# Mathnavi-yi Mubarak

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-20 — 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, Mathnavi-yi Mubarak, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                          K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> Mathnaví Mubárak
> (The Blessed Mathnavi)
> by
> Bahá’u’lláh
> 
> A Provisional Translation in Rhyming Couplets by Kay Lynn Morton
> Second Edition / May 2026
> 
> Summary: During His last 12 days in Baghdad, in April/May 1863, Bahá’u’lláh declared that
> He was The Promised One. And then, in the seven months that followed, during the course of
> His banishment from Baghdad to Constantinople, He composed a wondrous work of poetry in
> the form of a Persian mathnavi. Written in classical Su literary style, its 318 rhyming couplets
> present a wealth of topics, but at its heart is the unveiling of His true identity and His invitation
> for the Su to recognize Him in “This Spring”. He teaches many lessons and offers wise counsel
> to mankind in general, and to the Su in particular. He stresses that man must open his inner eye
> to recognize The New Friend Who has come, and must cleanse his heart and soul, so he frees
> himself and the entire world from the darkness of egotism. In closing, Bahá’u’lláh expresses His
> profound grief in His remoteness from Baghdad and His extreme distress in the life-threatening
> situation He is faced with in Constantinople.
> NOTE: To fully appreciate the sweetness of this poem, it must be recited from beginning
> to end, without stopping to read the footnotes. See Tips for Reciting the Poem, p. viii.
> 
> Preface
> In Spring of 2017, I noticed that Frank Lewis’s provisional translation of The Blessed Mathnaví
> on bahai-library.com was unrhymed. Knowing how musical and lyrical the Persian language is, I
> wanted to see if this poem could be rendered in English in rhyming couplets, like the original. So
> I began to experiment with a few lines, found it fascinating, and soon became immersed in the
> ocean of magically resonating words and meanings, of divine light and spirit, that became the
> most engaging, enlightening, and amazing experience of my life. My initial work was posted on
> bahai-library.com April 4, 2024. This second edition re ects the changes that I have made to the
> translation since then, as I have, over the past two years, discovered many ways to improve the
> cadence, the accuracy, and the overall quality of what was my rst attempt to translate a work of
> this scope and magnitude from Persian into English. I sincerely hope this provisional translation
> will help the English-speaking world to learn about this extraordinary work of art and come to
> love and cherish it as much as I do — this wonderfully illuminating and tenderly moving poem
> — this gem that glistens so beautifully amid the Sacred Writings of Bahá’u’lláh.
> — K. L. M.
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                         K. Morton / May 2026
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> Introduction
> If you had a very important message to give to the world, how would you make it known? You’d
> probably use the internet and the English language — right? But what if it’s 1863, and you are in
> the Middle East? And there is no electricity in people’s homes. Candles and oil lamps are used at
> night. There are no cars, trains, or planes. People travel long distances in slow-moving caravans
> and ships at sea. And there are no post of ces, telegrams, or copy machines. Also no telephones,
> radio, T.V., news networks, computers, or internet. And there is no universally spoken language.
> What language would you use?
> 
> Perhaps you could start getting your message out by asking the local newspaper to print it. You
> are presently in Baghdad, a city that does not yet have a newspaper, but you’ll be leaving that
> city soon, on a caravan, and in a few months you’ll be in a city that has recently begun printing a
> paper. However, the city you are traveling to is Constantinople (today’s Istanbul), the Seat of the
> Caliphate of the Ottoman Empire, and the newspaper there will probably not print your message,
> since its content will be considered highly controversial and unorthodox. Besides, it will be very
> dif cult for you to communicate with the editors, because you don’t speak the Turkish language.
> You speak only Persian and Arabic, and you will need an interpreter.
> 
> Even if the newspaper prints your message, its content will so upset the Islamic religious leaders
> of the city, that they will, in all likelihood, declare you a heretic and incite an angry mob to come
> and murder you. They will drag you into the street, yelling wildly and cursing you. And they will
> strip you naked, spit in your face, beat you, whip you, cut your hands off, cut your feet off, and
> nally behead you and throw your head and body parts into a ravine on the edge of the city for
> the wolves to eat.
> 
> Yes, dear reader, you will be in a city under strict Islamic rule, without freedom of speech or
> freedom of religion. And although many people will be happy and excited to receive your
> wonderful message and grateful to you for delivering it, some of the most powerful men in the
> region, characterized by their pompous arrogance and their sel sh egotism, will want to kill you.
> They will vehemently denounce and reject the message you bring. And you.
> __________
> 
> Imagining the above scenario will, I hope, help us all to understand the situation of Bahá’u’lláh
> at the beginning of His Mission, in April 1863, when the authorities had issued an order for Him
> to leave Baghdad and travel to Constantinople. He was a political prisoner in the grip of His
> enemies, but He knew that He was the long-awaited Promised One of All Religions, Whose
> coming had been foretold in all the Scriptures, and that He was to deliver a fresh outpouring of
> Divine Guidance that would transform human life on the planet. But how to announce this to the
> world? Knowing full well His important Station and Mission, and the need to communicate it,
> He penned a poem in the form of a Persian mathnaví, with His announcement embedded in it.
> And thus He wrote, for all the world, The Blessed Mathnaví.
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                  K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> But why a mathnaví? And what is a mathnaví? A classical Persian mathnaví is a lengthy poem
> that has been recited before live audiences, over and over, again and again, down through the
> years in the Persian culture. And, like a national anthem, through repetition it has become rmly
> xed in all the people’s hearts and minds, and is an integral part of their shared national identity.
> Since the rhythmic, rhyming verses of a Persian mathnaví are memorized so easily, its catchy
> couplets and memes become part of mainstream thought and vocabulary, and the verses serve as
> a unifying agent in society. From His Writings, we know that Bahá’u’lláh envisioned the future
> world with a universally spoken language. Surely He must have foreseen the time when His
> Mathnaví will have been translated into the one language that everyone speaks and understands.
> At that time, it will be recited all over the world, and it will unite the hearts of all peoples as it is
> listened to and loved, repeatedly, generation after generation, for centuries to come.
> 
> The mathnaví [pronounced: MASS nah VEE] consists of precisely rhymed and metered couplets,
> 80-100 couplets minimum, an aa/bb/cc/dd rhyme scheme, 22 syllables per couplet, and it has a
> distinctive opening section. The mathnaví has been traditionally used primarily for historic epic
> narratives and always conveys profound philosophical truths about human nature and life in
> general through: the skillful use of metaphors and gurative language; references to symbolic
> legendary gures; interwoven and echoing themes; illustrative stories, parables, and allegories;
> and other literary devices, including comical and sometimes very subtle satire; irony; paradoxes;
> hyperbole; twists and turns; koan-like riddles; and the playful use of multiple meanings of words.
> The mathnaví is entertaining, educational, thought-provoking, and soul-stirring.
> 
> It has been said that mathnavís are in the DNA of Persians. The masterful recital of them is a
> long-standing oral tradition in Persian culture. Much-loved mathnavís and epic poems — such as
> Rumi’s Mathnaví Ma’naví and Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh — as well as poetry in general, ow
> perpetually through Persia like streams of life-giving water, nourishing the soul of a nation. Two
> of Persia’s nest poets, Háfez and Saadi, who were both from Shiraz, are treated as saint-like
> gures, as national heroes. They are honored with marble shrines that have been built over raised
> sarcophaguses lovingly sculptured and engraved in memory of them. These shrines are set in
> large beautiful formal gardens with wide paved avenues for visitors to stroll amid tall cypresses,
> turquoise re ecting pools, singing nightingales, and the intoxicating scent of roses in bloom.
> 
> And mathnavís are recited everywhere — in coffee houses, on street corners, in parks, homes,
> picnics and private gatherings, and on television, radio, and YouTube. Each individual recitation
> is important and listened to most carefully, because each one is unique, as each person’s voice
> gives the mathnaví his or her own particular pitch, tone, intensity, and subtle in ections as it is
> recited. Mathnavís are traditionally recited mainly in a monotone, so the slightest departure from
> the monotone is noticed immediately by the attentive listener and will raise the eyebrows, dimple
> the cheeks, or cause a few teardrops to fall. The mathnaví is a type of performance art, of staged
> theatre and drama. I strongly urge all Western readers to learn more about the Persian mathnaví
> in order to appreciate the genius, the majesty, and the potency of Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví.
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                            K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> Also, knowing some of the historical events in the life of Bahá’u’lláh that took place both before
> and during the time He wrote The Blessed Mathnaví will help in reading and understanding this
> work and many of the references and allusions that appear in it. Some events are described in the
> footnotes. Other events the reader should know about are summarized as follows:
> 
> Nineteen years before He wrote The Blessed Mathnaví, when Bahá’u’lláh was 26 and living in
> Tehran, in the north-central part of His native country of Persia (Iran), a new religion came into
> being in Shiraz, a city to the south of Tehran. It spread rather quickly and caused a great stir. Its
> Founder, a descendant of Prophet Muhammad, had declared that a New Age had begun, and that
> the Promised One of All Religions would soon come, with a Revelation far greater than His own.
> He made it abundantly clear that His own Revelation was to prepare people to recognize and
> accept the Promised One when He appeared, and He frequently referred to the Promised One as
> “Him Whom God shall make manifest”.
> 
> The country’s Islamic leaders were alarmed and angered by the rapid growth of this new religion
> and by its tenets. It promoted the equality of men and women. And it had no clergy. It prescribed
> universal education, so that all people can read and understand the Scriptures for themselves. The
> enraged clergy were threatened by this, labeled it heresy, and wanted to bring it to an end. So
> they in uenced government of cials to arrest, imprison, and nally, in 1850, execute before a
> ring squad this new religion’s Founder, known as The Báb [pronounced: BOB, a title meaning:
> “The Gate.”] Despite the martyrdom of The Báb, the religion continued to grow. Hatred for it
> also grew, fueled by the ery sermons of the Islamic clergy in the mosques, and in a short time,
> over 20,000 followers of The Báb were killed by means of unspeakably cruel methods of torture,
> beheadings, and the wholesale slaughter of innocent men, women, and children . . .
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh was a digni ed nobleman from a distinguished family that traced its ancestry back to
> Persian kings, Prophet Zoroaster, Abraham, and the House of David. His manners were re ned
> and gentle, His voice mild, and He was known for His warmth, generosity, and upright moral
> character. He was also recognized for His exceptionally brilliant mind. And He was sympathetic
> to The Báb’s cause, associated with its supporters, and was well respected for His profound
> understanding of The Báb’s writings and teachings. One summer day in 1852, in the midst of the
> genocidal fever sweeping the country, Bahá’u’lláh was arrested, paraded in a most humiliating
> manner through the streets, and then incarcerated in a foul-smelling underground dungeon in
> Tehran, infamously known as the “Síyáh Chál”, or the “Black Pit” of Tehran. He was bound in
> chains to others, and a heavy steel collar was locked into place around His neck, a collar that dug
> into His skin and scarred Him for life. Years later, He related that, one night in that prison, He
> beheld a vision of an angel suspended in the air above Him, pointing toward His Head and
> calling out to all in heaven and earth, saying: “By God! This is the Best-Beloved of the worlds…
> [this is]…the Beauty of God amongst you, and the power of His sovereignty within you, could ye
> but understand. This is the Mystery of God and His Treasure, the Cause of God and His Glory
> unto all who are in the kingdoms of Revelation and creation, if ye be of them that perceive”.
> 
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                           K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> Just as the Holy Spirit came to Jesus in the form of a beautiful Dove, to Prophet Muhammad as
> Gabriel’s Voice in the cave, and to Moses as the Voice coming from the Fire in the Burning Bush,
> the Holy Spirit came before Bahá’u’lláh as a luminous Maiden of Heaven, announcing Him to be
> The Promised One of All Ages, All Religions, and All Nations.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh spent four months in that pitch-black, vermin-infested hole, on the cold, damp oor
> in chains. He was on the list of prisoners to be executed by ring squad, and was awaiting His
> turn, when the Russian Consul in Tehran intervened and asked the government of cials to spare
> this nobleman’s life, since He had committed no crime. The of cials reluctantly agreed to this,
> but only on condition that He leave Persia and never return. Thus, Bahá’u’lláh was exiled from
> His homeland. He chose to go to Iraq, but rst spent one month recovering from the wounds and
> infections and the debilitating experience of that imprisonment. In January of 1853, having partly
> regained His strength, Bahá’u’lláh and His family undertook, under escort and in extremely cold
> temperatures, a very dif cult three-month journey from Tehran to Baghdad by caravan over the
> Zagros mountains. The caravan and its exhausted band of travelers arrived in Baghdad April 8.
> Bahá’u’lláh would live in Iraq for ten years.
> 
> Although Bahá’u’lláh was placed under house arrest in Baghdad, He was given considerable
> freedom of movement. In the late afternoons, He would go to the local coffeehouse, where He
> would engage in conversations with the men. He made more than one trip to the nearby City of
> Karbala, where He visited the Shrine of Imam Husayn. And He spent some time living among
> the Kurds in the mountainous Province of Sulaymaniyah, where He gained a reputation for being
> a kind, gentle-mannered, soft-spoken dervish who had deep knowledge of the Scriptures and of a
> wide range of topics. He beautifully explained the hidden meanings of the perplexing verses in
> both The Bible and Quran, and He showed masterful skills in calligraphy and in writing poetry in
> a variety of styles. In Baghdad, His advice was often sought in matters that were of great concern
> to individuals. His wisdom, compassion, fairness, and problem-solving ability were unmatched,
> and He became known as The Wonderful Counselor.
> 
> During the ten years that Bahá’u’lláh lived in Iraq, He came to love the people there, and they
> came to know and love Him. Baghdad began to feel like home to Him. He was naturally quite
> saddened when, in April of 1863, government of cials ordered Him to leave Baghdad and go to
> Constantinople (today’s Istanbul), which was, at the time, the Capital of Turkey and the Seat of
> the Ottoman Empire. He and His family spent twelve days preparing for the caravan journey.
> During that time, He announced to a small number of trusted people closest to Him that He was
> the Promised One, the One whom The Báb had said would appear in the near future. This was
> The Great Announcement that scholars and all of the religious faithful in the world — Muslims,
> Christians, and others — had been eagerly anticipating and awaiting. Although made quietly and
> privately, Bahá’u’lláh’s Declaration was an unparalleled and momentous event in human history.
> The Promised One of All Ages, All Religions, and All Nations had come at last.
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                        K. Morton / May 2026
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> The preparations were made for Bahá’u’lláh’s departure from Baghdad. The caravan was ready.
> At noon on the third day of May, 1863, a large number of people gathered around Him to bid
> Him farewell. Many were seen openly weeping from the thought of being separated from Him.
> No longer would they be able to hear His voice or see His radiant face, or behold His gracious
> and loving manners, or ask Him for guidance or to explain the passages in the Quran. As the
> caravan left, some of them accompanied it on foot and followed it for some time out of the City,
> wanting to stay close to their Friend, their Beloved One, for as long as they could. We can only
> guess at the mixed emotions Bahá’u’lláh must have been feeling. Surely, it was heart-breaking to
> be forced to leave a land and a people He had grown to love. Yet He was excited and eager to
> carry out His Mission, which had just begun. However, He was facing an unknown destiny now,
> as He was traveling to Constantinople, heading into the hands of His most powerful enemies.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh arrived in Constantinople on August 16, 1863, and He remained in that City for three
> and a half months, a political prisoner under strict house arrest. Turkey was a country foreign to
> Him. He did not speak Turkish and needed an interpreter to communicate with His captors, who
> were trying to convince Bahá’u’lláh to give up His claim to be The Promised One, which He
> refused to do. In Turkey He was surrounded by a culture that was dominated by the cult-like Su
> fraternal orders and the plaintive, melancholy moaning of the pipe, the Persian ney. It was a dark
> and depressing atmosphere. And it was fall. As the nights grew longer, He became aware that His
> heartless, evil-spirited half brother, Yahyá, out of jealousy and desire for power and leadership,
> wanted to kill Him. Baha’u’llah’s life was in grave peril, and His future was uncertain. He knew
> that He could suddenly be murdered, as He awaited further decision-making from all the men
> who had control over Him — both Persian and Turkish, both Shi’a and Sunni, both government
> of cials and Islamic religious leaders — who were all trying to gure out what to do with Him
> and His unorthodox heretical claims and ever-growing popularity, and the very real possibility of
> a new religion coming into the world — a religion without any clergy.
> 
> It was during this dark stressful period in Turkey that Bahá’u’lláh nished writing His Mathnaví.
> Scholars are not completely certain of the date when Bahá’u’lláh commenced writing this poem.
> Some think that He may have begun it in Baghdad, in the Spring of 1863. (This might not be
> relevant, but in the rst quarter of the poem, the word “spring” and its plural “springs” appear 28
> times, and in the last three quarters of the poem, the words “spring” and “springs” are not used at
> all.) Although it is not known exactly when Bahá’u’lláh began writing the poem, it seems He
> may have quickly concluded it on, or shortly after, December 1, 1863, because on that day the
> Ottoman government authorities suddenly ordered Him to leave Constantinople within 24 hours.
> This may explain the poem’s somewhat abrupt and extremely suspenseful ending.
> 
> What happened to Bahá’u’lláh after Constantinople — after He wrote The Blessed Mathnaví?
> And what has become of the Bahá’í Faith? Bahá’u’lláh was banished from Constantinople and
> sent under armed escort to Adrianople (today’s Edirne, Turkey), where He lived under house
> arrest for four and a half years. In Adrianople, more than one attempt was made to murder Him.
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                         K. Morton / May 2026
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> In one case, the poison that was used made Him gravely ill for some time and left Him with a
> constant hand tremor that lasted the rest of His life, clearly visible from His shaky handwriting.
> In Adrianople, once again, as had happened in Baghdad, many people came to love Him, word
> got out about This Wonderful One, people traveled long distances to see Him and to join His
> followers, and the Bahá’í community grew in number. And because of His growing popularity,
> His enemies banished Him again. This time, in 1868, He was placed in solitary con nement in
> the stone-walled ancient prison city of ‘Akká, on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean (today’s
> Acre, Israel). Fortunately, by 1877, political conditions changed, and Bahá’u’lláh was allowed to
> reside outside the city in a peaceful, rural setting. He died in 1892, at age 75, from an illness. In
> His Will, He appointed His eldest son, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, to carry forward the work of overseeing
> the development of the Bahá’í community in the world. And when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá died, in 1921,
> His grandson, Shoghi Effendi, in accordance with ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will, took over the role of the
> appointed head of the Faith. Under Shoghi Effendi’s guardianship, and until his death in 1957,
> the Bahá’í Faith strengthened and grew at a steady pace throughout the world, and the Bahá’í
> World Centre was established in Israel on Mount Carmel. By the 1970’s, the Bahá’í Faith had
> become the second most widespread religion in the world, and it was recognized as a Non-
> Governmental Organization at the United Nations in New York. Today the Bahá’í Community
> is well-organized and still growing and developing, aided by its elected administrative councils
> that guide Bahá’ís at the local, national, and international levels. (This is a very brief summary of
> the growth of the Bahá’í Faith since the death of Bahá’u’lláh. For more information visit
> bahai.org.)
