Say: We have revealed Our verses in nine different modes. Each one of them bespeaketh the sovereignty of God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. A single one of them sufficeth for a proof unto all who are in the heavens and on the earth; yet the people, for the most part, persist in their heedlessness. Should it be Our wish, We would reveal them in countless other modes.
Comments
• It’s so remarkable that in this paragraph Baha’u’llah brings to our attention the fact that the “verses” of God could be “revealed” in a variety of “modes”. Ordinarily one wouldn’t even think of this attribute of Divine Revelation.
• Having gained this insight, we become further aware that each of these “modes” is indicative of, and points to, the “sovereignty of God”.
• In the ‘The Revelation of Baha'u'llah vol. 1’ by Adib Taherzadeh, we find the following useful information concerning these “nine different modes”:
In the Suriy-i-Haykal (Surih of the Temple) revealed in 'Akká, Bahá'u'lláh states that in this Dispensation the verses of God have been revealed in nine different styles or categories. A well-known Bahá'í scholar, Jinab-i-Fadil-i-Mazindarani, after careful study of the Writings, has enumerated these styles as follows:
1. Tablets with the tone of command and authority.
2. Those with the tone of servitude, meekness and supplication.
3. Writings dealing with interpretation of the old Scriptures, religious beliefs and doctrines of the past.
4. Writings in which laws and ordinances have been enjoined for this age and laws of the past abrogated.
5. Mystical Writings.
6. Tablets concerning matters of government and world order, and those addressed to the kings.
7. Tablets dealing with subjects of learning and knowledge, divine philosophy, mysteries of creation, medicine, alchemy, etc.
8. Tablets exhorting men to education, goodly character and divine virtues.
9. Tablets dealing with social teachings. (Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah v 1, p. 42)
• Further background information concerning the “modes” of Revelation is provided by Nader Saiedi in two of his books, ‘Logos and Civilization’, and ‘Gate of the Heart’. These books help us understand how the “modes” were represented in the two religions preceding Baha’u’llah’s – four “modes” in the Islamic Dispensation and five in the Dispensation of the Báb. These provide fascinating insights concerning some of the subtleties of the Kingdom of Revelation.
• From ‘Logos and Civilization’:
According to the Qur'án, heaven has four "rivers" -- of pure water, milk, honey, and wine. [Qur'án 47:15] In His analysis of this Qur'ánic statement The Báb makes it clear that "heaven" is nothing less than the new dispensation of revelation and the "rivers" are different modes of revelation. In the "heaven" or revelation of Islam, the words of God were revealed in four modes, each representing one of the heavenly rivers. The mode of verses ({ayat}) is the mode of direct revelation, when God speaks directly as God. This is the most important mode of revelation and corresponds to the immediate nature of the Primal Will, in which none is seen save God. For that reason "verses" is used both as a description of this specific mode as well as a description of the totality of the modes of revelation. [The Báb, Persian Bayan 2.14.] The Qur'án is revealed in the mode of verses. Another mode is that of prayer ({munajat}). In this mode, the Word is revealed in the form of supplication. As this mode addresses God, it is spoken in the voice of a human being, and the Word of God is revealed indirectly. The mode of commentaries ({tafasir}), including sermons, emphasizes the interpretation of other words of God. Finally, the mode of rational and educational discourse ({suvar-i-'ilmiyyih}) offers scientific, philosophical, and rational arguments in support of divine truth. In the Paradise of the Bayan, we find five modes of revelation. In addition to the previous four, there is a "Persian" mode, unique to the Bábí dispensation, in which the Word is revealed in Persian, rather than in Arabic. (Nader Saiedi, Logos and Civilization, pp. 297-298)
• From ‘Gate of the Heart’:
Kitáb-i-Panj Sha'n (Book of the Five Modes of Revelation). One of the last major works of the Báb, this book was written within the first days of the spring of 1850, the final year of the Báb's life, three or four months before His martyrdom. Panj Sha'n consists of nineteen chapters, each dealing with one of the names of God, corresponding to the first nineteen days of the year, that is, the days of the month of Baha (Glory). These names also correspond to the nineteen figures of the Bábí Primal Unity. Panj Sha'n explains many fundamental spiritual concepts such as nearness to God, light, beauty, and unity. Each chapter was written in honour of one of the Bábís, and the chapters can all be considered as independent tablets as well.
The Báb's interpretation is {interpretive revelation}. In interpretive revelation, the relation of the interpreted text and the interpreting text is qualitatively different from the relation between those two texts in a scholarly interpretation. Understanding this fact is a key to comprehending some of the enigmatic aspects of the early writings of the Báb. Yet, even before discussing the hermeneutical principles operating in the Báb's interpretive works, we must locate interpretation, as a mode of writing, within the overall typology of the modes of revelation found in the Báb's writings and examine how these different modes are related to those of the Islamic Dispensation.
