Lawh-i-Huriyyih (Tablet of the Maiden)

BH00454 in the Phelps Catalog

In the Name of God, the Most Holy, the Most Exalted, the Most Glorious

Glory be to You, O my God. I remember You at that moment when the Sun of Your Divinity rose from the horizon of the heaven of the splendor of the Sinai of the Godhead of Your oneness; when the lights of Your Lordship dawned from the morning of the cloud of the meeting and abiding of the dominion of Your self-subsistence; and when the darknesses of the kingdom were illumined by the flashing radiance of the beginning of the sovereignty of Your command—so much so that the Garden of Paradise was lifted above the gardens of the might of Your essential identity, planted therein were the trees of Your being, and all of them bore the fruits of Your selfhood. Within it blew the breezes of Your Spirit and the fragrances of Your holiness. Within it You measured out the jewels of Your favors and the pure essences of Your bounties. Within it You unveiled the treasuries of Your knowledge and the hoards of Your mystery. Through its tiers flowed rivers of the glory of the life of Your being, seas of the might of Your everlastingness, and springs of the wine of Your grace.

Then, when You desired, O my God, to manifest it, You raised it to the Throne of majesty and grandeur, adorned it with the lights of power and might, revealed Yourself to it through Your eternal being, and the Sun of Oneness shone upon it from the lights of Your ancient Face. At that moment, Your supreme decree passed through the dominion of destiny with decisive confirmation for the emergence of a countenance from it, so that the lights of Your beauty might be revealed to those upon Your earth, and the splendor of Your Face to those within the dominion of Your command.

There appeared the Maiden who, from the beginning of all beginnings, had been within the pavilion of holiness, protection, and majesty, and the tent of purity, might, and reverence. Written upon her radiant brow, in crimson ink and by the Most Exalted Pen, was: By God! This is a Maiden whom no soul has ever beheld save God, the Most High, the Most Exalted. God has purified the hem of her chastity from the recognition of the concourse of names in the dominion of everlastingness, and her beauty from the sight of those who see within the kingdom of creation.

When she emerged, adorned by the ornament of God, from her palace, she cast a glance toward heaven, and the inhabitants of the heavens were thunderstruck by her countenance and the smiles of her fragrance. She then turned her other glance toward the direction of the earth, and the earth was illumined by the lights of her beauty and the splendor of her loveliness.

So praise be to You, O my God, for what You caused me to witness of the wonders of Your workmanship within her and the totality of Your power in her creation. At that moment she became suspended and drawn, moving through the heaven as though she walked upon the line of perfect balance at the axis of the air. It was as if I perceived the chain of existence stirring from the motion of her outline beneath her feet.

Thereafter she descended, drew near, and came until she stood directly before me. I was bewildered by the subtleties of her formation and the marvels of her creation. Within my soul I found a rapture born of longing for her, and an attraction arising from love of her. I lifted my hand toward her and drew back the hem of the veil from her shoulder. I beheld her hair—loosened, flowing, curling and twisting—spreading across her back, cascading and suspended, until it reached near her feet. When the winds stirred it toward the right side of her shoulder, the heavens and the earth were perfumed by its breaths; and when it was moved toward the left side, there wafted from its emanations the sacred, musky fragrance. It was as though, by the motion of her hair, the Spirit of Life trembled within the innermost chambers of possibility, and the springs of true recognition flowed within the realities of all created worlds.

Exalted is God, her Creator, for what He showed me in her; blessed is God, her Originator, for what I witnessed of the manifestations of power from her beauty and the aspects of might from her majesty. At one moment I beheld her as living, sweet, flowing water, coursing through the realities of all that exists and the depths of all that is possible, and I became certain that all existence endures by her endurance and abides through her abiding. At another moment I found her to be a fire kindled in a divine Tree, as though the element of fire itself had been created from a spark of her gleams, and the hearts of existence, both hidden and manifest, were burned by her heat and her flame. When she stirred from the subtleties of her longing and the marvels of her delight, it was as though the fragrance of the All-Merciful wafted forth from the openings of her garment.

So glory be to God, her Originator, her Bringer-into-being, her First Emanator. Then she drew nearer until she stood before my face and spoke with a melody upon a melody, like the cooing of the dove in the dominion of everlastingness—as though she were uttering the wondrous mode without word, letter, or sound. It was as if all books had appeared as an interpretation of a single one of her unparalleled songs, and I came to know all meanings within the point of her mouth.

When I turned toward her with the fullness of my being, I heard the remembrance of God, the Most Exalted, the Most Glorious, from her tones, and the Name of God, the Most Exalted, the Most High, from her trills. At that moment I became enraptured, bewildered, intoxicated by the wonders of her melody. I lifted my hand once more and uncovered one of her breasts that had been concealed beneath her tunic. Thereupon the heavens shone from the radiance of its light, and all contingent things were illumined by its appearance and splendor. From its light rose suns without end, as though they were hidden within heavens for which no beginnings or endings have been decreed.

I became bewildered by the Pen of creation in what it had inscribed upon her form: all of her appeared upon the Temple of Light in its spiritual figure, moving upon the earth of identity in the essence of manifestation. And I observed that other maidens raised their heads from their chambers and were suspended in the air above her head, bewildered by her countenance and beauty, and enraptured by the attractions of her melody. Glory be to Him who is her Originator, her Maker, her Creator, and her Manifestation.

I was on the verge of being struck senseless by what I inhaled of the fragrance of her holiness and what I perceived of the wonders of her adornment, when she turned toward me with her whole being and opened her lips. Lights shone forth from the glitter of her teeth, as though the pearls of the Command had emerged from their treasuries and shells. She said: “Who are you?”

I replied: “The servant of God, and the son of His handmaid.”