> 
> In the end, despite the many ordeals He suffered — including: torture, exile, banishments,
> imprisonments, opposition from government and religious leaders, continual efforts to defame
> Him, and attempts to murder Him — Bahá’u’lláh faithfully and determinedly carried out His
> Mission and left over 100 volumes of Sacred Writings — a priceless wealth of Divine guidance
> and inspiration — for all humankind, for centuries to come:
> 
> In His Writings, all signed and sealed by Him, Bahá’u’lláh calls for: social and economic justice
> worldwide; the elimination of abusive behavior, which includes the abusive treatment of women
> as inferiors to — or as slaves or possessions of — men, and the cruel and abusive treatment of
> children and animals; ending all harmful addictions; entering into wedlock and creating united,
> loving families; occupying one’s time engaged in work that bene ts humanity; daily prayer and
> meditation; the elimination of extreme wealth and extreme poverty; one world currency; one
> language that everyone in the world can speak, in addition to their native tongue; no backbiting
> or defaming; no lying or cheating; the conscious effort, on everyone’s part, to acquire virtues
> such as truthfulness and trustworthiness, courtesy, humility and sel essness, faithfulness, loving
> kindness, patience, and generosity; moderation in all things; no religious zealotry, fanaticism, or
> proselytizing; love and appreciation for all of God’s Messengers; universal education and 100%
> literacy in the world; eliminating all racial, ethnic, and national prejudices and discriminatory
> practices and caste systems; ceasing all contention and con ict and refraining from all acts of
> force, oppression, tyranny, and warfare; and the creation of a peaceful world by forming a united
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                        K. Morton / May 2026
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> commonwealth of nations in which all governments are headed by councils of mature, devoted,
> trustworthy men and women who are democratically elected by secret ballot, with no parties or
> nominations or election campaigns — or poll-taking — and who collectively arrive at decisions
> in a nonpartisan manner, using a courteous, respectful, truthful, rational method of consultation,
> always striving for consensus in deciding what is in the best interests of both the individual and
> society as a whole. The wisdom and justice of all the unifying principles that are set forth in
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings have attracted thoughtful people from all over the globe who are alarmed
> by the present state of affairs in the world, angered by the widespread corruption and injustices
> that are allowed to exist, deeply concerned about the future of human life, and all life on earth,
> and who see, in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh, the keys to resolving the world’s problems.
> 
> One of the world’s problems, perhaps its greatest problem, is hubris — man’s ruinous pride —
> his dark, sel sh, destructive egotism in all its forms, including: vanity, narcissism, jealousy,
> boasting, bragging and exaggerating, lying and cheating, posturing, haughtiness, and arrogance
> — all of which may easily lead to: lust for power, hatred, malice, cruelty, lawlessness, rebellion,
> violence and tyranny. Bahá’u’lláh calls attention to this problem in His Mathnaví. He says that
> we must free the world of egotism:
> 
> Keep on setting hearts on re from This Pipe’s rhythm,
> till you burn — in the world — all signs of egotism.             — Line 298
> 
> (The ego, or darkness of the ego, is mentioned in Lines 108-109, 129, 192, 281, and 298-299,
> and is referred to, indirectly, in several other places throughout the poem.)
> 
> Tips for Reciting The Poem
> Recite Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví from beginning to end, continuously, without stopping to look at
> the footnotes. This takes about one hour, at a moderate pace. (The midpoint, between Lines 159
> and 160, is a good place for a short break, if desired.) Persian mathnavís are recited in mostly a
> monotone, with all words enunciated clearly and given equal weight, in a most digni ed way.
> (You can listen to The Blessed Mathnaví, recited in Persian, online. Search: “YouTube Masnavi
> Mobarak”.) Whether one recites it in the traditional Persian way or a more modern style, in
> order for the words to have the greatest effect, there must always be a distinctive end stop, and
> pause, at the end of the rst line of every couplet. This is considered a requirement for reciting a
> mathnaví. It’s very important to keep this in mind, from beginning to end. This mandatory pause,
> or caesura, guarantees the steady rhythm of the lines and makes the poem memorable.
> 
> Translation and Footnotes
> On the following 52 pages is a provisional translation of The Blessed Mathnaví by Bahá’u’lláh.
> The numbers 1-318 on the left side correspond to the 318 internally rhyming lines in Persian
> (which are 318 couplets in English.) Numbers and footnotes have been added by the translator.
> 
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                              K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> He             Mo   Glo   s.
> 
> 1*                                  O The Life of The Throne!
> The Sun of Love
> so kind and true!
> The world and all therein
> can never beget
> a Light like You!
> 
> 2**                 If only people weren’t veiled from seeing Your Face,
> I’d say a word or two about Your Hidden Grace,
> 3                   so all the souls become indebted to You,
> so all the hearts fall madly in love with You,
> 4                   so You’d see them all gone mad — intoxicated! —
> with their hearts in both hands — ready, dedicated! —
> 5*                  so that, when You speak The Word, O Pride of the Time,
> they’ll scatter their hearts freely at Your Feet sublime!
> 
> _____________________
> “He is the Most Glorious.” This brief exordium (formal opening) appears at the very beginning of the
> poem. It is not a title, and not part of the poem’s rhyme scheme, but serves as a short trumpet call that
> grabs the attention of the audience, sets the tone, and introduces the author’s work with a respectful
> acknowledgement of the Divine. This statement, or one similar to it, is found at the beginning of many of
> Bahá’u’lláh’s writings.
> *1 - “Throne” (arsh) in Bahá’í literature can sometimes refer to “The Throne of God”, which can be
> understood to mean: “The Messenger of God”. Arabic in origin, the word arsh is usually translated as:
> “The Empyrean” or “The Throne of God”. The word arsh implies the zenith (highest point or place) in
> the firmament (the vast dome of sky as it appears over our heads), which is similar to the “keystone”, or
> “capstone”, at the top of a masonry arch — the final piece that is placed during construction, that locks
> the stones into position and keeps them all together, united, for one purpose. “O The Life of the Throne!”
> is a way of addressing the Messenger of God, respectfully acknowledging His divine majestic station and
> His supreme unifying power in the world.
> *2 - “Your Face” is not to be taken in the physical sense. It implies: “Your Reality” or “Who You are”.
> *2 - “Your Hidden Grace”, more accurately translated, would be: “The Mystery of Eternity”.
> *5 - “Pride of the Time” is a title of The Messenger of God in His time (in His lifetime). Examples: In the
> time of Moses, Moses was The Pride of the Time. In the time of Jesus, Jesus was The Pride of the Time.
> When Bahá’u’lláh wrote His Mathnaví, in 1863, He was The Pride of the Time. The word “Pride” in this
> context means: “the foremost or prime person; having qualities widely loved and admired; being the best
> or “the pick” of a society; a source of great joy.” — Collins Dictionary
> 
> is
> 
> the
> 
> st
> 
> ri
> 
> ou
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                 K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 6*             Rise high above The Mount of the Soul, just like the Sun,
> so You’re clearly seen — from every side — by everyone!
> 7              Parade just like the Moon! — Show off That Beautiful Face!
> Make green and fresh this hay, now, from Your Merciful Grace . . .
> 8**                 The drop is seeking — from Your Ocean — life eternal.
> Since You’re The Greatest King, do grant him life eternal.
> 9*                  The atom’s begging for Your Light — O, how he cries.
> Ful ll his wishes from Your Love — no how’s and why’s.
> 10                  The sprouted seed, with opened mouth up toward the sky,
> is waiting for Your Priceless Favors from on High.
> 11                  The raindrops of Your Mercy — on him do bestow,
> O King of Heaven above — and Lord of Earth below.
> 12*            Burst open this curtain of hundreds of veils in place!
> Beautiful! — Now give the world a sight to see — That Face!
> 
> ❦
> 
> _____________________
> *6 - “The Mount of the Soul” implies this mortal world (see Lines 105, 206, 207, and 219). It is similar to
> “The Land of the Soul” in Lines 105, 206, and 207). These two expressions should not be confused with
> “The Sinai of the Soul” in Line 205, which can be taken, poetically, to mean “The Heart of the Soul” (see
> Line 211).
> *8 - “life eternal” is a translation of kowsari [CO sar EE]. Its root is kowsar (or kawthar). Hayyim’s New
> Persian English Dictionary says that kowsar, an Arabic term, means: “a river in paradise”. But it is
> sometimes translated as: “river of life”, “water of life”, “fountain (or wellspring) of life”, “abundant life”,
> “immortal life”, or “eternal life”.
> *8 - “King”, “Friend”, and “Beloved” are terms used in Su poetry, and also in Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví,
> which can refer to either God or the Messenger of God. It is not always clear which one of these two are
> being referenced. This creates an ambiguity that suggests the mystical, mysterious relationship between
> God and His Messenger — the apparent merging, or con ation, of the two.
> *9 - The phrase “no how’s and why’s” means “no questions asked” or “unconditionally”.
> *12 - “Beautiful!” is a translation of khosh, which means “Good!” or “Nice!”
> ❦ - marks the end of what may be regarded as the opening section of the mathnavi, which is somewhat
> like an overture to a symphony. One characteristic feature of a mathnaví is a distinctive opening section.
> (See p. iii, 2nd paragraph.)
> 
> fi
> 
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> 
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                   K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 13             Since about Your Favors there is not a single doubt,
> pack for us provisions from Your Grace, as we set out.
> 14**           Make all The West now — The Place The Sun will rise.
> And give This Globe now — The Joy Your Wine provides.
> 15**            Light up the hearts with Light from The Lights of Núr,
> so they will see, from Your Face, The Lights of Túr!
> 16             And — Draw That Saber! — Your Terrible Sword!
> Then — Kill all these foes of Your Faith, O Lord!
> 17             Raise Your Fire Divine! — Let it blaze like hell!
> And nicely burn the bloodthirsty in del!
> 18                  All of them are bats of night, O Sun of Day!
> Raise Your Head and all this darkness burn away.
> 19             Strain out all these dregs of sorrow-tainted pain.
> Give Your Light to this dark night’s low candle ame.
> 
> _____________________
> *14 - In Islam there is a belief that in “the time of the end” (in “the last days”) the sun will rise in the
> West. (See Line 80 and *80.)
> *14 - “Globe” is a translation of sharb, which means “A drink”, which in English can mean “A glass”,
> which, here, in this Line implies a wine glass, or wine goblet. The spherical bowl of a wine glass is called
> “a globe”. And since the word “globe” implies “the whole world”, or the planet Earth, the word “Globe”
> in this Line has a double meaning. (NOTE: “Wine” is used symbolically throughout the poem to refer to
> the Word of God and its spiritually uplifting, intoxicating effect upon people’s souls.)
> *15 - “Núr” [rhymes with: POOR] means: “light”. Núr is the capital of Mázandárán Province in northern
> Iran, on the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. Bahá’u’lláh was born into nobility. His wealthy family had
> its roots in Núr and the surrounding area. As a young man, He often accompanied His father on horseback
> throughout the region, helping to care for the poor. After His father died, He continued this work Himself
> and became known as “Father of the Poor”. NOTE: Bahá’u’lláh’s name was Mirzá Husayn ‘Ali-yi Núrí,
> which translates as: “Nobleman Husayn Ali of Núr”. The title “Mirzá” signi ed royal lineage and
> distinguished nobility. (See p. iv of the Introduction and *105.)
> *15 - “Túr” [sounds like: TOUR] means: 1. veil; 2. tulle [pronounced: TOOL], which is a soft, gauze-like
> fabric, like the netting used for bridal veils; 3. Mount Sinai. Here, in Line 15, “The Lights of Túr” brings
> to mind the White Light that shone from the hand of Moses on Mount Sinai. (See *211.)
> NOTE: For various reasons, Bahá’í orthography is not rigidly adhered to in this translation. For example,
> there is no underdot below the letter “T” in the word “Túr”, although the proper diacritic (accent mark) is
> used above the “u” in “Túr”. (It is good to keep in mind that diacritics, punctuation, capitalization, and
> spelling are of no importance whatsoever to an audience listening to the poem while it is being recited.)
> 
> fi
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 20*                A world abides in You, just as You abide in the Soul,
> till it appears from Your Command “BE!”, and then it is so.
> 21             O Glory of the Soul! — In Remembrance of Your Face,
> I will keep on mentioning the ne points of Your Grace,
> 22**           so I will weigh the souls — assess the wisdom of —
> so I will see who buys The Pearls of Your Love.
> 23***          I will light a Fire — so I’ll burn, in the world,
> the many curtains of the “holies” in the world.
> 24*           The Houri of Inner Meaning — I will unmask.
> That Well-Hidden Light — I will uncover at last.
> 25             The Secret of the Mysteries of Everlasting Love
> I will explain, for You’ve come again, to the Soul to love.
> 
> _____________________
> *20 - “ ‘BE!’, and then it is so” represents the expression kun fa-yakún (“Be”, and it is), which appears
> several times in the Quran, including Quran 6:73 and 36:82. It refers to The Creative Power of the Word
> of God.
> *22 - “buys”, in this context, means: acquires, through effort or sacri ce.
> *22 - “Pearls” (dorr) implies words that are pure, beautiful, rare and priceless, i.e., words of wisdom. (See
> Line 198.) In Persian, the word “pearl” appears in many different expressions. (See *151.)
> *23 - “I will light a Fire” is not to be taken literally. This implies that He will set in motion a divine
> transformation that involves both loss and the potential for renewal.
> *23 - The word “curtains” suggests tabernacles, which are large tents or movable structures used as places
> for worship or other religious meetings. Tabernacles are also curtained boxes that are kept at or near altars
> in churches, cathedrals, etc. — boxes that hold items used in rituals. The word “curtains” may also imply
> “The Curtains of the Tabernacle,” a multi-paneled screen located at the entrance of The Holy of Holies.
> (The Holy of Holies is the inner court (sanctuary) of the temple that is believed to have been built by King
> Solomon on Temple Mount in Jerusalem, to serve as a place to keep The Ark of the Covenant (the box
> that contained The Tablets of The Ten Commandments revealed by Moses on Mount Sinai.) “Curtains”
> may also imply the curtains/screens used in confessional booths in some churches; the curtains that
> separate the women from the men in mosques; and other curtains, veils, cloth, drapes, screens, etc., that
> are used to cover, hide, divide, and/or separate people or things.
> *23 - “holies” refers to high-ranking religious leaders, often referred to by Bahá’u’lláh as “divines”. The
> word “holies” in quotation marks refers to those so-called “holies” who are holy in name only, whose
> corrupt behavior (whether in public or in private) belies their “holiness”.
> *24 - “Houri” [HOO ree] is an Arabic/Islamic term often translated as “a beautiful doe-eyed virgin in
> heaven (or in paradise)”. “The Houri of Inner Meaning” might suggest: The Beauty of Inner Meaning.
> (See Wikipedia for “Houri”.)
> 
> fi
> 
> fi
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 26*            Welcome, O Firebird! In Eloquent Words, explain!
> So no mediocre descriptions of life remain!
> 27             Do cleanse those hearts so full of jealousy.
> Do guide those minds without the sight to see,
> 28*            so, O Kind One, those not knowing of Your Covenant
> will then — from The Ancient Cup — become intelligent.
> 29             (And yet, O Friend of Ours, with Songs of Sacred Love,
> take us well beyond “intelligence” and lack thereof.)
> 30**           O Seraph of Bahá! — O King of the Soul!
> Give the dead The Key to Life to make them whole!
> 31                 The Primary Tree is of The Heart and Its Branches.
> Free it from weather, water, clay, and other chances,
> 32*                so — from “essence and accident” — it will be free,
> so — from its brilliance, then — suns enlightened will be!
> 
> _____________________
> *26 - “Firebird” refers to the sacred majestic aming bird — in Slavic, Russian, and Chinese folklore and
> the folklore of many other cultures of the world — that symbolizes The Messenger of God. Firebird
> comes, from time to time, in the spring, to bring God’s love and guidance. Firebird suffers greatly in this
> world, then dies or departs in a burst of ames, but returns again and again, in an eternal cycle of death
> and rebirth. Birds that are similar to Firebird include: Phoenix and Símorgh. (See *37, *72, *120,
> *195-197, 219, *219, *220, 241, and *280.)
> *28 - “The Ancient Cup” suggests Ancient Divine Wisdom and also, possibly, the amazing powers of the
> legendary “Cup of Jamshid” [jam SHEED], found extensively in Persian mythology and literature.
> Possessed for centuries by rulers of the ancient Persian Empire, it was said to be lled with an elixir of
> immortality and was used like a crystal ball in foreseeing the future. It was believed that, gazing into this
> chalice, one could observe the seven heavens of the universe, see the whole world re ected in it, and
> become aware of deep truths. (See Wikipedia.)
> *30 - “Seraph” [SERR uff] is the highest angel in heaven — who blows the trumpet on Resurrection Day
> (Judgment Day), which causes the dead to rise from their graves. In Islamic tradition, Seraph corresponds
> to Isra l [ess raw FEEL], who is mentioned in a hadith as being the archangel nearest to God. In Christian
> angelology, Seraph corresponds to archangel Raphael and belongs to the highest order of the ninefold
> celestial hierarchy, associated with light, ardor, and purity (source: Wikipedia).
> *30 - “Bahá” [bah HAW] means: “Glory”; “Light”; “Splendor”. “Bahá’u’lláh” [bah HAW ol LA] means:
> the “Glory of God”.
> *32 - “essence and accident” refers to the age-old debate (“substance and accident”) among philosophers
> about what is essential vs. what is nonessential for something to exist. In Islam, for example, there is the
> ongoing debate over whether the Hadith is essential — or nonessential — for the Faith of Islam to exist.
> 
> fi
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                  K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 33*                    This young tree of yours — plant in the soil of the heart.
> Then, from the bright lights and shadows, keep it apart.
> 34**                   And from all kinds of wayward winds protect it well.
> And free it from the fancies of the in del.
> 35*                    Its root — do make it rm in the soil of the soul.
> Its branches will pass beyond the sky, as they grow!
> 36*                This New Spring You bring anew is bursting with new blooms,
> so, from Your Resurrection, the dead spring from their tombs!
> 37*                The Sparkle of The Seas of Love is from The Sparkle of You!
> The Wisdom of Eternity’s Birds is from The Wisdom of You!
> 38**                   The Garment brought from Egypt . . . waft its fragrance here . . .
> The Burning Bush of Moses . . . manifest it here . . .
> 
> _____________________
> *33 - “bright lights” refers to the celebrities and illuminati (“idols”, “stars”, and “icons”) in society. And
> “shadows” refers to the fans who idolize and worship celebrities and closely follow them around, like
> their shadows. (For an interesting discussion of this, see Frank Lewis’s end note #16.) NOTE: Another,
> more interpretive, way of rendering this couplet might be: This tender sapling of yours — plant in the soil
> of the heart. / Then, from idols and their worshippers, do keep it apart.
> *34 - “wayward” implies: con icting, contrary, immoral, deviant, perverse, etc.
> *34 - “fancies” refers to idle fancies, vain imaginings, delusions, falsehoods, wrong ideas, etc.
> *35 - Lines 30-35 address a matter of key, or vital, importance in life, i.e., keeping your personal faith
> (your “Primary Tree”, i.e., your knowledge of God and your love of God) strong, healthy, and continually
> growing.
> *36 - “Resurrection” suggests: “Reappearance” or “Rising up again”. And it calls to mind the trumpet
> blast on Resurrection Day (See *30), announcing the arrival of The Messenger of God (His Return),
> which causes people to come out of their coma-like state of lethargy (i .e., be spiritually uplifted and
> revived).
> *37 - “Eternity’s Birds” refers to God’s Messengers, Who are symbolized by Phoenix, Firebird, Simorgh,
> and other majestic birds in folklore around the world. (See *26.)
> *38 - “The Garment (of Joseph)” — For many years, Jacob, father of Joseph, grieved over his long-lost
> son, fearing that he would never see him again. From crying rivers of tears, Jacob became blind. When a
> garment of Joseph’s was delivered to Jacob from Egypt and placed on the old man’s face, he instantly
> recognized the scent of his beloved son, and his sight was miraculously restored. See The Story of Joseph
> in The Quran, Chapter 12. (See also *53.)
> *38 - For an interesting discussion about “The Burning Bush of Moses”, see Frank Lewis’s end note #18.
> 
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                        K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 39*                   O Beloved! — From Your Face, The Spring has come!
> And, from This Spring, unnumbered Truths have come!
