The Hidden Treasure
First presented at the Irfan Colloquia Session #15
Bahá'í National Center: Wilmette, Illinois, USA
August 9–10, 1997
(see list of papers from #15)
This presentation is an attempt to explain the basic ideas of Bahá'í 'irfán as revealed by Bahá'u'lláh, the Báb, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, and the Guardian and to explain what the concepts of "the Most Holy Outpouring," "the Holy Outpouring," "Search," "Love," "Knowledge," "Unity," "Wonderment," "Annihilation in God," "Life in God," and "Visitation of the Countenance of God" mean. Is Bahá'í 'irfán different from Moslem or Christian 'irfán?
The first part of the presentation will discuss some of these themes as they relate to the World of God, the World of Cause (Alam-i-Amr) and the World of Creation (Alam-i-Khalq).
Bahá'í sources used for the presentation primarily include the Kitáb-i-Iqán, The Seven Valleys, Bahá'u'lláh's Mathnavi, Rashh-i-'Amá, 'Abdu'l-Bahá's commentary on "The Hidden Treasure," Some Answered Questions, Taherzadeh's The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, and others. To clarify the mystical background of Bahá'í 'irfání language, many relevant non-Bahá'í sources also will be included.
Mozhan Khadem is President and a founding Principal of a Boston architectural design company. He received a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Illinois and a Master of City Planning from Harvard University; his thirty-five years of experience include numerous award-winning projects in the United States and the Middle East.
Since childhood he has been interested in Persian works of literature, especially of the 'irfání kind, and has spent considerable time studying as an avocation the mystical poets of Iran and the 'irfání writings of the Bahá'í Faith.
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