Concealment and Revelation

thee, ere the moment We answered thy call. Wait thou until nine will have elapsed

from the time of the Bayán. Then exclaim: ‘Blessed, therefore, be God, the most

excellent of Makers!’” O thou who claimest to have seeing eyes and to be an upholder

of justice and fairness! Open thou thine eyes to behold how a new creation hath come

into being since the year nine and say: “Blessed, therefore, be God, the Most Excellent

of Creators.” And again, “Hallowed be the Lord, the Most Excellent and the Most

Wondrous of Creators.” Observe how He hath referred to both the maturation of the

people of the Bayán and the superiority of the next Revelation through His explicit

and unambiguous reference to the difference between “Qá’im” and “Qayyúm” and

“A‘z. am” and “‘Az. ím

” And when the period was consummated and the appointed

time ordained by God completed, the Beauty of Nine was revealed with manifest

dominion. (

Kitáb-i-Badí‘

114–15; provisional translation)

It should be mentioned that the numerical difference between “A‘z. am,”

meaning “the most great,” and “‘Az. ím,” meaning “the great,” is nine—the

same as the difference between “Qá’im” and “Qayyúm.” Bahá’u’lláh states that

the Beauty of Nine (namely “Bahá,” which is equal to nine) appeared in the

year nine as the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Bayán. That same point is

made in many other tablets, such as the following:

Ponder upon this exalted word revealed by the Dayspring of the utterance of the Lord

of Names, the Primal Point, which is truly of the essence of the Bayán. He saith: “In

the year nine ye shall attain unto all good and in the year nine ye shall attain unto the

presence of God.” And addressing his honor ‘Az. ím, rest upon him the glory and the

loftiness of God, He—may He be glorified—saith: “This, verily, is the thing We

promised thee, ere the moment We answered thy call. Wait thou until nine will have

elapsed from the time of the Bayán. Then exclaim: ‘Blessed, therefore, be God, the

most excellent of Makers!’” Now be fair: who is the One Who appeared in the year

nine? (Ishráq Khávarí,

Qámús

i-Tawqí‘

487; provisional translation)

One of those to whom Bahá’u’lláh disclosed his station was Dayyán (Mírzá

Asadu’lláh Khu’í). In some of his writings, Bahá’u’lláh mentions that the Báb

had written of Dayyán as the third to recognize Him Whom God shall make

manifest, and Bahá’u’lláh testifies that this did in fact happen in the early

Baghdad period:

The Primal Point has written to him, “O thou the third Letter to believe in Him Whom

God shall make manifest,” and this is the station that supersedeth all stations, and then

He mentioned something in this regard which implied that Dayyán would become

blessed by the encounter with God in the next Revelation, and that the Eternal Temple

would declare Himself to him, as in reality he attained the presence and the Tongue of

God spoke to him . . . and the Most Glorious Beauty showered him with kindness and

he attained the station ordained in the tablet. (

Kitáb-i-Badí‘

102–14; provisional

translation)

Concealment and Reve lat ion