# Tablet of the Temple (Suratu'l-Haykal)

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: John Walbridge, Tablet of the Temple (Suratu'l-Haykal), bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Tablet of the Temple (Suratu'l-Haykal)
> 
> John Walbridge
> 
> 1999
> 
> Major
> Arabic tablet of Bahá'u'lláh containing a mystical interpretation of the body
> (haykal) of the Manifestation of God
> 
> 1. Title. Súrah, the term used for chapters of the Qur'án, is used for many
> of Bahá'u'lláh's Arabic writings, especially those written in the style of the
> Qur'án. Haykal is a loan word in Arabic. Its Hebrew cognate hk}l means
> "temple," particularly the Jerusalem temple. In Arabic, in addition to
> meaning a Jewish or Christian temple, it meant the body or form of something,
> particularly the human body, or something large. In the Báb's usage, a haykal
> is a talisman, particularly one in the form of a five-pointed star, which in
> many traditions represents the human body. In the Súratu'l- Haykal, the
> primary sense of haykal is the human body, particularly the body of the
> manifestation of God, but the meaning "temple" is also present.
> 
> 2. Circumstances of composition. Another tablet of Bahá'u'lláh states that
> the Súratu'l-Haykal was first written in Edirne but was revised in `Akká,
> probably in 1869 (UHJ memo). Thus it contains no obvious allusions to
> Bahá'u'lláh's exile to `Akká. The numerous passages criticizing the Azalí
> Bábís confirm its dating to the late Edirne or early `Akká periods. The
> existence of two editions probably explain the numerous variations between the
> two published texts. It was not written for a particular individual; when
> asked about the matter Bahá'u'lláh said that he himself was both the addresser
> and addressee (Asráru'l-Athár, 5:277).
> 
> It was one of the earliest works of Bahá'u'lláh to be translated into English.
> However, the translation was poor and its recondite mystical symbolism was
> difficult for Western Bahá'ís to comprehend. The translation went out of
> circulation and the tablet is today little known to Western Bahá'ís apart from
> some passages translated by Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> 3. Content. The Súratu'l-Haykal begins with an invocation and a prayer in
> which Bahá'u'lláh praises God as the author of revelation and thanks him for
> the afflication he has undergone for his sake. He describes how in his
> greatest afflication, the Maiden (húríyih) appeared to him calling joyfully,
> "This is the Beloved of the worlds, but you do not know him." She then addresses the Bábís who had not
> accepted Bahá'u'lláh, warning them that God would raise up another people in
> their place if they did not aid Bahá'u'lláh. The Bábís, she says, are the
> blindest of people, since they deny the like of that by which they prove the
> truth of their own religion--presumably a reference to Bahá'u'lláh's divinely
> inspired writings. She calls on "this temple" to arise since all contingent
> beings are resurrected by him. She addresses the eye, the ear, and the tongue
> of Bahá'u'lláh, calling on his eye, for example, to look only at the beauty of
> God, not at the heavens or the earth.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh replies to the maiden, telling her how Azal, the brother whom he
> had raised, had tried to kill him and and tells her that when this became
> known, Azal had written to the Bábís saying that Bahá'u'lláh had tried to kill
> him. (The context suggests that Bahá'u'lláh's discovery of this was the
> occasion of writing this table, but it is not certain.)
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh now moves to the central theme of the tablet, the exposition of
> the metaphysical significance of the haykal. The four Arabic letters of the
> word are each associated with an attribute of God whose Arabic name contains
> that letter and with an aspect of God's relation with the universe:
> 
> háV: huwíyih (essence): God's will
> 
> yá: qadír (power, which is spelled QDYR in Arabic): God's sovereignty
> 
> káf: karam (generosity): God's bounteousness
> 
> lám: fadl (grace): God's grace
> 
> Elsewhere in the tablet he meditates on the
> spiritual significance of various parts of the body of the manifestation: the
> hem of his robe, which purifies by its touch; the foot, created from the steel
> of might to be steadfast in the path of God; his breast, which reflects the
> lights of God upon all things; and the heart, the repository of all knowledge
> and from which new and wondrous sciences will come forth. Bahá'u'lláh is told
> that his temple has been made the fountainhead of each of God's names and
> attributes. He has thus been given the power to recreate all things, bringing
> forth suns from motes of dust. He is called the "Self of God," for the saying
> "there is not God but I" applies to Bahá'u'lláh.
> 
> The tablet returns often to the theme of the disbelief of the Bábís,
> criticizing Bábí leaders for priding themselves on such titles as "mirror" and
> "letter," though it is Bahá'u'lláh who is the creator of the letters and
> mirrors. God's acceptance of their pious deeds is, he warns, dependent on
> their belief. He warns that their unbelief will lead the mass of believers
> astray. He criticizes those who accepted the new faith but came to him with
> questions about the Shí`ite imáms and bábs, in the end losing their faith.
> These, he warns, are like the Jewish leaders with Jesus. Finally, he insists
> that it was he who was prophesied by the Báb in his writings. He calls
> himself the Primal Point, a title of the Báb, thus identifying himself with
> the Báb.
> 
> The Súratu'l-Haykal defies easy summary, for it is a dense tapestry of
> mystical imagery drawn from esoteric Shí`ism, the Qur'án, the writings of the
> Báb, and even the Bible.
> 
> 4. Relation to other texts. At Bahá'u'lláh's orders, the Súratu'l- Haykal was
> written as one point of a five-pointed star, with the tablets to the kings
> forming the other points. To judge by the first publication of this tablet,
> these other tables were those addressed to the Pope, Napoleon III, the Czar of
> Russia, Queen Victoria, and the Sháh of Iran. Of this combined tablet he
> says, "Thus have We built the Temple with the hands of power and might, could
> ye but know it. This is the Temple promised unto you in the Book. . . " (PDC
> 47), evidently an allusion to Rev. 21:22P23, which in earlier Arabic
> translations of the Bible evidently said, "the glory of God [Bahá'u'lláhh] is
> its light," a passage quotes by Bahá'u'lláh elsewhere. In addition to the
> Bible there is the famous tradition of Kumayl, a well-known mystical tradition
> of Shí`ism, which identifies one of the five stages of reality as "a light
> that shines from the morn of eternity and illumines the temples of unity
> (hayákilu't-tawhíd). Shí`ite commentators identify the "temples of unity" as
> the prophets and imáms. Elsewhere the Imám Hyusayn is called "the temple of
> revelation" (haykalu'l-wahy wa't-tanzíl; `Abbás Qummí, Muntahá'l-Amal,
> Tehran, 1371/1951, p. 286).
> 
> 5. Editions and translations. The text has been published at least three
> times: AQA 1:2P49; Kitáb-i-Mubín, Tehran, 120 B.E./1963, pp. 2P 38; and AQA
> 4:268P300. There was an early English translation, too . Short
> quotations are translated by Shoghi Effendi in PDC (1961), pp. 47-48, WOB
> (1955), pp. 109P10, 138P39, 169.
> 
> Bibliography.
> Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh vol. 3
> Ganj-i-Sháygán.
> Research Department,
> Bahá'í World Center, "Questions about the Súratu'l- Haykal," unpublished memo,
> 5 September 1993.
> Khazeh Fananapazir, personal communication.
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views13755 views since posted 2003-10-02; last edit 2022-02-17 17:00 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../walbridge_encyclopedia_tablet_temple;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> Citation: ris/436
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> — *Tablet of the Temple (Suratu'l-Haykal) (Used by permission of the curator)*