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Featured in: The Declaration of the Bab
On a spring evening on May 22rd, 1844, Siyyid Ali-Muhammad announced that He was the bearer of a Divine Revelation whose aim was to prepare the world for “Him Whom God Shall Make Manifest,” a Messenger of God known as Baha’u’llah. Baha’is refer to Siyyid Ali-Muhammad by His title, the Bab, which is Arabic for “the Gate,” and that eventful evening is celebrated every year by Baha’is around the world.
The Baha’i Era began 174 years ago, in 1844 CE, when the Bab announced His mission to a young Shaykhi named Mulla Husayn. How exhilarating it must have been to live during a new revelation—to have been a devotee of Buddha, an apostle of Jesus, a disciple of Muhammad, a first believer in any of the Manifestations of God, attuned to the flood of spiritual power that each divine dispensation initiated!
This year, as Baha’is prepare to mark the anniversary of the Declaration of the Bab, we have new access to Baha’u’llah’s Writings on the exhilaration of the new era. In January, Days of Remembrance, translations of Baha’u’llah’s Writings on the Holy Days, was published. The compilation’s preface notes that the Declaration of the Bab and Ridvan were ordained by Baha’u’llah as the two Most Great Festivals.1
For the Declaration of the Bab, three tablets appear for the first time in English in Days of Remembrance. They convey the ecstasy of the Bab’s revelation and its unification of the realm of spirit and the world of humanity.
In the Tablet of the Bell (Lawh-i-Naqus), Baha’u’llah declares, “Ring out the bell, for the Day of the Lord is come and the Beauty of the All-Glorious hath ascended His blessed and resplendent throne.”2 In addition to the bell, a variety of other jubilant songs are invoked, metaphorically convening the spirits in paradise to celebrate the Declaration. A clarion sounds; strings thrum; a trumpet blasts; a nightingale warbles; a songster trills; spirits sing and chant; a peacock cries; a cockerel calls. A divine orchestra of instruments, voices, and birdsong swells with music to rejoice at the arrival of the “celestial Youth,” the Bab.
This heavenly symphony evokes for me the centrality of music to worship. Elsewhere, Baha’u’llah tells humanity that music serves “as ladder for your souls, a means whereby they may be lifted up unto the realm on high.”3 Music transports us beyond our mundane cares, toward the timeless, placeless realm depicted in the Tablet of the Bell. Nothing brings that peculiar chill to my skin—the stilling of self—more than the tones of worship: I recall solemn songs broadcast from a synagogue; the call of a muezzin; hymns resounding in a chapel; and harmonies and chanted prayers at Baha’i gatherings. Such devotional songs inspire, though I can’t speak the synagogue’s Hebrew, the mosque’s Arabic, the church’s Latin, the chanter’s Persian. The voice intoning love for the Holy Spirit conveys a message unconstrained by the typical limits of communication.
“And the nightingale sang sweetly: ‘Rejoice! This is the immortal Youth, Whose like the eyes of the favoured ones of Heaven have never beheld,’”4 avers a refrain in the Tablet of the Immortal Youth (Lawh-i-Ghulamu’l-Khuld). Baha’u’llah recounts a mystical narrative in which the gates of paradise open to release the spirit of the Bab (the immortal Youth) and the Maid of Heaven, a figure that recurs in Baha’u’llah’s Writings, including in an account of the divine revelation He received in 1852.5 The Maid unveils the face of the Bab, causing fervent rejoicing in paradise’s denizens and a spiritual reckoning for earth’s inhabitants. The repercussions of this new dispensation affect “all who are in heaven and on earth” alike,6 with an uplifting of all creation: “thus did utter nothingness attain the realm of eternity, and pure evanescence gain admittance into the court of everlasting life.”7 We on earth are invited to abandon mundane cares, and “even as luminous, heavenly birds, soar in the atmosphere of the celestial Paradise and wing your flight to the everlasting nest.”8
In both Tablets, Baha’u’llah identifies the Bab as a holy Youth. What is the significance of this title, I wonder? The Bab was literally youthful during His period of spiritual leadership. When He declared His Mission, He was only 24 years old. It is startling to think that He was younger than I am now when He announced a mission that would convulse Persia and ultimately, in paving the way for the spread of Baha’i teachings, the world. When He was executed, He was merely 30.
Besides the young age of the Bab during His six-year ministry, the title of “Youth” also points to His role in rejuvenating humankind’s spirituality. With Islam in its 1260th year, the Bab announced an update to God’s revelation. He commanded a religious revolution, with new teachings and new laws. Religion, renewed, became youthful again—ardent, dynamic, and sincere. The heroic exploits of the Bab’s disciples, the Letters of the Living, such as Mulla Husayn, Tahirih, and Quddus, radiate these traits of divine youthfulness. As Baha’u’llah proclaims in the third Tablet, with the revelation of the Bab, “the Spirit hath spoken and the realities of those who were created by the Word of God, the Mighty, the Exalted, have ascended unto Him.”9 Rejuvenated creation buoys upward toward new powers.