> 40                    Every ower of Him — a book of His Story!
> Every heart of Him — a fount of His Glory!
> 41*                   This Spring won’t be followed by Fall, ever!
> All its owers will circle Him forever!
> 42*                   This kind of spring the soul can’t understand.
> This kind of spring harrows the soul of man.
> 43                    Those Springs bring the strong desire for lovely mates.
> And These Springs bring The Love of God that He creates.
> 44                    Those Springs end, because of their mortality.
> And These Springs would be titled “Eternity”!
> 
> _____________________
> *39 - In Persian poetry, the term “Beloved” can refer to God or to the Messenger of God. (See*8.)
> *41 - “All its owers will circle Him forever!” evokes the image of throngs of Muslim pilgrims
> circumambulating the Kaaba during a pilgrimage to Mecca . . . or the stars revolving around the black
> center of the galaxy . . . or the millions of people on planet earth, revolving around the sun . . .
> *42 - A “harrow” is a farming instrument, similar to a wide rake, that is drawn over plowed land in order
> to 1) uproot and destroy weeds, 2) cover the sown seeds, and 3) break apart the clods and level the land.
> As a verb, “harrow” can mean: to af ict, agitate, distress, disturb, torment, and/or vex. We read in the
> Bible (2 Samuel 12:31 and 1 Chronicles 20:3) that harrows were sometimes used to physically torture
> people. In Yúsuf ‘Ali’s translation of the Quran [yoo SUFF, or “Joseph”], in the famous Sword Verse
> (Quran 9:5), “harrows” (kanad) suggests “beleaguers”, which means: “ tortures” or “torments”. But in
> Shakespeare’s play Hamlet (Act 1, scene 5, lines 13-20), “harrow” is used in connection with fear:
> 
> But that I am forbid to tell the secrets of my prison house, I could a tale unfold
> whose lightest word would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, make
> thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, thy knotted and combined locks
> to part, and each particular hair to stand on end like quills upon the fretful porcupine.
> 
> And in Act 1, scene 1, line 44, Horatio, after having seen the apparition of a ghost, says: “It harrows me
> with fear and wonder.”
> 
> fl
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 45*           That Spring rises in the world from seasons taking place,
> and This Spring from the Light of His Heart-Capturing Face!
> 46*           That Spring brings lots of tulips coming out,
> and This Spring has a lot of groaning now!
> 47*           This Eternal Spring from The King’s Great Light
> has raised His Tent to Heaven’s Greatest Height!
> 48            All of the world’s people have entered His Tent!
> (If you have eyes to see, behold This Event!)
> 49            Our King! — When He ings the veil away from His Face,
> This Spring will pitch His Tent up over the stars in space!
> 50**          Our Beloved! — When she ings away the niqab,
> This Spring will get all red up — without the hijab!
> 
> _____________________
> *45 - From Frank Lewis’s end note #22: “Literally, this spring comes from the light of the face of the
> heart-stealer, an epithet of the typical beloved, in Persian poetry, who carries…the hearts away.”
> *46 - In the expression “and This Spring has a lot of groaning now”, the Persian word for “groaning”
> (nálehá) means: “(a lot of) groaning/complaining/lamenting”. This section of the poem (Lines 46-48)
> suggests a lot of groaning taking place from the birth of a new religion — from This Spring — which has
> gathered all of the world’s different people together in one tent, guratively speaking. Not everyone is
> happy with this new arrangement — this “New World Order”. It’s pretty hot and crowded in the tent.
> Close quarters. And not everyone is speaking the same language (yet). A lot of adjustments need to be
> made — sacri ces and effort. Hence, a lot of groaning and complaining.
> *47 - “Heaven’s greatest Height” is a translation of arsh-e eláh (literally, “Throne of God”). In art and
> literature, the Throne of God has been portrayed as being at the highest point (the zenith) of heaven. In
> other words, “Heaven’s Greatest Height”.
> *50 - “niqab” [nee COB]: an opaque face mask, usually black (with a horizontal opening or perforation to
> assist in seeing and breathing), worn in public by some Muslim women. These masks are traditionally
> worn with or as part of a full-length opaque black body-covering garment, such as a burqa.
> *50 - “hijab” [hee JOB]: a veil made of light-weight fabric, in varying sizes and colors, worn in public by
> some Muslim women as a type of head scarf. A hijab may leave all or part of the face exposed. It usually
> hides the hair and ears, and may cover the shoulders and, to some extent, below the shoulders. In Iran, if it
> is a full-length, body-covering veil, it is called a chador [chuh DOOR]. (The chador is also the black tent
> used by the nomadic tribespeople (the Bakhtiari) of Iran. Prior to the 1979 regime change in Iran, the
> nomadic women did not wear veils, but brightly colored dresses, and their faces were exposed.)
> NOTE: In September 2022, in Iran — in the Women, Life, Freedom movement — large mobs gathered in
> the streets to protest the Islamic regime’s strict rules requiring women to wear veils in public. In nightly
> demonstrations, women were seen dramatically tearing off their chadors (long black body-covering veils)
> and tossing them into bon res.
> 
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                 K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 51*           We will be within This Spring, then, looking at her face.
> We will not be in a garden, searching for her face.
> 52*           We will, in His Praise, be free from any other one.
> We will, in this world, become enlightened from His Sun.
> 53*            If a Breeze from This Beautiful Spring comes to you,
> hundreds of Josephs you will see come into view.
> 54*            If a Breeze comes to you from This Fragrance-Garden,
> spiritual Josephs you will see in the world then —
> 55             you’ll see their bodies become like spirits, and these
> will achieve — each moment — manifold victories!
> 
> _____________________
> *51 - The second line of this couplet seems to allude to the lovesick Majnún [maj NOON] in search of his
> beloved Laylá (Leylí in Persian), an allegorical tale (that is also mentioned in Bahá’u’lláh’s Four Valleys)
> that portrays the soul’s deep yearning and constant searching for The Beloved. The popular story of the
> passionate, unrequited love of Majnún for Laylá, Arabic in origin, is portrayed in a narrative poem written
> in 1188 by the Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi. Prior to Nizami’s work, the legend of these two lovers was
> told as a series of anecdotes. Nizami collected these anecdotes and organized them into one de nitive
> story. Once Nizami’s work became popular, the number and variety of anecdotes increased quite a bit,
> with many mystics inventing stories about Majnún to illustrate mystical concepts such as sel essness,
> sacri ce, the madness of lovesickness, etc. Nizami’s famous 9,200 lines mathnavi: “Laylá and Majnún”
> has been translated into many languages. Lord Byron referred to it as the “Romeo and Juliet of the East”.
> (Source for this footnote: Wikipedia)
> *52 - “His Praise” could be: “His Remembrance”, “His Mention”, or “His Prayers”, because the Persian
> word zekrash could be translated into any one of these terms.
> *53 - The term “Josephs,” in common everyday Persian conversation, refers to people who are physically
> very beautiful. Joseph was both physically and spiritually very beautiful — he was radiantly handsome as
> well as virtuous, upright, and noble. He was a godlike gure, with godlike qualities, and his importance in
> Islam should never be dismissed or underestimated: In Islam, Joseph is regarded as a Prophet, and in the
> Quran, the only Chapter that is devoted entirely to one person is Súrah 12 (Chapter 12), which tells The
> Story of Joseph. For other references to Joseph in the poem, see Line 38, *38, Line 54, Line 235, *235,
> Line 240, *240, and Line 317.
> *54 - In the Persian culture, a “Fragrance-Garden”, bústán [boo STAAN], is a garden that is artfully
> designed to display an abundance of owers that, when in bloom, perfume the air with a high
> concentration of sweet-smelling fragrances. (See also *136.)
> 
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                   K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 56            Each moment, This Spring of Holiness, The Well-Beloved,
> has a hundred Utterances — but who are the trusted?
> 57*           This Utterance is not at all like human tongues.
> When will they ever grasp this, these nonhuman ones?
> 58            This Utterance is not from words and voice and breath.
> This Utterance is Life Itself — and has no death.
> 59*           Lovers! — Thousands of them you’ll see in This Spring,
> their lives — at every moment — sacri cing!
> 60*                   This Spring is The Glory of Spirit Sublime!
> This Spring is The Holiness of the Divine!
> 61*           If a Breeze wafts unto you from This Sheba, you will see
> your mortal soul drinking from The Cup of Eternity.
> 62*           If a Breeze comes unto you from The Abode of The Friend,
> devote your life to Him, as this life, too, is from The Friend.
> 
> _____________________
> *57 - “these nonhuman ones” (ín nákasán), literally “these nonhumans”, refers to people who are not
> truly human, who are totally lacking in moral character (in virtues such as kindness, humility,
> respectfulness, courtesy, honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, generosity, etc.) — those who, as Frank Lewis
> says in the end notes to his provisional translation, fail “…to observe the standards expected of a just and
> noble human being”. (See also Line 76.)
> *59 - “Lovers!” brings to mind one of Táhirih’s poems, which begins with: “Lovers! Creation veils His
> face no more! Lovers, look! He himself is visible!” And the word “Lovers!” also appears in the rst line
> of one of Rumi’s famous poems (see Táhirih: A Portrait in Poetry, p. 127, Kalimat Press, 2005).
> Showcasing another poet’s work by copying or imitating the words or style of that poet, which is called
> tazmín [taz MEEN] and esteqbál [ESS tek BALL], is a common feature in classical Persian/Su poetry —
> a conventional literary device that honors and pays tribute to the ne work of other poets. (See *297.) For
> the meaning of “Lovers” see *181.
> *60 - “This Spring”, in this couplet, does not seem to correspond with the de nition of “Spring” as a time
> or a season, but rather with the de nition of “Spring” as a wellspring or a fountain or fount — as a source
> of life-giving waters, or, in other words, God’s Messenger, The Well-Beloved. (See Line 56.)
> *61 - The word “Sheba” [SHEE buh], for many Westerners, may bring to mind the Queen of Sheba (King
> Solomon’s Beloved). In Persian, however, the term “Sheba” does not refer to the Queen. Sheba (sabá) is
> the name of the kingdom in Arabia, where she lived and ruled. Sheba is her home, her abode. The name of
> the Queen was “Belghees”, according to the Quran. (Her name is not mentioned in the Bible.) And so, in
> this Line, the foremost meaning of “Sheba” is “Kingdom”, “Realm”, “Home”, or “Abode”. (See also
> Lines 217 and 310, and their footnotes.)
> *62 - The word “Friend” (like the word “King” and the word “Beloved”) in Su poetry and in this poem
> can refer to God and/or the Messenger of God. (See *8.)
> 
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 63*           The Tulip of Oneness in This Spring! — See Him there!
> The Hyacinth of Singleness! — See The Friend’s Hair!
> 64*            The Buds of Wisdom! — Look to the side and see:
> The whole crowd’s searching for Him eagerly!
> 65             Its cypress trees — His Stature and His Grace.
> Its shoots of grass — the whiskers on His Face.
> 66*            Its nightingales — from Reunion with Him —
> Its turtle doves — from The Beauty of Him —
> 67*                they’re all drunk now, from The Friend, The Adored —
> from His Words to them, “Am I not your Lord?”
> 68*            If this gets out — This Nightingale’s Melody —
> people’s souls will be cleansed of jealousy!
> 69             This Utterance caused the Ocean of Meaning to surge!
> The Ship of Existence rocked from This Generous Word!
> 
> _____________________
> *63 - The tulip is a symbol of perfect love. The hyacinth has curled petals that look like locks of hair. In
> Persian poetry, the word for “hyacinth” (som-bol) may refer to: A curl or ringlet (of hair).
> *64 - The phrase “Look to the side” represents a Persian idiom that means: “Look out of the corner of
> your eye.”
> *66 - The contents of Lines 66 and 67 have been combined and rearranged in this translation for clarity,
> so that some of the words in Line 66 in the original work, are in Line 67 in translation — and some of the
> words in Line 67 in the original work, are found in Line 66 in translation.
> *67 - “Am I not your Lord?” are the words that are spoken, in some fashion, by every Messenger of God
> on His “First Day,” when He declares His Divine Station (and His Cause, or Mission) quietly, to a small
> number of people (sometimes just one person). He asks if they recognize Him as their Lord (as God’s
> New Messenger), and they reply, in effect, “Yes, we do.” This exchange renews and reaf rms God’s
> Ancient Covenant with Man, which is that God has promised Man that He will never leave him alone, but
> will continually, from time to time, send Divine Guidance through His Chosen Messengers — and Man
> has agreed to recognize God’s Messengers when they appear and to follow their laws and teachings. That
> Covenant, which was made on the “Day of Alast” [rhymes with: at LAST] — literally: “Day of the First”
> or “First Day” — was made between God and the children (the descendants) of Adam, i.e., between God
> and all mankind (Quran 7:172). For the “Day of Alast,” see Lines 148, 149, 218, and their footnotes.
> *68 - “If this gets out” means: “If news of this becomes widely known”. And the word “this” refers to
> “This Nightingale’s Melody” in Line 68, which refers to the words in Line 67: “Am I not your Lord?”
> 
> fi
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                             K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 70*                    Every anemone that’s blooming from This Spring will be
> coming out with hundreds of Truths from The Friend’s Mystery . . .
> 71**             The Scent of Musk keeps coming from The Beloved’s Hair . . .
> The Hand of His Grace confers on you this gift so fair . . .
> 72*              His Hair — like Salamander that you see a re —
> circles round The Glowing Face of The Heart’s Desire.
> 73*              The Nightingale of Holiness is moaning within.
> Remoteness from the friends is burning marrow and skin.
> 74               If, from the pain of separation, He draws a sigh,
> it will in ame the hearts of The Favored Ones on High.
> 75*              Those who are not The Favored don’t partake of this sigh.
> The favor of this grace — O Habib! — do not deny!
> 
> _____________________
> *70 - The word “anemone” [uh NEMM uh NEE] means “daughter of the wind”, and it refers to a type of
> brightly colored wild ower of the buttercup family that blooms in early spring throughout the world, both
> in the wild and in formal gardens. Its petals seem to dance in the wind. The anemone is also called
> “wind ower”; “thimbleweed”; and “smell fox” — from the musky smell of its leaves. (See also *123.)
> *71 - “Musk” is the strong-smelling resinous uid that is stored in the navel-bag on the underbelly of the
> male musk deer. The powerful, heavy scent of musk attracts the female deer in mating season. Musk was
> highly valued in perfumery until the late 1800’s. Today the various species of musk deer are dwindling in
> numbers due to over-poaching for their valuable musk (at times, musk is worth more than gold) and from
> habitat loss. Today, synthetic musk is used almost exclusively. (See also Line 76, Line 81, *81, and Lines
> 82, 126, 137, and 216.)
> *71 - “The Beloved’s Hair” implies: “His Revelation”. (See Lines 126, 195-197, 258, and *195/196/197.)
> *72 - “Salamander” is a term used to describe a rapidly spinning vortex of ame that you see, sometimes,
> in a hotly burning re. It was called a “salamander”, because it reminded people of the way a hibernating
> salamander rushes out of a log, when the log is added to the re. Flaming re around His head (like a
> whirling salamander), may remind us of classical Persian miniature paintings in which The Prophet is
> portrayed with what appear to be ames around His head (and sometimes around His whole body). This
> ery, halo-like aureole [OR ee YOLE] depicts the aura and glow of holiness that emanates from and
> surrounds The Messenger of God. (See also *195/196/197.) NOTE: The term “Salamander” may have a
> double meaning — it may also refer to “Firebird”. (See *26.)
> *73 - “marrow and skin” means: “both inside and outside”. (See *131.)
> *75 - “Habib” [hab EEB] is a masculine name that means “Beloved” or “Friend”. The term “O Habib” is
> used in Persian literature, sometimes, when one is addressing God, as is the case here. (See also *8, Line
> 315, and *315.)
> 
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 76*               Diffuse the Musk Divine from Your Perfume well,
> so these nonhuman ones will catch the smell . . .
> 77             This Spring is Eternal — and not at all
> the Spring that is always followed by Fall.
> 78             From This Spring of Holiness, The Spirit appears,
> and from its atmosphere, The Light of Noah appears.
> 79*           He seats The People of the Ark aboard the ship,
> then gives to everyone a vast array of gifts!
> 80*           O Beauty of God! Come out from the mask,
> so The Sun will rise in The West at last!
> 81**           Unlock The Science of Perfumery!
> Unlock The Store of Hidden Mystery!
> 82             So — from Your Musk — the lifeless come alive!
> So — from Your Wine — the languishing revive!
> 
> _____________________
> *76 - For “Musk” see *71. And for “these nonhuman ones” see *57.
> *79 - See Frank Lewis’s end note #39 for his comments on “The People of the Ark” and Noah’s Ark.
> *80 - One Islamic hadith says: The Hour will not be established till the sun rises from the West; and when
> it rises (from the West) and the people see it, they will all believe (from ‘Abú Húrayrá, Amíyáh al-Tafsír).
> An insightful explanation of this concept, given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, can be found in Shoghi Effendi’s God
> Passes By, page 253: From the beginning of time until the present day, the light of Divine Revelation hath
> risen in the East and shed its radiance upon the West. The illumination thus shed…acquired, in the West,
> an extraordinary brilliancy. Consider the Faith proclaimed by Jesus. Though it rst appeared in the East,
> yet not until its light had been shed upon the West did the full measure of its potentialities become
> manifest… (See the rest of this quote and also Line 14.)
> *81 - “Perfumery” is used here as the translation of the word “ladani” [LAD on ee]. What is meant by
> “the Science of Ladani”? This translator was told (by another translator) that “ladani” means: pertaining
> to divine or inspired knowledge “which came into you without any effort on your part” and is perhaps
> related to “respiration.” So this translator wonders if “ladani” is related to “ladan”, which, according to
> Hayyim’s New Persian English Dictionary, is the Persian word for labdanum [LAB duh numm], a gum
> resin obtained from two species of Southern European rock rose (cistus). Labdanum’s heavy, intoxicating
> scent resembles that of ambergris (see *218). Labdanum’s use in perfumery and medicine was developed
> from the science of aromatics (olfaction), dating back to ancient Egypt. Incense. Fragrances and scents.
> Inhaling. Inner knowledge that enters into you effortlessly, related to breathing . . .
> (See also Lines: 38, 54, 71, 76, 82, 103, 126, 136, 137, 214-218, and 258.)
> *81 - “Store”, here, means: “storehouse” or “repository” and implies a wine vault. (See Line 82.)
> 
> fi
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                       K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 83*                   O Kind One! This Abased One — in The Land of Unity —
> clothe with The Robe of Glory from Your Generosity!
> 84                    Dress This Mortal in The Vesture of Eternity,
> make Him taste The Honey-sweet Wealth of Utter Poverty,
> 85                    so, bursting through The Veil of Mysteries,
> tearing The Mask off Possibilities,
> 86**                  sel ess and all lit up — He will emerge and burn
> — like a star — in The Lamp-Glass of “They who return…”
> 
> _____________________
> *83 - “The Land of Unity” refers to Turkey, where Bahá’u’lláh wrote this poem, under house arrest, in the
> capital city of Constantinople (Istanbul). For centuries, Turkey (Constantinople, in particular) had been a
> nexus of trade routes that brought merchants together from many different countries and continents, and
> for this reason Turkey was called “The Land of Unity”.
> *86 - “— like a star — in The Lamp-Glass” alludes to what is considered to be the most beautiful
> metaphor in the Quran (24:35), called “The Verse of Light”:
> 
> God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The Parable of His Light is like a niche within which
> there is a Lamp, the Lamp within Glass, [within] the Glass as if it were a pearly (white) star, lit from
> [the oil of] a Blessed olive tree, neither of the east, nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even
> if untouched by re. Light upon Light. God guides to His Light whom He wills. And God presents
> Parables for the people, and God is knowing of all things.
