# Glad-Tidings: Wilmette Institute faculty notes

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> This tablet is not particularly long — a bit over 8 pages — but it is a
> weighty work and a significant supplemental work to the Kitáb-i-Aqdas.
> 
> Five tablets reproduced in Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed After the
> Kitáb-i-Aqdas have a similar structure: the Bishárát, Tarazat,
> Kalimát-i-Firdawsiyyih, Tajallíyát, and Ishráqát.  The structure consists of
> an introduction, a series of numbered statements on aspects of the Faith,
> and a conclusion.  The Bishárát has by far the shortest introduction of the
> five; just one paragraph (in the Ishráqát the opening material occupies more
> pages than the numbered statements).  In each case the tablet is named for
> the name of the numbered statements; thus the Ishráqát has a series of
> ishraq or splendors (-at is a feminine plural ending in Arabic; ishraq is
> a feminine noun with its plural Ishráqát).
> 
> In the case of the Bishárát, the statements are listed as "glad tidings."  I
> am not sure of this, so I will ask the Persian and Arabic experts: is "glad
> tidings" the way "gospel" is translated into Arabic?  It means good news,
> just as "gospel" does.
> 
> The fifteen Glad-Tidings contain extremely important teachings of
> Bahá'u'lláh.  The first abolishes holy war; the second establishes
> interfaith dialogue.  The third supplements the call in the Aqdas for a
> universal auxiliary language.  The sixth calls for the establishment of the
> Lesser Peace (which can also be found in the nineth leaf of the exalted
> paradise, the Lawh-i-Dunyá, and the second ishraq).
> 
> I will add parenthetically that anyone who has the old Bahá'í World Faith
> might want to compare the translation of the sixth Glad-Tidings on page 193
> with the new translation in Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh, page 23.  The old
> translation says "The sixth glad tidings is the Most Great Peace"; the new
> translation says "The Sixth Glad-Tidings is the establishment of the Lesser
> Peace."  Big difference!  A side-by-side translation quickly shows you how
> much better the new translation — done under the auspices of the Universal
> House of Justice and approved by them — is compared to the old.
> 
> The ninth Glad-Tidings is one of my favorite ones: it includes a prayer for
> forgiveness of one's sins.  This prayer is not in the prayerbook, as far as
> I know. [It is not. - B.Z.]
> 
> The thirteenth Glad-Tidings is all about the members of the House of
> Justice; again an example where Bahá'u'lláh supplements the Aqdas text.  The
> fifteenth Glad-Tidings is also remarkable; in it Bahá'u'lláh recommends
> essentially the British form of government, with a monarch and a
> democratically elected legislature.  He repeats this in the Lawh-i-Dunyá
> (page 93: "The system of government which the British people have adopted in
> London appears to be good, for it is adorned with the light of both kingship
> and of the consultation of the people").
> 
> Each of the fifteen Glad-Tidings requires meditation and comparison with
> other tablets.  Read it and enjoy.
>
> — *Glad-Tidings: Wilmette Institute faculty notes (Used by permission of the curator)*