In the same Tablet, Baha’u’llah also declares, “It behoveth everyone on this day to rejoice with exceeding gladness, to clothe himself in his finest attire, to celebrate the praise of his Lord, and to give thanks unto Him for this most great favour.”9 So, in communities all over the globe, we rejoice with exceeding gladness at the unveiling of the immortal Youth in Shiraz nearly two centuries ago—a Declaration that initiated a new era, reinvigorating the possibilities for humanity’s spiritual ascent.
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We also have access to the newspaper coverage, published about first by Hand of the Cause Hasan Balyuzi in his biography of the Bab but has since been identified to have wandered all around the world. See http://smk99.blogspot.com/2016/02/it-was-in-news.html
The term “arabian Youth” occurs a few times.
To me it speaks to that irascible presence of mind of wanting the divine truth manifest instead of hidden – in society, in hearts, in reality.
Steven (May 5, 2017 at 2:37 PM)
This “Youth” aspect also reminds me of the John the Baptist aspect related as the return of Elijah. If you go back to Elijah it seems to me that he martialed youth to proclaim the truth in the face of people not getting it. Thus John the Baptist was trying to gather people and personally engage with the divine through repentance. But there was this irascible, a kind of impatience, and wanting things to change now.
And this might have a parallel between the Bab and Baha’u’llah just as John the Baptist to Jesus though it is all stepping up to another level because the Bab’s mission unfolded like Jesus’ but on a quicker harsher timeline. That the point of the newspaper review above.
Steven (May 5, 2017 at 2:42 PM)
Interesting–I need to look into the connections to Elijah and John the Baptist. Fascinating parallels between the dispensations!
Layli Miron (May 5, 2017 at 3:36 PM)
I looked around and you’ll see it mentioned in this discussion of youth movement – http://www.charismamag.com/site-archives/134-peopleevents/people-events/315-youth-movement-turns-focus-from-nations-capital-to-hollywood
“Not surprisingly, Engle has a passion for restoring generations. He said it stems from the spirit of Elijah falling on today’s youth. He says a key is Luke 1:17, in which an angel told John the Baptist’s father that John would go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children.”
Steven (May 5, 2017 at 3:49 PM)
Steven, thank you for sharing the link to compilation of news coverage, and for your intriguing point about “that irascible presence of mind.” I appreciate your input!
Layli Miron (May 5, 2017 at 3:26 PM)
Such beautiful words. Thank you for writing and posting this.
Ruth Bush (May 5, 2017 at 8:38 PM)
For me this years `Declaration of the Bab` has felt `different`. Some how more potent than previously so. Thank-you so much for the extra input of your beautifully worded presentation today.
Sarah Jones-Bishop (May 5, 2017 at 10:33 AM)
It did seem to have a special potency, Sarah. Thank you for reading!
Layli Miron (May 5, 2017 at 3:28 PM)
Criselda, thank you for reading!
Layli Miron (May 5, 2017 at 3:28 PM)
Thank you for reading, Ruth!
Layli Miron (May 5, 2017 at 3:27 PM)
Thank you for this Post!
Criselda R. Figuerres (May 5, 2017 at 6:12 AM)
Thanks for this beautiful post.
The theme of the Youth seems to be related also to the prophet Joseph. The Báb and Bahá’u’lláh identified themselves with this prophet in many ways.
Peter Held (May 5, 2017 at 8:15 PM)
Interesting point–I will need to learn more about the connection to Joseph. Thank you for your comment, Peter!
Layli Miron (May 5, 2017 at 3:30 PM)
Interesting point–I will need to learn more about the connection to Joseph. Thank you for your comment!
Layli Miron (May 5, 2017 at 3:30 PM)
I can recommend https://bahai-library.com/stokes_joseph_five_religions
Steven (May 5, 2017 at 3:44 PM)
Regarding the beauty of Joseph it is amazing to realize how Bahá’u’lláh linked it with a description of entry by troops to the Bahá’í-Faith in His Tablet to the Shah of Persia. It seems that the spiritual beauty (not only the truth) of Bahá’u’lláh is emphasized and could be the main cause for mankind to realize His station and be attracted to Him. Beauty and truth belong together, but beauty is like a magnet for the seaker.
Quotation: Knowing, which lieth in store for them in the world beyond, they would assuredly cease their censure, and seek only to win the good pleasure of this Youth. For now, however, they have hidden Me behind a veil of darkness, whose fabric they have woven with the hands of idle fancy and vain imagination. Erelong shall the snow-white hand of God rend an opening through the darkness of this night and unlock a mighty portal unto His City. On that Day shall the people enter therein by troops, uttering what the blamers aforetime exclaimed,[48] that there shall be made manifest in the end that which appeared in the beginning.
Peter Held (May 5, 2017 at 8:05 PM)