# Tablet of Unity

*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: Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of Unity, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Tablet of Unity
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh
> 
> Juan Cole, translator
> 
> 1996
> original title
> 
> Lawh-i-Ittihad
> 
> He is God. Exalted be his station, of wisdom and utterance.
> 
> A letter reached this wronged one from one of those Sayyids who had
> advanced toward God, had heard and replied to their lord, the kind, the
> generous. All are mentioned before the most great countenance. We ask the
> Eternal Truth to confirm all of them in that which will cause them to be
> mentioned forever.
> 
> You asked about unity. On the primary level is unity of religion. This
> unity has ever been the means by which the cause of God has been made
> triumphant, throughout the centuries and ages. Gathering together is
> itself the spiritual sword of God. For instance, if a government noticed
> that the majority of the country's inhabitants had pierced the veils and
> advanced toward the horizon of the divine revelation, it would fall silent
> and listen to what was being said. And every soul who grants it a hearing
> will attain to mystical insight into the Eternal Truth, may his glory be
> glorified-save for those souls who are altogether distant from divine
> compassion and who unreservedly deserve divine wrath and chastisement.
> Such souls are in any case deprived and stunted.
> 
> On another level, unity is unity of speech. This is most necessary. For
> instance, consider that if two souls from among the friends of the Absolute
> Truth arrive in a land and speak about a matter so as to dispute with one
> another in their discourse, this would become a cause for contention. They
> and all the others would thereby be deprived of the bounty of unity that
> has been revealed by the pen of the lord of creation. Among the helpers of
> God is discourse. In this greatest of dispensations, deeds and ethics are
> the armies of God, and are busy aiding him. If discourse is delivered in a
> measured fashion, it is a divine mercy. If it goes to excess, it becomes
> destructive. In the tablets, we have advised all to employ a sort of
> discourse that has the characteristics of milk hidden within it, and to
> nurture the children of the world with it so that they might be brought to
> the age of maturity. In every station, discourse becomes apparent by
> virtue of some quality, and shines because of some impact. The scent of
> good or bad wafts from it.
> 
> In another station, by unity is meant unity of deeds. For differences
> therein become a source of difference. When this wronged one was exiled
> from Baghdad to Edirne, on the road I arrived at a mosque. Different daily
> prayers could be seen in that place. Even though it would be correct to
> describe each as the daily prayer, each was distinguished in some respects
> from the other. If the party of the Qur'an had truly implemented what was
> revealed by the pen of the All-Merciful, everyone on earth would have had
> the honor of believing in Islam. Differences in deeds became a cause of
> difference in the cause itself, and the cause was weakened. One prayed
> with hands clasped, another with hands open. One pronounced greetings
> during the bearing of witness, while another said "Peace." Beyond these
> examples, one group danced about and called it the remembrance of God. I
> take refuge in God, who is sanctified and purified of above such forms of
> mention, and is innocent of them.
> 
> Consider the Law of the messenger [Muhammad] of God--may the spirits of all
> else be his sacrifice--as a sea. They have hived off from this sea
> innumerable straits, and this has weakened the Law of God among his
> servants. Even to this day neither kings nor subjects, nor the poor, have
> understood the reason, nor how lost honor could be restored and lost
> knowledge recovered. They were not aware, nor are they still. One strait
> is Shi`i and another is Sunni; another yet is Shaykhi. One strait is
> Ni`matu'llahi, another is Naqshbandi. One is Malamati, another is Jalali.
> One is Rifa'i, another is Kharabati. "If you count the paths to hell, you
> will never reckon them all." Now, stones cry out and the most high pen
> wails. Consider what happened to this system of religious Law, the light
> of which was the illumination of the world, and the fire of which was the
> guide for peoples-that is, the fire of its love. Blessed are those who
> think, and those who discern, and those who are fair. This difference in
> deeds caused the edifice of the cause of God to be shaken. People of the
> Bayan, listen to the call of the wronged one. Do not inflict calamities on
> yourselves as past religious communities have done. He revealed the proof
> and made manifest the path. Take care not to differ with regard to what
> was revealed from the heaven of the will of your lord, the mighty, the
> omnipotent.
> 
> By the life of God, if someone else could have been found to speak or to
> arise, this servant would not have uttered a single word. The point is
> that God would not have delivered him into their hands-that is, the hands
> of the people of the Bayan. Consider, people of insight. Purify and
> sanctify your hearts and breasts with the water of life that flows from the
> pen of the All-Merciful. Busy yourselves with helping, with the troops of
> good deeds, pleasing ethics and divine words. This is the counsel of God
> that has been revealed by the most high pen in the tablets.
> 
> Among them is the unity of station. This unity is the basis for the rise
> and exaltation of the cause among the servants. When the idea of being
> higher and better appears among the servants, the world is destroyed and
> desolated. Those souls who have drunk from the sea of the discourse of
> the All-Merciful and are gazing toward the highest horizon must view
> themselves as dwelling in a single locality and having a single station.
> If this matter is established and is realized by the power and might of
> God, the world will become the most glorious paradise. Yes, human beings
> are precious, just as it is said in every one of God's verses. But to see
> oneself as most learned, most just, most judicious, most virtuous, most
> pious and most exalted is a serious error. Blessed are those souls who are
> adorned with the ornament of this unity and given success by God.