A significant portion of the writings of the Báb is devoted to discussion of the typology of the modes of revelation ({shu'un-i-ayat}) in which His works are written. This emphasis on the modes themselves is not a mere exercise in classification; it plays an important role in the structure of meaning that defines the writings of the Báb. The Báb connects the typology itself to many other metaphysical and theological matters and derives far-reaching conclusions from His analysis. Aside from the fact that understanding the typology, as we shall see, resolves any doubt about the Báb's real claim and station as those are expressed in His earlier writings, it must be noted that, as the typology of the Logos -- the creative divine Word through which all things are called into being -- these various modes of revelation are the constitutive principles of reality. Thus the modes themselves are keys for understanding the metaphysics, theology, and indeed the entire world view of the Báb.
The Islamic Revelation, as the Báb explains, was characterized by four modes of revelation: divine verses ({ayat}), prayers and supplications ({munajat, ad'iyih}), commentaries and sermons ({tafasir, khutab}), and rational, educational, and philosophical discourse ({shu'un-i-'ilmiyyih va hikamiyyah}), while the Báb's revelation consisted of five modes, four of which parallel the four Islamic modes.[ In various expressions of the typology of the modes of revelation, the Báb uses "sermon" and "interpretation" interchangeably. "Sermon" ({khutbih}) is repeatedly distinguished from prayer, divine verses, rational discourse, and Persian mode. In Panj Sha'n, the word "commentary" ({tafsir}) is distinguished from "sermon." However, in that instance commentaries are actually rational discourses. The reason, as we will see shortly, is that rational discourses are themselves actually commentaries on prayers.] In linguistic terms, the modes of revelation can be understood, in part, as different {registers}, as they are defined by the relationship, relative station, and attitude of the speaker with respect to the addressee. The mode of divine verses is the direct revelation of God, uttered in the voice of God as the speaker addressing His creation (an affirmation of "I am God"). This mode employs the language of divinity, ascendancy, and lordship. In this mode God declares, for example: "Verily, I am God and there is none other God but Me, the Lord of all things. Verily, all else other than Me is My creation. Therefore, O My creation, adore Me alone!" [The Báb, Persian Bayan 13] The word "Say!" -- often encountered in the Qur'án -- distinctively precedes the utterance of revelation in the mode of divine verses, as the voice of God tells the Prophet to speak, as in this example: "Say! The verses of God are like unto life-giving water sent down out of the heaven of His Primal Will upon the earth of your nearness to Him...." [The Báb, {Kitábu'l-Asma'}, INBA 29:384-85]
The mode of prayers and supplications is the reverse of the mode of divine verses. Here the language of revelation is uttered in the voice of the Prophet, but now speaking in the station of the creation, addressing the Creator with an attitude of servitude and effacement (an affirmation of "Thou art God"). This mode emphasizes the poverty and powerlessness of the creatures before their Creator; for example: "I bear witness by Thee, O My God, even as Thou didst bear witness unto Thyself, before the creation of Thy Primal Will, that verily Thou art God, the Peerless, the Single, the Self-Subsisting, the Eternal, the Everlasting. Thou has ever been independent of any description by anyone beside Thee, and Thou wilt remain forever without the praise of anyone other than Thyself." [The Báb, {Ad'iyi-i-Haftigi}, INBA 58:92]
The discourse of prayer is fundamentally an expression of servitude and love -- the love of the created being for God, as exemplified in this passage:
Glorified be Thou, O my God! How sweet, therefore, is Thy praise in my inner and outer being; and how abounding are Thy favours in my hidden and manifest states. Thou art He Who hath taught Me Thy Self through Thy Self, inspired me with Thy Remembrance through thy Remembrance, and called me to Thyself through Thy Holy Countenance. Were it not for Thee, I would cease to exist; and were it not for Thy confirmations, I would not have attained any glory. [The Báb, {Ad'iyi-i-Haftigi}, INBA 58:89-90]
The mode of commentaries and sermons primarily expresses affirmation of the words of God. Commentaries and sermons are uttered in the voice of the Revelator speaking to human beings about God and His words (an affirmation of "He is God"). The commentaries are interpretative works that aim to explain, in expository form, the true meanings of the divine verses, as in this example: "Know thou that verily every 'food' is a reminder of something delightful. But when it is joined with the true meaning of 'all' it referreth to the reality which containeth and embraceth everything. That, however, can only be realized in the Point of the Primal Will, inasmuch as verily all the created manifestations are indeed hidden within It." [The Báb, "Tafsir-i-Kullu't-Ta'am," Collection, pp. 220-21]
The sermons praise and describe transcendental spiritual realities that are the cosmic manifestations of the Word. Often the Báb begins a work with a brief or lengthy sermon that endeavours to connect the reader's heart and consciousness to the divine verities. For example:
Praised be God, Who hath caused, through the pattern of His Signs of Power, all that is vibrant to vibrate in the branches of the concourse of the Heaven of Divinity. And praise be to God, Who hath caused, through the evidences of His Will, the beingness of all beings to be revealed within the branches of the concourse of the Heaven of the Manifestations. And praise be to God, Who hath, through the revelation of the mysterious depths of His earthly and heavenly Signs, caused all that is radiant to radiate in the Station of His Determination. [The Báb, "Fi's-Suluk II," Collection p. 452]
The fourth mode of revelation -- rational, educational, and philosophical discourse -- is again spoken in the voice of the Redeemer addressing human beings, but this time using rational arguments to demonstrate the truth of the Word of God and explain the message expressed in the prayers (an affirmation of "He is God Who is"). The fundamental function of this mode is to analyze the phenomenal world and to link it to the transcendental realm, as in this passage:
Verily hath God created within thyself the similitude of all that He hath fashioned in creation, that thou mayest not be veiled from any effulgence. Verily God hath generated within thy being the entirety of His manifestations. He hath ordained that His home be the heart of His servant; by it the reality of existence shall be recognized, and the Fashioner of men be praised, and the bounty of existence pour forth through His ever-flowing Pen. [The Báb, "Fi's-Sulki II, " Collection p. 461.]
