Note: paper formatted by Stephen Lambden, copied (with permission) from
http://www.hurqalya.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/03-THE%20BAB/post%201844/K-PANJ-SHA`N.htm.
Mysteries within Mysteries : an Introduction to some Theological, Mystical
and Esoteric dimensions of the Kitāb-i Panj Sha`n
(Book of the Five Modes) of
the Sayyid `Alī Muhammad, the Bāb (d. Tabriz, 1850 CE).
کتاب پنج شأن
The first page
of the Azalī-Bābī printed edition of the Kitāb-i Panj Sha`n
which has
sometimes questionable orthography and is is without voweling
(like many
autograph and other mss. of the writings of the Bāb)
THIS IS CURRENTLY UNDER REVISION AND COMPLETION
Last
updated 03/06/05
Provisional translation
of the opening five lines of the Arabic
Kitāb-i Panj Sha`n (I /1:1-5) :
Revelation
Mode (sha`n) 1 = Āyāt
(Arabic verses)
1/1
[1]
بسم الله
الاءله
الاٍٍءله
اننی انا الله لا اله الا انا الاءله الاءله
In the Name of God,
the Deity Most Divine (al-a'lah), the Supreme Deity (al-a'lah).
I, verily am God, no God is there except Me,
the Deity Most Divine (al-a'lah), the Supreme Godhead (al-a'lah).
[2]
بسم الله
الا له
الا له
بالله
الله
الاءله
الاءله
In the Name of God,
the Deity Most Divine (al-a'lah), the Supreme Deity (al-a'lah).
Through God is God (bi-Allāh Allāh),
the Deity Most Divine (al-a'lah), the Supreme Godhead (al-a'lah).
[3]
بسم
الله المؤٍله المؤله الله لا اله الا هو
الاءله
الاءله
In the Name of God,
the Deified, the Deified.
God, no God is there except Him, the Deity Most Divine, the Supreme Deity.
[4]
الله لا اله الا هو المؤِِله المؤِِله
الله لا اله الا هو المؤِِتله
الالهان
God, no God is there except Him,
the Deified, the Deified
God, no
God is there except Him, the Deity Generative of the twin Deities (al-ilāhān)
[5]
الله لا اله الا هو المؤِِتله
المتال
ولله اليه الهان السموات والارض
وما بينهما
God, no God is there except Him,
the Deity Generative of the Deity Generated.
Unto God indeed, unto Him [alone] are these dual Deities of
the heavens and of the earth and what lieth between them.
________________________________________________
The Kitāb-i Panj
Sha`n (= KPS) (The Book of the Five Modes [ or Grades]) is a fairly lengthy
major work of the Bāb largely written largely in Arabic but with some (heavily
Arabized) Persian sections making up 1/5th of the work. It is a very
rich work existing in a large number of mss. copies dating from the 1850s. Its
subject matter is representative of the last phrase of the thought and
meditative devotional style of the Bāb.
As is well-known,
the Bāb divided his writings into categories, modes, grades or types (sha`n,
pl. shu`ūn). He often spoke of a five-fold division (cf. the word Bāb
has an abjad numerical value of 5) which, though it sometimes
varies a little, often includes the following categories of revealed verses :
á
(1) Āyāt = Qur?anic style verses;
á
(2) Munājāt = Devotional pieces, prayers, supplications;
á
(3) Khuṭbah = Sermons, Orations, Homilies
/
or alternatively,
Suwar-i `ilmiyya
= "Surahs expressive of divine knowledge?;
á
(4) Tafāsīr [sing. Tafsīr]
= ?Commentaries?, and
á
(5) Fārsī
= Persian language revelations.
This pentadic (five-fold)
configuration is clear from the Persian Bayān and other writings, especially
Persian Bayan III:17;
VI:1 and IX:2. It is on account of this five-fold division of the
Bāb?s
writings that the Kitāb-i Panj Sha`n gets its name. Panj means ?five? and sha`n
(pl. shu`ūn) means ?mode?, ?category?, ?grade?, etc. The KPS and related works
and compilations are sometimes also referred to by the slightly abbreviated
Persian equivalent Shu'ūn-i khamsa (= ?Five Modes?). Volumes
of works with this title can be found in mss. collections of the Bāb's
writings existing in the British Museum [Library] ( Or. 5612 and
Or. 6680), the Cambridge University Library (Browne Collection) and elsewhere
(e.g. BBF.2 etc).
