 | ||
Similar Tabernacle of Unity, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, The Secret of Divine Civilization, Advent of Divine Justice, Gleanings from the Writings o | ||
1 14 gems of divine mysteries dr stephen phelps
Gems of Divine Mysteries (Javáhiru’l-Asrár, Arabic: جواهر الاسرار) is a lengthy Arabic epistle by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. The tablet (as Bahá'u'lláh's works are often called) was written during his time in Baghdad (1853-1863) in Arabic, and was published in English in 2002.
Contents
Gems of divine mysteries new insights by shahrokh monjazeb
Background
The work was written in reply to a question from Siyyid Yúsuf-i-Sidihí Isfahání, a religious leader of the Shi'ahs in Najaf, who had asked the question of how the promised Mahdi could have been "transformed" (meaning: the return of the Promised One in a different human guise) into Ali-Muhammad the (Báb). The work was written on the same day as the question had been received and delivered through an intermediary.
According to a compilation published in 2000 by researchers at the Wilmette Institute, Siyyid Yúsuf-i-Sidihí Isfahání, who was residing in Karbila when the tablet was written, recognized the divinity of Bahá'u'lláh after reading the tablet. When he met Bahá'u'lláh later, he became a Babi. His friends rejected him for becoming a Babi and he could no longer stay in their home.
Contents
Bahá'u'lláh himself states that he took "the opportunity provided by" the question "to elaborate on a number of subjects". The introduction of the published English translation lists some of these topics, some of which are: "rejection of the Prophets of the past," "danger of a literal reading of scripture," "the meaning of the signs and portents of the Bible concerning the advent of the new Manifestation," "the continuity of divine revelation," "intimations of Bahá'u'lláh's approaching declaration," and the significance or meanings of terms such as "Day of Judgement" and "the Resurrection."
Similar themes as those presented in the Gems of Divine Mysteries can be found in the Seven Valleys and in the Kitáb-i-Íqán.
Translation
The governing body of the Baha'i Faith global community, the Universal House of Justice, announced in April 2001, as part of its ongoing five-year plan, that the Centre for the Study of the Texts — at the Bahá'í World Centre — would "focus on translations into English from the Holy Texts." The publication of Gems of Divine Mysteries was one of the projects undertaken in fulfilment of that five-year plan.