> 
> *86 - “They who return…” refers to the company of close family members and early believers who, out
> of their love for Bahá’u’lláh, surrounded and protected Him at all times — as much as possible, and as
> best they could — just as the glass chimney (the lamp-glass) of an old-fashioned oil lamp surrounds and
> protects the ame of the wick, as it burns. But why are they referred to as “They who return…”? This is
> because, each time a Messenger of God comes, the early disciples and believers who are closest to Him
> bear a striking resemblance to the early believers and closest companions of the previous Messenger, in
> terms of their personality traits, their spiritual qualities, and their behavioral characteristics. And so, it
> seems as if the early believers of the previous Messenger have returned. The phrase “They who return…”
> comes from the Writings of The Báb. (See A Summary of The Persian Bayán, Wahid 1, Chapter 1, by
> Edward Granville Browne. See also Line 169.)
> 
> fl
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 87*           When This Thorn Bush from Your Garden comes into bloom,
> You’ll propagate hundreds of gardens from it soon!
> 88             Enroll each garden in a registry.
> Then teach each leaf about God’s Mystery,
> 89             so The Brightness of Your Face becomes so clear,
> that Your Light lls earth and heaven, far and near.
> 90                   Blow The Wind of Your Mercy, O Generous One!
> Tear the veils of negligence off this erring one!
> 91*                  Place in The Shelter of Your Lote-Tree, by and by,
> the spirits of the pure in heart, O King on High!
> 
> _____________________
> *87 - “This Thorn Bush” seems to refer to Bahá’u’lláh. (Literally translated: “This Thorn”) There are
> large areas of desert plains in the Middle Eastern Region which abound in scraggly thorn bushes. Some of
> these grow to be rather large, and look more like trees than bushes. Thorn bushes are highly valued by the
> inhabitants of those regions and are used for many things, among which is: rewood. The branches of the
> thorn bush burn steadily, for long hours, without dying out. Some sources claim that the “Burning Bush”
> of Moses was a thorn bush. And we might also note that some species of thorn bushes ower, in season,
> and become very beautiful (see photos online). Whether Bahá’u’lláh likens Himself to a thorn or a thorn
> bush is beside the point — when He “…comes into bloom…” (Line 87) and becomes a shining Light
> among all men, glowing “…like a star…” (Line 86), His Light will spread throughout the world (Lines 88
> and 89).
> *91 - “Lote-Tree” refers to the Messenger of God. And it alludes to “Sadratu’l-Muntahá”, which means:
> “the tree beyond which there is no passing” — translated also as: “the Lote-Tree of The Utmost Farthest
> Boundary”. This is because, in ancient times, in parts of the Middle Eastern Region, the outer limit of a
> city-state (or kingdom) was marked by a large lote tree growing there, next to the road that led out of the
> city. Reaching the sheltering shade of a lote tree was as far as people could go before leaving their city’s
> limits. Similarly, reaching the sheltering shade of the Messenger of God is as far as we humans can go
> before leaving this earthly state of existence, on the road we take to know God, draw near to Him, and
> attain His presence. (See Lines 110, 166, 192, 193, 270, and their footnotes, and also Quran 53:14
> (islamawakened.com). See also Wikipedia for “Lote tree” and photos of Lote trees online.)
> 
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                             K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 92***         From The Garden of Spirit, open a gate!
> For God’s sake! Don’t make a wall of this gate! —
> 93            so I’ll come and explain, with evidence,
> The Mystery of Your Benevolence!
> 94            He said: “O God! O God! — No, O Good Man!
> Don’t explain this to the ignorant man!
> 95*           God, no! — O Tongue of God’s Mystery! — Be wise.
> Softly, nicely talk — and so, form loving ties,
> 96*           for if You take them gently by the hand,
> they won’t fear ‘this and that’, do understand.”
> 
> _____________________
> *92 - “Garden” implies “Ridvan” or “Heavenly Paradise”. (For “Ridvan”, see *122.)
> *92 - “Spirit” (ma’nee) could also be “True (or Inner) Meaning”.
> *92 - “For God’s sake…!” could also be: “For the love of God!” or “For the sake of God!”
> *95 - “God’s Mystery” (“The Mystery of God”) suggests Bahá’u’lláh. See Introduction, p. iv, in the last
> paragraph: His vision, when He was in The Black Pit of Tehran, of The Maiden of Heaven calling Him
> “The Mystery of God”.
> *96 - The expression “this and that” in this couplet seems to refer to people’s need to compare things,
> especially when confronted with something new and different vs. something familiar from the past. They
> may be fearful of the new thing, or what may happen because of the new thing’s presence in their lives. It
> may cause them, and their lives, to change. And change is not easy for many people. This new coach vs.
> that old coach. This year’s new teacher vs. that teacher we had last year. This New Messenger of God
> compared to That One Who came long ago. In several places in the poem, Bahá’u’lláh uses, or implies,
> the terms “this” and “that” in tandem, to make comparisons and point out distinctions. Some examples
> are: This Spring and That Spring (Lines 45-46); This Khez and That Khez (Lines 111-114); This Staff and
> That Staff (Lines 199-204); This Brilliance and That Brilliance (Line 212); This Great One (implied) and
> That Great One (Lines 237-239); and This Pipe and That Pipe (Lines 291-292).
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                              K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 97             Open up your spirit’s wings and, like a bird, homing be!
> Near Him, in His Atmosphere — a wanderer, roaming be!
> 98            Nearness to God is with the soul — and not with steps in time.
> When your soul deeply yearns for Him, you’ll step outside of time!
> 99*            Then, instantly! — you’ll y through space with ease!
> (Not hard — when you’re of those down on their knees.)
> 100            In saying this, I’m making a point to be fair,
> so — from the Water of Life — you may take your share,
> 101*           so — of Eternity’s Garden — you’ll become aware,
> so — to The Land of His Presence — you’ll nd a way there,
> 102**          so the meaning of “teleportation” you will know,
> so — as spirit — ying up into His Realm you’ll go!
> 
> _____________________
> *99 - “when you’re of those down on their knees” implies: “when you are one of those who are sincerely
> faithful — who humble themselves before God and get down on their knees and prostrate themselves in
> prayer”. (A little poetic creativity was used in this Line, to serve the rhyme.)
> *101 - “Garden” implies “Ridvan” (The Garden of Ridvan). See *122.
> *102 - “teleportation” indicates that Bahá’u’lláh is speaking to a Su . In the 19th Century, among Su
> fraternal orders there was a belief in what we call, today, “teleportation” (tey yul-arz). Su s believed in
> the instantaneous transfer of the human body from one location to another in the physical world. (Today,
> we know that “teleporting” occurs only in science ction, movies, videos, etc.) Bahá’u’lláh tells the Su
> that physical teleportation of the body cannot happen, but says that the soul can y swiftly — as spirit —
> in the spiritual realm of existence. Bahá’u’lláh has much more to say about “The True Meaning of
> Teleportation” in Lines 128-135, and He alludes to it in a few other Lines. For an informative discussion
> of tey yul-arz, see endnote #47 of Frank Lewis’s provisional translation of The Blessed Mathnaví on
> bahai-library.com.
> *102 - “ ying up into His Realm” to attain “His Presence” (see Line 101) suggests an ascent to Heaven,
> to be in the presence of God. This alludes to the story of Prophet Muhammad’s Divine Ascent (Mi’raj) —
> i.e., His rise up into The Seventh Heaven (the highest region or sphere of heaven), where, tradition says,
> He attained the presence of God and conversed with Him. This is brie y mentioned in the Quran (17:1)
> but it mainly comes from the Hadith. Attaining the presence of God is discussed in the Kitáb-i-Íqán and
> The Seven Valleys, and is alluded to in Lines 190, 205, 260-264, 268, 275-278, 284-288, and 294-297.
> “Flying up” or “ascending” to the Realm or Sphere of God is mentioned or alluded to, in Lines 97-99,
> 128-135, 256, 268, and 284-286 and hinted at, in a few other Lines. (For “Mi’raj” see *256 and *268.)
> 
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                             K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 103            Since, right now, you’re caught in the trap of clay,
> how can you smell the heart’s garden that way?
> 104           Remove those clothes that bind and constrict you.
> Then cleanse your soul of things that restrict you.
> 105*           Let the darkness of your heart be illumined from His Sun,
> so in the land of souls, a noble man you will become.
> 106**         As the darkness leaves, His Light is dawning in the sky.
> On your heart, the bright light is The Light of His Sinai.
> 107            When your night is gone, and morning’s light is clear,
> and The Breeze of The Spirit’s Glory blows near,
> 108*           then — without this darkness and this ego of devastation —
> you will drink The Water of Life from God’s Manifestation!
> 
> _____________________
> *105 - “a noble man” is the translation of the Arabic/Persian term amir (emir), which means “prince”,
> “ruler”, “nobleman”, “commander”, or “chief/chieftain”. The word amir comes from the Arabic root amr,
> which is associated with the concept of “command” or “authority”. Centuries ago, amr was adopted into
> the Persian language and used for royal princes, as in the term “amirzadeh” and the title “mirza”. “Mirza”
> came about from combining the Arabic word amir (monarch, ruler, commander-in-chief) with the Persian
> word zadeh (begotten of, son of, descendant of). Thus, mirza originally meant “son of a lord”, “child of a
> nobleman”, or “prince”. (See *15.) NOTE: In today’s world, Amir is a popular masculine name which
> carries connotations of moral strength, good character, responsible leadership, honor, and respect — the
> qualities of “a noble man”.
> *106 - The word “Light” (singular, plural, or implied) appears nearly 60 times in the poem, making
> “Light” a major theme, beginning in Line 1 with: “The world and all therein / can never beget / a Light
> like You!”
> *106 - The word “Sinai” brings to mind Moses and Mount Sinai. (See Exodus 24:17 and 34:29-35.) For
> more about Moses, see *201. (For “His Sinai” see Line 211.)
> *108 - “this ego of devastation” could also be: “this ego of destruction”.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 109*           If — from the darkness of your ego — you become free,
> you’ll be drinking The Wine of Life quite effortlessly!
> 110**          Then come in the shadow of The Khez of the Soul,
> so you’ll be liberated from this dark abode.
> 
> 111*           That Khez took one drink and gave himself immortal life.
> And This Khez is giving out hundreds of Founts of Life!
> 112            (The Water of Life — He gives away — to everyone.
> His Own Life — He’s given to The King, The Single One.)
> 113            That Khez struggled for months to get to one Fount.
> From This Khez — all at once came hundreds of Founts!
> 114            That Khez, back then, went running after a Fountain.
> And This Khez has Fountains running all around Him!
> 
> _____________________
> *109 - Both “Wine of Life” (Line 109) and “Water of Life” (Line 108) are used to refer to the Word of
> God spoken by the Messenger of God.
> *110 - “The Khez of the Soul” refers to Bahá’u’lláh. [“Khez”, in this translation, is pronounced: KHEZZ,
> the kh sound a blend of ‘k’ and ‘h’, similar to the sound of “ch” in the Scottish pronunciation of “Loch
> Ness”. See also *111.]
> *110 - Coming into “the shadow of The Khez of the Soul”, i.e., “the shadow of The Messenger of God,
> Bahá’u’lláh”, implies, among other things, coming under the enlightening in uence of Him. The Persian
> word for “shadow” (zell) can also mean “shelter”, “shade”, “umbra”, or “penumbra”. An ancient title
> given to Persian kings was “Zell’u’lláh” (“The Shadow of God”). See also Lines 91, 131, 133, 192, 193,
> and 270 and their footnotes.
> *111 - “That Khez” (in contrast to “The Khez of the Soul” in Line 110) refers to a pre-Islamic prophet
> gure, who is still very much loved and venerated by Muslims and Druze. This ancient divinely illumined
> soul is not named in the Quran, but alluded to, in 18:65-82. NOTE: His name is usually spelled “Khezr”,
> “Khizr”, or “Khidr” (the translator has modi ed the spelling to make it easier for readers to pronounce).
> Khez is also known as “The Green One” and is sometimes identi ed with the prophet Elijah. (See
> Wikipedia.) In one of the many colorful myths about Khez, he makes a long, arduous journey to the
> Arctic Region (the “Land of Darkness”) to nd and drink the “Water of Life” from a spring (a fountain)
> believed to be located there, in order to escape death and live forever (attain immortal life). According to
> online sources, “Khezr” means: “rising”, “springing up”. NOTE: Khez is referred to in Lines 111-114,
> and Khez is directly addressed in Lines 115-116 and 119-120.
> 
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> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 115*           O Glory of the Soul! — Come back from That Dark Place,
> so that a hundred thousand meanings you will chase!
> 116***         Hunting onagers — let that be for Gúr!
> Hunt for meanings now — on The Plains of Túr!
> 117**                  You captured the lovers’ souls on a plain:
> now all those lives have left this earthly plane . . .
> 118                    There’s no more chance to tell the nightingale
> about the rose, O King behind the veil . . .
> 119            Fly up a falcon — O My Beauty! — from the hand,
> so that it comes back with The Meaning of That Land!
> 120*           This time, hunt The Símorgh of Inner Mystery.
> Open up a treasure — you! — with the keyword “BE”!
> 
> _____________________
> *115 - For “That Dark Place” see *111.
> *116 - “onagers” [ON uh gurz]: are a species of wild asses native to Persia, noted for their superior
> running speed (40-43 mph). They are on the Endangered Species List — currently only 630 are left in the
> world.
> *116 - “Gúr” refers to the 5th Century Persian King: Bahrám-i Gúr V [bah ROMM e GOOR], who was
> famous for hunting onagers. (A decorative metal plate with a Bahrám-i Gúr hunting scene is on display at
> The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.) See Wikipedia for more information about King
> Gúr.
> *116 - “Túr” [sounds like: TOUR] here, means: “Sinai”, i.e., the region of Sinai, or the Sinai Peninsula,
> which includes the Plains of Sinai. (See *15 and also Line 209.)
> *117 - “on a plain” suggests the Plain of Bedasht (which is located east of Tehran), where the Conference
> of Badasht (“Badasht” is the Romanized spelling of Bedasht) took place in summer of 1848. This secretly
> held Conference, organized by Bahá’u’lláh, was attended by Bábís who wanted to address their concerns
> regarding The Báb, who was being held in a remote prison in the northwest region of Iran. In about two
> years, The Báb was executed by a ring squad, and all the Conference attendees, except Bahá’u’lláh, lost
> their lives. (Over 20,000 Bábís were ruthlessly killed within a short period of time.) The Conference of
> Badasht is famous for “The Incident” — Táhirih, the only woman attendee, appeared at one point in the
> Conference without a veil covering her face, causing chaos and consternation. One man was so upset, he
> slit his throat. Bahá’u’lláh wisely explained the signi cance of the event, restoring calm to the group. For
> a more detailed account of the Conference of Badasht, see God Passes By, by Shoghi Effendi. (NOTE:
> The word “dasht” means: “plain”; “desert”; “ eld”; and “campaign”.)
> *117 - For the meaning of “lovers” see *181.
> *120 - “Símorgh” [SEE morg] is the mythical bird in Persian folklore which is, like Phoenix and Firebird,
> a symbol of The Messenger of God. (See *72.) See Wikipedia for a marvelous description of Símorgh.
> (The translator wishes there were more space in these footnotes for descriptions of all these birds!)
> 
> fi
> 
> fi
> 
> fi
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                              K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 121            That which you have promised! — Now do make it happen!
> O! — From Your Light! — Illumine this earth and heaven!
> 122*           From Your Ridván, make this world so lush and nice,
> that it becomes The Envy of Paradise!
> 123**           From Your Teachings, many anemones will unfold
> in the spacious meadow of This Spring eld of the Soul.
> 124             Then tell each blossom Nightingale’s Secret, as You must,
> but Your Heart’s Finest Wine share only with those You trust.
> 125             (Since strangers are here, one must guard the heart.
> Here, it’s hard to tell friend and foe apart.)
> 126*               O Gentle Breeze of the Morning, come bring unto us,
> from The Locks of The Friend, That Spiritual Musk . . .
> 127*               O Cloud of Spiritual Favors, rain upon the world,
> so this oyster will, again, bring forth a Pearl . . .
> 
> _____________________
> *122 - “Ridván” [REZZ von] is the name of the beautiful formal garden that belonged to a wealthy citizen
> of Baghdad who, when Bahá’u’lláh was banished to Turkey, offered the use of his garden to Bahá’u’lláh
> and His family and close friends, for the twelve days of their preparation to leave Baghdad. It was during
> that time that Bahá’u’lláh declared that He was the Promised One, and this marked the beginning of His
> Mission. (See Introduction, p. v.) Bahá’ís observe those twelve days annually as a holy festival — “The
> Festival of Ridván”, “The Most Great Festival”. (“Ridván” means “Paradise”.)
> *123 - “Teachings” could also be “Truths”.
> *123 - “anemones” [uh NEMM uh NEEZ] are brightly colored members of the buttercup family whose
> petals unfold in the warmth of the sun and quiver, as if excited, with each puff of wind, with each stiff
> breeze. This is the reason they are often referred to as “wind owers”. For more about anemones, see *70.
> (See also videos online of anemones in bloom.)
> *126 - For “Hair” and “Musk” see Line 71 and both of its footnotes.
> *127 - Some of the ancient natural philosophers held the belief that pearls are formed when a dewdrop, or
> a drop of water, is placed inside an oyster’s shell. Scienti c studies have disproved that myth. However, it
> is interesting to note that pearl-producing mollusks maintain an open relationship with their environment
> by constantly circulating water (either fresh water or salt water) through their shell in order to support
> their food supply. Occasionally an irritant will enter the shell and become lodged inside. A sac is formed
> around the irritant and begins to secrete a glossy substance that coats the particle in order to protect the
> oyster, and this is how pearls are formed. But, aside from scienti c facts, Bahá’u’lláh is drawing upon an
> old myth to create a beautiful metaphor. (See *151 for “pearl”.)
> 
> fi
> 
> fi
> 
> fl
> 
> fi
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 128            To return to Inner Mystery’s Explanation
> and also to The Meaning of Teleportation:
> 129            Then, you! — O drunk from the cup of arrogance and might! —
> the fire of your ego! — exchange it now for Light! —
> 130            so you’ll traverse the universe in a single breath,
> so you’ll be free from confinement in this cage of death!
> 131**          Before you come into the shadow of Him,
> no news will you have — from either brain or skin!
> 132            The foot of your understanding is stuck down deep in clay,
> with no news from the Light of His Beautiful Face that way.
> 
> 133**          When you dwell in the shadow of The King of the Soul,
> you’ll uproot your heart from the world’s pomp and show.
> 
> _____________________
> *131 - For “the shadow of Him”, see *110 and Lines 91, 133, 192, 193, and 270 and their footnotes.
> *131 - If you have no news, i.e., no information, from the brain or the skin (from your inner self or the
> world outside of you), that means you’re unaware of both inner and outer worlds — you’re out of touch
> with reality. The expression “brain or skin” re ects the Persian idiom: maghz o poost (brain and skin).
> The word maghz can mean: brain, pith, marrow, pulp, kernel, gist, nucleus, nut, etc. And poost can mean:
> skin, peel, rind, shell, husk, hull, crust, bark, etc. Therefore, the expression maghz o poost suggests: both
> inside and outside (of something). (See also Line 73 and *73.)
> *133 - Dwelling “in the shadow of The King of the Soul” implies living under the in uence and rule of
> The Messenger of God, i.e., adhering to (“sticking to”), or following, His Wise Counsel; residing in His
> Domain (His Territory) under His Laws. (See Lines 131, 91, 110, 192, 193, and 270.)
