The Revelation of the Kitáb-i-Íqán

A retelling based on The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 1, by Adib Taherzadeh, with Shoghi Effendi's description of the book in God Passes By. It is told in our own words; words in quotation marks are quoted from those books.

In 1862 two maternal uncles of the Báb, Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid Muḥammad and his younger brother Ḥájí Mírzá Ḥasan-'Alí, came to 'Iráq to visit the holy Shrines. Neither had accepted their Nephew's claim. The elder told his brother that he wanted to investigate the Faith and hoped they could both meet Bahá'u'lláh. The younger refused, spoke harshly to him, and left Baghdád.

Taherzadeh relates what followed. One day Ḥájí Siyyid Javád-i-Karbilá'í told Bahá'u'lláh that the two uncles of the Báb were in Baghdád and would soon be going home. Learning that Siyyid Javád had not spoken with them about the Faith, Bahá'u'lláh lovingly admonished him and told him to invite them to His presence.

The next day Siyyid Javád came with Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid Muḥammad; his brother did not come. At the end of the meeting the uncle asked Bahá'u'lláh to make clear the truth of the Báb's message, since some of the Islamic traditions about the promised Qá'im seemed to him not to have been fulfilled. Bahá'u'lláh told him to go home, write down every question and tradition that troubled him, and bring the list to Him.

The following day he brought his questions. "Within the span of two days and two nights the Kitáb-i-Iqan, a lengthy epistle (of over two hundred pages) dealing with all his questions, was revealed by Bahá'u'lláh." At first it was known as the Epistle to the Uncle; later Bahá'u'lláh named it the Kitáb-i-Íqán, the Book of Certitude.

The uncle's questions still survive, written in his own hand on two sheets under four headings, all about the coming of the promised Qá'im. In them he asks again and again that his doubts be removed, so that he may attain certitude. After that first meeting the uncle wrote to his son: "It is an absolute truth that deprivation from His bounteous presence is a grievous loss." The Kitáb-i-Íqán dispelled his doubts, and he recognized the station of the Báb. In his will, written some years later, he declared himself a follower of both the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh.

In God Passes By Shoghi Effendi writes that the Kitáb-i-Íqán "occupies a position unequalled by any work in the entire range of Bahá'í literature, except the Kitáb-i-Aqdas." In about two hundred pages it affirms the oneness of God and the unity of His Prophets, explains allegorical passages of the Gospel and the Qur'án, sets out what a true seeker must do to reach the object of his search, and unfolds the meaning of such terms as "Return," "Resurrection," "Seal of the Prophets" and "Day of Judgment."

This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 1, by Adib Taherzadeh, and the Kitáb-i-Íqán itself in the Bahá'í Reference Library.

Taherzadeh, A.. (1974). *The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh (Vol. 1 — Baghdád 1853-63)*. George Ronald.