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used by Bahá’u’lláh—that is, not as “divine cause”—in numerous cases in
his writings.
In many of Bahá’u’lláh’s later tablets, he also writes that the hatred in the
hearts of the people has prevented him from revealing tablets or unveiling all
spiritual truth in his tablets. He also frequently uses a similar phrase to express
his lack of desire to discuss particular issues. For instance, in one of his later
tablets he says that he has discussed the techniques of the alchemical elixir in
his Adrianople tablets because of his followers’ frequent requests, but that
otherwise he himself has no wish to discuss these issues. His exact words are:
“
Vaillá Qalam-i-A‘lá . . . iqbál bih dhikr-i-ín umúr nadáshtih va nadárad
”
(Ishráq Khávarí,
Má’idiy-i-Ásmání
1:19). In this sentence, both key terms of the
statement in the Book of the River—
iqbál
and
umúr
(plural of
amr
)—occur.
But if we were to translate this sentence as Cole translates those terms in the
Book of the River, it would give us the self-contradiction: “otherwise the Most
Exalted Pen makes no claim to utter these divine Causes.” Clearly, Bahá’u’lláh
is simply saying that the Most Exalted Pen has no desire to discuss these issues.
There is also no doubt that the latter statement was revealed years after
Bahá’u’lláh’s public declaration of his station.
An interesting point is that, in a paragraph prior to the passage in question,
Cole treats another occurrence of the word
iqbál
in a completely different way.
He translates the passage as follows: “Clearly, before the mind had perceived
such a thing, it would not have accepted anyone’s description of it” (“Book of
the Tigris”). But while
iqbál
is translated as “a claim” in the controversial
sentence, it has been entirely omitted from the translation of this passage. And
in fact the word “claim” would make no sense there. In both sentences
iqbál
means “inclination.” In the above instance Bahá’u’lláh actually has written
:
“Certainly, human reason would not
be inclined
to accept the possibility of the
existence of such a thing by means of any rational definition or description
without actual observation and experience” (emphasis added).
In the Kitáb-i-Íqán Bahá’u’lláh uses a similar expression with
iqbál
to convey
the same meaning, namely that he has no inclination or desire to do something.
Discussing Karím Khán-i-Kirmání’s book, Bahá’u’lláh writes: “
Har chand ín
‘abd iqbál bih muláhiz. iy-i-kalimát-i-ghiyr nadáshtih va nadáram,
” meaning:
“Although we never felt disposed to peruse other people’s writings” (
Kitáb-i-
Íqán
185). Siyyid Káz. im-i-Rashtí also uses such an expression frequently in his
Persian book
Majma‘u’l-Asrár
, saying that since he has already discussed the
topic in his previous writings, or since he is tired and ill, he has no
iqbál
to a
lengthy discussion of the issue. He frequently says, for example,
“
alán iqbál bih
dhikr-i-án nadáram
,” meaning: “right now I have no wish to mention that
issue.”
8
This reading of the expression as used in the Book of the River is
THE J OURNAL OF BAHÁ ’ Í S TUD I E S 9 . 3 . 1 9 9 9
36
8. See, for example,
Majma‘u’l-Asrár
44, 56, 274, 314.