The Súrih of the Kings

In the second volume of The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, Adib Taherzadeh devotes a chapter to the Súriy-i-Mulúk, the Súrih of the Kings, revealed in Arabic in Adrianople. Shoghi Effendi described it as the most momentous Tablet revealed by Bahá’u’lláh, the one in which He, for the first time, directs His words collectively to the entire company of the monarchs of East and West.

Bahá’u’lláh had been sent to Adrianople from Constantinople by the Ottoman government at the end of 1863, and He remained there until 1868. Taherzadeh places the Súrih at the climax of the great outpouring of revelation that followed the downfall of Bahá’u’lláh’s faithless half-brother.

The Súrih opens with a summons:

O Kings of the earth! Give ear unto the Voice of God, calling from this sublime, this fruit-laden Tree...

It calls the kings to fear God, to fling away the things they possess and to take fast hold on the Handle of God, and it reproaches them for having failed to heed the message of the Báb.

A great part of the Súrih consists of counsels to the rulers. They are not to transgress the bounds God has fixed, nor to do injustice to anyone, be it to the extent of a grain of mustard seed. They are also to be reconciled with one another:

Compose your differences, and reduce your armaments, that the burden of your expenditures may be lightened, and that your minds and hearts may be tranquillized.

Bahá’u’lláh notes that they are increasing their outlay every year and laying the burden on their subjects — more than they can bear, and ... a grievous injustice. He bids them rest not on their armies and treasures but put their trust in God, and He reminds them that the poor are the trust of God in your midst.

The Súrih then warns of the consequences of refusal: if the kings pay no heed to its counsels, Divine chastisement shall assail you from every direction.

Beyond the kings collectively, the Súrih addresses the kings of Christendom, reminding them of Christ’s promise to come again; Sultan ‘Abdu’l-‘Azíz, the only monarch it addresses individually; the Sultan’s ministers; the religious leaders of Constantinople; and, at length, the Persian ambassador in Constantinople, Ḥájí Mírzá Ḥusayn Khán.

The call, Taherzadeh writes, fell on deaf ears. Bahá’u’lláh went on to address a number of rulers individually: from Adrianople the Sháh of Persia and Napoleon III, and later, from ‘Akká, other sovereigns and the Pope.

A retelling based on The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Vol. 2 — Adrianople 1863-68 (Adib Taherzadeh). For the fuller account, see the original.

Taherzadeh, A.. (1977). *The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh (Vol. 2 — Adrianople 1863-68)*. George Ronald.