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The Writings of Abdu'l-Bahá
Amin Banani
THE WRITINGS of 'Abdu'l-Bahá are the fruit of more than half a century of
prolific labor from His early twenties to the seventy-eighth and final year of
His life. Their full volume is as yet unknown; and much remains to be done in
gathering, analyzing, and collating His literary legacy.
His Writings consist of personal correspondence, general
tablets, tablets on specific themes, books, prayers, poems, public talks, and
recorded conversations. Approximately four-fifths of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Writings
are in Persian; the rest -- with the exception of a very small number of
prayers and letters in Turkish -- are in Arabic. 'Abdu'l-Bahá was both fluent
and eloquent in these three languages. Transcriptions of His extemporaneous
speeches are often indistinguishable from His Writings. In a culture that
placed a high premium on rhetoric 'Abdu'l-Bahá was recognized by friend and
foe, Arab and Persian, as a paragon of distinctive style and eloquence.
It is the intent of this article to touch upon the
character of that style and to present an overview of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Writings
in various genres and categories. Discussion of the language and style is
inherently limited, as it must be attempted across twin barriers of culture and
tongue; the attempt at categorization is necessarily arbitrary and is meant to
serve only as a catalogue. Obviously any number of criteria, such as
chronological, thematic, and linguistic, can provide different sets of
categories. Furthermore, some works cited as examples of certain categories could
easily be put under others.
'ABDU'L-BAHÁ was, of course, not a prophet and at no time
claimed to have received direct revelation from God. But as the Center of the
Covenant of His Father and the appointed Interpreter of His Revelation, Bahá'ís
believe, 'Abdu'l-Bahá was divinely inspired and guided. His Writings,
therefore, constitute for the Bahá'ís at once a part and an elaboration of
their Scriptures.
The question of divinely inspired language has
traditionally posed a dilemma and given rise to baseless dogma in the religions
of the past. In their literal-minded zeal to aver the authenticity of their
Holy Writ, devotees of traditional religions have often insisted on the divine
authorship of the very lexical and syntactic form of that Writ. This view not
only reduces God to the use of particular and different human tongues, but it
also attempts to isolate religious writings from the body of the language in
which they were written. It equates divine origin with absolute linguistic and literary
originality. Those who uphold this view are resentful of any comparison and
precedence. With their perverted notion of originality, they completely miss
the often striking literary originality of holy books that can only be
perceived in the light of traditions in their languages. By ignoring the
literary traditions, conceptual methods, cultural associations -- in short by
denying the life of the language -- they reduce rather than enhance
comprehension and true appreciation of holy scriptures.
'Abdu'l-Bahá's two primary languages have vigorous and
highly developed literary traditions with more than a thousand years of life.
Only the briefest mention of facets of these traditions that are germane to the
Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá is possible here. Since most of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's
Writings are in Persian, the main focus here is on Persian literary traditions.
But so many of these are shared with Arabic -- indeed in many cases they are
reflections of Arabic norms in Persian -- that the observations will generally
be true of the Arabic literary traditions as well.
For nearly a thousand years since the formulation and the
crystallization of classical criteria in Arabic and Persian literature there
has existed a preoccupation with and a primacy of form. Needless to say,
tightly-metered and fully-rhymed poetry, as the most formal of literary arts,
has been the master art form for the Arabs and the Persians. Prose writers from
their aesthetically inferior position have attempted to ennoble their work with
qualities of poetry, evolving a technique known as saj'. It introduces
the basic poetic ingredients of rhyme and rhythm into prose without actually
transforming it into equal-footed lines. A symmetry of expression is achieved
by use of lexical devices such as synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms giving prose
an architectural plasticity and rendering it memorable. This style of writing
in Persian reached its apex during the thirteenth century A.D. and declined
rapidly thereafter. By the end of the eighteenth century it had reached a nadir
of artificial verbosity and lost its power to communicate.
THE STYLE of 'Abdu'l-Bahá is the outward mode of His
inspiration and expression. The animus is the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh. The
clay is the Persian language with its characteristics. The mystery of His
person forms it into a unique style. It is distinctive, unmistakably personal,
and therefore original. Yet it is in the purest mold of literary tradition. It
is a new flowering of saj'. 'Abdu'l-Bahá has breathed new life into a
familiar form; but by harmonizing form and content He has banished contrived
artifice.
In the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá form is an approach to the
content. He makes use of poetic imagery and of a vast range of rhetorical and
literary devices such as metaphors, similes, symbols, allegories,
alliterations, assonances, and dissonances, not in order to draw a veil around
the subject, but to expand the reader's mind by refraction of the same reality
through different planes of perception, cognition, and intuition. This is the
difference between sterile formality and organic integrity of form in a truly
creative sense.
