(Bahá’u’lláh, Haft Vadi (The Seven Valleys), to Shaykh Muhiyid-Din Judge of Khaniqayn et al -- BH00047)
Approaching difficult sacred texts
challenging nature; abstruseness of the Word of God
Editorial introduction
The sun hides in its own brightness. Bahá’u’lláh says the same of the Word of God: the intensity of His revelation veils Him, and the Word is its own veil of concealment. Difficulty in sacred text is therefore not always a defect in the reader or a flaw in the page. A philosopher’s sentences are hard enough, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá observes, and the divine Words are harder, symbolic rather than literal, bearing at once the sword and the water of life; a lower thing can never comprehend what stands above it, though it may receive its outpourings. Islamic tradition says the Cause is so difficult that only a near angel or a sent prophet can bear it, and the story of a man who could not wait for the next world after reading a Tablet warns against romanticizing intensity. Augustine’s confession that he first found Scripture beneath Cicero’s rhetoric, and that his pride was the barrier, offers a humbler difficulty [1]. The journey leads on to the many meanings scripture holds, to the limits of the intellect, and to the unknowability of God.
Selected passages
Know thou, verily, there are many veils in which the Truth is enveloped: gloomy veils; then delicate and transparent veils; then the envelopment of Light,? the sight of which dazzles the eyes, as doth the sun which is enveloped only in its own light and, as we look at it, the sight is blinded and eyes are dazzled.
I beg of God to remove all the veilings and familiarize the light with all eyes, so that man may not be veiled from witnessing the Sun of Truth.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1909 or < -- AB03587)
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Public address given at Kinney home on 1912-Dec-03 -- ABU0523)
(Bahá’u’lláh, Kitab-i-Iqan (The Book of Certitude), 1278 ca. [1861-1862], to Haji Mirza Siyyid Muhammad, great uncle of the Bab (Khal-i-Akbar) -- BH00002)
No lower thing can comprehend what is above it - just as the stone and tree, no matter how much they progress, cannot comprehend the reality of the animal, and the animal, no matter how much it progresses, cannot comprehend the reality of man. Thus man, no matter how much he progresses, cannot fathom the reality of the Word of God. The utmost degree is that he can comprehend the outpourings and manifestations of the Word of God.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1909-Apr-08, to Rev Hartly -- AB04805)
However,
(Bahá’u’lláh, Lawh-i-Ibrahim, to Muhammad Ibrahim known as Haji Khalil -- BH00627)
Therefore seek divine assistance and turn to none but Him. If you cannot yourself understand the complexities of divine principles, ask of the Fountain of eternal meanings, for none but Him has understood or will understand His words. As you observe, the leaders of the Bayan have used the verses of the Bayan to reject the All-Merciful, while remaining utterly veiled from Him by Whose will the Bayan was revealed. All these diverse statements that He uttered converge upon a single word, namely His saying that at the time of His manifestation, be not veiled from Him by the Bayan and what was revealed therein. And now "the Truth hath become manifest and falsehood hath vanished away." May my spirit be a sacrifice unto His Being! He hath not failed in manifesting His Cause and proclaiming His praise. This word is the mightiest word - whosoever is veiled from it is veiled from the entire Bayan at the time of His manifestation. Now observe that although that Ancient Beauty declared that whenever He appears all must acknowledge Him and render thanks to God, He did not suffice with this, for He knew what the people of the Bayan would perpetrate. Therefore these words were revealed: "Beware, beware on the day of His manifestation lest thou be veiled by the Single Chapter of the Bayan, and beware, beware lest thou be veiled by the words that were revealed in the Bayan." Despite these decisive and established verses, most of them remained veiled from God, the Protector, the Self-Subsisting.
(Bahá’u’lláh, to Habib the other son (son of Ali Qabl-i-Nabil) -- BH00331)
"This Cause is mighty difficult, exceedingly difficult. None can bear it save a near angel or a prophet sent."
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, 1913-Aug-01, to Husayn Ali from Sihdih of Isfahan -- AB04031)
In the Word are concealed both the ocean of mercy and the preordained sword. These mysteries are witnessed in the divine verses. Blessed are they who possess true vision! One word gives life while another takes it away. … Though no fire is visible in the Word, yet it ignites; though no water is present, yet it quickens and bestows life. Fresh tongues are needed to properly render thanks for these bounties, and penetrating vision is required to behold them.
(Bahá’u’lláh, 1304 ? [1886-1887], to Sulayman Khan Tunukabani -- BH00321)
Indeed when you are thunderstruck by this compelling Word, it matters not, for according to the blessed word revealed from the Dawning-Place of the Primal Point - upon Him be the glory of God, the Lord of all beings - even those who stood at Sinai are thunderstruck, let alone those below them, as is clear and evident.
(Bahá’u’lláh -- BH08893)
(Bahá’u’lláh, to Haji Muhammad Ibrahim Afnan (Muballigh) -- BH10508)
The Blessed Perfection has revealed a Tablet called 'Tablet of the Spiritual World.' All who read it are filled with an anxious desire to leave this world and enter the next condition, so wonderful are the gloriesof the Spiritual Kingdom. In Persia, one man who read this Tablet killed himself. he could not wait for the happiness it promised him. Another, a youth of Isfahan, could not stand the spiritual food contained in this Tablet, and lost his reason.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Words to Julia Grundy spoken around Jan. 1905 -- ABU2916)
Further quotations · supplied wording and references
I applied my mind, therefore, to the Holy Scriptures, to see what manner of books they were. There I saw a thing not discovered by the wise, nor revealed to the little ones. Low is the entrance to it, but where it issues it is lofty and veiled in mysteries; and I was not such as could enter it, or bend my neck to its path. For when I first turned my mind to the Scriptures, I did not think what I am saying now; they seemed to me unworthy of comparison with the majesty of Ciceronian rhetoric. My pride shunned their modest style, and my eyes could not penetrate their inner secrets. It was the same Scripture which grows up with the little children; but I disdained to be a little child, and, swollen with my pride, fancied myself an adult.
(St. Augustine, Confessions 3.5.9, Burton trans.)
Continue exploring
For thought and discussion
Questions to carry forward
- How can we distinguish a difficulty of language or context from a limit in our present assumptions or experience?
- What do the images of excessive light and spiritual water contribute that a literal paraphrase might miss?
- What forms of companionship and care could help someone engage a demanding text patiently?
- How does Augustine’s change of attitude illuminate the relation between intellectual skill, humility, and understanding?