The Reading of the Book of the Covenant

*A retelling based on **The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 4** by Adib Taherzadeh (closing chapter), with details from his **The Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh** (ch. 10) and Shoghi Effendi's **God Passes By** (ch. 14). Words in quotation marks are Bahá'u'lláh's, from the authorized translation of the Kitáb-i-'Ahd in **Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh**.*

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In the last years of His life Bahá'u'lláh lived at the Mansion of Bahjí, outside 'Akká. There He wrote His Will and Testament, which He called *Kitáb-i-'Ahdí,* the Book of My Covenant. It is usually called the Kitáb-i-'Ahd. Adib Taherzadeh suggests it was written at least a year before His ascension, since Bahá'u'lláh alludes to it as the "Crimson Book" in the *Epistle to the Son of the Wolf.* He wrote it entirely in His own hand and kept its contents to Himself.

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It opens: "Although the Realm of Glory hath none of the vanities of the world, yet within the treasury of trust and resignation We have bequeathed to Our heirs an excellent and priceless heritage." Earthly treasures, He says, He has not bequeathed. He tells His followers: "O ye that dwell on earth! The religion of God is for love and unity; make it not the cause of enmity or dissension." He asks them to pray for kings, and forbids conflict and contention.

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Then comes the passage on which the Day of the Covenant rests: "The Will of the divine Testator is this: It is incumbent upon the Aghṣán, the Afnán and My Kindred to turn, one and all, their faces towards the Most Mighty Branch." The Aghṣán are His sons and descendants, and the Afnán the kindred of the Báb.

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He recalls a verse of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas: "When the ocean of My presence hath ebbed and the Book of My Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root." And He explains it: "The object of this sacred verse is none other except the Most Mighty Branch." The Most Mighty Branch was 'Abdu'l-Bahá.

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During His last illness Bahá'u'lláh called the members of His family to His bedside and said farewell to them. He told them that in a document entrusted to 'Abdu'l-Bahá He had clearly directed their steps in the service of the Cause. He had already placed the Kitáb-i-'Ahd in 'Abdu'l-Bahá's keeping.

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Bahá'u'lláh ascended on 29 May 1892. On the morning of the ninth day after His ascension, the document in His handwriting was unsealed and read aloud by Áqá Riḍáy-i-Qannád before nine witnesses chosen from His family and companions. That afternoon it was read again in His Tomb before a large company, including His sons, some of the Báb's kinsmen, pilgrims and resident believers. Taherzadeh writes that there was now no shadow of doubt as to who the Centre of the Covenant was. Shoghi Effendi calls it a document that "can find no parallel in the Scriptures of any previous Dispensation."

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*This is a retelling. For the fuller account, see **The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 4** by Adib Taherzadeh, **God Passes By** by Shoghi Effendi, and the Kitáb-i-'Ahd in **Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh**.*

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