Two brief examples may illustrate this harmony of form and
content in the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. First is the phrase 'the Sun of
Reality' which occurs frequently in His Writings both as a metaphor and a
symbol for the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh. There is mutual illumination of the
concrete and the abstract here -- at once self-evident, life-giving, and
pervasive. But it also can remind us of creatures that avoid the sun. How often
'Abdu'l-Bahá referred to the Sun of Reality dawning over gatherings of bats!
The other example is the imagery evoked in His own Tablet of Visitation: "...
Give me to drink from the chalice of selflessness: with its robe clothe
me...." The paragraph is made of a series of related cultural images
of admittance to court, proffering of the cup of favor, and granting of the
ceremonial bejeweled robe; all evoke the ceremony of a royal audience and the
bestowal of high rank -- traditionally an occasion of pomp, pride, and vanity.
By this dramatic inversion of images 'Abdu'l-Bahá has underlined the nobility
of servitude and humility.
This use of artistic form for the expression of meaning and
purpose is a hallmark of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Writings. To cultivate an appreciation
for the poetic qualities of His Writings is to enhance one's understanding of
His meaning. It must be admitted that the same qualities place an enormous
burden on the translator; and much can be lost in inadequate hands.
Fortunately, Shoghi Effendi, particularly in his translations of some of
'Abdu'l-Bahá's prayers, has left us a true standard.
THE FOREGOING should not lead the reader to infer that the
style of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, although at all times recognizable and personal, is
unvarying. His subjects, ranging from philosophical treatises to meditative
poems, are expressed in language appropriate to them. Before proceeding to the
differentiation of the various categories of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Writings it might
be helpful to clarify the traditional term, tablet (lawh) which is
applied to the majority of His Works. It designates all of His Writings that
are addressed to specific individuals or groups. As such it is applied to everything
from His personal correspondence to such fundamental documents as the Tablets
of the Divine Plan and the Tablets of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
I. For purposes of analysis 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Writings can be
divided into twelve groups of which personal correspondence (Tablets to
individuals) constitutes by far the largest segment, despite the undoubted fact
that a portion of this precious heritage has been irretrievably lost, and a
portion remains in non-Bahá'í hands. 'Abdu'l-Bahá's letters are masterpieces of
Persian epistolary genre. They are marked by directness, intimacy, warmth,
love, humor, forbearance, and a myriad other qualities that reveal the
exemplary perfection of His personality. 'Abdu'l-Bahá addresses everyone as an
equal in the service of Bahá'u'lláh. His letters often open with an invocation
of the quality of faith of the recipient rather than his name or identity --
epithets such as '0 the Firm One in the Covenant,' '0 Lover of the Blessed
Beauty.' (Later when the Persians were required by law to adopt family
names, many Bahá'ís chose as surnames words of address from the Tablets of
'Abdu'l-Bahá to themselves or to their fathers.) In subject matter
'Abdu'l-Bahá's letters range from responses to the personal and ephemeral
requests of His correspondents to profound elaborations, elucidarions, and
interpretations of the Bahá'í Revelation. But mostly they are concerned with
direction and exhortation of the friends to spread the Teachings.
II. Tablets of specific topical or thematic significance
addressed to individuals are perhaps best exemplified by the Tablet to
Professor Auguste Forel, which is in fact a philosophical treatise written by
'Abdu'l-Bahá in September 1921 in answer to questions put to Him by the noted Swiss
psychologist.
III. Tablets addressed to Bahá'í communities in various
parts of the world chronicle 'Abdu'l-Bahá's loving and vigorous leadership of
the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh and its propagation from a handful of countries in the
Near and the Middle East to some thirty-five countries in every continent on
the globe. The most important in this group are undoubtedly the series of the
Tablets of the Divine Plan written at the close of the First World War.
IV. Among the Tablets written to world groups or
congresses, the best known is the Tablet sent in 1919 to the Central
Organization for a Durable Peace at the Hague.
V. The Tablets of the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá
is a unique document, written in three parts, that constitutes an integral part
of the charter of the Bahá'í Administrative Order. Although undated, it is
clear from its contents that the first part was written in 1906/7 during the
most perilous and yet most prolific period of His life.
VI. The next category is that of prayers. The Arabic and
Persian languages distinguish between what is translated in English as prayer (munáját)
and obligatory prayer (salát). The prayers of 'Abdu'l-Bahá are munáját.
Approximately one half of these are in Persian and the other in Arabic,
with a very few in Turkish.
