Introduction to Surah of God—a tablet Baha’u’llah wrote when he cut off relations with his half-brother, Mirza Yahya, as a result of the latter’s relentless plotting and actions against him. Written during Baha’u’llah’s time in Edirne (Adrianople), the Surah of God emerges from a period of profound internal rupture. The tablet was revealed after Baha’u’llah…
Category: Windflower Translations Library
The Windflower Translations Library is a curated collection of just over 40 translations from Bahá’u’lláh’s mystical writings and related texts. Includes a catalogue of the works, the translations themselves, short introductions for general readers, study guides, and guidance on finding other English translations online. A practical gateway for anyone exploring the breadth of translation resources available here.
Introduction to Surah of Blood
Introduction to Surah of Blood—an early proclamatory tablet Baha’u’llah sent from Edirne to Iran when he publicly announced his mission. Surah of Blood was revealed in the winter of 1863–64 while Baha’u’llah was confined in Adrianople. At first glance, it reads like a personal letter to his friend Muhammad Nabil, offering advice on patience, trust,…
New video of “Praised be my Lord, the Most High”
A new video of Praised be my Lord, the Most High has been uploaded to the Windflower Readings YouTube channel. Praised be my Lord, the Most High is one of a group of Baha’u’llah’s works that centres on the activities of the houri, a celestial woman who symbolises the Divine and is the source of…
Praised be my Lord, the Most High (version 2)
Praised be my Lord, the Most High (Subhana Rabbiyya’l-A`la) is a 45-verse prose poem. Baha’u’llah invites readers into paradise to witness the activities of the divine houri, whose stunning beauty and power symbolise the creative forces of Baha’u’llah’s revelation. Read the Introduction. Watch on YouTube. Translation by Juan Cole (See also the translation by Alison…
The large number of Baha’u’llah’s writings yet to be studied
The large number of Baha’u’llah’s writings yet to be studied. In the following article, Dr Nader Saiedi describes a two-and-a-half month period in which he was engaged at the World Centre in indexing the writings of Baha’u’llah. The experience caused him to see that there is a large number of Baha’u’llah’s writings yet to be…
Tablet to the Zoroastrians, by Baha’u’llah
Tablet to the Zoroastrians (Lawh-i Dustan-i Yazdani) is a short tablet in which Baha’u’llah explains the meaning of the symbol of fire in Zoroastrian scripture, and proclaims himself to be the primal fire foreshadowed in the Avesta. Read the introduction. Translation by Juan Cole To the Zoroastrians The beginning of every tale is the name…
Tablet to Salman on Detachment, by Baha’u’llah
Tablet to Salman on Detachment (Lawh-i Salman II) is a short tablet in which Baha’u’llah discusses the meaning of detachment. He says that one sign of humanity’s maturity is that no one will agree to bear autocractic rule. Read the Introduction. Watch on YouTube. Translation by Juan Cole [1] O Salman: In every affair, strive…
Tablet to Ashraf, by Baha’u’llah
Tablet to Ashraf (Lawh-i Ashraf) is a dispatch that Baha’u’llah wrote for Siyyid Ashraf-i Zanjani at the end of Ashraf’s second visit with Baha’u’llah in Edirne (Adrianople). The context for the communication was that Ashraf was about to leave and travel back to Iran. The tablet contains instructions for Ashraf on what to do when…
Tablet on Understanding the Cause of Opposition, by Baha’u’llah
Tablet on Understanding the Cause of Opposition (Lawḥ-i ʿirfān-i ʿillat-i iʿrāḍ) is a letter Baha’u’llah wrote for someone who had not grasped his teachings related to the cycle of opposition faced by the Manifestations of God. In this tablet, Baha’u’llah repeats, in one fast-paced, hard-hitting argument, key themes he covers in detail in the Kitab-i…
Tablet on the Right of the People, by Baha’u’llah
Tablet on the Right of the People (Lawh-i haqq al-nas) discusses the following question: how is a person’s rights, breached in the physical world, redressed in the spiritual worlds? What is the mechanism by which these personal rights are restored? How is this process to be understood and how does it occur in the Day…