# Four Valleys: Tablet study outline

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

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> Note: my comments here are only partial, for two reasons: (1) much of the 
> information that could be included here has already been posted, in the Tablet study outline for the Seven Valleys; (2) 
> since the Tablet is available in translation, most students entered sufficient answers 
> for sections like "contents" and "themes," thereby obviating a list here. 
> 
>  Name of Tablet in Arabic or Persian: Chahár Vádí
> 
>  Translation into English: 
> The Four Valleys. Most of the bibliographic material relevant to Bahá'í mysticism, 
> as well as some of the translation history of the Four Valleys, has been listed in the 
> previous masterkey for the Seven Valleys. _Bahá'u'lláh: King of Glory_ mentions it 
> only briefly, on p. 163, as does _God Passes By_ on pp. 122 and 140. Julio Savi 
> explores the themes and symbolism in the Four Valleys in his "Will, Knowledge, and 
> Love as Explained in Bahá'u'lláh's Four Valleys," from the _Journal of Bahá'í 
> Studies_ 6:1 (1994). John Walbridge discusses these in _Sacred Acts, Sacred 
> Space, Sacred Time_, 157-158 and 288. David Langness also meditates on the 
> work in his "Mystical Content and Symbology of Bahá'u'lláh's Four Valleys," 
> available on the internet at Bahái-library.org/essays/four.valleys.html. 
> 
> 
>  Significance of Name: 
>  Describes four successive stages of the mystic's path from which he or she 
> journeys toward the goal of the Divine. Dr. Ayman adds: "The word "valley" is 
> translation of "vaadi". Vaadi has several meanings or connotations. It may refer to 
> a stretch of land between hills or mountains, often with a river flowing through it 
> (Oxford Dic.) or path. There are other connotations for this word in both Arabic 
> and Persian such as , a way of thinking, a sect or school of thought, a plain, a 
> desert, a stage, ...etc.. Therefore we should not always expect "vaadis" to come 
> one after the other. One usage of this word, in oriental Mysticism, is to refer to 
> consecutive stages in the path of true knowledge." 
> 
>  Tablet was revealed in: Persian 
> 
>  Name of Recipient: Shaykh 'Abdu'r-Rahman-i-Talabani of Karkuk 
> 
>  Reason for Revelation of the Tablet: Shaykh 'Abdu'r-Rahman, who had 
> met Bahá'u'lláh in Sulaymaniyyih, wrote to Him with some questions, which 
> unfortunately are not preserved. 
> 
>  Questions asked that are answered in Tablet: The (lost) questions 
> mentioned above. 
> 
>  Date of Revelation: Though Taherzadeh does not specify, Walbridge, in 
> _Sacred Acts_ 157, places the date of this work at 1857. 
> 
>  Place of Revelation: Baghdad 
> 
>  Role of Amaneuensis or Secretary: As a letter, it is possible that 
> Bahá'u'lláh penned the Four Valleys Himself. And, on pp. 64-65, He writes: "When I 
> entrusted this message of love to My pen, it refused the burden, and it swooned 
> away. ... What I had written ere this hand hath been eaten by the flies, so sweet is 
> the ink. ...And now the hand can write no more, and pleadeth that this is enough." 
> 
> 
>  Other Tablets revealed at about the same time: See list in masterkey for 
> Seven Valleys. 
> 
>  Style, subject, and genre of the Tablet: [?] 
> Style: This tablet seems to have been written mostly in the tone of 
> "command and authority."
>  Subject: This tablet seems to contain many subjects, such as "Writings 
> dealing with interpretation of the old Scriptures, religious beliefs and doctrines of 
> the past"; Mystical Writings"; "Tablets dealing with subjects of learning and 
> knowledge, divine philosophy, mysteries of creation, medicine, alchemy, etc."; and 
> "Tablets exhorting men to education, goodly character and divine virtues."
>  Genre: "Essay or book revealed as a letter to an individual." 
>  
> Voice of Tablet: [?] Bahá'u'lláh, using also quotations from the Qur'an to 
> speak for God and Muhammad, and quotations from Sufis to provide Sufi 
> viewpoints. 
> 
>  Outline Contents of Tablet (if possible): See other student lists 
> 
>  List the Principal themes of the Tablet: See other student lists 
> 
>  Tablet's relationship to other tablets:
>  At the end of the Seven Valleys, Bahá'u'lláh writes that "the heart is endowed with 
> four stages, which would be recounted should a kindred soul be found" (41). While 
> Savi speculates that the Four Valleys are those Bahá'u'lláh had here promised, this 
> connection is not known for sure.
>
> — *Four Valleys: Tablet study outline (Used by permission of the curator)*