> *133 - Regarding “the world’s pomp and show”, it is worth remembering, here, the story of Bahá’u’lláh
> seeing a puppet show when He was a child. It was a show about war and intrigues in the court of a king,
> and the lavish lifestyle of the privileged and the powerful. It depicted their pomp and glory, and feasting
> and nery, as well as their jealousy and scheming and vying for the top positions in the king’s court, in
> order to prop up the appearance of their grandiosity. After the performance, Bahá’u’lláh saw the puppet
> master leaving the tent, carrying a box, and asked the man what was in the box. The man answered, in
> essence: “These elaborate action gures and devices — the king, the princes, and the ministers, and the
> pomp and glory, the might and power — everything you saw — is all now contained within this box.”
> Years later, Bahá’u’lláh wrote about this event: “Ever since that day, all the trappings of the world have
> seemed in the eyes of this Youth akin to that same spectacle. They have never been, nor will they ever be,
> of any weight and consequence, be it to the extent of a grain of mustard seed… Erelong these outward
> trappings, these visible treasures, these earthly vanities, these arrayed armies, these adorned vestures,
> these proud and overweening souls, all shall pass into the con nes of the grave, as though into that box.
> In the eyes of those possessed of insight, all this con ict, contention and vainglory hath ever been, and
> will ever be, like unto the play and pastimes of children.” (Search online: “Baha’u’llah puppet show.”)
> 
> fi
> 
> fi
> 
> fl
> 
> fl
> 
> fi
> 
> fl
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                             K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 134           At the start of time, in dust you have begun.
> At the end of time, you’ll y right past the sun!
> 135           Then — in no time at all — through worlds of spirit you’ll go
> — without you taking a step — O mystic-in-the-know!
> 136**         This time — A Scent from Soul’s Fragrance-Garden in bloom
> has wafted through the world and lled it with Perfume.
> 137           Again! — The Soul’s Musk from That Garden of Giving
> wafted through the world — and took away everything!
> 138           The knowing and unknowing — both of them are gone!
> The drunken and the sober — one and all are gone!
> 139           Sobriety — erased! — And the eraser, too!
> The drunken sobered up — and then they vanished, too!
> 140           What there was of Names and Traditions in the world
> all disappeared, when My King appeared in the world!
> 
> _____________________
> *136 - People in the West plant “butter y gardens” to attract butter ies. In the Persian culture, people
> plant “fragrance gardens” designed to have an abundance of owers that, when in bloom, ll the air with
> a high concentration of sweet-smelling fragrances that provide a lovely intoxicating experience for those
> who are near enough to inhale the heavily perfumed air.
> *136-139 - These four Lines suggest a “koan” [rhymes with: GO on]. Koans are puzzles that are used in
> Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Zen practice, by Zen teachers, to promote the development of insight,
> wisdom, humility, and intelligence in their students. A koan is a statement, story, dialogue, or question
> that seems, at rst, nonsensical. Koans are often paradoxical, contain ambiguities, and convey profound
> truths about life.
> ~~ One well-known koan is: Two hands clapping make a sound. What is the sound of one hand?
> ~~ Another example is this: A monk asked Zhaozhou, “What is the meaning of the ancestral teacher’s
> (Bodhidharma’s) coming from the West?” Zhaozhou said, “The cypress tree in front of the hall.” (NOTE:
> Bodhidharma is a 5th or 6th Century A.D. Buddhist monk who is credited with bringing Chan Buddhism
> to China. Accounts of him are laced with legendary myth. According to some Chinese sources,
> Bodhidharma came from the Western Regions, which usually refers to Central Asia but can also include
> the Indian subcontinent, and he is sometimes described as “a Persian Central Asian”. See Wikipedia.)
> ~~ One more example of a koan: Two monks were arguing about the temple ag waving in the wind. One
> said, “The ag moves.” The other said, “The wind moves.” They argued back and forth but could not
> agree. An elder monk spoke up. He said, “Gentlemen! It is not the ag that moves. It is not the wind that
> moves. It is your mind that moves.” The two monks were dumbstruck.
> 
> fl
> 
> fi
> 
> fl
> 
> fl
> 
> fi
> 
> fl
> 
> fl
> 
> fl
> 
> fl
> 
> fi
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                              K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 141           Even if His Names fly two hundred centuries,
> that won’t bring a clue to His Station’s Mysteries.
> 142*          What your eyes did see, and your ears did hear
> — O leader! — of all of it, God stayed clear!
> 143*          Then, you! —
> O, with these ears and eyes — yet with no sight to see —
> how will you get The News of The Beloved’s Mystery?
> 144*          Open the other eye — and see The New Friend!
> Open the other ear — and hear His Voice then!
> 145*                The eye of the foolish nothing except a footstep sees.
> The eye of the mystic sees Eternity’s Mysteries.
> 146*                The eye of the mystic sees The Epic Reign of The King.
> The eye of the foolish doesn’t see The Face of The King.
> 
> _____________________
> *142-143 - These two couplets may call to mind Matthew 15:14 — “And if the blind lead the blind, both
> shall fall into the ditch.”
> *143 - “sight” means “insight”.
> *144 - Regarding “sight” and “insight” — Bahá’u’lláh has written (in The Hidden Words, Persian #12):
> 
> O Man of Two Visions!
> Close one eye and open the other. Close one to the world
> and all that is therein, and open the other to the hallowed beauty of the Beloved.
> 
> *145 - “foolish” in Lines 145 and 146 could be “ignorant”. And “mystic” could be “wise”.
> *146 - The first line of this couplet, if literally translated, would be: “The eye of the mystic — one
> hundred thousand years way”. “One hundred thousand years” has been translated as “Epic”. The Persian
> word for “way” (ráh, which can also mean: “road”; “path”; or “pathway”), has been translated as:
> “Reign”. And “of The King” was added for the rhyme.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                              K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 147           A questioner asked a mystic, one time:
> “O you, who have grasped the Secrets Sublime
> 148*           and get drunk on His Wine, do you recall
> — about The Day of Alast — much at all?”
> 149            “I do recall That Day”, he says, and then replies:
> “God’s First Day it was — and it was no surprise.
> 150            It’s always in my ear — the sound of Him —
> that beautiful, soul-uplifting voice of Him.”
> 151*          Another mystic, then — an elder more refined,
> who had bored The Pearls of Mysteries Divine —
> 152            he said, “That Day of God has not come to an end.
> We are still in That Day, and it will never end.
> 153            Upon His Promised Day, no night shall ever fall.
> We’re in That Day — and this is no surprise at all.
> 
> _____________________
> *148-149 - “The Day of Alast” [rhymes with: at LAST], also called “The Day of Am I Not”, is that most
> important day, or time, long ago — before recorded history — when The Lord first said to all present and
> future descendants of Adam and Eve, “Am I not your Lord?”, and they responded, “Yea, verily, we bear
> witness that You are.” (See Quran 7:172 and also the footnotes for Lines 67 and 218.) This conversation
> occurs, in some way, between every Messenger of God Who comes and those who are the first to
> recognize Him. The well-known Persian poet Táhirih, who clearly recognized the divine station of The
> Báb, in a dream she had, shortly before He declared His Mission in 1844, wrote in a letter to Him:
> 
> The effulgence of Thy Face ashed forth, and the rays of Thy visage arose on High!
> Then speak the Word, “Am I not your Lord?” and “Thou art, Thou art!” we will all reply!
> — translated by E. G. Browne
> 
> *151 - “who had bored The Pearls of Mysteries Divine” — The boring (drilling) of pearls describes the
> process of discovering, over many long years, deep, hidden truths through intensive study of texts that
> contain divine knowledge and words of wisdom (“pearls of wisdom”). One who has “bored pearls” in this
> way usually has a deep grasp of inner knowledge (“Heart’s Knowledge”) and generously shares that
> wisdom with others. Pearls describe various things in Persian. For example, a pearl can refer to a single
> truth — or to beautiful eloquent speech: “words strung together like pearls in a necklace”. (See Line 245.)
> “A pearl” may also refer to a rare and precious being who has a pure soul — who is quiet, refined,
> modest, wise and virtuous. (See Line 127.)
> 
> fl
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                           K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 154*          If His Relish of Life should ever leave, one fateful day,
> you would see all of heaven and earth vanish right away.
> 155*          That is why This Day has come, from His Majesty and Might,
> as God’s Everlasting Day — a day not followed by night.”
> 
> 156                 Then listen, O dear one, to this puzzle
> and heed The Divine Mystery’s Counsel,
> 157                 so, from His Wisdom, you’ll take Sustenance,
> so you’ll give your life for His Countenance,
> 158                 so you’ll listen to His Every Melody,
> so you’ll quaff The Cup of His Generosity,
> 159*                         so you’ll easily divine
> The Mysteries of Love,
> so you’ll taste Eternity’s Wine
> from The Rivers of Love.
> 
> ❦
> 
> _____________________
> *154 - “Relish” (zowgh) means: “intense enjoyment”; “intense love”.
> *155 - “God’s Everlasting Day” (Yawm) refers to what is called Resurrection Day, or Judgment Day, in
> the Scriptures. The word yawm , which appears in this Line, can simply mean “day”, a 24-hour period of
> time, or it can mean a much longer period of time, such as an “Age”. The term yawm is often used in
> conjunction with the idea of Judgment Day, Resurrection Day, or The Promised Day (of God). The
> expression yawm sarmadee, which appears in this Line, means “The Everlasting Day (of God)” or “The
> Eternal Day (of God)”.
> *159 - The word “divine” is used here in its verb form, and it means: “ discern”; “perceive”; “see”.
> 
> ❦ - marks the midpoint of the poem.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 160*           I will NOT turn my face from the swords of the enemy lines —
> even if these evil ones should kill me two hundred times!
> 161            From the beginning, my soul has quaffed Your Wine of Life.
> And in the end — in Your Memory — I’ll give my life!
> 162*               O Bahá! — Kindle one raging conflagration! —
> Burn the world of “knowledge and verification”!
> 163*               Cleanse the Soul of worldly qualities!
> Crack the Code of Hidden Mysteries!
> 164*               Cast a Wave up from the depths of Meaning’s Ocean,
> so the hull of the literal word breaks open!
> 165*           Pour a Cup of That Wine! — So freedom from self I’ll find!
> I’ll break through all the veils — as Safdar broke through the lines!
> 
> _____________________
> *160 - “these evil ones” could also be “these infidels”.
> *162 - “one raging conflagration” does not refer literally to an enormous destructive fire. Rather, it refers
> figuratively to a divine transformation that involves both loss and the potential for renewal. The loss, in
> this Line, is the loss of “the world of knowledge and verification”, which seems to suggest the Hadith,
> i.e., Islam’s “official” collection of thousands of supposedly “verified” hadiths (anecdotes about Prophet
> Muhammad and things He reportedly said that are not found in the Quran). There has long been, and
> continues to be, disagreement among Muslims concerning the truth and accuracy of many of these
> reported stories. (See *273 and *32.)
> *163 - The “Code of Hidden Mysteries” implies metaphorical language that is used to symbolize,
> describe, imply, allude to, suggest, or refer to things, persons, or characteristics which are often spiritual
> in nature and difficult to describe otherwise. Metaphorical language, which includes allegories and
> parables and is frequently found in poetry, Holy Scriptures and religious literature and discourse, is often
> mystifying and may seem like a code that needs deciphering because, if it is taken literally, it doesn’t
> make sense.
> *164 - The word “hull” generally refers to the rigid outer case or container of something. The hull (the
> main body) of a ship contains its cargo, hidden inside. Similarly, “the hull of the literal word” (the outer
> form of the word) contains its meaning, hidden inside. Words are therefore like ships, as they are vessels
> of transport carrying cargo inside.
> *165 - “Safdar” [saff DAR; DAR rhymes with the first syllable of “Arrow”] refers to Ali, son-in-law of
> Prophet Muhammad and First Imam of Shia Islam. Ali, known as “The Commander of the Faithful”, was
> also called “Safdar”, which means “line breaker.” He was called this because he was known for his
> stunning ability to charge swiftly, on horseback, straight into the center of the enemy’s front line every
> time a tribal militia was approaching to kill Prophet Muhammad and His family and companions. Ali
> would break through the enemy lines with intense speed and strength, and scatter their forces. (Safdar also
> means: “brave”; “warrior”.)
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                 K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 166*           O! — From Your Name The Tree of Life ripens with Fruit!
> Likewise — From Your Hand appears The Power of Truth!
> 167*           O! — This Man whose fate is in the palm of Your Hand
> — upset this moment in time — yet calm from Your Plan —
> 168            Give Light to This Candle! — And then, from Him, That Light
> will shine in different directions, O King of Might!
> 169*           This — The Candle’s Flame — is The Lamp You’ve lit,
> and — in The Lamp-Glass — You’ve protected it,
> 170            and with Oil’s help — from Your Generous Hand —
> You’ve raised Him well — from The Wick of Command!
> 171            Then! — Protect Him from the wind of tyranny,
> so Your Light will shine from Him most brilliantly!
> 172*                 Keep back from His Head the hand of the enemy!
> O You, The Moon of Command and King of “Verily…”!
> 
> _____________________
> *166 - “The Tree of Life” (i.e., The Lote-Tree of Life) refers to The Messenger of God. (See *91.)
> *167 - “Man” is a translation of the word jahání [JAH huh NEE]. According to Hayyim’s New Persian
> English Dictionary, jahání means: “1. (adjective) Worldly. 2. (noun) An inhabitant of the world; A mortal;
> A man; A creature.” NOTE: Although others may translate jahání as “world,” this translator understands
> jahání to mean: “a mortal man”. Bahá’u’lláh, it seems, is humbling Himself before God, referring to
> Himself (in third person) as “This Man”, fully aware of His human mortality and pleading with His
> Maker to protect Him from being killed by His enemies. (See also Line 84, in which Bahá’u’lláh refers to
> Himself as “This Mortal”.)
> *169 - For the meaning of “Lamp-Glass”, see *86.
> *172 - In Lines 166-180, Bahá’u’lláh is in grave peril. This tension-filled and highly dramatic section of
> the poem recalls The Agony of Jesus, as He prayed fervently to God in The Garden of Gethsemane on the
> eve of His crucifixion, entreating God: “Let this cup pass from me…” (KJV Matthew 26:39). In Line 172,
> Bahá’u’lláh seems to be imploring protection from The Commander of the Faithful, Imam Ali, who was
> second in command in Islam (similar to the Moon, which is “second in command” in the sky). Ali, who
> was also called “Safdar”, was known for his remarkable strength and fierce bravery in fighting battles to
> protect Prophet Muhammad and His family from being killed by their enemies. (See *165.)
> NOTE: “The Moon of Command” also describes ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in relation to his father, Bahá’u’lláh.
> ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, eldest son of Bahá’u’lláh, served in many ways to protect his father from His enemies. The
> role of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in relation to his father was similar to the role of Ali in relation to his father-in-law,
> Prophet Muhammad. Both “Moons of Command” served as protectors of their “Commanders in Chief”,
> each one like a lamp-glass protecting the fire in a hurricane lamp. (See Line 169 above and *86.)
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 173*           Look at Him! — This Candle of Yours — afflicted by foes!
> — in the midst of a whirlwind of calamitous woes! —
> 174**          Since, from The Light of Your Beauty, You’ve illumined Him,
> then — in view of His Possibilities — don’t ruin Him!
> 175            Since You made His Flame so bright — don’t snuff it out!
> Since You gave Him consciousness — don’t make Him black out!
> 176*           O! — From Your Compassion — the atom a sun becomes!
> And O! — From Your Wrath — the lion a sparrow becomes!
> 177            Attacked from every side by winds of tribulation,
> Your Candle is hemmed in! — O Maker of Creation!
> 
> _____________________
> *173 - The word “Candle” in Lines 173 and 177 corresponds to the Persian word sham’. On the internet
> A.I. (Artificial Intelligence) says that sham’ is “…frequently used in both everyday speech and classical
> Persian poetry, where the candle often symbolizes spiritual illumination or a devoted lover burning for the
> object of their affection”. And A.I. elaborates: “…the candle, in Persian poetry, represents the selfless
> lover or the seeker…[burning]…slowly, sacrificing its physical form (the wax) to emit light and guide
> others in the dark”. (And it’s frequently “paired with the moth (parvaneh), where the moth represents the
> lover drawn irresistibly to the candle, ultimately annihilating its own ego in the fire of Divine Love”.)
> This definition fits the use of “This Candle of Yours” and “Your Candle” in Lines 173 and 177. However,
> the word “candle”, or sham’, in Line 32 has a different meaning. It means: “brightness”, because in 1863
> the words “candle” and sham’ were also used to refer to the measurement of the brightness, or luminosity,
> of light. The word “candle” evolved into today’s word “candela”. There is a a highly scientific definition
> of candela on the website: nist.gov. What’s interesting to note is that, even in our modern high-tech world,
> “one candela” is the same as the brightness of one wax candle of yesteryear.
> *173 - A “whirlwind” of tribulations surrounded Bahá’u’lláh in 1863, during the months that He wrote
> The Blessed Mathnaví. (See Introduction, p. vi.) In April, He was ordered to leave Baghdad and go to
> Constantinople (Istanbul), which was the Seat of the Caliphate of the Ottoman Empire. In Constantinople,
> He was kept under house arrest, while waiting for His enemies to decide what they should do with Him.
> Bahá’u’lláh was expected to ingratiate Himself to the authorities, renounce His claim to be The Promised
> One, and bargain with them to be set free — all of which He refused to do. And during that time, He was
> also aware that His jealous half-brother was plotting to kill Him and was spreading lies about Him, to ruin
> His reputation. (For more historical information, visit bahai.org.)
> *174 - “in view of ” could be: “so near to”, “so close to”, in sight of”, “in light of”, or “right next to”.
> *174 - “don’t ruin Him” could be translated as: “don’t checkmate Him”.
> *176 - Regarding the “Wrath” of God, Wikipedia (under the heading: “Matthew 3:7”) points out the
> following: “Albright and Mann note that it is important not to read the word wrath as a synonym for
> anger. Rather, in Jewish and Christian thought, it refers to the necessary meting out of final justice by an
> all-loving God….”
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 178            If You want it to, then water turns into fire!
> And if You want it out — at once! — it will expire!
> 179            The devil will become angelic, if You demand!
> And O! —
> How Light will bloom from Fire at Your Command!
> 180*           If You want it to, then wind will be like oil this night
> and make This Flame a blaze — and also be a Light!
> 181*           O Glory of God! When Your Fire blazed away,
> the lives of the lovers burned like a stack of hay!
> 182            One single Spark of Fire on the hearts You hit.
> One hundred thousand bushes on Sinai You lit!
> 183*           Then, from every heart, Burning Bushes did appear!
> O, That Moses would have run headlong down from here,
> 184            till He saw The Real Fire of God — of the Soul —
> is what delivered Him from Egyptian control.
> 
> _____________________
> *180 — “This Flame” refers to the “Flame” of “This Candle of Yours”. (See Lines 173 and 175.) If it
> were a literal translation, “This Flame” would simply be the word: “Spirit”.
> *181 - The word “lover” in this poem — and throughout Bahá’í literature — refers to one who loves God
> and God’s Messengers, who is a faithful soul. This usage is very different from the way the term “lover”
> is commonly used in the English-speaking countries of the world. In the West, the definition of “lover” is
> generally understood to mean: a partner in a sexual or romantic relationship outside of marriage. “They
> think she has a secret lover” is an example of this usage. The word “lover” is used in a very different way
> in Bahá’í literature. The “lovers of Bahá’u’lláh” were those who loved Him in a purely spiritual sense, not
> in a physical or romantic way. His lovers were, and are, the followers, the devotees, and the enthusiasts of
> Bahá’u’lláh, who love Him sincerely and deeply, with heart and soul, and live their lives in accordance
> with His laws and teachings. In the Bahá’í Writings, lovers are sometimes mentioned as “the beloved of
> God.” They are also sometimes referred to as “the servants and maidservants of God.” (The word “lover”
> — in its singular, plural, and possessive forms — appears in Lines 117, 181, 223, 225, 240, 252, 253, 259,
> 260, and 264.)