The term munáját has a history in Persian
literature beginning with Khwájih 'Abdu'lláh-i-Ansárí, a Súfí mystic of the
eleventh century A.D. The munáját of Ansárí are highly stylized
epigrammatic forms of communion with God. From a literary point of view these
brief evocative compositions bear only the slightest generic resemblance to the
munáját of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá, which, although called by the
same name, are clearly a literary innovation and original creations in the
Persian and Arabic languages. Their chief distinguishing quality is the
sustained and expanding expression of man's experience of the Holy by means of
poetic language.
The prayers of 'Abdu'l-Bahá, particularly, partake in the fullest
measure of poetic qualities. Some actually include fragments or lines of
metrical verse which are indistinguishable from the texture of the whole
prayer. The purity and sanctity of natural imagery reveal a state of cosmic
harmony. The musicality of some of them transcends limitations of language.
Poetry is made to serve the ultimate goal of rising above 'the murmur of
syllables and sounds.' The emotional intensity of some of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's
prayers, especially those that recall the sufferings of and separation from
Bahá'u'lláh, is unrivaled.
VII. Prayers written for special occasions such as
meetings of Spiritual Assemblies, or embarking on teaching trips, focus upon
overcoming of self and reliance upon confirmations from God.
VIII. Tablets of Visitation, virtually all written in
Arabic, are primarily for commemoration of individual heroes and martyrs of the
Faith, and are to be chanted when visiting their graves. The majority were
written in the final years of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's life and are another testimony of
His abiding love and faithfulness to the memory of those who sacrificed
themselves for the Cause of God.
IX. 'Abdu'l-Bahá's poems are few in number, and mostly in mathnavi
(rhymed couplet) form. His love for this form -- universally associated
with the great spiritual masterpiece of the twelfth century poet Rúmí -- and
His love for Rúmí's poetry are further evinced by frequent quotations of lines
from the latter's works in His Writings.
X. Books and treatises, of which 'Abdu'l-Bahá left three,
are The Secret of Divine Civilization, written in 1875 (and also known
as A Treatise on Civilization); A Traveller's Narrative, written
about 1886; and a short volume entitled A Treatise on Politics, written
in 1893. The first two have been translated into English. The latter, available
only in Persian, may be considered a sequel in subject and purpose, to The
Secret of Divine Civilization. The fundamental theme is the generative
force of religion and the degenerative role of priestly power in human affairs.
The first book is addressed to the Persian nation as a whole; the second is
directed to the Bahá'í community in that land. Their import obviously
transcends the historical aims and the immediate occasion of their writing, but
they also constitute significant documents within that context.
The Secret of Divine Civilization, particularly,
occupies a preeminent historical position among the literature of modernization
in Persia. Seen in the light of an unfolding Bahá'í Revelation, it is, of
course, 'Abdu'l-Bahá's elaboration of the principles enunciated by Bahá'u'lláh
in His Tablets to the rulers of the earth. But read in the light of modern
analytical literature on the nature and problems of modernization, it is a
unique document of equally profound implications. In it 'Abdu'l-Bahá presents a
coherent program for the regeneration of Persian society. The program is
predicated on universal education and eradication of ignorance and fanaticism.
It calls for responsibility and participation of the people in government
through a representative assembly. It seeks to safeguard their rights and
liberties through codification of laws and institutionalization of justice. It
argues for the humane benefits of modern science and technology. It condemns
militarism and underscores the immorality of heavy expenditures for armaments.
It promulgates a more equitable sharing of the wealth of the nation.
Of the long list of indictments that could be brought
against the one hundred and twenty-five years of Qájár misrule of Persia, few
could be as damaging as their neglect of this blueprint in 1875. Not until
nearly twenty years later do some of these ideas appear piecemeal and unrelated
in the writings of other so-called reformers and modernists in Persia. But the
significance of The Secret of Divine Civilization is not merely in that
it represents the earliest and the only coherent scheme for the modernization
of Persia. We have come to recognize as the fatal flaw of nearly all reformist
ideas and modernizing efforts of the last hundred years (not only in Persia but
in many parts of the world), a naive imitation of effects without grasping the
causes -- superficial borrowing of forms unrelated to their underlying values.
Everything in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's proposals is firmly based upon the validity and
potency of divine guidance. It is not westernization of the East that He
advocates. He has as much to say to the spiritually impoverished societies of
the West as to the people of Persia. Through a revivification of the spiritual
and moral potentialities of man 'Abdu'l-Bahá seeks to create new institutions
and viable political forms -- to lay the foundation of a truly divine
civilization.