It
is significant that the Bāb included Persian as one of the specific
languages of revelation as, of course, did Baha'u'llah himself. Within
Islam the only language of qur'anic revelation is Arabic. Although some
foreign language items of vocabulary such as the Persian words
firdaws (Paradise) are found in the Qur'an, many if not most
Islamic scholars tended to play down the existence and/or importance of
such loan words or items of non-Arabic qur'anic vocabulary. It was argued
by Muslims in the light of authoritative hadith that Arabic is supreme and that it is the language of God most fit for
the revelation of the Word of God. The Bāb and Baha'u'llah added
Persian to the Islamic Arabic language of revelation. An Indo-European
language (Persian) was added to the Semitic (Arabic) language, rather
like the Christian Bible which includes scripture in a Semitic
(Hebrew-Aramaic) language (the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh) and an
Indo-European language (Greek), the Greek New Testament.
The Kitāb-i Panj
Sha`n is a work that the Bāb began writing at a very auspicious time, at the
beginning of the Bābī year seven which falls in the spring of the year 1850
CE. More precisely he commenced this work on the 1st of Bahā? of
the Badī` or Bābī (-Bahā?ī ) year 7 (= 1850 ) which (in the Christian
Gregorian calendar ) corresponds to the 19th of March 1850 CE (= in
the Islamic calendar to the 5th of Jumāda I in the year 1266 AH).
From this date onwards the Bāb wrote five Arabic-Persian grades daily in the
name of specific leading Bābī disciples (to whom specific groups were sent out)
until 21st Jumada I (1266), about 4 months before the martyrdom of
the Bāb in Tabrīz (NW Iran) on July 9th 1850. In communicating these
daily revelations for 17 days the result was 17x5 or 85 grades constituting a
lengthy book of over 500 pages. The Kitāb-i Panj Sha`n was thus fairly
speedily completed on the 4th of April 1850 or 21 Jumādā 1st 1266
AH, about 4 months before the martyrdom of the Bāb in Tabrīz (NW Iran) on July
9th 1850.
Though many
unpublished often incomplete mss. of the Kitāb-i Panj Sha`n are known to exist,
no compete critical edition has to date been produced. Important mss. have
not yet been collected together and compared with one another in order to obtain
a reliable or critical edition. The Azalī Bābī, only barely semi-critical printed edition
dating to the 1960s, is not complete according to the Bāb?s own mss.
description of his planned `Book of the Five Grades?. It contains twelve
five-fold sections constituting (5 x12 = ) sixty divisions and thus lacks
twenty-five grades or modes (5X5) which he apparently actually revealed. Something like a third of the KPS is
absent from the Azali printed edition which is in part a pastiche from a variety
of mss.
The Kitāb-i Panj
Sha`n fast became a much beloved compendium of deep at tinmes devotional
or Dhikr-type
revelations. It is full of richly meditative and rhythmic paragraphs as well as
highly evocate theological materials. It is meant to be chanted and heard as
well as intellectually experienced, being both meditative and rhapsodic as well
as intellectually challenging for the Bābi or Muslim and other readers. The KPS
includes many theologically challenging paragraphs as well as bewilderingly
complex mystical details. It also messianic contains a large number of cryptic
messianic references to the Bābī messiah man yuẓhir-uhu Allāh (Him whom God shall
make manifest?).
