The Tablet of Ishráqát

*A retelling based on **The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh**, Volume 4, by Adib Taherzadeh, chapter 9, "Splendours of the Revelation." Words in quotation marks are from the Tablet of Ishráqát as translated in **Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh**.*

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After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Bahá'u'lláh continued until the last days of His life to reveal Tablets that supplemented its laws. In a passage from **God Passes By** that Taherzadeh quotes, Shoghi Effendi names among the most noteworthy the Ishráqát (Splendours), the Bishárát (Glad-Tidings), the Ṭarázát (Ornaments) and the Tajallíyát (Effulgences).

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The Tablet of Ishráqát was revealed in answer to the questions of a believer in Ádharbáyján, chiefly about the meaning of the "Most Great Infallibility." Taherzadeh notes that its opening paragraphs are written "in a language of mystery," and he does not attempt to interpret them.

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In one passage Bahá'u'lláh speaks of Trustworthiness. He tells of a day when He went to "Our Green Island," which Taherzadeh identifies as the Garden of Riḍván outside 'Akká. There He saw "one of the Beauties of the Most Sublime Paradise, standing on a pillar of light," who called out: "I am Trustworthiness and the revelation thereof, and the beauty thereof." She went on: "I am the supreme instrument for the prosperity of the world, and the horizon of assurance unto all beings."

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Near the end of the Tablet, Bahá'u'lláh writes that He has revealed "specially for the rulers and ministers of the world that which is conducive to safety and protection, tranquillity and peace." He sets it out under nine headings, each called an Ishráq, a Splendour:

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1. Those who hold wealth and power "must show the profoundest regard for religion." "Should the lamp of religion be obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness and justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine." 2. The rulers of the world should hold fast to the Most Great Peace, "the surest of all means for the protection of humanity." 3. Everyone should observe God's commandments.

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"The heaven of divine wisdom is illumined with the two luminaries of consultation and compassion." 4. "In this Revelation the hosts that can render it victorious are the hosts of praiseworthy deeds and upright character." 5. Governments should know the conditions of those they govern and give them positions "according to desert and merit." 6. The sixth Splendour is "union and concord amongst the children of men," helped by a common language and script taught in all schools.

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"Let not man glory in this that he loveth his country, let him rather glory in this that he loveth his kind." 7. Every father must see that his son and daughter are taught to read and write. 8. The affairs of the people are entrusted to the House of Justice.

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"That which traineth the world is Justice, for it is upheld by two pillars, reward and punishment." To His followers He adds: "Ye are all the leaves of one tree and the drops of one ocean." 9. "The purpose of religion as revealed from the heaven of God's holy Will is to establish unity and concord amongst the peoples of the world; make it not the cause of dissension and strife."

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Of the first Splendour's warning about the lamp of religion, Taherzadeh writes simply: "This is already happening."

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*This is a retelling. For the full text, see the Tablet of Ishráqát in **Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh**, and for its background, **The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh**, Vol. 4, by Adib Taherzadeh.*

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