> Consider the clergy of Iran. If they had not considered themselves the
> most exalted and the best of the people, their poor followers would not
> have busied themselves with cursing and pronouncing imprecations on the
> desire of the worlds. A person-no, an entire world-stands bewildered at
> those artificial and negligent persons. The fire of pride and haughtiness
> has consumed all, but they are unaware and still oblivious. They have not
> attained even a droplet from the sea of knowledge and learning. Shame on
> them, and on what they have said and done on the day of recompense and on
> this day wherein the people have risen up for the lord of the worlds. If
> the most high pen desired, it could mention the levels of unity in
> everything and in every affair in their entirety. but this task would
> require it to be occupied for years.
> 
> Among them is the unity of persons and wealth, and with this station we
> will close our discussion of unity, by our own decree, and we are the
> mighty, the sovereign. This is a unity that forms the wellspring of
> gladness, joy and delight, if they only knew and understood. The negligent
> mullahs should not say, 'To whom should this wealth return?' It should
> return to everyone. This unity produces philanthropy, and philanthropy is
> beloved in the divine Book, before and after. This philanthropy relates to
> wealth, not to anything else above and beyond it: "Preferring others above
> themselves, even though poverty be their portion. And whoso is guarded
> against the avarice of his own soul, those-they are the ones who prosper."
> (Q. 59:9). This station is above equality. Equality involves depriving
> the servants of God of the things he had graciously bestowed on them.
> Enjoy the comforts of life and help others like you to enjoy them. This
> station is most beloved, so that all might share in the bounty and have a
> portion of grace. Those who prefer others to themselves enjoy, in reality,
> a station above other stations, and what was mentioned by the All-Merciful
> in the Qur'an bears witness to this saying.
> 
> Party of God: Shall the highest pen lament for itself or for what has
> occurred in the world? Matters have come to such a pass that puddles claim
> to be seas and lizards claim to be eagles. What has happened, and what
> clouds of smoke have encompassed the world? Does the fragrance of
> revelation not waft, and is it not superior to other scents? Can the
> straight path not be distinguished from the routes of Satan? No, by my
> soul. The Eternal Truth, with all its attributes and actions, is superior
> to all else. Those who possess insight are in no confusion about it, nor
> shall they ever be. The intent of the unity of souls is love of God, and
> the word of God, such that all should gather around it and cling to it.
> Everyone with insight and intellect confirms what has been revealed by the
> most high pen. Each of the unities that have been mentioned is a troop in
> the army of God and a party of the parties of God and a cause among the
> causes of God. The unity of souls has ever, from the beginning of creation
> until the present, been a help to and support for God-that is, the unity
> that came about because of the command of God and his divine legislation.
> In this station unity does not go beyond this level. The most high pen at
> this time ever counsels its friends to unity and concord, so that thereby
> the cause of God, the guardian, the subsisting, can be made manifest.
> The same considerations exist with regard to wisdom. Some of the divine
> friends have not observed wisdom and have remained oblivious to its
> station. They have provoked an uproar in some lands. Listen to the call
> of this wronged one and act in accordance with what was revealed in the
> tablets. Until you have a hearing, do not open your lips. Until you find
> blessed and fertile soil, do not sow the seed of wisdom. One shares the
> divine word when one finds willing eyes and ears. The same is true with
> regard to fertile soil. Some have occasionally spoken things that went on
> to cause harm to the original Lote Tree. Say: People, fear God and do not
> be among the wrongdoers. Fear God and do not be among the ignorant.
> Barren land is unsuitable for planting. The ears of idolatry are unsuited
> to hearing about monotheism.
> 
> Party of God, from the most high pen there has been revealed that, which
> is the cause of the life of the world. All must for the sake of God
> contemplate the divine unity, so that you will not be like adherents of the
> previous religion who spoke the word but were derived of the meaning, and
> worshipped mere names, just like those who adore idols. Even so, they
> considered themselves monotheists and possessors of certainty. But the
> Eternal Truth revealed the deeds that had been hidden and the punishment
> meted out to that people. On the day of judgment their degree of
> exaltation, loftiness, high station, status and belief in the unity of God
> has become clear and apparent to the peoples of the world.
> 
> My name: Deliver the greetings of this wronged one to the divine friends.
> Advise them to follow what God has counseled them in psalms and tablets.
> Blessed are the emigrants who relocated for the sake of God, until at last
> they arrived at this might prison. They advanced for the sake of God and
> turned toward God. Their reward shall be bestowed by the one who
> fashioned, created, nourished, aided and taught them, and who caused them
> to speak his mention and praise. He is, in truth, powerful above all
> things. The glory shining from the horizon of the heaven of my compassion
> be upon those whom God has made successful in acting in accord with what
> was revealed in his firm and incontrovertible book. Praise be to God, the
> lord of the worlds. We ask him at the close of this Tablet to aid and help
> them with both invisible and visible troops, and to make them victorious in
> his Cause. He is, in truth, powerful over what he wills, and in his grasp
> are the reins of all things. No God is there but he, the one, the mighty,
> the all-knowing.
> 
> METADATA
> 
> Views13187 views since posted 1998; last edit 2022-06-19 09:36 UTC;
> 
> previous at archive.org.../bahaullah_lawh_ittihad_cole;
> URLs changed in 2010, see archive.org.../bahai-library.org
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> — *Tablet of Unity (Used by permission of the curator)*