THE RECIPIENTS OF PENTADIC
DIVISIONS OF THE KITAB-I PANJ SHA'N
Several
thought not all (?) of the
seventeen major pentadic or five-fold sections of the KPS appear to be most centrally
related to a particular disciple of the Bāb. This was often someone who held a leading position in
the Bābi religion in the period immediately prior its times of writing
(1850). The Names of God
focused upon in the five-fold sections of the KPS often relate closely to
the theological identity of a given Bābī
leader as is indicated by the abjad or numerical value of that persons name or
title. It
is not currently known with any certainty which specific Bābī disciples are
alluded or addressed in each of the 17 divisions of the KPS, the identity of
only a proportion of them is tentatively known : exactly which persons are
allusively indicated is not as yet known
or is disputed. The following are among the individuals currently believed to be
significant figures focused upon or allusively addressed in the Kitab-i
Panj Sha`n with some indication of their identity (where known) and in a
few cases a line or two addressed to them:
-
Pentad I. KPS:1ff.
Unknown
-- perhaps to be associated with the Divine Bābī messiah man
yuẓhiru-hu-Allāh (Him whom God shall make Manifest)
بسم
الله الاءِله الاءِله
....
see above
In the
Name of God, the Deity Most Divine, the Supreme Deity
-
Pentad
II. KPS:37f : Unknown
بسم الله الاوحد الاوحد
بسم
الله الوحد الوحد بسم الله الموجد الموتحد...
In the
Name of God, the Supremely Unique (al-awḥad), the Supremely Unique (al-awḥad)...
بسم الله الاءِحد الاءِحد
بسم الله الاحد الاحد بالله الله الاحد الاحد لا اله الا هو الاءِحدالاءِحد
...
In the
Name of God, the Supremely One (al-awḥad), the Supremely One (al-awḥad)
In God is God, the One, the One, no God is there except Him, the
Supremely One, the Supremely One ,...
known through the Name of God
the Wāḥid (Unique) (= abjad 28 like
Yaḥyā). This
pentad begins with the basmala incorporating a
superlative derived
from the root Ḥ-Y-Y / Ḥ-W-Y having connotations of = "to live",
"to be alive", be quicken " etc from which the proper Name
يحيى
Yaḥyā (actually an unusual Arabic form of "Yohannan"
perhaps related to this Christian Syriac form of the name "John"). (KPS:106f)
بسم الله الاحيی الاحيی
الله لا اله الا هو الاحيی الاحيی بالله الله الحيی الحيی
لله
لا اله الا هو
المحيی المحيی
In the Name of God,the Supremely Alive, the Most Living.God, no God is there except Him,
the Supremely Alive, the Most Living.
In God is God, the Living One the One Alive.God, no God is there except Him,
the Enlivener (al-muḥyi), the Regenerator (al-muḥyi).
بسم الله الاقوم الاقوم
بسم الله القوم القوم بالله الله القوم القوم الله لا اله الا هو الاقوم
الاقوم
...
In the Name of God, the Supremely Powerful, the Most Powerful
God, no God is there except Him,
the Supremely Alive, the Most Living
In the Name of God, the Powerful, the Powerful. In God is God, the Powerful, the Powerful.
God, no God is there except Him,
the Supremely Powerful, the Most Powerful
-
Pentad VI.
KPS:172f. Mīrzā Ḥusayn `Alī
Nūrī Bahā?u?llāh (d. Acre, Palestine, 1892 CE) known through the Name of God
Bahā? (= ?Glory-Beauty?,
abjad = 9)
or (Azali-Bābis assert) Fāṭima Baraghānī (d. 1852) known as Ṭāhirah also allegedly known through the Name of God Bahā?.
Below are the opening verses of the Kitāb-i Panj Sha`n believed to have
been dedicated to Baha'u'llah, section VI mode 1:
بسم
الله الابهی الابهی
بالله الله البهی البهی الله لا اله الا هو
الابهی الابهی
الله لا اله الا هو البهی
البهی
الله لا اله الا هو المبتهی المبتهی الله
لا اله الا هوالمبهی المبهی
الله لا
اله الا هو الواحد البهيان ولله
بهی بهيان بهاءِ السموات والارض وما بينهما
والله بهاءِ باهی بهی
In the Name of God,
the All-Glorious (al-abha), the Most Beautiful (al-abha).
