Tablets of Baha'u'llah

"The formulation by Baha'u'llah, in His Kitab-i-Aqdas, of the fundamental laws of His Dispensation was followed, as His Mission drew to a close, by the enunciation of certain precepts and principles which lie at the very core of His Faith, by the reaffirmation of truths he had previously proclaimed, by the elaboration and elucidation of some of the laws He had already laid down, by the revelation of further prophecies and warnings, and by the establishment of subsidiary ordinances designed to supplement the provisions of His Most Holy Book. These were recorded in unnumbered Tablets, which He continued to reveal until the last days of His earthly life, ... These Tablets -- mighty an final effusions of His indefatigable pen -- must rank among the choicest fruits which His mind yeilded, and mark the conummation of His forty-year-long ministry." (i)

(i) Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By (Baha'i Publishing Trust, Wilmette, IL 1944, p. 216).

Six of the Tablets referred to in the above passage and which are included in this volume, were, on the instructions of 'Abdu'l Baha, translated into English and published, in 1917, by Baha'i Publishing Society, Chicago. That volume has long been out of print and its contents are now known to most Baha'i's only through excerpts printed in compilations or quoted in other writings. Moreover, as Shoghi Effendi's translations of the Sacred Text increasingly flowed from his pen, it became apparent that the earlier translations could well be improved, both in accuracy and style. The Universal House of Justice therefore commissioned this volume, which it describes as yet one more attempt to render into adequate English Baha'u'llah's matchless utterance. Wherever any portion of the text had already been translated by the Guardian, that translation has been used. These passages are identified by the Notes at the end of this book.

Editors Note: The Notes referenced in the preceding paragraph are not provided in this hypertext version because the page number references don't apply in this online format. Please refer to the print version of this book for these Notes.

References to the Qur'an

In footnotes referring to the Qur'an the surihs have been numbered according to the original, whereas the verse numbers are those in Rodwell's translation which differ sometimes from those of the Arabic.

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