Concealment and Revelation

THE J OURNAL OF BAHÁ ’ Í S TUD I E S 9 . 3 . 1 9 9 9

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Bahá’u’lláh as well. Javád has asked why God does not reveal His might so that the Cause of God would be rendered victorious and the believers would be uplifted and exalted. Bahá’u’lláh answers that “this is indeed true in the same way as thou dost affirm it with regard to the Bayán” ( Bimithl-i-má antum fi’l- Bayán tant. iqún ). That is, just as the Báb’s revelation disclosed an absolute divine majesty and yet only the spiritually mature recognized it, in the same way Bahá’u’lláh’s revelation at the present time is magnificent and most powerful in itself, but this does not mean that all can recognize and believe in him. However, Cole has translated Bahá’u’lláh’s reference to the Bayán literally, resulting in a meaningless redundancy. He renders the passage: “Indeed this is a truth, the like of which you speak forth in utterance” (“Book of the Tigris”). But the Bayán Bahá’u’lláh mentions here is not just any utterance; it is the Book and Revelation of the Báb. By missing Bahá’u’lláh’s reference to the Bayán and the Báb’s evidence—a reference establishing a clear parallel with Bahá’u’lláh’s evidence 13 —the translation has made it more difficult for the reader to see Bahá’u’lláh’s majestic language and his claim in this tablet. The context of the phrase makes its meaning clear. Bahá’u’lláh first refers to Javád’s argument that divine power requires a demonstration of its dominion over all people, and then he confirms that statement by saying that this is correct in the same way that you affirm it with regard to the Bayán. But if Cole’s translation were accurate, then Bahá’u’lláh’s confirmation of the statement would make no sense—because he has just explained that miracles are not necessary proof of divine dominion. Javád’s statement is not accurate in the way that Javád asserts it; it is only accurate when the Báb’s divine dominion and majesty is seen as being expressed in the Bayán itself. In the Kitáb-i-Íqán Bahá’u’lláh addresses a similar question as posed by the maternal uncle of the Báb concerning the nature of divine sovereignty. Bahá’u’lláh explains that “by sovereignty is meant the all-encompassing, all- pervading power which is inherently exercised by the Qá’im whether or not He appear to the world clothed in the majesty of earthly dominion,” his “spiritual ascendancy which He exerciseth to the fullest degree over all that is in heaven and on earth, and which in due time revealeth itself to the world in direct proportion to its capacity and spiritual receptiveness” ( Kitáb-i-Íqán 107–8). That sovereignty and power is present in the divine words themselves: “Hast thou not heard how with one single verse He hath sundered light from darkness, the righteous from the ungodly, and the believing from the infidel? . . . So mercilessly trenchant was this wondrous sword of God that it cleft asunder

13. Bahá’u’lláh uses the same form of expression frequently in discussing the book of the Bayán. See for example, Gleanings 149.