In God is God, the Luminous (al-bahiyy), the Splendid
(al-bahiyy).
God, no God is there except Him,
the All-Glorious (al-abha), the Most Beautiful (al-abha).
In God is God, the Luminous (al-bahiyy), the Splendid
(al-bahiyy).
God, no God is there except Him,
(One) Radiating Splendor (al-mubtaha), (One) Manifesting Glory (al-mubtaha).
God, no
God is there except Him, the Beauteous (al-mubahiyy) the Beauteous
(al-mubahiyy).
God, no
God is there except Him, the One (al-wāḥid), the Glorification (al-buhyān).
And unto
God is the Luminosity (al-bahiyy) of the Glorification (al-buhyān) of
His Glory (al-bahā')
throughout
the heavens and the earth and whatsoever lieth between them.
And unto
God belongs the Splendour (al-bahā') of the Glorification (al-buhyān) of
the Glory (al-bahā')
of the
heavens and the earth and whatsoever lieth between them.
God is
[indeed] the Glory of the Glorifying of the Luminous Glory (baha' al-bāhiyy
al-bahiyy)....(KPS:138f)
The above
translation and transliteration are at times very loose. Words derived
from the same Arabic root as the title Bahā' (B-H-A/ [W]-') are colored
red and continue for much longer than few lines translated above. The
effect of reciting these words allusive of glory-beauty-splendor and
light etc., can be spiritually intoxicating or hypnotic in intensity. It
is almost act of mystical Dhikr of the kind indulged in by many Islamic
mystics.
-
Pentad
VII. KPS:213f. Ḥājī
Mirza Sayyid `Alī (d. 1850), a merchant and one of the maternal
uncles of the Bab, the Khal-i A`ẓam ("Most Great Uncle) who some
reckon one of the key disciples, the Ḥurufat al-ḥayy (Letters of the Living).
He was also the first of the seven martyrs of Tehran.
بسم الله الاجلل الاجلل
بالله الله الجلل الجلل الله لا اله الا هو الاجلل الاجلل الله لا اله الا
هو الجلل الجلل
In the Name of God,
the All-Sublime (al-ajlal), the Most Sublime (al-ajlal).
In God is God, the Illustrious, the Illustrious.
God, no God is there except Him,
the All-Sublime (al-ajlal), the Most Sublime (al-ajlal).
God, no God is there except Him,
the Illustrious, the Illustrious.
(KPS:213)
-
Pentad
VIII. KPS:252f.
Mullā
Shaykh `Alī Turshīzī (d. 1852) through the Name of God
`Aẓīm
(= "Mighty, Great"). A Shaykhī convert and militant
Babi who in 1848 was selected to intimate the Bāb's
then more explicit messianic claims. He admitted a
role in the attempt on the life of Nasir al-Din Shah (d. 1896) as a result of which he was
martyred.
بسم الله الاجمل الاجمل
بالله الله الجمل الجمل ذی الجمالين بسم الله الجمل ذی الجملاءِ
بسم الله المجمل المجمل بالله الله المجمل المجمل بالله الله الجمل ذی
الجمالين
In the Name of God,
the Supremely Beautiful (al-ajmal), the Most Beautiful (al-ajmal).
In God is God, the Beautiful, the Beauty possessed of
two-fold Beauty (al-jamālayn).
In the Name of God, the Beauty possessed of
Beauteousness. In the Name of God, the Beautified, the Beautifying .
In God is God, the Beautified, the Beautifying. In God is God, the One Beautiful possessed of twofold
Beauty.(KPS:252f)
بسم الله الانور الانور
بسم الله النور ذی النوارين بسم الله النور ذی النوراءِ بسم الله
النور ذی الانوار
بسم الله النور ذی النوار بسم الله النور ذی النوور
In the Name of God,
the Supreme Light, the Most Great Light.
In the Name of God possessed of double Luminosity.
