BB00137: Sahifiy-i-Radaviyyih (Epistle of Rida’)

The sixth sahifih concerns sermons and is arranged in fourteen sermons.

The First Sermon: This sermon has been composed concerning all that was written in that Book, that all may be among the witnesses thereof.

In the Name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate

Praise be to God Who created water through the mystery of creation, and established the Throne upon the water through the operation of His Will, and sent down verses from the realm of the clouds through the flow of His decree, and detailed what He had ordained on Mount Sinai through the command of glorification, and executed what He had ordained through the Glory by the melting away of all requirements. Glorified and exalted is He!

He sent the Messengers as bearers of glad tidings and warners that they should worship none but Him, and placed in the hands of each one of them a token of His power before which all else is powerless, that truth might be established through His words and falsehood be nullified through His signs, leaving no argument for anyone after knowledge of His decree, and that all might submit. Glorified and exalted is He!

He established between Himself and His Messengers the station of Glory in speech, for it is the greatest of blessings in creation, and through it the Messengers are distinguished one above another, as revealed in the Book by God’s mighty decree:

“It is not given to any mortal that God should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger to reveal by His permission what He wills. Verily He is Most High, All-Wise.”

He placed in His Word such power as cannot be confused with the speech of His servants. Verily He, glorified be He, is the Ever-Living, the All-Powerful, Who sends down to whomsoever He wishes whatsoever He wishes of His signs. Glorified and exalted is He above what they describe!

I bear witness in this Book as God has borne witness unto Himself, by Himself, without the testimony of those possessed of knowledge among His servants, that there is no God but Him. He has ever existed without mention of aught else, and now He exists just as He has ever existed—nothing was with Him. He has transcended through the transcendence of His Essence above the attributes of creation and its people, and has exalted Himself through the majesty of His Self above the description of origination and what resembles it.

Glorified is He! All creation is severed from His essence and all invention is separated from His being. Whoso says “He is He” has lost Him, for naught exists but Him, and He has no attribute apart from His Essence, and no name other than His Glory. Whoso attempts to unify Him has denied Him, for nothing can know Him and no servant can comprehend Him. Names are cut off from the realm of the clouds through His might and attributes are prevented from the world of similitudes through His dominion.

He has ever been Lord without a subject, Knower without an object of knowledge, Powerful without object of power, Existent without any existent thing. And now God is as He has ever been: He is the Being without subject, He is the Knower without object known, He is the Powerful without object of power, He is the Existent without existent thing.

He has no name, no description, no attribute, and no token. All are cut off from His essence and all are separated from His being. He cannot be mentioned through separation nor described through connection. Whoso says “He is the Truth” refers the matter back to creation, and whoso says “He is Justice” prevents justice from being described. Glorified and exalted is He!

I discovered creation through origination without the touch of fire from His Essence, and invented Will through creation from knowledge of His creation, and invention was cut off from His love through His invention. Glorified and exalted is He! There is no mention there, neither through negation nor affirmation, neither through praise nor through signs, neither through glory nor through tokens, neither through mention of the letter Ha, nor through fleeing from the letter Waw, nor through standing between the two matters, nor through the letter La. Glorified and exalted is He above what they describe!

And I bear witness to Muhammad as God has borne witness to him, where none knows this save He, after He invented him for the glory of His Essence and chose him for the sanctity of His presence, and made him unique among the children of humankind before His beauty to stand in His station, for “Vision comprehendeth Him not, but He comprehendeth all vision” and He is the All-Subtle, the All-Informed.

And I bear witness that Muhammad ibn Abdullah, His Messenger, delivered what was entrusted to him in His Cause, and received what divine decree brought forth by His own hands. Glory be to Him and exalted is He! God warns you concerning Himself that you say naught regarding His right save what God has ordained for Himself. Glory be to Him and exalted is He above what they associate!

And I bear witness that the successors of Muhammad—peace be upon him and his family—are twelve souls in the Book of God from the day He created not a letter in contingent being besides them, as God has testified for them in the might of His omnipotence, the sanctity of His divinity, the greatness of His glory, and the transcendence of His eternality, which none knows save He.

And I bear witness that they delivered what they were entrusted with from the successorship of the Messenger of God—peace be upon him and his family—and they are truly the triumphant ones.

And I bear witness that their Qa’im—peace be upon him—is living; through him God has established all things, and through him God extends all things, and through him God unifies all things. And verily he has a true return like what God has ordained for them. Soon will God quicken the earth through his appearance and render void the deeds of the polytheists.

And I bear witness that Fatima, daughter of the Messenger of God—peace be upon him and his family—is a blessed leaf from the White Tree. There is no god but God! Glory be to Him and exalted is He above what they associate!

And I bear witness to every truth as God has testified to it in the knowledge of the unseen, and likewise to every falsehood. And verily He knows that I am a servant of God, believing in Him and in His signs and in His Book, the Furqan, the like of which has not been found, and in love for all that He loves and in disavowal of all that He abhors. And God suffices as a witness over me.

And I bear witness that death, questioning, resurrection, reckoning, the gathering of bodies and forms, and what God has ordained beyond that in His knowledge is true, just as people in God’s knowledge are certain.

And I bear witness that all that has been detailed in that Book is truth from God’s bounty to me, but most people are not grateful.

