O SON OF SPIRIT! The time cometh, when the nightingale of holiness will no longer unfold the inner mysteries and ye will all be bereft of the celestial melody and of the voice from on high.
-Bahá'u'lláh Hidden Words #15 Persian
This is another interesting Hidden Word.
Nightingale in the Baha'i Writings can reference many ideas. For example it may refer to the Báb (i.e. The Tablet of Ahmad or in a more specific case on page 60 of Baha'u'llah and the New Era it is written, "The mystic nightingale is singing for them; will they not listen? The bird of paradise is warbling; will they not hear? The Angel of the Kingdom of Abha is calling to them; will they not hearken? The Messenger of the Covenant is pleading; will they not heed? ..."). However, in general, it refers to the Messenger of God. For those who are interested in this topic, I recommend H. Richard Gurinsky's analysis of the Tablet of Ahmad, Learn Well This Tablet. Chapter 8, pg. 31 goes in depth on this matter.
As you may recall, the Hidden Words were written originally as the Book of Fatimah* and before the Deceleration of Bahá'u'lláh, so what could this Hidden Word be referring to then when it states, "the nightingale of holiness will no longer unfold the inner mysteries"? This cannot mean that God will cease to send us His Messengers due to the Covenant of God, which says we will never be left alone-so what could this really be referring to? God cannot leave us alone and will not do so in any case.
Perhaps it is a signal for the end of the Báb's Ministry and the rise of Bahá'u'lláh's. During this time, Baha'u'llah did not make mention of Himself as the Manifestation of God. Mirza Yahya, being the only Mirror left alive after the purging of the Bábi rulers, was left as the head as de facto leader of the Bábi Faith but was ordered to follow Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest (this can be found in a provisional translation of the Will and Testament of the Báb).
Bahá'u'lláh made many references and hints to Himself as Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest, but ordered everybody to turn to Mirza Yahya (which was difficult as he went by a pseudoname-Mirza Ali I believe, and he was always in disguise and hiding due to his fear of persecution).
How does this make sense in context of the Hidden Word? It doesn't. Ok, it refers to the end of the revelation of the Bab but that does not mean that God will stop sending His Blessings and Wisdom.
It may be the case also the Bahá'u'lláh was referring to Himself and that when His physical life ended, so would His Revelations. This can then be thought of as a warning to the believers to be steadfast to the very end, that Bahá'u'lláh is not physically immortal, just like any other physical being. The day will, and did, come.
Stay tuned. If anybody has any suggestions, please let me know! I always want help in improving my methods of thought.
*Book of Fatimah: This book is believed to have been revealed by Fatimah, daughter of Muhammad. However, over time it was lost. Muslims of the Shitte branch believe it will be reRevealed upon the coming of the Mehdi. Since Bahá'u'lláh initially called this Work the Book of Fatimah, it is believed by Bahá'ís to be the very same Book written by Fatimah.
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3 comments:
I like this stuff, Shamim, I really didn't know that about Fatimah!
Any insights on the Persian #1?
It's been stumping me for quite awhile...
O YE PEOPLE THAT HAVE MINDS TO KNOW AND EARS TO HEAR! The first call of the Beloved is this: O mystic nightingale! Abide not but in the rose-garden of the spirit. O messenger of the Solomon of love! Seek thou no shelter except in the Sheba of the well-beloved, and O immortal phoenix! dwell not save on the mount of faithfulness. Therein is thy habitation, if on the wings of thy soul thou soarest to the realm of the infinite and seekest to attain thy goal.
Persian #1
Lets go from the beginning and the end and enter the middle where all the juice is laden. This is our first duty as set down by God (recall in Hidden Word #1 Arabic it writes, "My first counsel is this." Also recall the first paragraph of the Kitab-i-Aqdas it is written, "The first duty prescribed by God for His servants is the recognition of Him Who is the Dayspring of His Revelation and the Fountain of His laws, Who representeth the Godhead in both the Kingdom of His Cause and the world of creation. Whoso achieveth this duty hath attained unto all good; and whoso is deprived thereof hath gone astray, though he be the author of every righteous deed. It behoveth every one who reacheth this most sublime station, this summit of transcendent glory, to observe every ordinance of Him Who is the Desire of the world. These twin duties are inseparable. Neither is acceptable without the other. Thus hath it been decreed by Him Who is the Source of Divine inspiration." Let us use these two to enhance our understanding of the Hidden Word at hand).
A counsel is a guidance-thus our first guidance is to have a pure heart. A duty is a necessity, and our first duty as humans is to follow the Covenant-meaning accept Bahá'u'lláh and follow His laws. Now in the current Hidden Word, we have a call. This is what we are asked to do-this way we reach our goal. What is our goal? You can find that by reading through the Seven Valleys which I am analyzing at this point.
Now the middle! A rose-garden is a place of beauty to all the senses (except touch! thorns are never fun...). The fragrances, the nightingales singing, the radiant colors... all are so pleasing. Thus we must reside in a place which is pleasing to the spirit.
Solomon (Sulaymon in the Quran) was a great king with much power-but his sin caused his entire kingdom to be split in two. The reference in the Hidden Word I believe, however, unlike most of other works of Bahá'u'lláh focuses on the Biblical rather than the Quranic interpretation of the story (mostly because of the mention of Sheba). Sheba is a place of great wealth and extreme prosperity. The messenger of Solomon was hoopoe bird (this same bird is the leader who leads thirty birds to the land of Seemorgh (a legendary bird, described to be like a phoenix)... this story can be found in one of Attár's epic poems). The hoopoe bird left Solomon because it was looking for a better place to live. Thus we are told to be like the hoopoe bird (by Bahá'u'lláh) and find this spiritual prosperity.
The last part is to be a phoenix of faithfulness. I am not sure exactly what this means, but I will make a guess here. As mentioned earlier, Seemorgh was a phoenix like bird. In Attár's epic poem, the hoopoe bird leads many birds to the land of Seemorgh, many of whom fall away. Finally, only thirty remain. These thirty are told to look in a lake for Seemorgh-and they only see themselves. It is interesting because Seemorgh translates into "thirty birds" a play on words by Attár. These thirty, being a metaphor of Seemorgh-the phoenix, are the most faithful, and follow the guidance of the hoopoe bird. In likewise, we must follow the guidance of Bahá'u'lláh.
So let us put it all together. We are told by God to listen to the following: Be in a place pleasing to your being, find shelter only in the Kingdom of God and be steadfast in your following of His Teachings. In this way we will reach our ultimate goal-being near unto God.
That is what I understand. I may be completely wrong. See if it makes sense to you...
I actually read this like a week ago, but have been amazingly unproductive recently.
Anyway! I really liked your explanation of Solomon's messenger. I didn't know the story behind that and so it was confusing, but it makes a lot of sense to have the 3 bird references... it ties it all together at the end to soar "on the wings of thy soul"... So thanks for the story, it lends to a much fuller understanding of the quote. It makes sense.
The only thing that is left bugging me here is the "nightingale" reference, so do you think the nightingale here still refers to the Messenger of God? That doesn't make sense to me... and if it is a reference to Him, why is it not capitalized?
Also I'm wondering if you know: where the hidden words compiled in any sort of order? A friend of mine told me that she read a quote from Shoghi Effendi saying that they weren't. But the order they are in really seems to make sense, it sometimes goes in groups of topics and grows upon itself and often sort of leads into the next... So, have you read anything about that?
(I really need Ocean on my computer...)
Thanks for all your explanations!
I'll have to go read some of your other stuff now!
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