| Texts and scriptures of the Bahá'í Faith |
|---|
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| From the Báb |
| From Bahá'u'lláh |
| From `Abdu'l-Bahá |
| From Shoghi Effendi |
Lawh-i-Malláhu'l-Quds or the Tablet of the Holy Mariner is a tablet written by Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Bahá'í Faith, in Baghdad in 1863. [1] The tablet's main theme is the covenant between man and God, and man being unfaithful to it. [2]
A tablet, in a religious context, is a term used for certain religious texts.
Bahá'u'lláh, was a Persian religious leader and the founder of the Bahá'í Faith, which advocates universal peace and unity among all races, nations, and religions.
The Bahá'í Faith is a religion teaching the essential worth of all religions, and the unity and equality of all people. Established by Bahá'u'lláh in 1863, it initially grew in Iran and parts of the Middle East, where it has faced ongoing persecution since its inception. It is estimated to have between 5 and 8 million adherents, known as Bahá'ís, spread out into most of the world's countries and territories.
Contents
The tablet is written in two parts; one which is in Arabic, and the other in Persian; currently only the Arabic part has been translated into English. [2] The Persian tablet is for the most part similar in content to the Arabic tablet. [3] The tablet is written in allegorical terms and its main theme is the covenant and man being unfaithful to it. [2] [4] In the tablet, Bahá'u'lláh refers to himself as the "Holy Mariner," uses an " ark " to symbolize the Covenant of God, and symbolized the believers in the covenant as the "dwellers" in the "ark;" [5] he writes that those people who are in the ark are safe and will acquire salvation. [5] In the tablet, Bahá'u'lláh also alludes to his perceived station as He whom God shall make manifest, a messianic figure predicted by the Báb, and the fate of Subh-i-Azal, Bahá'u'lláh's half-brother who wanted to cause a split in the Bábí community. [5] [6]
Persian, also known by its endonym Farsi, is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and some other regions which historically were Persianate societies and considered part of Greater Iran. It is written right to left in the Persian alphabet, a modified variant of the Arabic script.
Covenant in the Bahá'í Faith refers to two separate binding agreements between God and man. A Covenant in the religious sense is a binding agreement made between God and man wherein a certain behaviour is required of man and in return God guarantees certain blessings. The concept of a covenant has been found in various religious scriptures including numerous covenant references in the Bible. In the Bahá'í Faith there is a distinction between a Greater Covenant which is made between every messenger from God and his followers concerning the next dispensation, and a Lesser Covenant that concerns successorship of authority within the religion after the messenger dies.
A boat is a watercraft of a large range of type and size. Ships are generally distinguished from boats based on their larger size, shape, and cargo or passenger capacity.
The tablet was written on March 27, 1863; after the tablet was written, Bahá'u'lláh's amanuensis came out of Bahá'u'lláh's tent and read the tablet to his followers. [1] It is stated that at this point it was evident to Bahá'u'lláh's followers that their time in Baghdad would be shortly over. [7] Shortly thereafter, Bahá'u'lláh was summoned by the Ottoman government from Baghdad to Constantinople (present-day Istanbul); before leaving Baghdad, he entered the garden of Ridván, where he publicly stated his claimed prophethood.
The Ottoman Empire, also historically known in Western Europe as the Turkish Empire or simply Turkey, was a state that controlled much of Southeast Europe, Western Asia and North Africa between the 14th and early 20th centuries. It was founded at the end of the 13th century in northwestern Anatolia in the town of Söğüt by the Oghuz Turkish tribal leader Osman I. After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans, the Ottoman beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror.
Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman Empire (330–395), of the Byzantine Empire, and also of the brief Crusader state known as the Latin Empire (1204–1261), until finally falling to the Ottoman Empire (1453–1923). It was reinaugurated in 324 from ancient Byzantium as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Emperor Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, and dedicated on 11 May 330. The city was located in what is now the European side and the core of modern Istanbul.
Istanbul, historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople, is the most populous city in Turkey and the country's economic, cultural and historic center. Istanbul is a transcontinental city in Eurasia, straddling the Bosporus strait between the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea. Its commercial and historical center lies on the European side and about a third of its population lives in suburbs on the Asian side of the Bosporus. With a total population of around 15 million residents in its metropolitan area, Istanbul is one of the world's most populous cities, ranking as the world's fourth largest city proper and the largest European city. The city is the administrative center of the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. Istanbul is viewed as a bridge between the East and West.