The purpose of this mode is to show the signs of the unseen within the visible realm, and to prove the world of divinity and dominion through its manifestations in the earthly world, as in this example:
For verily the soul, while bound by the ephemeral and transitory things of this world, is confined, in its understanding, to limited phenomena only. However, once the soul hath soared beyond the realm of nature and becometh submerged in the ocean of absolute unity, then can it acquire the capacity to discern the reality of all sciences and knowledge in their full plenitude. Thus 'Ali said: "O Lord! Submerge me in the reviving ocean of Thy unity and the fathomless depths of the sea of Thy oneness." [The Báb, {Tablet to Mirza Sa'id}, INBA 14:428]
This mode frequently employs logical argumentation and analysis:
Verily, that which hath forced some philosophers to conceive of the presence of the eternal intelligible forms ({a'yani'th-thabitah}) in the Essence of God, and the doctrine of the True Indivisible Being, was their desire to validate the concept of the knowledge of God, magnified be His station! For they stated that knowledge must needs have an object of knowledge, and hence the affirmation of divine knowledge indicateth the existence of pluralities within the Essence of God. [The Báb, {Tablet to Mirza Sa'id}, INBA 14:430.]
To these four modes of revelation, which were present in the Islamic Dispensation, the Báb adds a fifth, which He designates the "Persian mode." In the Islamic Dispensation the Arabic language was the sole language of revelation, but the Báb employs both Arabic and Persian as vehicles of revelation. The Báb distinguishes His Persian writings as a distinct mode of revelation although the content of these works may be any of the four modes: divine verses, prayers, commentaries/sermons, or rational discourse. The Persian mode of revelation thus represents the integrative form of the other four modes.
In His writings, the Báb often discusses the typology of the modes of revelation as a vehicle that in itself is richly symbolic. For example, in the Persian Bayan we read:
Whatever is revealed by the Point hath been designated as the "Bayan." However, this name referreth in its primary reality to the divine verses, and in its secondary reality to prayers, third to commentaries, fourth to educational forms, and fifth to the Persian words. Yet, this exalted appellation, on the basis of its intrinsic worth, solely denoteth the divine verses to the exclusion of all others. [The Báb, Persian Bayan 3:17.]
As such, the merging of the five rivers should not be permitted: thus, divine verses should remain within their own sublimity, prayers in their own loftiness, commentaries in their own seat of glory, words [of knowledge] in their own sacred horizon, and the Persian words in their own inaccessible and exalted heights. [The Báb, Persian Bayan 3:16.]
[I]n this Dispensation, the writings of the Letters of the Living all proceed directly from the Sun of Truth Himself. Divine verses especially pertain to the Point of the Bayan, prayers pertain to the Messenger of God [Muhammad], commentaries to the Imams of guidance, and educational discourse ({suvar-i-'ilmiyyih}) to the Gates. However, all of these proceed from this Ocean so that all people can behold the exalted sublimity of these Writings of the Primal Truth. [The Báb, Persian Bayan 3:16.]
This classification of the divine writings into either four or five modes of revelation is the basis on which many of the later works of the Báb are organized. Two major examples of such works are the Kitábu'l-Asma' (Book of Divine Names), and Panj Sha'n (Five Modes of Revelation). The Kitábu'l-Asma' discusses the meanings and implications of various names of God. Generally each name is discussed in four different chapters, and each chapter is written in a different mode of revelation. The title of the other work, Panj Sha'n (Five Modes), indicates its organizational structure: it discusses nineteen names of God, each of which is explained through five modes of revelation.[According to the Báb's own dating, at least seventeen of the nineteen parts definitely were revealed. In the published version of the book, twelve parts are present. The rest are yet to be located.] (Nader Saiedi-1, Gate of the Heart, pp. 36, and 40-43)
• Perhaps once all of the Writings of Baha’u’llah have been collated, translated into English and published worldwide, Baha’i scholars will undertake humble attempts to correlate them to these “nine different modes” – possibly as identified by Jinab-i-Fadil-i-Mazindarani. Hopefully our reflections on these “modes” will further increase our love and appreciation for God’s latest Manifestation for our age!
• It’s also noteworthy that Baha’u’llah indicates that if it was His “wish” He could have revealed His Writings in “countless other modes”! An amazing statement, especially when one recognizes the number of “modes” already associated with the Islamic, Babi, and Baha’i Dispensations! Another indication of the incredible greatness of God’s Universal Manifestation - Baha’u’llah!
