Translations

This page contains links to some of Baha'u'llah's mystical writings. For access to all the writings that have been translated into English, see my site Baha'u'llah explore.

The writings posted here have been translated by Juan Cole, Professor of History at the University of Michigan. Many, many thanks to Juan for his translation work and for giving me permission to put these translations up on this site.

In the tablet, Breath of Spirit, Baha'u'llah tells us about metaphysical wonders taking place in the spiritual worlds. He describes how his revelation was announced in the spiritual worlds and the process by which it came into being there.

• Introduction to the translation. Download an audio of the introduction.
• Text of the translation. Download an audio of the translation.

The City of Radiant Acquiescence is about a spiritual state of the soul – that of radiant acquiescence. The tablet discusses what radiant acquiescence means, why it is important and how believers can attain it.

• Introduction to the translation. Download an audio of the introduction.
• Text of the translation. Download an audio of the translation.

As the title suggests, this work is a commentary on a verse of poetry written by the major Persian and Sufi poet, Mushrif-ud-Din Abdullah Sa'di (1184-1283/1291?).

• Introduction to the translation. Download an audio of the introduction.
• Text of the translation. Download an audio of the translation.

Baha’u’llah begins the tablet, Countenance of Love, by confirming that his reader has drawn near to God and attained God’s presence. He advises his reader not to be troubled by anything that happens in the physical world, but to focus on the things of God’s Kingdom, which are everlasting.

• Introduction to the translation. Download an audio of the introduction.
• Text of the translation. Download an audio of the translation.

The Houri of Wonder is a poem in which Baha'u'llah extols the coming of his new revelation. As with many other tablets on this theme, Baha'u'llah uses the image of a woman of striking beauty to symbolise the overwhelming power of his revelation.

• Introduction to the translation. Download an audio of the introduction.
• Text of the translation. Download an audio of the translation.

The tablet of the Lover and the Beloved is a short story, which reads much like a fairy tale.

• Introduction to the translation. Download an audio of the introduction.
• Text of the translation. Download an audio of the translation.

In the tablet of the Nightingale of Separation, Baha'u'llah addresses the grief that he and the believers experienced when he was forced to move his residence from Baghdad to the Ottoman capital of Istanbul (Constantinople).

• Introduction to the translation. Download an audio of the introduction.
• Text of the translation. Download an audio of the translation.

In the short poem, O Nightingales, Baha'u'llah announces to all those who are searching for their divine Beloved that their quest is at an end and they can now see him before them.

• Introduction to the translation. Download an audio of the introduction.
• Text of the translation. Download an audio of the translation.

Sprinkling of the Cloud Beyond Being is a 19-verse poem, which Baha’u’llah composed in late 1852, during his four-month imprisonment in the Siyah Chal. Of the writings of Baha’u’llah that have survived to the present day, this poem is unique because it is the only work composed before Baha’u’llah was exiled from Iran. This makes it the earliest of the writings still in existence.

• Introduction to the translation. Download an audio of the introduction.
• Text of the translation. Download an audio of the translation.

Surah of the Companions is a long letter Baha'u'llah wrote to Aqa Munib Kashani, asking him to tell the Babis living in Iran about Baha'u'llah's claim to be Him Whom God Will Manifest; that is, the Promised One of the Bab. The tablet was written while Baha'u'llah was living in Edirne, and is one of the most important public announcements Baha'u'llah made at that time.

• Introduction to the translation. Download an audio of the introduction.
• Text of the translation. Download audios of the translation in five parts: Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5.

The Tablet of the Holy Mariner is an allegorical work consisting of two independent sections, the first in Arabic verse and the second in Persian prose. Both sections contain different accounts of the story of the holy mariner and the divine ark or ship, which carries the believers to paradise.

• Introduction to the translation. Download an audio of the introduction.
• Text of the translation. Download an audio of the translation.

The Tablet of the Holy Mariner is an allegorical work consisting of two independent sections, the first in Arabic verse and the second in Persian prose. Both sections contain different accounts of the story of the holy mariner and the divine ark or ship, which carries the believers to paradise.

• Introduction to the translation. Download an audio of the introduction.
• Text of the translation. Download an audio of the translation.

The Tablet of the Houri, like the Tablet of the Vision, is a description of a vision Baha’u’llah had of the celestial woman who symbolises the spirit of his revelation.

• Introduction to the translation. Download an audio of the introduction.
• Text of the translation. Download an audio of the translation.

Much of the Tablet of the Vision is devoted to Baha'u'llah's poetic description of a vision he had of the woman who symbolises the spirit of the Baha'i revelation.

• Introduction to the translation. Download an audio of the introduction.
• Text of the translation. Download an audio of the translation.

Tablet to Salman on Detachment is a short tablet in which Baha'u'llah discusses the meaning of detachment and, in this context, comments on the situation of the believers who were exiled to Mosul from Baghdad as a result of the scheming of the Persian Ambassador.

• Introduction to the translation. Download an audio of the introduction.
• Text of the translation. Download an audio of the translation.

Many of the writings listed here are about Baha'u'llah's beloved houri, the celestial woman who brought him the revelation. If you would like to read about her, try the following:

• Alison's essay "Letters of nearness: love, mysticism and ghazals".
• Alison's essay Revelation in the Voices of Baha'u'llah.
• John Walbridge's article, "Erotic Imagery in the Allegorical Writings of Baha'u'llah"
• Terry Culhane's book, I beheld a Maiden . . .The Baha'i Faith and the Life of the Spirit, published by Kalimat Press
• Kamran Ekbal's article, "Daena-Den-Din: The Zoroastrian Heritage of the 'Maid of Heaven' in the Tablets of Baha'u'llah" in Scripture and Revelation (ed. Moojan Momen), Baha'i Studies Vol III, published by George Ronald.