----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Williams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Baha'i Studies" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: 23 September 2003 03:52
Subject: A question on the word SELF
> Friends,
>
> A request from our study circle to those on this list whose knowledge of
> the Baha'i writings, the ability to translate from Arabic to English,
> and of the Arabic language and the possible associations the an Arabic
> word can have.
...
>
> 1. Part of our discussion contained the information that Baha'u'llah
> revealed the words of God in the Arabic and Persian language. That what
> we were reading is a translation from Arabic to English, and with
> writings in Gleanings this was done by the Guardian.
>
> 2. Our discussion also contained references to the self ...
>
> Here, one of our members asked if the Arabic word used by Baha'u'llah to
> refer to the "Self" of God might have more meanings than the translation
> can provide...
> Would someone on this list entertain a response to this question, and
> also, as needed, restate this question I pose in a form that is better
> expressed.
> Brian Williams
khazeh fananapazir's humble reply:
My dear Brian Williams
O thou great Brian!
Your knowledge in this area is probably vast and definitely above me but
this servant's and yet this 'abd and friend of yours would share a few
things:
Very often, very often indeed, the Self of God [in Arabic Nafs Allah] in the
Writings of the Exalted Bab and Baha'u'llah refer to the Manifestation
HimSelf, ie to Baha'u'llah HimSelf
Consider this very small compilation of mine:
O Thou Mother of the Remembrance! May the peace and salutation of God rest
upon thee. Indeed thou hast endured patiently in Him Who is the sublime
**Self of God.** Recognize then the station of thy Son Who is none other
than the mighty Word of God. He hath verily pledged Himself to be
answerable for thee both in thy grave and on the Judgement Day, while thou
hast, in the Preserved Tablet of God, been immortalized as the `Mother of
the Faithful' by the Pen of His Remembrance.
(The Bab: Selections from the Bab, Pages: 52-53) originally from the
Qayyum ul Asmaa
Know verily that the essence of justice and the source thereof are both
embodied in the ordinances prescribed by Him Who is the Manifestation of the
**Self of God**[=Nafs Allah] amongst men, if ye be of them that recognize
this truth. He doth verily incarnate the highest, the infallible standard
of justice unto all creation.
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, Page: 175)
Others hesitated and halted in His Path, and regarded the Cause of the
Creator, in its inmost truth, as invalid unless substantiated by the
approval of him who was created through the operation of My Will. Thus have
their works come to naught, and yet they failed to perceive it. Among them
is he [Mirza Yahya] who sought to measure God [==Arabic qaasa “measured”
God= Nafs Allah in the original text] with the measure of his own self, and
was so misled by the names of God as to rise up against Me, who[Mirza Yahya]
condemned Me as one that deserved to be put to death, and who imputed to Me
the very offenses of which he himself was guilty.
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, Page: 274)
PART TWO
Verily He Who is the Day-star of Truth and Revealer of the Supreme
Being [=in the Arabic mazhar a Nafs illah] holdeth, for all time, undisputed
sovereignty over all that is in heaven and on earth, though no man be found
on earth to obey Him.
(Baha'u'llah: The Kitab-i-Iqan, Pages: 95-97)
Attainment unto such presence is possible only in the Day of Resurrection,
which is the Day of the rise of God Himself [ = in the original Persian
Qiyaam e Nafs Allah ]through His all-embracing Revelation. [=beh Mazhar e
Kulliya ye khod]
(Baha'u'llah: The Kitab-i-Iqan, Page: 143)
Glory be to Thee, O my God! My face hath been set towards Thy face, and my
face is, verily, Thy face, and my call is Thy call, and my Revelation Thy
Revelation, and my self [Nafsee]Thy Self [Nafuka], and my Cause Thy Cause,
and my behest Thy behest, and my Being Thy Being, and my sovereignty Thy
sovereignty, and my glory Thy glory, and my power Thy power.
(Baha'u'llah: Prayers and Meditations, Page: 231)
Interestingly too Zaynul Muqarrabin, in the colophon at the end of the Kitab
e Badii’ writes this Book was transcribed in the 26th year after the Zuhur
of Nafs Allah [the Self of God]
Also in the Compilation of the Tablets of Baha’u’llah called La’aalyul
Hikmat Volume 1 readable on the Internet we read
yaqtuluuna Nafs Allah
They slay the Nafs Allah
http://www.bahai.com/arabic-library/Bahaullah/Laali1/44.htm
please see beginning of the 3rd line
http://www.bahai.com/arabic-library/Bahaullah/Laali1/44.htm
Again Irfaan e Nafs Allah fee Yawm il ma’aad [recognition of the Self of God
on the Day of the Return] Maa’idih volume 7 page 90
>From letters written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi
. . . self has really two meanings, or is used in two senses, in the Bahá'í
writings; one is self, the identity of the individual created by God. This
is the self mentioned in such passages as "he hath known God who hath know
himself", etc. The other self is the ego, the dark, animalistic heritage
each one of us has, the lower nature that can develop into a monster of
selfishness, brutality, lust and so on. It is this self we must struggle
against, or this side of our natures, in order to strengthen and free the
spirit within us and help it to attain perfection . . . .(10 December 1947
to an individual believer) [15]
Life is a constant struggle, not only against forces around us, but above
all against our own "ego". We can never afford to rest on our oars, for if
we do, we soon see ourselves carried downstream again. Many of those who
drift away from the Cause do so for the reason that they had ceased to go on
developing. They became complacent, or indifferent, and consequently ceased
to draw the spiritual strength and vitality from the Cause which they should
have. Sometimes, of course, people fail because of a test they just do not
meet, and often our severest tests come from each other. Certainly the
believers should try to avert such things, and if they happen, remedy them
through love. Generally speaking nine-tenths of the friends' troubles are
because they don't do the Bahá'í thing, in relation to each other, to the
administrative bodies or in their personal lives. (8 January 11949 to an
individual believer, published in Principles of Bahá'í Administration: A
Compilation (London: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1973), pp. 87-88) [16]
(The Universal House of Justice, 1985 Dec 02, Child Abuse, Psychology and
Knowledge of Self)
khazeh dust and nothingness
if you should write to Jacob Vahid Brown
Vahid Brown
E-mail Address(es):
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
or Moojan Momen
Moojan Momen
E-mail Address(es):
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
or Steven Lambden
STEPHEN N LAMBDEN
E-mail Address(es):
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
or another Brian!
Brian & Ann Miller
E-mail Address(es):
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
they will help too if they have time God Willing kf
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