The Lawh-i-Amváj (“Tablet of the Waves” [Billows]) of Bahá’u’lláh, Alwáh-i-Mustagath, Lawh-i-Baqá

Abstract

The Lawh-i-Amvaj (Tablet of the Waves [or Billows])[1] of Bahá'u'lláh has been published in Majmu`ih-yi alwah-i-mubarakih-yi hadrát-i-Bahá'u'lláh.[2] It also exists in numerous unpublished manuscripts. This Tablet was apparently written for a certain `íqá Siyyid Yahyá[3] and is a 3-4 page Persian and Arabic Tablet of the middle to late West-Galilean period.[4] The title Lawh-i Amvaj is derived from the fact that Bahá'u'lláh states towards the beginning of the Tablet that the "Ocean of the [Bahá'í] Exposition" (bahr-i bayán) is characterized by the Waves [Billows] of [Demonstrative] Proof and [Pure] Bounty (burhán va faDl) of the person of Bahá'u'lláh. Later in the Tablet, four ethico-religious "waves" of divine revelation are set forth; these four "waves" [of the Ocean of Revelation] billow forth various religio-ethical principles consonant with the realization of the eschatological "Day of God". The Tablet concludes with a wholly Arabic prayer for the protection of the Bahá'í friends and the illuminative potency of their good works. The Tablet has not, so as far as I am aware, been fully translated into English.[5] A complete, but very provisional translation follows. For further details, see my forth-coming work on Bahá'u'lláh's Tablets, Traces from the Musk-Scented Pen: A Chronological Survey of the Major Writings of Mírzá Husayn `Alí Bahá'u'lláh (1817-1892).