chance upon this people and enter their presence, recount unto them that which this Youth hath related unto Thee concerning Himself and the things that have befallen Him, that they may come to know what hath been inscribed upon the Preserved Tablet. Acquaint them with the tidings of this Youth, and with the trials and tribulations He hath suffered, that they may become mindful of Mine afflictions, and be of them that understand. Recount, then, unto them how We singled out for Our favour one of Our brothers, [Mirza Yahya] how We imparted unto him a dewdrop from the fathomless ocean of knowledge, clothed him with the garment of one of Our Names, and exalted him to such a station that all were moved to extol him, and how We so protected him from the harm of the malevolent as to disarm even the mightiest amongst them."
Comments:
• Paragraphs 1.25 to 1.30 appear to be about the difficulties that Baha’u’llah’s ungrateful half-brother Mirza Yaha caused Him.
• Recalling Paragraphs 1.23 – 1.25 about the existence of certain “people” whose “faces shine as brightly as the sun in its noontide splendour”, “who praise and extol their Lord”, who “were not enjoined [by God] to prostrate themselves before Adam”, whose very “existence … hath remained concealed from the eyes of all who, from everlasting, have been created through the Word of God”, and who Baha’u’llah promises “Erelong shall God make manifest … upon the earth”, and “through them shall exalt His name, diffuse His signs, uphold His words, and proclaim His verses …” -- to these people Baha’u’llah is being directed to do the following , should He happen to see them and to “enter their presence”:
o to “recount unto them …. concerning Himself and the things that have befallen Him”;
o to “Acquaint them with the tidings of this Youth”; and
o to Acquaint them “with the trials and tribulations He hath suffered.”
Since Baha’u’llah mentions earlier that God will soon “make manifest” these special “people” “upon the earth”, it makes one wonder in what dimensions of reality was Baha’u’llah referring to when He mentions His chances of meeting these special souls.
• In this paragraph we also come across the phrase: ‘the Preserved Tablet’. The fact that the Manifestation of God is being directed to let those special “people” know about “what hath been inscribed upon the Preserved Tablet” makes one wonder what this Preserved Tablet is, what information is being kept in it and what is its impact on each of us in this life and the life after? Let’s explore the Writings a bit to see in what context this phrase is used:
o From the Bab:
O Thou Mother of the Remembrance! May the peace and salutation of God rest upon thee. Indeed thou hast endured patiently in Him Who is the sublime Self of God. Recognize then the station of thy Son Who is none other than the mighty Word of God. He hath verily pledged Himself to be answerable for thee both in thy grave and on the Judgement Day, while thou hast, in the Preserved Tablet of God, been immortalized as the ‘Mother of the Faithful’ by the Pen of His Remembrance. (The Bab, Selections of the Writings of the Bab, p. 52)
o From Baha’u’llah:
Ye seek to prove your faith in God through such holy Tablets as ye possess, yet when the verses of God were revealed and His Lamp was lighted, ye disbelieved in Him Whose very Pen hath fixed the destinies of all things in the Preserved Tablet. (Baha’u’llah, Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 1.10)
Blessed are the poor that are steadfast in patience, and woe betide the rich that hold back Huququ’llah and fail to observe that which is enjoined upon them in His Preserved Tablet. (Baha’u’llah, compilation on Huququllah, p.25)
Whoso dealeth dishonestly with God will in justice be exposed, and whoso fulfilleth the things he hath been commanded, divine blessings will descend upon him from the heaven of the bounty of his Lord, the Bestower, the Bountiful, the Most Generous, the Ancient of Days. Verily He desireth for you the things that are inscrutable to you at present, though the people themselves will readily discover them when their souls take their flight and the trappings of their earthly gaieties are rolled up. Thus warneth you the Author of the Preserved tablet. (Baha’u’llah, compilation on Huququllah, p.7)
For your glory consisteth not in your sovereignty, but rather in your nearness unto God and your observance of His command as sent down in His holy and preserved Tablets. (Baha'u'llah, Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 5.4)
Great is thy blessedness inasmuch as thou hast been faithful to the Covenant of God and His Testament and for thy being honoured with this Tablet through which thy name is recorded in My Preserved Tablet. Dedicate thyself to the service of the Cause of thy Lord, cherish His remembrance in thy heart and celebrate His praise in such wise that every wayward and heedless soul may thereby be roused from slumber. (Baha’u’llah, Tablets of Baha’u’llah, p. 262)
o From Abdu’l-Baha:
When, however, thou dost contemplate the innermost essence of all things, and the individuality of each, thou wilt behold the signs of thy Lord’s mercy in every created thing, and see the spreading rays of His Names and Attributes throughout all the realm of being, with evidences which none will deny save the froward and the unaware. Then wilt thou observe that the universe is a scroll that discloseth His hidden secrets, which are preserved in the well-guarded Tablet. And not an atom of all the atoms in existence, not a creature from amongst the creatures but speaketh His praise and telleth of His attributes and names, revealeth the glory of His might and guideth to His oneness and His mercy: and none will gainsay this who hath ears to hear, eyes to see, and a mind that is sound. (‘Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, p. 41)
o From Shoghi Effendi
The last, but in rank the first, of these Letters to be inscribed on the Preserved Tablet was the erudite, the twenty-two year old Quddus, a direct descendant of the Imam Hasan and the most esteemed disciple of Siyyid Kazim. (Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 7)
• So, with reference to the above quotes it appears that the Preserved Table:
o Contains the names of the believers in each Dispensation;
o Contains the “destinies of all things” “fixed” by the “Pen” of the Manifestation of God;
o Contains the Laws of God;
o It’s Author is the Manifestation of God;
o That, there are “preserved Tablets” – so there is more than one!
o That, when a believer was honored by becoming a recipient of a Tablet from the Manifestation of God, their name became “recorded” in the Preserved Tablet; and
o That metaphorically speaking, the “universe” is like a “scroll” disclosing God’s “hidden secrets, which are preserved in the well-guarded Tablet.”
o It should also be mentioned that in the book entitled the Revelation of Baha’u’llah Volume 2, Adib Taherzadeh defines the Preserved Tablet as “a symbol for the knowledge of God Who 'knoweth all things and is known of none’”
• It’s also very educational to note how in this paragraph Baha’u’llah describes the care, attention, and protection that He provided for His younger half-brother in the years prior to his final open rebellion.