> *183 - The name of Moses appears more times than any other person’s name in this poem. See *201.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                 K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 185*           O Sacrifice of God! — From The Martyrs Field of Love,
> do not turn back, but give your life in The Path of Love!
> 186*           Without your head and life — to The Friend’s Place come!
> You’ll be welcomed in This Land by everyone!
> 187*           This is The Valley of Love! The Spirit of God — come!
> With The Cross, from The Path, and even with no path — come!
> 188*           “The firmament” and “body’s ascent” — let go of these! —
> O You! — The King of the Soul’s and Body’s Ecstasies!
> 189            Nightingale of Spirit — You, in The Garden of Spirit —
> You will be coming again . . . You, The Host of the Spirit . . .
> 190**                    O Falcon of The Spirit,
> The King’s Wrist is Your Station!
> Come here — freely — to this place
> — Your Home — Your Destination!
> 
> _____________________
> *185 - “Sacrifice of God” (Zabíh’u’lláh) likely refers to Ishmael, son of Abraham. NOTE: The Bible’s
> dramatic story of God telling Abraham to sacrifice his son differs from the Quran’s version. In the Bible,
> it is Abraham’s son Isaac who was to be sacrificed. In the Quran, it is Ishmael. There is a long-standing
> dispute over the identity of this son of Abraham. Interestingly, Bahá’u’lláh uses an Arabic title for him
> that can actually refer to either son — and, for that matter, can refer to any person who sacrifices their life
> in The Path of God.
> *186 and 187 - These Lines pay tribute to the words and style of Rumi (See *291) in his famous work
> known as Mathnavi-yi Ma’navi, or Masnavi Ma’navi:
> 
> Come! Come! Whoever, whatever you may be, come! Heathen, idolatrous, or fire worshipper, come!
> Even if you deny your oaths a hundred times, come! Our door is the door of hope, come!
> Come as you are!
> 
> *187 - In Islam, Jesus (Christ) is referred to as: Rúh’u’lláh (Arabic, meaning: “The Spirit of God”).
> *188 - “The firmament” and “body’s ascent” refer to: The belief in 1) a physical place called heaven up in
> the sky and 2) the human body’s ability to physically ascend to it. (See *256 and *268.)
> *190 - “Wrist” — or “Fist”? In falconry, in some places — the Middle East, for example — the bird
> perches on the wrist (or forearm). In other places, such as the United Kingdom, the bird perches on the
> fist. Whether wrist or fist, the place to perch or station yourself — or come home to — is the key thing
> here.
> *190 - “Falcon” or the word “bird” (or a bird) in Sufi literature often symbolizes the human spirit, or soul.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                  K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 191*           And then, You, O Noah! — Break through the hull of the ark!
> Throw Yourself into The Sea of Lights — and leave the dark!
> 192*           Drown This Ego of Yours — and don’t want self-protection!
> Peer out from The Pocket of God and change Your perception!
> 193            Want protection from The King — and not the ark!
> So come in The King’s Shelter — and rest Your Heart.
> 194**          And You, O Moses! — To The Soul’s Sinai come!
> Remove Your sandals and mantle — naked come!
> 195*           So, from The Fire’s Mysteries, You’ll become aware
> that That Fire comes unceasingly from The Friend’s Hair!
> 196            His Hair is The Fire that burns away your life of love:
> unbelief and faith — and everything else arranged by love.
> 197**          His Hair is The Fire that sways over Párán.
> And just one single strand bends the neck of the strong.
> 
> _____________________
> *191 - “The Sea of Lights” (bahr-i núráni) may bring to mind “The Ocean of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation”.
> It may also remind one of an encyclopedia that was compiled by Persian Shia scholar Mohammad-Baqer
> Majlesi (1627-99), one of the most powerful and influential Shia ulema (erudite Islamic scholars) of all
> time. (See Wikipedia.) His writing was very popular, since he wrote in an easily understood style,
> summarizing the essential doctrines of Islam for the common people. His most important work, Bihar al-
> Anwar (The Seas of Lights), was written in 100 volumes, over 36 years.
> *192 - “The Pocket of God” suggests “the breast pocket” or “the coat pocket” of God, so to speak, which
> implies being near God, or in the shadow or shelter of God. (See Lines 193, 133, and *133.)
> *194 - For “Soul’s Sinai” see *205.
> *194 - “sandals and mantle” implies social standing or status, positions, responsibilities, title(s), etc. (See
> Lines 104 and 206.)
> *195/196/197 - “His Hair” implies “His Revelation”, for Bahá’u’lláh says (see Baha’i Prayers, p. 263):
> 
> I beseech Thee, O my God, by Thy hair that moveth across Thy face,
> even as Thy most exalted pen moveth across the pages of Thy Tablets…
> 
> This passage may call to mind the wispy, hairlike pen strokes on the pages of “Revelation handwriting”.
> (See photos online.) Bahá’u’lláh also writes, in His work titled Tablets of the Hair:
> 
> My hair is My Phoenix. Therefore hath it set itself upon the blazing re of My Face… (See *26, *72.)
> *197 - Párán [paw RON] refers to the northern half of the west coast of the Arabian Peninsula, which
> includes Mecca and Medina. Párán has seen the footsteps of Abraham, Ishmael, Moses, David, Jesus, and
> Prophet Muhammad, and is considered to be the “Heart of Islam”. (“Párán”, derived from Hebrew, means
> “Beauty”; “Glory”. See also Line 213.)
> *197 - “the strong” means “the strongman”; “the hero”; “the mighty warrior”. (See Lines 99 and 224.)
> 
> fi
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 198*             Enough of The Fire’s Secrets, O Dove Divine!
> Don’t cast The Pearls of the Spirit before the blind!
> 199            This Staff in The Hand of Truth is God’s Own Saber,
> cutting through lines in this world like sheets of paper!
> 200*           That Staff came out of an ancient orchard’s tree.
> And This Staff — from The Cause of God came to be.
> 201*           That Staff, long ago, came out of water and clay.
> And This Staff — from The Fire of The Heart today.
> 202            This Staff is The Fire whose flames are burning away
> the veils of lying and cheating and going astray.
> 203*           This Staff is The Wind that in Húd’s nation blew,
> distinguishing the deniers from the true.
> 204            That Staff appeared as an ark, in Noah’s time.
> In Jesus’ day, That Staff was Spirit Sublime.
> 
> _____________________
> *198 - This Line alludes to KJV Matthew 7:6 “…neither cast ye your pearls before swine…”
> *200 - “That Staff” suggests the rod (the shepherd’s staff) of Moses.
> *201 - “water and clay” brings to mind the clay tablets of The Ten Commandments revealed by Moses,
> which have strongly influenced human civilization for thousands of years. The importance of Moses is
> suggested by the number of times His name appears in Sacred Text. In the Bible, the third most mentioned
> name is Moses (803 times), with David being the second most mentioned (974 times), and Jesus the most
> mentioned (1,310). In the Quran, the person most frequently mentioned is Moses (136 times, and the life
> of Moses is narrated and recounted more than that of any other prophet). Likewise, in Bahá’u’lláh’s
> Mathnaví, Moses is the most mentioned name— it appears nine times: in Lines 38, 183, 194, 205, 208,
> 209 (twice), 229, and 316. The frequent mention of Moses in all of these works testifies to the greatness
> of Moses in human history.
> *203 - Húd [rhymes with FOOD] is an ancient Arabian prophet, mentioned in the Quran, who lived
> around 2400 B.C., and is believed to be a descendant of Noah. He is also known as: Eber, Heber, and
> “Father of the Hebrew language.” Húd is in Quran’s Chapter 11 (the Surah of Húd), and Húd is also
> mentioned in Bahá’u’lláh’s Book of Certitude (Kitáb-i Íqán). Here, in Line 203, “Húd’s nation” refers to
> the ancient civilization known as “Ád” [ODD], which some historians think may have been situated in the
> windswept hills between present-day Oman and Yemen. According to the Quran, Prophet Húd was
> rejected and mocked by the wealthy, arrogant, idol-worshipping people of Ád, and when they refused to
> heed His warnings, a violent windstorm that lasted 8 days and 7 nights buried the city in sand, killing all
> of its inhabitants, except Húd and his followers, because, under his unerring divine guidance, they left the
> city in time to escape the storm. (Quran 69:6-8)
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                              K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 205**         O Moses, Dear! — The Fire of Your Soul was set aflame!
> Then, to The Sinai of the Soul one must always attain!
> 206*           Sandals? What? No! — Of life and of beliefs let go!
> Like the wind — fly away from The Land of the Soul!
> 207*           Fly, O Bird of Spirit! — Up from these mortal places
> to The Immortal Banquet of Those Flower Faces!
> 208*                   From His Lote-Tree appeared The Fire of Moses.
> From His Breath came a hundred Spirits of Jesus.
> 209                    The Fire of That Moses — from The Plains of Sinai came.
> The Fire of This Moses — from The Soul was set aflame.
> 
> _____________________
> *205 - Regarding the expression “The Sinai of the Soul” (not to be confused with “The Mount of the
> Soul” in Line 6): Bahá’u’lláh correlates “Mount Sinai” with the word “Heart” (in Line 211), and
> therefore, this expression may mean, among other things, “The Heart of the Soul”, i.e., the core, or
> essence, or fire, of the soul. (See Lines 184, 194, 195, and 209, and on the internet: “Lambden - The
> Sinaitic Mysteries - Writings of Bahá’u’lláh…”.) Another way to view this expression, “The Sinai of the
> Soul”, is to think of “Sinai” as referring to a region (“The Sinai”): “The Region of the Soul”. Or think of
> “Sinai” as “Holy Ground”: “The Holy Ground of the Soul”, etc.
> *205 - The word “Soul” — which appears four times on this page — in Lines 205, 206 and 209 — is an
> English translation of the word ján [sounds like the masculine name: JOHN]. When used as a noun, the
> word ján can mean (at least) four things: “life”, “spirit”, “soul”, and “heart”, and these meanings often
> intermingle with each other. And when used as an adjective, ján means “dear” or “beloved”. For example,
> moddar jan means “mother dear”. But when jan is used informally, it is pronounced: JOON. For example:
> to say “mamma dear” you say mamman joon. The word ján is important in Persian culture and is spoken
> frequently. In this poem, ján appears over 50 times. (For a delightful discussion of this word online,
> search: “8 Uses of the Persian word JOON”.)
> *206 - The word “life” is a translation of the word ján (see footnote above). Here, “life” seems to imply
> “your lifestyle” or “your way of life”.
> *207 - “Flower Faces” suggests spirits that reveal beautiful spiritual qualities.
> *208 - For “Lote-Tree” see *91.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 210*           In The Mount of the Soul,
> many distinctions one perceives.
> Each of them is clear — like
> the difference between fruit and leaves:
> 211**          His Bosom — Sinai; His Fire — God’s Light;
> His Heart — Mount Sinai; His Hand — Brilliant White!
> 212            This is not That Brilliance that has come from The Cause of God.
> This is That Very Brilliance that creates The Cause of God!
> 
> 213*           Now — This Age, This Time — The Párán of Love has arrived,
> as Our Friend has cast the veil from The Face aside.
> 214            The Scent of Spirit . . . it comes to the nose . . .
> I know not from where . . . it constantly flows . . .
> 215*           This much I know . . . that from Her Hair somehow . . .
> wafts a scent that makes the soul surrender now . . .
> 216*           How sweet the release of The Musk Divine!
> Our Soul with Her Remembrance intertwine . . .
> 
> _____________________
> *210 - For “The Mount of the Soul” see Line 6 and *6.
> *211 - For “His Heart — Mount Sinai” see *205.
> *211 - “His Hand” means: “The Palm of His Hand”. For the bright white light of the hand of Moses, see
> Quran 20:22-23, and 28:33. (The Quran’s story regarding “the white hand of Moses” differs from the
> story in the Bible. See Exodus 4:6-7.)
> *213 - “Párán” [paw RON], Hebrew in origin, means: “Beauty”; “Glory”; “Splendor”. (See *197.)
> *215 - The word “surrender” is a translation of the Persian word nesár [ne SAAR]. According to
> Sulayman Hayyim’s New Persian English Dictionary, nesár is a noun of Arabic origin that is used in the
> Persian language to refer to “Money scattered about in a marriage or feast. An offering or sacrifice.
> Powdered sugar, bits of almonds, etc. which a confectioner sprinkles on certain candies…” In Western
> societies, there has been a tradition of wedding guests throwing rice at the bride and groom as they step
> out of the church after the ceremony — whereas, in some parts of the Middle East they shower the bride
> with coins, which scatter all around her. This is an offering for the bride. The idea of the soul making an
> offering or a sacrifice, i.e., the idea of surrendering, or sacrificing, is conveyed in this Line. NOTE: The
> concept of nesár (a sacrifice, an offering, for the bride), also appears in Line 5 of the poem — with the
> image of all the world’s people joyfully throwing and scattering (surrendering) their hearts at the feet of
> The Beloved.
> *216 - “intertwine” here implies: “become intimate confidants”.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 217*           O The Breeze of The Spiritual Morning . . . gently blow . . .
> from The Sheba of The Merciful . . . come, soft and slow . . .
> 218**          till, drunken from the scent of Your Ambergris,
> Our Souls fly up — from Earth to Eternity,
> 219*           as Royal Phoenix rose up into space
> from The Mount of the Soul to the placeless place
> 220*           and, in one stroke of wing, departed earth
> with That King’s Promise of another birth.
> 221*           This Time, from The Throne of God, She has come again!
> Her Melodies are countless — there’s no end to them!
> 222*           From the Flower of Her Face, Winter’s Month became like May!
> And from Her Lips of Ruby Red, the night became like day!
> 
> _____________________
> *217 - “O The Breeze…” (from Sheba) recalls the words of King Solomon, in Persian literature, yearning
> to be reunited with his Beloved Queen of Sheba after her memorable visit with him, asking the wind to
> bring the scent of her to him from the Kingdom of Sheba (saba), that distant kingdom where she lived.
> (See *61.) NOTE: In classical Persian literature, King Solomon (Súlaymán) speaks to the wind and trees
> and birds, etc. Similarly, here, Bahá’u’lláh is speaking to the breeze. (See also Lines 61, 126, 258, *310,
> and 312-318.)
> *218 - Ambergris [French pronunciation with a silent “s”: AM burr GREE] is a strong-smelling waxy
> substance that comes from the gut of the sperm whale. It is washed up on beaches (a good source is on the
> west coast of the Arabian Peninsula), and then collected and used in perfumery. Its heavy scent is rich and
> intoxicating.
> *218 - NOTE: “Eternity” has been used (for the rhyme) instead of the word “Alast” (For “Alast” see *67,
> and *148.) Both words suggest a timeless place — a place “outside” of time. “Alast” implies the end/
> beginning of time — the edge/horizon of time . . . the dawn of (a new) time . . .
> *219 - For “Royal Phoenix” see *26 and *220. And for “The Mount of the Soul” see Line 6 and *6.
> *220 - “That King” refers to “Royal Phoenix” in Line 219.
> *221-222 - “She”? Suddenly, the image of a gorgeous woman who is singing endless melodies appears!
> This image represents the Messenger of God — coming once again to the world with many things to say
> to us, in ringing tones, to revive our souls. In Lines 221-228, Bahá’u’lláh uses this conventional Sufi trope
> of portraying The Messenger of God (“The Beloved”) as a stunningly beautiful, seductive woman with
> long, wavy jet-black hair, glistening ruby red lips, and long black fluttering eyelashes, who is so attractive
> that she easily captivates the hearts and minds of men and brings them to their knees! This representation
> of The Messenger of God as a “Femme Fatale” may take most Westerners by surprise. But it’s a metaphor
> that is commonly used in Sufi poetry — a trope that Bahá’u’lláh skillfully uses to symbolize the Divine
> Beauty and Power of God’s Messenger.
> *222 - The expression “Winter’s Month” refers to “Dey”, which is the first month of winter in the Persian
> calendar.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 223**          The work of lovers, from Her Hair, is long, indeed!
> All of the loved ones, from Her absence, are in need!
> 224**          The necks of gallant men are lassoed by Her Hair!
> The Warrior of God buckles under Her Stare!
> 225*           From Her Lovely Lips, souls of lovers lose their breath.
> And for Her Union, souls of kings will search till death.
> 226            From Her Beauty, the eye of the soul seeking meaning
> is illumined (if — in all fairness — you see this thing).
> 227            If it weren’t in this world — The Fount of The Knowing —
> how on earth would the fountains of Light keep flowing?
> 228            From Her Flower, plenty of Gardens have bloomed.
> And from Her Face, Flowers of Meaning have bloomed.
> 
> _____________________
> *223 - “The work of lovers, from Her Hair, is long, indeed…” (For the meaning of “Hair” see *258.) Her
> Hair is long, i.e., Her Revelation is long (“Her Melodies are countless…”, Line 221). Therefore, the work
> of lovers is long and arduous. (For the meaning of “lovers” see *181.) There is much work to be done!
> What work? — First, swiftly taking down with pen and ink, in shorthand, Bahá’u’lláh’s utterances. Then
> rewriting, proofreading, and producing the authorized tablets and manuscripts, and sometimes making
> translations of them, or hand copying them (copy machines had not been invented yet), and then secretly
> sending them with couriers, who often traveled on foot for great distances at the risk of being tortured and
> killed, if caught with the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. Also, there was the responsibility of carefully and
> secretly storing all of the original manuscripts, to protect them from being stolen, damaged, lost, or
> destroyed. Much work needs to be done, when God’s Messenger comes!
> *223 - “Her absence” refers to the long lapse of time since she last came.
> *224 - “The Warrior of God” suggests Timur [TEE moor], also known as Tamerlane (1336-1405).
> Through a series of strategically planned massacres conducted by his hordes of armies, city after city,
> Timur led military campaigns across Western, South, and Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Southern
> Russia, and after also conquering Egypt, Syria, the developing Ottoman Empire, and part of India, Timur
> emerged — undefeated — as the most powerful ruler in the Muslim world (1370-1405). Timur referred to
> himself as “The Sword of Islam” and “The Warrior of Islam”.
> *224 and 225 - These lines illustrate, in a metaphorical way, the captivating, conquering, entrancing, and
> intoxicating beauty of the Messenger of God. (See also *221.) One glance from This Beauty, and you’re
> under her spell. She’ll humble you, bring you to your knees, uplift you, and make you devote your whole
> life to Her! Although Sufi poetry was written almost exclusively by men and for men, the female spirit
> and power in the world was often acknowledged. The poet Rumi wrote: “Woman is the Light of God.”
> *225 - “Her Lovely Lips” implies “Her Eloquent Words”.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                              K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 229            The Fire of Moses — find as Light in His Place.
> The Soul of Jesus — find as Spirit from His Face.
> 230            If He comes out from behind the veil one night,
> He will light up a hundred worlds like sunlight!
> 231                 Night is naught, save The Beloved’s Hair curling through space.
> Morning comes not, save from the Light of That Beauty’s Face.
> 232            All of The Kings in The City of Love
> offered their lives for The Sake of His Love.
> 233            From His Beauty, The Beauty of God came to shine,
> and from His Lips, the hearts are quaffing Spirit’s Wine.
> 234*           All of the world is fastened to His Hair,
> and for His Sake, great pain the hearts will bear.
> 
> _____________________
> *234 - “All of the world is fastened to His Hair…” calls to mind the dream that the father of Bahá’u’lláh
> had, when Bahá’u’lláh was about five years old. In the dream,
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh appeared…swimming in a vast, limitless ocean, and His body shone upon the waters with a
> radiance that illumined the sea. Around His head, which could distinctly be seen above the waters, there
> radiated, in all directions, His long, jet-black locks, floating in great profusion above the waves. As he
> dreamed, a multitude of fishes gathered around…each holding fast to the extremity of one hair.