In the Name of God , the Light possessed of
Radiance. In the Name of God, the Light possessed of Lights...(KPS:291f)
بسم الله الاقدم الاقدم
بسم الله الواحد القدام بسم الله المقدم المقدم بسم الله المقدم المقدم
In the Name of God,
the Most Ancient (al-aqdam), the Most Pre-Existent (al-aqdam)
.
In the Name of God the Unique (al-wāḥid) the Foremost
(al-quddām) .
In the Name of God the Antecedent (al-muqaddam), the
Uppermost (al-muqaddam)
In the Name of God the Antecedent (al-muqaddam), the
Uppermost (al-muqaddam)...(KPS:327f)
-
Pentad
XI.
KPS: 365f - Unknown
akmal (The Most Perfect)
-
Pentad
XII. KPS: XXXf - Unknown aḥkam
(The Most Regulated)
-
Pentad
XIII. KPS:XXXf
- Unknown aqdar (The Most Mighty)
-
Pentad
XIV. KPS:
405f - Unknown
al-a`lam (The Most Learned)
-
Pentad
XV. Unknown
??
-
Pentad
XVI. Unknown
??
-
Pentad
XVII. Unknown
??
￭ The Theology of the opening
lines .
These
above opening few
lines (heading this abstract) of the Kitāb-i Panj Sha`n ( I-1) of the Bāb commence with a very bold
?Day of God? basmala (?In the Name of God?) formula in which the
qur?ānic personal Name of God
الله Allāh
-- itself a contraction of the definite article = al (the) + ilāh (Deity)
forming Allāh and meaning literally = the God) seems to be twice
expressed in the elative or
superlative (af`al). This bearing in mind that the word
اله
ilāh (= a Deity) if (ungrammatically)
made into a superlative (preceded
by the a vowel) prefixed (in line with the style of the Bāb) by the definite article.
This (quasi-) superlative form thus also indicates Allah or God as "a
Supreme Deity" hence the translation "the Supreme Deity"
as representing a'lah (= a + ?ilāh). As it occurs twice here (and
elsewhere) I
have (loosely) translated ?Deity Most Divine? then "Supreme Godhead"
or something similar.
These
opening words cannot be taken literally as
being indicative of a Deity superior to the Ultimate Godhead but proBābly
expresses the fact that the Godhead has been `transcendentalized' or set even
higher in His-Its Ultimate Essence. This in a manner way beyond any claim to
divinity
made by the Bāb himself. Hence the Bāb
is actually highlighting God?s absolute transcendence not claiming anything but
distinctly subordinate divinity. Hence his words bi-Allāh Allāh
or "through God
is God". The (quasi-) superlative of God is a fitting way for
the Bāb to refer to God since he is representing the Godhead as being utterly
transcendent while himself claiming a subordinate or lesser level of divinity.
The Transcendent Unknowable God is known through him as the knowable
(lesser) Deity or Divinity. The Bāb implies that God the Transcendent
or Unknowable and Ultimate Being, is way beyond even Divinity although
He-it is known through (the secondary) "Godhead" or divinity of the Manifestation
of God (maẓhar-i ilahī) who is the Bāb. As a divine
Messenger of God representative of the eschatological Presence of God Himself,
the liqā?-Allāh or "Encounter with God" on the Day of God (yawm Allāh), it is
fitting that the Bāb both associate himself with and disassociate himself from the
Ultimate Deity. He represents himself only as ?God? in a secondary sense and as
the Deity through whom the Deity can be known.
For both the Bāb and Bahā?u?llāh
all the great Messengers or Manifestations of God can legitimately claim
?divinity? by saying something like (Arabic) innanī anā Allāh, oe "I, verily am
God" (see Kitāb-i iqan, XX). In saying this they never mean to claim
ontological identity with the absolute Essence (dhāt or dhāt al-dhāt) of the Godhead. The
Manifestation of God never becomes the Absolute Godhead on the level of
Essences but only represents the Godhead on the level of manifestation.
Theologically it is maẓhar (manifestation) not ḥulūl
(incarnation).
