Friday 30 December 2016

New translation: Surah of Visitation for Mulla Husayn

In late December, I put up two new translations completed by Joshua Hall on the Windflower Translations website.

The first one is an important tablet that Baha'u'llah wrote for Mulla Husayn's sister, Varaqatu’l-Firdaws (Leaf of Paradise), to say at his grave site. It is called Surah of Visitation for Mulla Husayn. It is a very beautiful tablet and is highly recommended for anyone wanting to be carried away by Baha'u'llah's lyrical style and tone. The introduction to the tablet is found here. A previous translation has also been done by William McCants, which is found at the end of an article called The Wronged One. The article focuses on the style and structure of visitation tablets in general. This surah for Mulla Husayn is faithful to the traditional style of these tablets.

The second translation recently uploaded is called Tablet of Consolation. It is a two-page letter in which Baha'u'llah consoles a believer whose father died. The tablet is an interesting window into Baha'u'llah's attitude to death and grieving. He refers to his experience upon the death of his own father.

In addition to these two new translations on Windflower, Adib Masumian has also recently uploaded new translations to his website. One is a short tablet Baha'u'llah wrote comforting a believer and telling him that if he says the tablet with sincerity, he "shall behold in his dream that which he hath desired from the Presence of God". The other translation is about Ayyam-i-Ha and how its purpose is related to generosity. There are three more new translations, which you can see at the link. Adib tells me that he is focused on preparing further translations that believers can recite on holy days.




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