Tablet To The First Letter Of The Living
the Báb, Selections from the Writings of the Báb, (1976) · Read original
When in Bahá'í history
This is that which We have revealed for the First Believer in Him Whom God shall make manifest, that it may serve as an admonition from Our presence unto all mankind.
In the Name of the Almighty, the Best Beloved.
Lauded and glorified is He Who is the sovereign Lord of the kingdoms of heaven and earth and whatever is between them. Say, verily unto Him shall all return, and He is the One Who guideth at His Own behest whomsoever He pleaseth. Say, all men beseech His blessings and He is supreme over all created things. He is indeed the All-Glorious, the Mighty, the Well-Beloved.
This is an epistle from the letter ‘Thá’ unto him who is the First Believer. Bear thou witness that verily He is I, Myself, the Sovereign, the Omnipotent. He is the One Who ordaineth life and death and unto Him shall all return. Indeed there is none other God but Him and all men bow down in adoration before Him. Verily Thy Lord, God, shall presently recompense every one as He ordaineth, even swifter than uttering the words ‘Be thou, and it is’.
God hath in truth testified in His Book and so also have testified the company of His angels, His Messengers and those endued with divine knowledge, that thou hast believed in God and in His signs and that everyone is guided aright by virtue of thy guidance. This is indeed a boundless grace which God, the Ever-Living, the Self-Subsisting, hath graciously conferred upon thee aforetime and will confer hereafter. And since thou didst believe in God before the creation, He hath in truth, at His own behest, raised thee up in every Revelation. There is no God but Him, the Sovereign Protector, the All-Glorious.
It behooveth you to proclaim the Cause of God unto all created things as a token of grace from His presence; no God is there but Him, the Most Generous, the All-Compelling.
Say: All matters must be referred to the Book of God; I am indeed the First to believe in God and in His signs; I am the One Who divulgeth and proclaimeth the Truth and I have been invested with every excellent title of God, the Mighty, the Incomparable. Verily I have attained the Day of the First Manifestation and by the bidding of the Lord and as a token of His grace, I shall attain the Day of the Latter Manifestation. There is no God but Him and at the appointed hour everyone shall bow down unto Him in adoration.
I render thanks and yield praise unto God for having been chosen by Him as the Exponent of His Cause in bygone days and in the days to come; there is none other God save Him, the Glorified, the All-Praised, the Ever-Abiding. Whatever is in the heavens and on the earth is His and through Him are we guided aright.
O people of the Bayán! Those who embrace the Truth must turn unto Me, as ordained in the Book and divine guidance will be vouchsafed to whosoever attaineth My presence.
Source: the Báb, Selections from the Writings of the Báb (1976). Public domain text from Project Gutenberg eBook #18828.
Cite this story
the Báb. (1976). *Selections from the Writings of the Báb*. https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/18828/pg18828-images.html
Record yourself reading this story
Recording stays on this device only. Nothing is uploaded.
Related stories
A Second Tablet Addressed To ‘Him Who Will Be Made Manifest’
May the glances of Him Whom God shall make manifest illumine this letter at the primary…
A Tablet Addressed To ‘Him Who Will Be Made Manifest’
This is an epistle from this lowly servant to the All-Glorious Lord—He Who hath been aforetime and will be hereafter made manifest. Verily He is the Most Manifest, the…
Address To A Muslim Divine
O ‘Abdu’s-Sáhib! Verily God and every created thing testify that there is none other God but Me, the Almighty, the Best…
Address To Sulaymán, One Of The Muslim Divines In The Land Of Masqat
This is an Epistle from God, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting, unto Sulaymán in the land of Masqát, to the right of the Sea. In truth there is none other God but Him, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting... Indeed, were all the…