Thanks to Adib Masumian, we have more information on Baha’u’llah’s attitude to martyrdom.
In a previous post, I shared my translations of Arabic hidden words 44-46, and showed that there is a conceptual link between them. The link is between the idea of testifying to one’s truth and the idea martyrdom. That is, a person can testify to their truth at three levels of reality: within themselves, with speech in society, and with their bodies in martyrdom. I based this on the following analysis of Arabic hidden words 44-46:
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What is interesting is that Baha’u’llah uses the same [Arabic] root sh-h-d in the hidden words that come immediately before and after no 45. By focusing on Baha’u’llah’s use of this root in the three hidden words, you can see how he has gradually shifted the meaning from the idea of testifying to one’s truth to the idea of martyrdom. The clauses in question are:
44: “you can confirm for me in your secret thoughts an absolute sanctity” (form I, active)
45: “articulate your truth about me as you see it” (form X, active)
46: “die as a martyr in my path on the ground” (form X, passive)
In all of these cases, Baha’u’llah has used the root sh-h-d, which has the foundational meaning “He told, or gave information of, what he had witnessed, or seen or beheld with his eye:” You can see in these three clauses a movement in meaning from the inner to the outer. In 44, the activity is taking place within the individual’s spiritual world, where the person is communing with Baha’u’llah. That is where the foundational testimony is initiated and established. In 45, the activity is taking place at the social or discourse level, where the person speaks the testimony, and in 46, the activity is taking place at the physical level, where the person testifies using their physical body.
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In response to these translations, some people commented that they did not cherish physical martyrdom at all. This was a cause of conflict for them because Baha’u’llah seemed to be advocating something that they did not see as a part of their own destiny. Well, worry no more, because this latest translation from Adib sheds more light on the matter. Here is what Baha’u’llah says to this correspondent, who must have raised the matter of his possible future martyrdom with Baha’u’llah.
“Thou hast, by the grace of God and the limitless mercy of the Lord, attained to the greatest martyrdom, and this station surpasseth physical martyrdom. Whosoever in this Day hath clung to the will of God and achieved His purpose hath attained to the greatest martyrdom, for such a one hath died to his own self, will, and purpose, and shall live eternally in—and be animated solely by—the will and purpose of God, exalted be His glory and all-encompassing His favors. Wherefore, give no thought at all to physical martyrdom; thou hast reached a loftier height.”
Baha’u’llah, from an untranslated tablet, translated by Adib Masumian
This passage shows that, as I suggested in my discussion on the hidden words, martyrdom has infinite spiritual stations, just as other spiritual principles do (such as justice and radiant acquiescence). There is not just one martyrdom, a physical death, but other martyrdoms too. The highest martyrdom, Baha’u’llah is saying in this passage, is the act of dying to the lower self and living in God – and that is something all believers can do, whether they live in the Middle East or the West.