Dear Khazeh,
Thank you for your response sharing some Writings regarding Tablets of the
Maiden.
Warmest regards,
Larry
P.S.
Regarding Ode to the Dove (Qasidiy-i-Varqa'iyyih), for those interested, God
Passes By page 123 and Revelation of Baha'u'llah vol. 1, pages 62-64 reads:
"No one among the mystics, the wise, and the learned," they claimed, while
requesting this further favor from Him, "has hitherto proved himself capable of
writing a poem in a rhyme and meter identical with that of the longer of the
two odes, entitled Qasidiy-i-Ta'iyyih composed by Ibn-i-Farid. We beg you to
write for us a poem in that same meter and rhyme." This request was complied
with, and no less than two thousand verses, in exactly the manner they had
specified, were dictated by Him, out of which He selected one hundred and
twenty-seven, which He permitted them to keep, deeming the subject matter of
the rest premature and unsuitable to the needs of the times. It is these same
one hundred and twenty-seven verses that constitute the Qasídiy-i-Varqá'íyyih,
so familiar to, and widely circulated amongst, His Arabic speaking followers.
Such was their reaction to this marvelous demonstration of the sagacity and
genius of Bahá'u'lláh that they unanimously acknowledged every single verse of
that poem to be endowed with a force, beauty and power far surpassing anything
contained in either the major or minor odes composed by that celebrated poet.
This episode, by far the most outstanding among the events that transpired
during the two years of Bahá'u'lláh's absence from Baghdad, immensely
stimulated the interest with which an increasing number of the ulamas, the
scholars, the shaykhs, the doctors, the holy men and princes who had
congregated in the seminaries of Sulaymaniyyih and Karkuk, were now following
His daily activities.
(Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 123)
*************************************************
One of the most outstanding events of Bahá'u'lláh's sojourn in Sulaymaniyyih,
which captured the hearts of the people, was the revelation in public of a poem
in Arabic known as Qasídiy-i-Varqá'íyyih. The divines of Sulaymaniyyih
requested Bahá'u'lláh to undertake a task, which no one had previously
accomplished, of writing a poem in the same rhyme as Qasidiy-i-Ta'iyyih, one of
the works of the celebrated Arabic poet Ibn-i-Farid.
Accepting their request, Bahá'u'lláh dictated no less than two thousand verses
as He sat in their midst. Amazed at such a revelation, those present were
spellbound and lost in admiration at His performance. They acclaimed His verses
as far superior in their beauty, lucidity and profundity to the original poem
by Ibn-i-Farid. Knowing that the subject-matter was 63 beyond the people's
comprehension, He chose one hundred and twenty-seven verses and allowed them to
be copied.
If we remember that Bahá'u'lláh was a Persian and that He had not attended a
school where the intricacies of the Arabic language were studied, this poem,
from the literary point of view alone, stands out as a great testimony to His
genius which was born of the Divine Spirit. The words He has used in this poem
are very rich in their meanings and as they blend together, they produce a
divine orchestra of spiritual melodies. With the use of only one or two words
Bahá'u'lláh often makes reference to a verse of the Qur'án or a certain
tradition of Islam. In this way, within a line He alludes to and welds together
a series of passages from the Qur'án, revealing thereby the mysteries of God's
Revelation. Each one of these verses is like an ocean created from many rivers
flowing together, and hidden in their depths are innumerable pearls of wisdom
and knowledge.
After His return to Baghdad, Bahá'u'lláh wrote some footnotes to this poem; in
these He gave the meanings in Persian of the difficult words and also
interpreted some of its abstruse verses. In two or three instances He even
pointed to His own apparent deviation from grammatical rules which, in the
circumstances, He clearly justified.
The theme of the Qasídiy-i-Varqá'íyyih is the praise and glorification of the
Most Great Spirit which had descended upon Him in the symbolic form of the
'Maid of Heaven'. There is a dialogue between Himself as the Bearer of God's
Message and the Holy Spirit personified as the Maid of Heaven, whose attributes
and splendours He glorifies. For His own part, He dwells on His past
sufferings, recounts the cruel fashion in which His enemies had imprisoned Him
with chains and fetters, speaks of His grief and loneliness and resolutely
affirms His determination to arise and face, with steadfastness and joy, any
calamity which might in the future descend upon Him in the path of God.
The poem demonstrates the relationship between the person of the Manifestation
of God and the Holy Spirit which animates 64 and sustains Him. It also throws
light on the immensity of the spiritual domains of God from which all
Revelations have been sent down.
Apart from this poem, some prayers and meditations were revealed by Bahá'u'lláh
in Kurdistan, which are written in His own hand and have been preserved for
posterity. Among them is another poem known as Saqi-Az-Ghayb-i-Baqa. This is in
Persian and again, like other odes of Bahá'u'lláh, is soul-stirring and very
beautiful. It expresses His longing for the day when the glory of His
Countenance will be unveiled to men and the splendours of His Revelation will
shed their light upon them. It affirms that those who desire to attain the
light of His Revelation must detach themselves from all earthly things, and
warns them that they will be acceptable in His presence only when they are
ready to offer up their lives in His path.
(Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah v 1, p. 62)
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