God?s
transcendence is thus safeguarded in view of the Bāb?s claim to (secondary)
Divinity in the opening of the Kitāb-I Panj Sha`n. These kinds of deep
theological issues inform many parts of the highly theologically meaningful
Kitāb-I Panj Sha`n. I have only loosely translated this superlative of Allāh
(which actually is a contraction of the basically femine al-ilāh meaning
"the God")
as ?Deity Most Divine? and ?Supreme Deity? though other renderings might also
be equally accurate. The references to twin Deities are not intended to be
polytheistic but expressive of the Ultimate Deity giving rise to the
Deity of His Manifestation. The Divine Oneness (tawḥīd) is maintained in
a complex and highly creative and theologically meaningful Arabic. In
many of his works the Bāb commenced with a celebration of the sublime
transcendence of the Ultimate Godhead. It is of course highly
significant that he altered the Muslim basmala (In the Name
of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate) formula by replacing the
two words "Merciful" and "Compassionate" with two Arabic the two Arabic
superlatives al-amna` (the most Inaccessible,
ultimately Withdrawn") and al-aqdas (the Most Sanctified
[Holy]): thus, "In the Name of God, the Most Inaccessible, the Most
Sanctified".
MESSIANISM
قل
الله اله
فوق كل ذی الهه
لن
يقدران يمتنع عن اليه الهان ائتلائه من احد لافی السموات ولا فی الارض ولا
ما بينهما
انه كان الاها موءِتلها اليها هذا كتاب من الله
الی
من يظهره الله
علی انه لا اله الا انا الموءِتله الالهان
Say:
God is a Deity above every possessor of Divinity.
It would prove impossible for
anyone to compromise His transcendence above those Doubly Divine
(al-ilāhān)
among His divinized Ones, whether
they be [located] in the heavens or upon the earth;
neither [would it be possible] for [those]
betwixt these twain,
for He, verily, hath ever
been a Deity generating Godhead.
This is a Book from God unto 'Him
Whom God shall make Manifest'
for He, verily, no God is
there except I-Myself, the Deity Generated among the Doubly Deified (al-ilāhān)...
واننی
انا الله لا اله الا انا
لن يقدر احد ان يحبنی ومن اراد ان يحبنی فليمجدن
من
يظهره
الله
يوم ظهوره فان هذا صراط حق مجتمل جميل اننی انا الله لا اله الا انا
I, verily, I am God, no God is
there except Me
It is impossible that anyone
should befittingly love me.
Thus, whoso desireth that he
should love me [the Bāb], let him glorify 'Him whom God shall make
manifest'
on the Day of his Manifestation (ẓuhūr)
for such is indeed the Path of
the True One (ṣirat al-ḥaqq) which is Beauteous, Beautiful.
I, verily, am God, no God is
there except Me.
In the above, again (loosely translated) deeply theological extract from the opening page of
the Kitāb-i Panj Sha`n (I/1), the Bābi messiah is associated with the
Godhead, the Supreme Deity. When the Bāb composed the Kitāb-i Panj Sha`n
messianism was very central to his thought. In the second extract also
translated above from the opening section of the Kitāb-i Panj Sha`n, the
Bāb asks the reader to show his love for him by glofifying ' Him who God
shall make manifest' (KPS I/1). Mentions of the
future advent of
the Bābī messiah
من
يظهره الله
?Him who God shall make
manifest? (man yuẓhiru-hu Allāh) are scattered throughout the
Kitāb-i Panj Sha`n as in other latest works such as his Haykal al-Dīn (The
Temple of Religion) (1850 CE).