> Fascinated by the effulgence of His face, they followed Him in whatever direction He swam. Great as was
> their number, and however firmly they clung to His locks, not one single hair seems to have been
> detached from His head, nor did the least injury affect His person. Free and unrestrained, He moved
> above the waters and they all followed Him.
> 
> A well-respected dream interpreter told the Vazír that the vast ocean represented the world of being; that
> his son, single-handed and alone, would achieve supreme ascendancy over it; and the fishes signified all
> the peoples of the world who would follow his radiant light.
> 
> — Source: Nabíl’s Narrative, translated by Shoghí Effendí, in the volume titled The Dawnbreakers
> 
> NOTE: Baháh’u’lláh’s father held a high ministerial position in the government of Persia, as the Vazir in
> the court of the king. (Vazír means: “Minister; Secretary of State.”) When Bahá’u’lláh was 22, His father
> died, and Bahá’u’lláh was offered the opportunity to assume the important office that His father had held.
> Bahá’u’lláh chose not to accept the offer.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                              K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 235**          When Zulaikha saw The Beauty of That Man,
> she cut her heart at once, instead of her hand!
> 236                One single breath from His Spirit — when it appeared,
> one hundred thousand Spirits of Jesus appeared!
> 237                This — O man of attributes — does not portray His Light.
> This portrays The Light that’s from The One Who Gives You Life.
> 238*               If one trait of His Beauty is discovered by you,
> thousands from the Sea of Meanings you’ll go passing through.
> 239                But that one trait is just one ray that, in this way, has come.
> What, then, O man of faith, must be the traits of That Great One?
> 240*           When the eye of the lover saw where His Beauty came from,
> she cut her heart from both this world and the world to come.
> 
> 241*                        The Surging of The Seas of Love
> is from His Surging Might . . .
> The Soaring Height of Birds of Love
> is from His Soaring Height . . .
> 
> _____________________
> *235 - Who is Zulaikha? [zoo LAY khuh — see *110 for how to pronounce kh] (There are a few different
> ways to spell her name in English.) The Story of Joseph (Yusuf) and Zulaikha is a well-known legendary
> tale in Muslim culture. And part of The Story goes like this: When Joseph was sold into slavery, a high
> Egyptian official, Potiphar, bought him and made him steward of his household (See Genesis 39:1-6).
> Potiphar’s wife Zulaikha fell in love with Joseph, and her friends mocked her for being infatuated with a
> Hebrew slave. To prove how easy it is to fall in love with Joseph, Zulaikha invited them to her home, so
> they could see him. When they arrived, she invited them in and served them some oranges. As the women
> were peeling the oranges, Joseph entered the room. And when the women looked up and beheld his
> radiant beauty, they immediately lost control of their paring knives and accidentally cut their hands. (See
> Quran 12:30-31.) This story is not in The Bible. It is a medieval Islamic version of the Story of Joseph
> and Zulaikha. In the most famous Sufi mystic interpretation of this story, in the 1483 A.D. poetry of Jami,
> Zulaikha’s intense attraction to, and fervent pursuit of, Joseph represents the soul’s deep yearning to be
> connected, or united, with God. The inspiration for this version of the story, Jami said, came from love.
> (See Wikipedia.)
> *235 - “That Man” refers to Joseph, son of Jacob. See *53.
> *238 - “trait” means “attribute”.
> *240 - For the proper meaning of the word “lover”, see *181.
> *241 - “Birds of Love” refers to the “Phoenixes of Love”, i.e., Messengers of God. (See *26).
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                 K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 242**          Since the eyes of you get their light from The Eye of Him,
> it’s a crime — if they see anything other than Him.
> 243            And since the eye of your soul obtains its Light from Him,
> it’s a shame — if it’s fixed on others, and not on Him.
> 244**          The eye of you, from The Eye of Truth, has become clear,
> so you don’t see anything — except His Beauty — here.
> 
> 245*                 This Secret I’ve spoken softly . . . O fine one . . .
> This Pearl I’ve bored under cover . . . O kind one . . .
> 246                  so the evil eye won’t fall upon His Face . . .
> so the stranger won’t see the way to His Place . . .
> 
> ___________________________
> *242 - “The Eye of Him” is a translation of cheshmash, which means: “His Eye” or “The Eye of God”,
> which poetically suggests the Sun, which gives light to our eyes). The word cheshm-e can mean: “eye”
> (or an opening; a hole; the eye of a needle; the mesh of a net). But it can also mean: a spring; a fountain
> — or fount — an opening through which water, or something, flows. ‘Abdu’l-Baha once said that “. . . the
> pupil of the eye, which is dark in color . . . is the fount of light and the revealer of the contingent world.”
> (The word cheshm is used in many Persian idioms. See “10 Persian Idioms and Phrases Related to the
> Eye” online.)
> *242-243 - These Lines serve to illustrate that man is a creature that has been given two kinds of sight.
> And both depend upon the two kinds of light that come from God. See *144.
> 
> NOTE: Sight (both eyesight and insight — i.e., the ability to see, or perceive, both physical reality and
> spiritual reality) and the relationship of sight to Light (especially the Light of Knowledge, News and
> Truth about The Messenger of God) — is a central theme in Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnavi. This theme is
> introduced in the opening — Lines 2, 4, 6, and 12 — and it springs up again and again throughout the
> poem. Some other Lines that highlight this theme are: 27, 48, 63, 64, 142-146, 226-227, 238, 240,
> 242-251, 276-277, 284-286, 291-295, and 300. (See also *38 — how Jacob’s sight was restored.)
> 
> *244 - “The eye of you” refers to the eye of your soul (line 243), or your insight. “The Eye of Truth”
> (cheshm-e hagh) implies “The Eye of God”, which implies “The Fount of God” or “The Spring of God”,
> which, in turn, implies The Messenger of God, or “The Sun of Truth”. (The word cheshm-e can mean:
> “eye”, “fount” or “spring” (and in Line 242 it implies the Sun).
> *244 - The word “here” represents the Persian phrase dar jahan, which means: “in the world”.
> *245 - “This Pearl” refers to the statement of truth, or the “Words of Wisdom”, in Line 244. See *151 for
> the boring or drilling of pearls.
> 
> NOTE: Complex metaphorical language, like that found in Lines 242-244, is beautifully explained in
> Adib Taherzadeh’s marvelous work: The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh: Volume 2 (Adrianople, 1863-1868),
> pp. 29-54. His spiritually enlightening description of Bahá’ulláh’s Mathnavi is a wonderful compliment to
> this translation.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                            K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 247*          And, as with your eyes, with all of your senses mark this,
> so you’re free from ties to all these people of darkness.
> 248           When The Melody of His Mystery your ear has heard,
> The Mysteries of Life — from His Instrument — it has heard.
> 249*          When The Handiwork of God is perfectly clear,
> focus your eyes on Him, and not on people here.
> 250           If only you could behold the world with His Eye,
> over a thousand kingdoms of spirit you would spy!
> 251                The eye with love for Him sees nothing but His Face . . .
> The bird that yearns for Him flies nowhere but His Place . . .
> 252           Lovers’ lives burned away from union with Him,
> and from His departure, hearts have burned within.
> 253*          Either way, the lover burns — this mindless, love-struck one —
> whether from separation or from union, O son!
> 
> _____________________
> *247 - “mark this” means “know this”.
> *249 - This Line echoes Lines 243 and 244.
> *253 - For “separation” and “union” (or “separation” and “reunion”), see Lines 270 and 271 and *270.
> NOTE: The word for “union” (vasl) can also mean “reunion”, since a reunion is a type of union. For this
> reason, “union” and “reunion” are often used interchangeably in this translation.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 254*           Then know The Love of God as Your True Friend and be
> — from all the shackles of this world — completely free.
> 255            That Love is what you’ll give your life for, willingly —
> you’ll throw your heart and soul into Eternity.
> 256            To grasp This Mystery, pay attention,
> so you’ll fly up in divine ascension,
> 257*           so your date palm offers spiritual fruit —
> fruits of Holiness, illumined with Truth.
> 258*                O Breeze! — From His Curls of Hair, The Perfume bring.
> O Cloud! — From His Grace, rain gentle rains of spring,
> 259*                so the garden of His lovers’ hearts will be
> blooming with tulips of love most beautifully . . .
> 
> _____________________
> *254 - “The Love of God” is a translation of eshgh-i hagh. This expression, if it were translated literally,
> would be: “The Love of Truth”, since hagh means “truth”. But the expression in Persian literature means:
> “The Love of God.
> *257 - The human being has often been compared to a tree. The human being and the tree are similar,
> since both of them grow and develop over their lifetime, and both can be very fruitful. They can offer
> protection and shelter, and can benefit the world in many other ways. Here, the life of the person being
> addressed is likened to a date palm. The image of man as a tree is seen often in the Baha’i Writings. For
> example, in Bahá’u’lláh’s Hidden Words (Persian #80) it is written:
> 
> O My Servants!
> Ye are the trees of My garden; ye must give forth goodly and wondrous fruits, that ye yourselves and
> others may profit therefrom. Thus it is incumbent on every one to engage in crafts and professions, for
> therein lies the secret of wealth, O men of understanding! For results depend upon means, and the grace
> of God shall be all-sufficient unto you. Trees that yield no fruit have been and will ever be for the fire.
> 
> *258 - “His Curls of Hair” alludes to the soft, curving nature of the graceful Persian script flowing across
> the pages of His manuscripts. Therefore “His Curls of Hair” alludes to His Revelations. See Lines
> 195-197, *195/196/197, *223. And also Lines 231 and 234. (The elegant, calligraphic, Nasta’liq Style of
> Persian script was often used.)
> *259 - For the proper understanding of the term “lovers’s hearts” see *181.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 260**          This — the heart of the lover — is The Throne of God,
> since it was cleansed from all ties, but The Love of God.
> 261*           When, from His Love, God’s House became His Home in there,
> God’s House — and God, inside — became a hidden pair!
> 262            God’s House, you know, is not of stone and mason’s art.
> God’s House, O lad, is nothing but the human heart!
> 263*           When your heart is purified by The Light of Him,
> it’s His Home, since it’s become The Sinai of Him!
> 264            When the lover’s House of God became perfectly clean,
> The Splendor of The Beloved stayed there permanently!
> 265*                Again, Love has returned! — The veil of intellect — burned!
> A heap of knowledge and science and accolades — burned!
> 
> _____________________
> *260 - This Line, paraphrased, says that the heart of the faithful one who deeply and sincerely loves God
> — above all else in life—is the Seat of God’s Divine Authority and the Dwelling Place of His Glory and
> Splendor. This Line compliments what was revealed by Bahá’u’lláh in The Hidden Words, Persian 27:
> 
> O Son of Dust! All that is in heaven and earth I have ordained for thee, except the human heart, which I
> have made the habitation of My beauty and glory…
> 
> *260 - For the proper meaning of “lover”, see *181.
> *261 - If you think of God as being “at home” inside His House (the human heart), and if you think of
> these two things, i.e., the human heart and God inside it, both hidden inside the human body, you might
> think of God and the human heart as “a hidden pair”. You might also be reminded of a set of Russian
> nesting dolls (Matryoshka dolls), wooden dolls in graduated sizes that t, or nest, inside one another —
> the smallest one hidden inside of a slightly larger one, which, in turn, nests inside of another, slightly
> larger doll, etc. In this poem, there are several “hidden pairs” — a hidden pair being: two things, one
> inside the other, that are both hidden inside something else. (The translator has noticed nine “hidden
> pairs” throughout the poem.)
> *263 - For “The Sinai of Him” see *205 and Line 211.
> *265 - “intellect” describes the ability to reason (to think rationally and logically) so that we may know
> the truth about the world we live in. “knowledge” describes information we have learned about the world
> we live in, which we believe to be true. “science” describes man’s efforts to give us factual information so
> that we may increase our knowledge about the world we live in. “accolades” implies awards, favors,
> recognition, praises, prizes (including Nobel Prizes), titles, honors, certi cates, academic degrees, etc.,
> that are given to those whose intellect and efforts appear to have increased our knowledge about the world
> we live in. These four aspects of life are seen in a new light when The Messenger of God comes.
> 
> fi
> 
> fi
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                             K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 266           When no one else is in the house but Him, O son,
> you will know all His Orders — head to toe, each one.
> 267           Then you will know as His: your eye and ear and hand.
> At that time: He will see — and He will take command.
> 
> 268*               The soul of the mystic knower is his Mosque Afar.
> The nadir of that store is where God’s Mysteries are.
> 
> 269           And now! — A New Remedy must be given!
> This Counsel you must take to heart, so listen:
> 270**         “Separation” and “Reunion” — Let go of each one,
> so that you’ll reach your true height in His Shadow, O son!
> 271           In “separation” — you burn from yearning.
> And from “reunion” — your fever’s burning!
> 272           Step into the spacious Field of Eternity,
> outside this limited Square of Mortality!
> 
> _____________________
> *268 - “Mosque Afar” is a poetic term for Masjid al-Aqsa (literally, “the furthest mosque”), which is
> located in Jerusalem on Temple Mount, where, according to Islamic traditions, Prophet Muhammad’s
> Ascent to Heaven (Mi‘raj) occurred on His Night Journey (Isra’) around 621 A.D. His Ascent occurred
> before the Masjid al-Aqsa was built. But, according to some beliefs, He rose up, step by step, through
> different spheres to the zenith [ZEE nith] of Heaven (the highest point of Heaven — frequently referred to
> as the “Seventh Heaven”). And this is where, according to the Islamic tradition, He conversed with God.
> Line 268 suggests that, paradoxically, deep down inside the soul — down at the nadir [NAY dur], or
> lowest point, of the soul (nadir is the polar opposite of zenith) — is where man’s “Ascension to Heaven”
> occurs. This is where the wise mystic “converses” (communes) with God. Therefore, the soul of the mystic
> is his “Mosque Afar”, his Masjid al-Aqsa (Place of Ascension”). Therefore, no need to travel very far.
> NOTE: The word “store” (makhzan) means: “repository” or “storehouse”. It refers to the soul, where
> “God’s Mysteries are”. (See also Line 81.) This Line may also allude to a work of 12th Century Persian
> Poet Nizam Ganjavi, which is titled: Makhzan-ol-Asrár (English translation: “The Treasury or Storehouse
> of Mysteries”). This is one of a set of five long narrative poems (mathnavis), known collectively as the
> Khamsa, which is considered one of the most important poetic and written works in Persian literature.
> (See Wikipedia.)
> *270 - “…you will reach your true height in His shadow…” implies that you will reach, or attain, your
> highest potential and most mature and well-developed self in the shadow of The Messenger of God, i.e.,
> being spiritually close to Him, influenced by Him, and enlightened by His Teachings. See *91, *110,
> Lines 133, 266-67, and 288.
> *270 and 271 - For “separation” and “reunion” see Lines 252-253, *274 and *275, and also *279.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 273*           If the hadith: “There was God…” you’ve taken in,
> and you’ve read the code: “There was naught besides Him…”,
> 274*           then strive to free yourself from — and bring to an end —
> this “separation and reunion of The Friend”.
> 275            When, from The Soul’s Mysteries, you’re sure that it’s true
> — that there is nothing but God, between God and you —
> 276            then, from the mirror of the soul, clear away the debris,
> so The Beautiful Splendor of That Pure One you will see,
> 277            so union into union you will see,
> so, in your heart, His Beauty’s Light you’ll see.
> 278            This union has nothing that opposes its creation!
> Not only that, but afterwards, there’s no separation!
> 
> _____________________
> *273 - Hadiths [had EETHS] are anecdotal stories that contain sayings of Prophet Muhammad which are
> not found in the Quran, but which have been verified, evaluated, and approved as valid guidance for all
> Muslims (although there are ongoing disputes concerning their accuracy, as is mentioned in *32). There
> are thousands of hadiths, and the entire collection of them is called “The Hadith”. In Islam, it is common
> for the learned to refer to a single hadith by quoting only the first few words of it. These truncated quotes
> are sometimes referred to as “codes”. It seems that the two codes in Line 273 refer to: (1) the singleness
> of God and (2) the omnipresence of God, respectively.
> *274-278 - Bahá’u’lláh counsels the Sufi to free himself from the false notion of “the separation and
> reunion of The Friend” (see also Lines 270 and 271, and Lines 279 and 280). Then, in Lines 275-278, He
> explains that, once you realize the truth that God is never far from you — that God is ever-present — and
> you cleanse your heart and soul (so that your soul reflects the Light of God), you will realize what true
> union with God is. This theme — the omnipresence of God — appears elsewhere in His Writings, as we
> can see in these passages on p. 185 in Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh:
> 
> God hath revealed, that “We are closer to man than his life-vein.” (from Quran 50:16)
> and
> Meditate on what the poet hath written: “Wonder not, if my Best-Beloved be closer to me than
> mine own self; wonder at this, that I, despite such nearness, should still be so far from Him.”
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                                   K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 279*           Your “union and separation” is duality!
> Listen to Father’s counsel, O son — it’s blasphemy!
> 280*            Fly far from these two! Like Homa! — Go! Make progress,
> so you’ll soar in the heights of The King of Oneness!
> 281             But your foot may slip, I’m afraid to say,
> and ego’s bad thoughts may get in your way,
> 282             so I need to explain the meaning of “union”,
> to uproot from your heart the weed of temptation,
> 283             so you won’t fall from these words into haughtiness,
> boasting, posturing, sedition and lawlessness.
> 
> _____________________
> *279 - The terms “duality” and “dualism”, in general, refer to the belief in two separate (usually opposed)
> concepts, such as Good and Evil, or Life and Death. Here, the duality is “separation and reunion”. This is
> the Sufi belief that the self is, at all times, in one of two states: either 1) far apart from God, yearning to be
> united (or reunited) with Him, or 2) united (or reunited) with God. Bahá’u’lláh dismisses this belief and
> calls it blasphemous. He calls it this because, first, He explains in Line 275 that God is omnipresent in the
> universe (“there is nothing but God, between God and you”). Therefore, God is always near you, never
> separated from you, and “separation from God” is an illusion. And second, regarding “union” with God
> (i.e., becoming one with God, fused or joined with God, or becoming “partners with God”), one should
> consider the following: the idea of a human being becoming united with God, or in partnership with God,
> as God’s equal, is absurd, since we understand from the Scriptures that God is alone and above all that is,
> with no peer or likeness. NOTE: In Lines 284-288, Bahá’u’lláh explains what “union with God” really
> means. (See also *274 and *275.)
> *280 - Homa (Arabic: Huma), also called “Bird of Paradise”, is a mythical bird with its origins in Persian
> folklore, fables, and legends and is a common motif in Sufi poetry. Brightly colored, from crest to tail, it
> is long-necked, like the Japanese crane, and has a long, glorious train of tail feathers that trail behind it.
> Legends vary, but they all have one thing in common: Homa remains in flight always — continually in
> the air, never coming down to earth. Similar to Phoenix and the Chinese Fenghuang, Homa is found in
> Turkish and Sindhi literature. Homa symbolizes unreachable heights, never dies, and is auspicious — a
> “Good Luck Bird” that brings good fortune. Interestingly, the Persian word hom, from the word homa,
> refers to “a stylized tree pattern originating in Mesopotamia as a symbol of the ‘Tree of Life’ and used
> especially in Persian textiles” (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Also, “Homa” is a popular female name in
> Persian, and the word “Homa” is a meaningful word in both Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. This is just
> the tip of the “Homa” iceberg! The word “Homa” is also used in Nigeria and in the Chickasaw Nation in
> Oklahoma. [NOTE: Oklahoma!] And Homa appears elsewhere . . . There is simply not enough space here
> to cover all the various ways this word is used throughout the world!