As to what has issued from my hands from the year 1260 to the year 1262, after half its months had passed, there were four consummate books and ten perfect sahifahs, each one of which would suffice as proof of servitude for all who dwell in the heavens and the earth. And now I shall mention their names according to the names of the Family of God, their Revealer, that they might be recorded in the Utterance and commemorated in the Exposition.

The first is the Book of Ahmadiyyih, explaining part one of the Qur’an. [BB00008]

The second is the Book of Alawiyyih, wherein are set forth seven hundred perfect suras, each containing seven verses. [BB00009]

The third is the Book of Hasaniyyih, wherein are set forth fifty perfect books with compelling verses. [ch. 14—BB00287; ch. 16—BB00333; ch.17—BB00399; ch. 18—BB00281; ch. 22—BB00222; ch.24—BB00356; ch.25—BB00586; ch. 26—BB00517; ch. 27—BB00582; ch. 34—BB00224; ch. 36—BB00241; ch. 40—BB00571; ch. 42—BB00398 (BB00316?); ch. 43—BB00315; ch. 44—BB00367; ch. 45—BB00319; other probable chapters—BB00665, BB00516, BB00284, BB00269, BB00355, BB00229, BB00336, BB00439, BB00415]

The fourth is the Book of Husayniyyih, explaining the Sura of Joseph, peace be upon him, all of which is detailed in one hundred and eleven perfect suras, each containing forty-two verses, any single one of which would suffice as proof for all who dwell on earth and beneath the Throne, were it not altered—and God sufficeth as a witness. [BB00002]

The fifth is the Sahifih of Fatimiyyih, arranged in fourteen chapters concerning the observances of the twelve months in the Book of God. [chs. 1-14—BB00025 (also referred to as the first Sahifih, etc.)]

The sixth is the Sahifih of Alawiyyih, arranged in fourteen prayers in response to ninety-two questions which I expounded after returning from the Hajj during the month of fasting. [ch. 1—BB00102; ch. 2—BB00152; ch. 3—BB00123; ch. 4—BB00172; ch. 5—BB00564; ch. 6—BB00124; ch. 7—BB00196; ch. 8—BB00157; ch. 9—BB00145; ch. 11—BB00138; ch. 12—BB00194; ch. 13—BB00555]

The seventh is the Sahifih of Baqiriyyih, arranged in fourteen chapters explaining the letters of the Bismillah. [chs. 1-13—BB00022; ch. 14—BB00019]

The eighth is the Sahifih of Jafariyyih, arranged in fourteen chapters explaining his prayer for the days of occultation. [chs. 1-14—BB00012]

The ninth is the Sahifih of Musawiyyih, arranged in fourteen chapters in response to two souls among God’s servants who passed away in the Holy Land. [chs. 1-14—BB00019]

The tenth is the Sahifih of Ridawiyyih, arranged in fourteen chapters mentioning fourteen eloquent sermons speaking from the Tree of Praise—there is no God but He, the Mighty, the Bestower. [ch. 1—BB00137 (this work); ch. 2—BB00205; ch. 3—BB00216; ch. 4—BB00279; ch. 5—BB00122; ch. 6—BB00115; ch. 7—BB00106; ch. 8—BB00101; ch. 12—BB00265; ch. 13—BB00498; ch. 14—BB00084]

The eleventh is the Sahifih of Jawadiyyih, arranged in fourteen chapters responding to fourteen questions of divinity (lahut). [ch. 1—BB00175; ch. 2—BB00346; ch. 3—BB00158; ch. 4—BB00318; ch. 5—BB00249; ch. 6—BB00579; ch. 7—BB00524; ch. 8—BB00445; ch. 9—BB00421; ch. 10—BB00580; ch. 11—BB00493; ch. 12—BB00307; ch. 13—BB00239; ch. 14—BB00237]

The twelfth is the Sahifih of Hadiyyih, arranged in fourteen chapters responding to fourteen questions of divine power (jabarut). [ch. 1—BB00098; ch. 2—BB00219; ch. 3—BB00344; ch. 4—BB00321; ch. 5—BB00354; ch. 6—BB00297; ch. 7—BB00151; ch. 8—BB00416; ch. 9—BB00364; ch. 10—BB00325; ch. 11—BB00244; ch. 12—BB00407; ch. 13—BB00378]

The thirteenth is the Sahifih of Askariyyih, arranged in fourteen chapters responding to fourteen questions of the Kingdom (malakut). [chs. 7-13—BB00039; ch. 14—BB00183]

The fourteenth is the Sahifih of Hujjiyyih, detailed with fourteen holy prayers which appeared at the beginning of the Cause and relate to the days of justice. All these comprise fourteen blessed copies existing in that Book, along with the Scroll of Mashhudiyyih at its end in fourteen books from the friends of the servants. All this is written in this Book. [chs. 1-14—BB00018]

As for what left my hands and was stolen on the pilgrimage path, its details are mentioned in the Scroll of Ridawiyyih. Whoever finds any of these is obliged to preserve it. How blessed is he who preserves all that was revealed by Me on goodly tablets in the finest script. By Him Who honored Me with His verses, a single letter thereof is dearer to Me than the dominion of the hereafter and this world. And I seek God’s forgiveness.

My Lord is sanctified from being restricted by any limitations, and glorified be God, the Lord of the Throne, from all that they ascribe unto Him, and peace be upon the Messengers, and praise be to God, the Lord of all the worlds.