Tablet of the Holy Mariner

"Lawh-i-Malláhu'l-Quds" or the "Tablet of the Holy Mariner" is a tablet written by Bahá'u'lláh, founder of the Bahá'í Faith, in Baghdad in 1863.Taherzadeh, pg. 228.] The tablet's main theme is the covenant between man and God, and man being unfaithful to it.Taherzadeh, pg. 229.]

The tablet is written in two parts; one which is in Arabic, and the other in Persian; currently only the Arabic part has been translated into English. The Persian tablet is for the most part similar in content to the Arabic tablet.Taherzadeh, pg. 242.] The tablet is written in allegorical terms and its main theme is the covenant and man being unfaithful to it.Taherzadeh, pg. 230.] In the tablet, Bahá'u'lláh refers to himself as the "Holy Mariner"," uses an "ark" to symbolize the Covenant of God, and symbolized the believers in the covenant as the "dwellers" in the "ark;"Taherzadeh, pg. 235.] he writes that those people who are in the ark are safe and will acquire salvation. In the tablet, Bahá'u'lláh also alludes to his perceived station as He whom God shall make manifest, a messianic figure predicted by the Báb, and the fate of Subh-i-Azal, Bahá'u'lláh's half-brother who wanted to cause a split in the Babi community.Taherzadeh, pg. 241.]

The tablet was written on March 27, 1863; after the tablet was written, Bahá'u'lláh's amanuensis came out of Bahá'u'lláh's tent and read the tablet to his followers. It is stated that at this point it was evident to Bahá'u'lláh's followers that their time in Baghdad would be shortly over. [Nabíl-i-A`zam quoted in Taherzadeh, pg. 228.] Shortly thereafter, Bahá'u'lláh was summoned by the Ottoman government from Baghdad to Constantinople (present-day Istanbul); before leaving Baghdad, he entered the garden of Ridván, where he publicly stated his claimed prophethood.

Notes

References

*cite book
author=Bahá'u'lláh
authorlink=Bahá'u'lláh
year=1862
title=The Tablet of the Holy Mariner
publisher=Bahá'í Publishing Trust: 1991
location=Wilmette, Illinois, USA
id=ISBN 0877432856
url=http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/c/BP/bp-175.html#pg221

*cite book
author = Hatcher, J.S.
year = 1997
title = The Ocean of His Words: A Reader's Guide to the Art of Bahá'u'lláh
publisher = Bahá'í Publishing Trust
location = Wilmette, Illinois, USA
id = ISBN 0877432597

*cite book
author = Sours, Michael
year = 2001
title = The Tablet of the Holy Mariner: An Illustrated Guide to Baha'u'llah's Mystical Work in the Sufi Tradition
publisher = Kalimát Press
location = Los Angeles
id = ISBN 1890688193
url = http://www.bahai-library.com/books/brilliant.proof/

*cite book
last = Taherzadeh
first = A.
year = 1976
title = The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 1: Baghdad 1853-63
publisher = George Ronald
location = Oxford, UK
id = ISBN 0853982708

External links

* [http://bahai-library.org/resources/tablets-notes/lawh-mallah-quds/outline.html Tablet of the Holy Mariner: Tablet Study Outline] , by Jonah Winters.
* [http://bahai-library.com/resources/tablets-notes/lawh-mallah-quds/notes.html Lawh-i-Malláhu'l-Quds: faculty notes] by Jonah Winters, Michael Sours
* [http://www.bahai-library.com/study/mariner/ A study compilation on the Tablet of the Holy Mariner] , compiled by Aziz Mboya.