Súriy-i-Ra'ís (Tablet/Treatise to His Excellency) Addressed to 'Alí Páshá, The Grand Vizir of the Ottomans
First presented at the Irfan Colloquia Session #32
Bosch Bahá'í School: California, USA
November 23–26, 2000
(see list of papers from #32)
The Súriy-i-Ra'ís was revealed in Arabic in honor of Hájí Muhammad Isma'il-i-Kashani, i.e., Dhabíh; (sacrifice) and Anís (companion). It was revealed when Bahá'u'lláh and His companions were banished from Adrianople to 'Akká and were under significant tribulations and indignation. Yet these ominous warnings and injustice were issued to the very person who was the head of the Ottoman government, which had ordered the cruel injustice against Bahá'u'lláh. Addressing the vizir, He declares that neither his "swine snort" nor his "canine barks" of his assistance may change the will of God and the course of His Cause. As a result of their action, He asserts, "The day is approaching when the Land of Mystery (Adrianople) and what is beside it shall be changed, and shall pass out of the hands of the king, and commotions shall appear, and the voice of lamentation shall be raised, and the evidences of mischief shall be revealed on all sides, and confusion shall spread by reason of that which hath befallen these captives at the hands of the hosts of oppression. The course of things shall be altered, and conditions shall wax so grievous, that the very sands on the desolate hills will moan, and the trees on the mountain will weep, and blood will flow out of all things. Then wilt thou behold the people in sore distress."
Then at some point He turns his attention to Dhabíh in words of loving kindness. He then refers to the night that soldiers had surrounded his residence, houses of relatives, and His loved ones in Adrianople, leaving them without food. Lamentations of neighboring Muslims and Christians from this injustice Were aroused. Then He, continuing, "We perceived that the weeping of the people of the Son (Christians) exceeded the others," mentioning Haji Jafar-i-Tabrizi, who consequently attempted to take his own life for love of Bahá'u'lláh. Recalling similar incidents in Baghdad regarding Siyyid Isma'il-i-Zavari'i, He affirms that "such events have been unheard of in bygone centuries." Bahá'u'lláh declares that although these souls, driven by uncontrollable urge to sacrifice in the path of God, acted against His commandments, they are immersed in the ocean of His forgiveness and that tribulation and suffering of believers will act as oil for the lamp of the Cause of God, adding to its radiance and glory.
Amidst all of these calamities threatening His life and the lives of His family and followers He turns to Dhabih's questions about the nature of the rational soul and its progression or regression in the realms of God.
These warnings uttered by Bahá'u'lláh over a century ago, and soon followed by Súriy-i-Mulúk, have set in motion an immense cataclysmic process, breaking up the old order and destroying the foundation of human society everywhere on the planet.
So while we live at a time when man's knowledge and wealth are phenomenal, he does not know where to turn and how to stem the tide of its catastrophic course. To the followers of Bahá'u'lláh the cause of these calamities is clear. Although the Divine Gardener has planted the seeds in fertile soil, as man has turned his back to the Sun of Truth no rays of sun get to the seeds.
"Soon," Bahá'u'lláh Himself has prophesied, "will the present day order be rolled up and a new one spread out in its stead."
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