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                              K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 284            Know that His Union with you is His Light in you
> that, without doubt or question, is clearly in view.
> 285            This Light of His is His Trust in you.
> Strive hard, so it becomes bright in you!
> 286            Then you’ll find your union with Him within yourself, O friend,
> so you’ll never again see “separation” from The Friend!
> 
> 287           And you, in yourself, are a storehouse of God’s Treasure.
> But, from negligence, you’re just running after pleasure.
> 288            Until, in you, are clearly seen the attributes of God,
> you’ll know yourself as lost and in separation from God.
> 289            He has conferred on you a generous measure
> of Names and Attributes and Customs to treasure.
> 290*           He, from His Kindness, has opened the doors for you.
> O wise one, do not close these doors, as did the Jew.
> 
> _____________________
> *290 - Doors are symbols of opportunities. If we stay in the same room or place for a long time and never
> leave it, things become stale. We stare at the same place or the same walls over and over, again and again,
> and become numbed by them. If a door opens for us to leave that place, we then have the opportunity to
> experience new things in a stimulating and refreshing new space, adding to our life experiences and our
> knowledge of the world, and this increases our wisdom. When a Messenger of God comes, He opens the
> door for us to enter into the Light of a New Day and benefit from the New Revelation He brings for all of
> humanity. When Prophet Muhammad opened the door for the Jews to accept His Revelation, they rejected
> Him, claiming that “God’s hand is chained.” (Quran 5:64). Bahá’u’lláh, in the Kitáb-i-Íqán, says: “How
> false is that which the Jews have imagined! How can the hand of Him Who is the King in Truth [God],
> Who caused the countenance of Moses to be made manifest, and conferred upon Him the robe of
> Prophethood…be chained and fettered? How can He [God] be conceived as powerless to raise up yet
> another Messenger after Moses? Behold the absurdity of their saying…” Muslims, He says, are saying
> the same thing in This Day: “Observe how…[for] over a thousand years they have been reciting this
> verse and unwittingly pronouncing their censure against the Jews, utterly unaware that they, themselves,
> openly and privily, are voicing the sentiments and belief of the Jewish people! Thou art surely aware of
> their idle contention, that all Revelation is ended, that the portals of Divine Mercy are closed, that from
> the daysprings of eternal holiness no sun shall rise again…” So, like the Jews who rejected Muhammad,
> many Muslims reject Bahá’u’lláh, because they claim that Muhammad is “The Seal of the Prophets”, i.e.,
> the last prophet to come. Bahá’u’lláh explained that Muhammad is the last prophet of the Age, because:
> 
> With the coming of The Báb and Bahá’u’lláh, The Age of Prophethood (the Adamic Cycle) came to an
> end, and a New Age began — The Age of Fulfillment. The Báb and Bahá’u’lláh are not prophets. They
> are The Long-Awaited Promised Ones Who have come in ful llment of the prophecies of the prophets of
> the previous age.
> 
> fi
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                              K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 291***         Since you have heard the lament of That Pipe for love,
> now, this time, recognize This One — also for love.
> 292**         And since you’ve heard The Sound of This Pipe, The Piper see.
> (Otherwise, you’ll miss The News of The King’s Mystery.)
> 293*           The Piper saw some strangers plotting to assail,
> and that is why He chose This Pipe to be His Veil.
> 294            Then, you! — Remove your veils at once, so He
> — The Piper in the world — is all you see!
> 295*           Like Safdar! — Rend asunder the veils — all of them! —
> so you’ll see The Splendor of The All-Bountiful then!
> 
> _____________________
> *291 - “the lament of That Pipe” refers to the lament in “That Mathnavi” (Rumi’s Masnavi — see *299.
> “Mathnavi” can be spelled: “Masnavi”.)
> *291 - “This One” refers to the lament in “This Mathnavi” (Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnavi). See remarks in
> footnote below.
> *291 - In this Line, the Sufi is being invited to compare the lament that he has heard in “That Mathnavi”
> (Rumi’s Masnavi) with the lament in “This Mathnavi”. Bahá’u’lláh is inviting not only the young man
> whom He has been counseling, off and on (“O son”, “O lad”, etc.), to make this comparison, but also the
> audience, present or future, that may be reading or listening to This Mathnavi. This translator thinks that
> volumes could be written— and will be written — comparing and contrasting these two Mathnavis, and
> this small footnote can only touch on a few aspects: These works are alike, in that they are both mathnavis
> written in Persian by gifted poets. And both of them discuss the soul’s “separation and reunion” with God.
> They are quite different, however — most obviously in length. Rumi’s Masnavi is about 25,000 lines and
> Bahá’u’lláh’s is 318. But there are more important differences: In Rumi’s work, Rumi is “the lover”
> lamenting his separation from “The Beloved”, but in Bahá’u’lláh’s work, Bahá’u’lláh is “The Beloved”
> lamenting the lover’s separation from Him because the lover is unable to see and recognize The Presence
> of “The Beloved” right in front of him. Rumi is a gifted Sufi poet and philosopher. (Bahá’u’lláh admired
> Rumi’s poetry.) But Bahá’u’lláh is neither a Sufi nor a philosopher. He is The Promised One, foretold in
> the Scriptures — and not just a gifted poet, but gifted with powers beyond human comprehension — far
> beyond the powers of any wise philosopher. Also — Rumi’s work is said to be “a version of the Quran”,
> however, Bahá’u’lláh’s work cannot be considered a version of anything. It is a seminal work of its own,
> in a genre of its own.
> *292 - “This Pipe” refers to “This Mathnaví” (Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnavi), in contrast with “That Pipe” in
> Line 291, which refers to Rumi’s Mathnaví. Thus, the implication: “And since you’ve heard the sound of
> This Mathnaví…”
> *292 - “The Piper” may bring to mind the pipe-playing image of Kokopelli, a legendary figure in Native
> American culture for over 3,000 years.
> *293 - “This Pipe” refers to “This Mathnaví” (Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví), as it does in Line 292.
> *295 - For “Safdar” see *165.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                              K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 296*           Like the pipe, you cry in your “separation”,
> hoping your piper comes in for a “union”,
> 297*           as The Piper of the Soul comes in, crowing,
> and the hearts of lovers are overflowing!
> 298                  Keep on setting hearts on fire from This Pipe’s rhythm,
> till you burn — in the world — all signs of egotism.
> 299**          Man’s a hollow reed, when ego’s burned away —
> like manee: when meem is gone, what’s left is ney!
> 
> _____________________
> *296 - “the pipe” implies the whining, moaning, complaining pipe, or reed, in the opening of Rumi’s
> Mathnavi . (See *299.)
> *297 - The surprising, almost stunning, appearance of the word “crowing” suddenly brings to mind —and
> compares The Piper to — a rooster waking up the world at dawn. This is a beautiful salute to the imagery
> in Táhirih’s poem “Start Shouting”: At daybreak nightingales don’t sing. The cock / struts out and birds of
> Glory start praising. The marvelous striking image of a cock crowing at dawn is a radical and refreshing
> departure from the tired old trope, common in Sufi poetry, of the nightingale singing all through the night
> of his love for the rose (as Banani points out, in Táhirih: A Portrait in Poetry, pp.115-116). See *59.
> *299 - Line 299 contains an amazing “triple analogy”:
> 1) When the selfish narcissistic ego is removed (“burned away”) from Man (“Man” is gender
> neutral here — it means: “the human being”), he becomes selfless — like a hollow ney [NAY] (see *299),
> i.e., a pipe, a flute, a hollow reed — a beautiful musical instrument;
> 2) When the pith (inner pulp) is removed (“burned away”) from the cane reed, it becomes a ney,
> i.e., a pipe, a flute, a hollow reed — a beautiful musical instrument;
> 3) When the Persian letter M, the letter which is called: meem [MEEM], is “burned away”
> (removed) from the Persian word manee [man EE], a word that refers to the self-centered ego (“I” and
> ME!”) and is written with three consonants: M N Y — in other words, when M is removed from MNY —
> what remains are the letters N and Y, which spell ney, i.e., a pipe, a flute, a hollow reed — a beautiful
> musical instrument.
> *299 - The ney (the pipe, or flute) plays an important role in Sufi culture. Neys are made from cane reeds
> that are cut from their beds (separated from their source). In fashioning the ney, the pipe-maker slowly
> burns away the pith of the reed using fire (older method) or heat (modern method). The hollow reed is
> then, with holes and mouthpiece added, crafted into the finished pipe. The ney is the signature instrument
> of Sufi music. Its low moaning sound evokes the mournful tone of the opening lines of Rumi’s famous
> “Song of the Reed” (the first 18 lines of Rumi’s Masnavi Ma’navi), in which the poet likens himself to a
> ney (a pipe, or reed) as he laments his separation from his Beloved (translation by Nicholson):
> 
> 1) Listen to this reed, how it complains: it is telling a tale of separations,
> 2) saying, “Ever since I was parted from the reed-bed, man and woman have moaned in (unison with)
> my lament.
> 3) I want a bosom torn by severance, that I may unfold (to such a one) the pain of love-desire.”
> 4) Every one who is left far from his source wishes back the time when he was united with it.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 300*           When your eyesight is clear, from The Light of His Sun,
> you’ll see nothing but The Piper, O learned one.
> 301*           Then listen closely to The Piper’s Mysteries,
> so you will take, from This Bouquet, the scent of these:
> 302*                One spark from The Fire of His Love lit a blaze.
> The heap of His kingly existence burned away.
> 303                 When His Beauty tore the curtain from the face aside,
> the curtain of The Glory of Kings was opened wide.
> 304                 When That Beauty’s eyelash struck like a dart,
> it wounded the chest of the sovereign’s heart.
> 305*                At once! His kingly crown was snatched and thrown down,
> and He became a slave — in chains — underground,
> 306                 like prey — that’s fallen into the hunter’s hand . . .
> or hay — caught in the wind and blown off the land . . .
> 
> _____________________
> *300 - “your eyesight” implies “your insight”.
> *301 - “bouquet” [boo KAY, British pronunciation] 1. a bunch of flowers that are picked and often tied
> together, presented as a gift or carried on formal occasions, such as the bunch of flowers carried by the
> bride at a wedding ceremony; a nosegay 2. A characteristic smell of something, such as a wine or liqueur.
> Interesting note: boo (a noun) in Persian, means: “a smell”.
> *302-306 - These five couplets, in poetic language, allude to some momentous events that befell
> Bahá’u’lláh in Persia, before He was exiled at the end of 1852. These included the death of His father
> (when Bahà’u’lláh was 22 years old); the loss of His wealthy privileged lifestyle; recognizing in 1844 the
> greatness of the Báb and supporting and promoting the Báb’s Teachings; organizing the Conference of
> Badasht, in 1848, during which the sole female attendee appeared without a veil covering her face,
> causing a great upheaval at the Conference (see *117); and, two years later, the martyrdom of the Báb —
> His execution by a firing squad — which caused great anguish among the followers of the Báb — and, as
> a result, two heart-broken young men, devotees of the Báb, in their grief, foolishly fired at the king of
> Persia as he was riding by them, in public, mounted on a horse, one day. The shot they used was not
> capable of killing the king, but it injured him, and as a result of their actions, Bahá’u’lláh, although He
> had nothing to do with that incident, was arrested, paraded in public, chained, imprisoned, and then exiled
> from His homeland (see pp. iv-v).
> *305 - “His kingly crown” refers to the táj (round, tapered, dignified cap) that Bahá’u’lláh wore in public,
> that signified His noble lineage. (The word “táj”, Arabic in origin, means: “crown.” The táj and the turban
> are distinctive headdresses worn by Muslim men in Persia and in India.) Genealogical charts show that
> Bahá’u’lláh was a descendant of the Persian king, King Yazdigird III, and also Prophet Zoroaster, as well
> as Abraham and the House of David, through King David’s father Jesse, mentioned in The Bible.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                               K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 307**          If only a messenger to Iraq could be sent
> to explain the pain of remoteness and this lament:
> 308*           that, from Your parting, hearts burn with no relief . . .
> chests of kings are pierced by the arrow of grief . . .
> 309**          Between Us and You — O City of the Soul —
> are now a hundred thousand Qáfs capped in snow.
> 310*           There is no messenger, save for a tearful sigh,
> unless the wind of Sheba goes and tells them why
> 311*           the hand remains far short of the dates on the tree . . .
> the soul, from afar, has cried from the eyes a sea . . .
> 
> _____________________
> *307 - “Iraq” is pronounced: [er ROCK; it rhymes with “their rock”].
> *307 - Bahá’u’lláh lived in Iraq for ten years (1853-1863). Although under house arrest, He had freedom
> to move about in society, and He became well-known, well-loved, and well-respected for His wisdom,
> warmth, and kind and generous nature. But in April 1863, He was ordered to leave Iraq and go to Turkey.
> This broke the hearts of those who had come to love Him. As He departed the City of Baghdad, many
> people openly wept over losing their Wonderful Counselor and Friend. Lines 307 and 308 reflect the deep
> sense of loss and remoteness that Bahá’u’lláh was feeling in Turkey, as well as the grief that was being
> felt by the women and men in Baghdad who were suffering a great loss from His absence and were sorely
> missing Him. (See Introduction p. vi.)
> *308 - The term “kings”, with a lower case ‘k’, refers to noble, upright, and virtuous men (noble men).
> *309 - Bahá’u’lláh addresses Baghdad [bag DODD, the Iraqi pronunciation] as: “O City of the Soul”.
> This City was once referred to as “Dar es Salaam”, meaning: “The Abode of Peace”. Founded in “the
> cradle of civilization” over 5,000 years ago, Baghdad was once the greatest city on earth. In 762 A.D., it
> became known as “The Round City”, famous for its circular urban design and its radiating avenues, gates,
> and waterways. (See citiesofpeace.org.)
> *309 - Regarding “Qafs” [GOFFS or KOFFS]: “Qaf” is the name of a mythological mountain whose
> summit is so high, that its mountain range encompasses the whole world! (Qaf is featured in Attar’s
> Conference of the Birds.) Hyperbole aside, this Line suggests the Taurus Mountain Range that lies
> between Istanbul and Baghdad. The phrase “capped in snow” has been added to serve the rhyme.
> *310 - “the wind of Sheba” recalls the legendary story, in Persian literature, of King Solomon requesting
> the wind to bring, from the Kingdom of Sheba (Saba), the scent of the Queen to him, because he was
> sorely missing her. In Line 312, Bahá’u’lláh puts a twist on this legendary tale. He requests the zephyr
> (the gentle breeze), to bring the scent (i.e., the sense, or the news) of Himself in Turkey to all the loved
> ones in Iraq, because they are sorely missing Him. (See Line 308, *61 and *217.)
> *311 - The expression “the hand remains far short of the dates on the tree” implies that one is still a long
> way from reaching a goal.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                              K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> 312*           O Zephyr! — At once, from The Beloved of God,
> kindly drive away, to The Abode of Baghdad!
> 313            Then say to Her:
> “O City of God!
> Where is Your pride?
> Why have You remained here
> with The Friend gone from Your side?
> 314*               Your Friend is detained — Your Beloved Bahá! —
> Like Husayn — on The Plain of Karbala!
> 315**              One Husayn and a hundred thousand Yazids!
> One Habib and all these demonic enemies!
> 316*               Like Moses — in the midst of Egyptians!
> Or Jesus — in the midst of the Romans!
> 317                And just like Joseph, fallen into a well
> — that well that has no end and no way to leave —
> 318**              Your Nightingale is afflicted in a cell!
> Closed, also, in this cell — His airway to breathe.”
> 
> ___________________________
> *312 - The word “zephyr” means “gentle breeze”. And “Baghdad”, here, is pronounced: [bag DODD].
> See *309.
> *314 - Approaching the City of Karbala, “on the Plain of Karbala”, Imam Husayn, who was traveling
> with members of his family and close companions, was suddenly ambushed and brutally and savagely
> slaughtered by the army of the cruel, power-hungry Caliph Yazíd [yaz EED]. Learn online about the
> tragic and horrifying story of The Martyrdom of Imam Husayn. It has been said that Imam Husayn’s
> martyrdom is the defining tragedy of Islam.
> *315 - For “Yazíds” see *314.
> *315 - “Habib” [hab BEEB], as it is used here, means: “Friend” or “Beloved”. See *75.
> *316 - “in the midst of ” implies: “in the court of” (the court of law).
> *318 - The word “Nightingale” (bol-bol) is often used in classical Persian poetry to mean: “poet”.
> *318 - “His airway to breathe” implies His windpipe. He is closed (trapped, locked) inside a cell, and
> “Closed, also, in this cell” is His airway to breathe. (He and His windpipe have become “a hidden pair”.
> See *261.) Saying that “His airway to breathe” is closed also inside this cell does not mean that He cannot
> breathe. It is simply saying that He cannot speak freely. He cannot, in captivity, effectively communicate
> the Divine Revelation that He needs to deliver to the world. These final Lines of Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví
> convey His state of extreme suspense and anxiety. His life is in peril, and He has no way of escaping His
> situation. And we are left with the disturbing reality that Humanity’s Truest and Most Beloved Friend is a
> prisoner in a foreign land, in the grip of enemies who want to isolate, confine, and silence Him.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnaví                                                         K. Morton / May 2026
> 
> Translator’s Closing Comments
> This project was a labor of love. And an individual initiative that was begun joyfully in the hope
> of providing a tentative English translation of Bahá’u’lláh’s Mathnavi in rhyming couplets for
> people to enjoy, while waiting for a translation to be approved by the Universal House of Justice.
> (In response to my query, a few years ago, the Secretariat at the Baha’i World Centre indicated
> that an English translation of this work has not yet begun, and therefore it is not clear when such
> a translation will be available.) In the meantime, I sincerely hope that what I have been able to
> offer in the introduction, translation, and footnotes herein will help people in the Western world
> to become acquainted with this magnificent work.
> 
> PLEASE NOTE: In an email letter sent to me dated October 26, 2020, the Secretariat of the
> Universal House of Justice stated this: “The friends are of course free to translate Baha’i texts
> and to informally circulate their translations among themselves.” They have also let me know
> that I should feel free to post my translation as a provisional translation on the internet.
> 
> Acknowledgements
> Many kind souls helped with this translation project, and I am truly grateful for their assistance:
> Joanne Kittredge for her ever-present encouragement and support throughout the many years of
> the “work in progress”; Manouchehr Mohajeri for his transliteration, proofreading, suggestions
> and explanations, and his extensive networking and consulting with other Persian-speaking
> friends; Rebecca and Steven Bryant for their technical help; Emily Norris and Michael Mohajeri
> for their patience with their mother; Juliet Gentzkow and Linda Roche for their editorial review
> and proofreading in the early years; several people in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley who helped
> me in different ways, for their friendship, support, and feedback: Michael Fitzgerald, Kathryn
> Doyle, Leslie Waller, Anne Margaret Escarzaga, Caren Brosi, Chris Leontie, Charlotte Harman,
> and James Williams; Michael Bernhard and six other translators: Joshua Hall, Adib Masumian,
> Amrollah Hemmat, Ehsanollah Hemmat, John Hatcher, and Richard Davis for the various ways
> in which they helped and advised me; and, finally, Anthony Lee for his wonderful mentorship,
> coaching, and heartfelt enthusiasm for my work.
> 
> — Kay Lynn Morton
> 
> About the Translator
> Born and raised in New England, Kay has been an active member of the Bahá’í Faith for over 50
> years. In 1971, she married a Bahá’í from Iran and subsequently lived in Shiraz for three years
> (1971-74). She has studied English Literature and Writing at the University of Massachusetts and
> George Mason University, attended poetry workshops, and recited her poetry in public venues.
> Blessed with three children and six grandchildren, Kay presently resides in Northern Virginia.
>
> — *Mathnavi-yi Mubarak (Used by permission of the curator)*