An Introduction to Tablet of Mulla Baqir

Furthermore, the first believer recognizes the new Manifestation when he does not possess any material or political power. Instead, he is usually subject to much persecution and ridicule by society. In other words, such recognition is not the effect of social conformity or opportunistic desire for material or social gain. The new believer, on the contrary, is willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of his new faith. The new believer does not ask for miracles and rumors of strange miracles have not yet become part of a mythological history of his religion. The new believer recognizes the prophet by the very being of the prophet and by his words. We can identify the new method of the Bab as the logic of divine unity. The Manifestation is recognized by himself and not through anything other than himself. Like God, the Manifestation is endowed with absolute sovereignty and nothing and no one exists at his level. Consequently, he can be known only by himself and his own verses. Likewise, the first believer becomes a reflection of divine unity. He is alone by himself as if there exists no one else in the world. He approaches the divine messenger by himself, entirely ignoring the judgments of others. He relies only on his own independent search, his own independent gaze at the Manifestation of God. This mode of relation can only happen in a spiritual station that is called by the Bab the sanctuary of heart or sanctuary of unity. 11 The first believer forgets the world, listens to the words of the new manifestation and recognizes its divine origin. He appears as one spirit before the divine spirit wholly oblivious to the material and social world. Structure of the Tablet to Mulla Baqir This new logic and method of expectation and recognition of the Promised One is the heart of the Tablet to Mulla Baqir. The very structure of this tablet is a dramatic reflection of its substantive message. Mulla Baqir who is a letter of the living asks questions about the identity, signs and timing of the revelation of Him Whom God shall make manifest. For the Bab these questions are entirely illegitimate since these questions are placing conditions on the revelation of the Promised One, making him constrained by the ideas, understandings and conditions of the people. Furthermore, such questions assume that Him Whom God shall make manifest can be known through anything other than himself and his words. Such assumption is offensive because it makes other people and other concepts equal to the Promised One. But this is nothing short of joining partners with God. Such ideas reflect arrogance before the creator. But this is the gravest sin. It has been the same assumption that caused Muslims to be veiled from recognizing the Bab. On the contrary, the only way to achieve spiritual truth is through absolute humility before the sovereignty of the Manifestation of God. The essence of the message of the Bab is that no question before the onset of the revelation of Him Whom God shall make manifest is legitimate because his revelation cannot be constrained by any condition whatsoever. He should be known by himself and his verses alone. The dramatic structure of the Tablet to Mulla Baqir is designed to bring this new logic to full consciousness of his believers. The Bab begins by saying that these questions are not only illegitimate but also a grave crime. He says that if the questioner was not a letter of the living he would have ordained a punishment for this ultimate transgression. Then the Bab commands the letter of the living to engage in a spiritual ritual to prepare him for humility, detachment, and arrival at the sanctuary of unity. It is only after this preparation is made that Mulla Baqir becomes worthy of thinking about Him Whom God shall make manifest and hearing the words of the Bab about his future revelation. The

11 See Saiedi, Nader, 2008. Gate of the Heart. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Chapter 6.