The Kitāb-i Panj
Sha`n very strongly underlines in several paragraphs the fact that religion
will ever be renewed. It is today a central Bābī‑Bahā?ī teaching that future
divine messengers (rusul) or maẓhar-i ilāhī (divine
manifestations) will, for many thousands of years, found and progressively
renew the eternal religion of God (= "Islam"). The Bāb?s claim to be the Shī` ī
messiah did not prevent or inhibit his also predicting numerous future messianic
advents using the terminology derived from Sufīsm by referring to man
yuẓhiruhu‑Allāh = `Him Whom God shall make manifest?. The endless advent of
this figure seems to be indicated in the following passage from the Kitāb-i Panj Sha?n :
ومن
بعد
البيان من يظهره الله ومن بعد من يظهره الله من يظهره الله و
ومن بعد من يظهره الله من يظهره الله ومن بعد من يظهره الله من يظهره الله
ومن بعد من يظهره الله من يظهره الله ومن بعد من يظهره الله من يظهره الله
ومن بعد من يظهره الله من يظهره الله
.. And after the [Dispensation of the Bayān] it is [the manifestation of]
[1]
man
yuẓhiru‑hu Allāh (Him whom God will make manifest)
And after man yuẓhiru‑hu Allāh [1]
man yuẓhiruhu Allāh
[2]. And after man yuẓhiru‑hu Allāh [2]
man yuẓhiru‑hu Allāh
[3]. And after man yuẓhiru‑hu Allāh, [3]
man yuẓhiru‑hu
Allāh [4]
And after man yuẓhiru‑hu Allāh [4]
man yuẓhiru‑hu
Allāh [5] And after man yuẓhiru‑hu Allāh [5]
man yuẓhiru‑hu
Allāh [6] And after man yuẓhiru‑hu Allāh [6]
man yuẓhiru‑hu
Allāh [ 7].
And after man yuẓhiru‑hu Allāh [7]
man yuẓhiru‑hu Allāh
[8] And after man yuẓhiru‑hu Allāh [8]
man yuẓhiru‑hu Allāh
[9]....
(K. Panj: 314‑5, cf. 397).
The position of the Bāb indicated here is the exact opposite of the
Islamic proponents of the doctrine of the finality of prophethood, who hold that divine
revelation will terminate in human history. The mention of nine successive theophanies in the passage translated above most likely indicates the endless
future appearance of elevated Prophets.
A Talismanic vest of one of the
Ottoman Sultans
In this paper some of the
theological, messianic and mystical-esoteric dimensions of the Kitāb-I Panj
Sha`n will be tentatively presented including the nature of references to the
Bābī messiah
من
يظهره الله
?Him who God shall make
manifest? (man yuẓhiru-hu Allāh) and some aspects of such Islamic rooted
?sciences? as jafr (gematric prognostication; numerological
divination), talismans and the Names
and Attributes of God. In approaching these subjects it must be borne in
mind that some concepts dealt with in the Kitāb-i Panj Sha`n of
the Bāb may seem strange and obscure. Such, however, was not at
all the case for pious Shi`i Muslims living in Persia (Iran)
in early Qajar times and throughout the Islamic world in
various other periods and locations. The Qajar Islamic `universe of
discourse' in which the Bab lived and operated as a Messenger of God was in many ways
very different from the often non-religious, westernized world of today. This must be appreciated,
otherwise subjects like alchemy and talismans are difficult to grasp;
even though they were much appreciated and widely studied and practiced
in earlier centuries. Indeed, the wearing of talismans and
charms of diverse kinds was commonplace in Qajar Iran. In the regions around Shiraz,
for example, there were groups of Persian Jews who earned their living
making and selling talismans and charms. The
Ottoman Sultans had for long worn vests or cloaks embedded with talismanic designs and symbols
in order to keep protected from evil and mindful of matters spiritual
(cf. the Talismanic garment above).
As the promised Shi`i messianic Qa'im, the Bāb's was expected to
have a knowledge of numerology and the esoteric sciences. He was was
expected to have a mastery all kinds of occult sciences as was claimed
by the fountainhead of al-Shaykhiyya (Shaykhism) Shaykh Aḥmad al-Ahsa'i
(d. 1826) and others. Like the
first twelver Imam `Alī (d. 40/661) who is credited with a mastery of
all such inner sciences, the Bab as the `Ali from Shiraz living in eschatological times had to prove a like knowledge. Yet,
in this respect the Bab often made
knowledge of amulets talismans and the like, serve another purpose.
He often made such devices vehicles of messianic mindfulness, items for focusing
upon the imminent new era of
messianic "resurrection"' and "justice".