She said: “I sense within you traces of a sorrow the like of which I have not witnessed in anyone but you. It is as though all possibility has grieved with your grief, such that I find the lamp of joy extinguished in the niche of your heart, and the lights of gladness cut off from the lamp of your inner mystery. I adjure you by God—there is no god but Him—do not conceal from me what has befallen you. Make it known to me, that I may behold the truth that stands firm in your affair, even if it be less than a trace, a mere seepage.”

I said to her: “Do not ask me about this, for you would not be able to hear from me anything of my sorrow, even if it were the mention of a single letter. And I adjure you by God, the All-Powerful, the Sovereign, the Self-Subsisting, to lift your hands away from me and leave me alone. Then return to your place in Paradise, and do not ask about that which I am unable to convey to you, even as the faintest sign or the slightest hint of a letter.”

When she came to know the trembling of my inmost being, the yearning of my heart, the cry of my existence, the burning of my bones, the quivering of my skin, the turmoil of my soul, and the confusion of my body, she called out to me and said: “Do you have a mother who would wail over you in your affliction?”

I said: “I do not know.”

Then she said: “Do you have a sister to weep over you in your decree, or a helper to aid you in your distress and keep you company in your solitude?”

As for my sorrow—into which no joy has ever entered—do not ask me about anything of it. Rather, look upon my heart, that what you seek may be made manifest to you.

She lowered her head toward my heart and examined me with utmost scrutiny—my limbs, my organs, my bones, my inner being—as though she had lost something and was searching for it everywhere. She examined for a long time, then raised her head until it reached my chest. I saw her condition change: she moved her head once to the right and once to the left. At one moment she turned her gaze back toward the heavens with grief and sorrow; at another she looked upon the earth with bewilderment and regret. I saw her lips moving, as though she were speaking a word beneath her tongue.

I inclined my ear toward her and heard a faint moan, as though it had emerged from the secret of her being within the identity of her heart. When I drew my head close to her mouth, I heard words that I am unable to recount—and were I to recount them, by God, nothing would remain in the realm of dominion from the searing anguish of her secret and the burning of her heart.

Then she addressed me and said: “May your mother be bereft of you, O youth! I have never witnessed anyone like you, nor have I seen a soul resembling you. My bewilderment and sorrow over you have grown long, and my agitation concerning your affair has increased. Would that I had never been created in the divinity of everlastingness, nor born from the breath of God in the fields of holiness in the chambers of the Most High, nor drunk the milk of life from the springs of splendor. Alas for what I have come to know and behold; alas for what I have perceived and learned—for whenever I examine you, I find in you no heart by which I might gain knowledge of your affair.”

When I heard this, she lifted her head, and I saw her eyes overflow with blood, as though seas had appeared from a single drop of her tears. When her eyes fell upon mine, weeping seized the reins of patience from her, and she cried out with a cry that I am unable to recount or describe, until I wept with her. She raised her hands to my shoulders, and I placed my hands upon her shoulder, and we wept with a weeping beyond all number—such that neither time nor pre-eternity nor post-eternity nor age nor epoch nor covenant could ever encompass it.

When her weeping subsided, she said: “O youth, I adjure you by Him who has subjected the pens within the grasp of His power, establishing through them whatsoever He wills and ordains—tell me what has come upon you, that I may be a companion and a remembrancer of your afflictions in the Concourse on high and in the most exalted dominion.”

I said to her: “O my beloved, my life and your life, I do not know how to explain to you what has touched me. But look upon my liver; perhaps you will find in it that which will suffice you in place of what you seek from the innermost secrets of my most hidden mystery.”

So she inclined and drew her head near once again toward my liver and examined it for a span of time whose mention is not remembered in the dominion of majesty, nor can it be borne by the tongue of those who speak. And when she found nothing of it, I saw that the earth trembled from the trembling of her secret, and quaked from the quaking of her heart. She remained for a time—before time, after time, and beyond all time. Then she lifted her head and cried out with a cry by which the heavens were torn asunder, the earth was split open, the lands were shaken, and the mountains were scattered.

Then she called to me and said: “May your mother be bereft of you, O youth! You have bewildered me in your affair and destroyed me by your condition. I have found no one without a heart and a liver—so how have you remained abiding upon the earth and existent within the realm?”

At that moment she was gazing upon me as a lover gazes upon the beauty of the beloved, as a dear one upon the beauty of the cherished. I saw her trembling within herself, as though the breeze of God had blown upon her from this garment. She turned toward me with her outward and her inward being and said: “By your life, I sense from you the fragrance of the Beloved, and you are the beloved of all the worlds. If you are indeed He, then do not alter your beautiful countenance. Is this from the people of the Furqán or from the people of the Bayán? Alas for all creation!”

When I perceived that she had recognized me and saw her turning toward me, I guided her back to herself. But when she became aware, she cried out, trembled, wailed, convulsed, and fell upon her face to the dust before my feet.

When I turned toward her, I found her cast upon the ground, her spirit having departed from her, as though she had never been created within it. Then the maidens who were suspended in the air cried out, and the purified jewel-beings wailed within the cloud, and all of them returned to their palaces and their pavilions, abandoning what had been decreed for themselves and created for their own being.

I stood over her body, sorrowful with her sorrow and bewildered by her affair and her love. I took her, washed her with the tears of my eyes, and shrouded her in my garments. Then I drew my mouth close to her right ear and gave her glad tidings of that which no one is able to hear from me concerning her.

When I uttered it to her, she stirred at the Word of God. Then she gave me glad tidings of that which I ought not to mention, nor even to breathe of or through. After that I entrusted her to the vessels of holiness and returned her to the place of intimacy—the station we had decreed for her.

Thus do We cast upon you, O concourse of Paradise, from the vision of everlastingness. Interpret it for me, if you are interpreters of the vision of the spirit.