A Traveller's Narrative, which is a history of the
episode of the Báb, was written for the seeker and the curious. It presents a
brief and dispassionate account of that portentous dispensation in a simple and
moving narrative style. Like The Secret of Divine Civilization, this
book was published anonymously. It may be another indication of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's
humility before Bahá'u'lláh that He did not place His name on the two books He
wrote for the public beyond the Bahá'í community during the lifetime of His
Father. He also wished to emphasize, as He points out in The Secret of
Divine Civilization, that He had no expectation of personal gain from His
efforts.
XI. 'Abdu'l-Bahá's discourses are extensive transcriptions
of His utterances on various topics. The two major examples of the genre are Some
Answered Questions and Memorials of the Faithful. The generic
affinity of these two works is, however, strictly formal; for in subject matter
they are widely different. The final written versions of both were examined by
'Abdu'l-Bahá and approved for publication.
Some Answered Questions is a compilation of the
table talks of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in response to questions put to Him by Laura
Clifford Barney on spiritual tenets of the Bahá'í Faith and on the Bahá'í
understanding of some Christian beliefs. The conversations, their recording,
editing, and authentication occurred in the difficult years immediately
preceding 'Abdu'l-Bahá's relative freedom in 1908. The compilation was first
published in 1907.
Memorials of the Faithful, which has only now
(1971) been translated into English, is a compendium of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's
remembrances of some seventy early believers, spoken to gatherings of Bahá'ís
in Haifa during the early years of World War I. These were compiled, and
'Abdu'l-Bahá's permission for their publication was granted in 1915, but due to
the strictures of wartime the book was not published until 1924, when it was
again authorized by Shoghi Effendi.
The outward form of Memorials of the Faithful is a
collection of brief biographical sketches. Its title in the original,
Tadhkiratu'l-Vafá, places it in a Persian literary tradition some nine
centuries old. It brings to mind the Tadhkiratu'l-Awliyá (Remembrance of
Saints) of the twelfth century mystic poet 'Attár. The spiritual and cultural
impulses that have given rise to the literary form of tadhkirih have
little to do with the particular, the personal, and the ephemeral aspects of
human life. It is the quality of soul, the attributes of spirit, the
quintessential humanity, and the reflection of the divine in man that is the
focus here.
The root word of dhikr in the title means prayerful
mention -- reverent remembrance. It implies that it is not the biographer nor
the reader who memorializes a human life, but rather the quality of that life
which has earned immemorial luster and sheds light on all who remember that
quality. Quite literally this book is a remembrance of vafá --
faithfulness -- not just memories of individual lives, but remembrance of that
essential quality which was the animating force of all those lives.
The people whose "lives" are depicted here all
share one thing in common. They are propelled by their love for Bahá'u'lláh. So
great is this magnetic force in their lives that they literally travel vast
distances and overcome every barrier to be with Him. Some of them arrive
virtually with their dying breath, to expire happily after having seen the face
of their Beloved; some die on the arduous path. Despite the peculiarities of
time and place, it should not take the reader long to recognize a gallery of
timeless and universal human types in this book.
The spoken language of 'Abdu'l-Bahá is figurative and
almost indistinguishable from His written style. He makes use of a rich fund of
literary devices -- rhymed phrases, symmetrical forms, alliterations,
assonances, metaphors, similes, and allusions -- that, far from sounding
contrived and artificial, are naturally matched to the subject matter: the
essence of faithfulness. With concrete images He describes spiritual states and
psychic levels of consciousness, as if to assert the primacy and reality of the
realm of spirit. Should the reader experience difficulty with the style, let
him savor it slowly, allowing the unfamiliar language to create its own spirit
and breathe life into its allusions. Let the words of 'Abdu'l-Bahá trace in his
mind the shape of the valley of love and faithfulness.
In His usual self-effacing way, 'Abdu'l-Bahá says almost
nothing about Himself in this book. But occasional events in the lives of these
companions are interwoven with His own. In these passages we have some
thrilling glimpses of that essence of humanity and humility that was
'Abdu'l-Bahá.
XII. Next to His personal correspondence, talks comprise
the largest segment of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's recorded words. One may distinguish
between talks given to Bahá'ís and addresses to the general public, such as
societies, groups, universities, and congregations. Generally they have the
same literary marks and rhetorical patterns that are characteristic of
'Abdu'l-Bahá's Writings.
This vast body of Writing, boundless in its wisdom,
consummate in form, generous and loving in spirit, and rich in significance, is
'Abdu'l-Bahá's literary legacy, a legacy that, like His own prayer, rises "above
words and letters" and transcends "the murmur of syllables and
sounds." It is the reality of 'Abdu'l-Bahá so far as we the grateful
readers are capable of perceiving.
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