Translation, Commentary Surih of Kawthar (2)

and beauty, and the form of sovereignty and glory, by the leave of God, may partake of the pure

well spring of wine, “delicious to those who quaff it”

O thou who hast fixed thy gaze upon these resplendent, vibrating leaves of the tree of the

Supreme Cloud of Subtlety! Follow thou the melodies of the sovereign Bee of Divinity (láhút) in

the inmost realities (kaynúníyyát) of these manifestations, and the songs of the Dove of

Dominion (jabarút) in the quintessences (dhátíyyát) of these evidences (shu’únát), and the subtle

spreading voice (saffát) of the Birds of the kingdom of this world (mulk) in the identities

(aníyyát) of these allusions, and the sound of the unfolding of the wings of the peacock, and the

call of the qámú

in the selves (nafsáníyyát) of these stations. For, verily, the invigorating

water of the Kawthar of Revelation is, at this very moment, streaming forth in the inmost depths

(ghayáhib) of these rivers.

Bear thou witness through thine inward heart, according to this divine principle, that the fresh

invigorating water of the Kawthar fountain is naught but the utter pure revelation of divine

outpouring which is applied by the people of true exposition (bayán), in the outward station, to

the manifest pillars of the divine creative Act, where each pillar turneth into a river:

The first river is the stream of snow-white, crystal, incorruptible water, whose inner essence is

the eternal (azalí) fire and whose manifest form is everlasting (sarmadí) water. It is a river which

hath neither any beginning save itself, nor any end but its own essence. God, verily, hath made it

to flow out by itself for itself, without any mention of anything besides it. It is the river of

transcendent unity, the water of supreme detachment and the ocean (lujjah) of divine oneness. It

streameth forth by the leave of God and testifieth unto the revelation of God.

Wert thou to say that the bed of this river is of water, and the ark moving upon It is made out of

water, and the mariner and those who enter the ark are formed out of its water, and the waves

and all that lieth within its depths are from the substance of its water, thou verily wouldst have

The Qur’án 47:15. In the above passage the four stations of spiritual hierarchy and their corresponding food is

discussed. They are simultaneously a reference to the four stages of creation and their manifestations. Thus they

refer to the manifestations of the covenant in the four layers of the covenant. The four rivers and wellsprings are

promised in the Qur’án for the inmates of heaven. The Báb interprets these rivers in this tablet.

Qámús normally means sea as well as its usual meanings. But in the writings of the Báb clearly it means

something which sings, which has tongue(s), and may be a bird. It is also a possibility that it would be some kind of

representation of the word phoenix, as in Persian sometimes words like quqnus are used for the same idea.

These manifestations, these evidences and the like refer to the words of this Tablet itself which is the

manifestation of divine transcendent realities and favours.

Therefore the Kawthar is the source of all these four rivers and they are manifestations of it. Here the same Primal

Will is reflected in the four stages of creation. Kawthar is the unity of the outpouring, or the Primal Will.