# Tablet to the Premier [Ali Pasha]: Tablet study outline

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

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> Name of Tablet in Arabic or Persian: Lawh-i-Ra'ís. This is the one of three 
> Tablets revealed for Alí Páshá, and the second with this name. It is 
> sometimes mixed up with the Súriy-i-Ra'ís.
> 
> Translation into English: The Tablet of the Ruler (an exact translation of the 
> word "Ra'ís" is not easy to find. It can mean "boss," "president," "ruler," "chief," 
> "head," or "leader"). One sentence of this Tablet has been translated in World 
> Order of Bahá'u'lláh, 194. A full provisional translation, published in Star of 
> the West Vol.2 No.2, April 9 1911, page 3, is available online at 
> Bahái-library.org/provisionals/lawh.rais.2.html. (Now at http://www.bahai-library.com/writings/bahaullah/slh/rais2.html)
> 
> Significance of Name: Revealed for the "Ra'ís," the ruler, of Turkey. One 
> student observes that "the title 'Chief (Ra'ís)' which Bahá'u'lláh uses to 
> address Alí Páshá is indicative of his attachment to worldly glory and honor."
> 
> Tablet was revealed in: Persian
> 
> Name of Recipient: Alí Páshá, the Grand Vizir of Turkey and Bahá'u'lláh's "great 
> adversary" (Taherzadeh 34)
> 
> Reason for Revelation of the Tablet: 
> To condemn Alí Páshá for his cruelty and unjust treatment of the innocent 
> Bahá'ís; to remind the Páshá that his glory will disappear like that of a puppet 
> at the end of the puppet show, whereas the glory of those who follow the 
> Cause of God will be eternal; to tell the Páshá that his inhumane treatment of 
> the Bahá'ís has caused two to commit suicide and another two to die from the 
> poor conditions of the prison (Shoghi Effendi says that three died, but 
> Bahá'u'lláh only mentions two of them); to call the Páshá and the people of the 
> world to awaken from their ignorance and embrace the Cause of God.
> 
> Date of Revelation: Shortly after the death of three Bahá'ís, who died due to 
> the harsh conditions of the prison (_Bahá'u'lláh: King of Glory_ 283 and _God 
> Passes By_ 187), which would place it at the end of summer, 1868. The _Basic 
> Bahá'í Chronology_ places this Tablet at around the end of August.
> 
> Place of Revelation: The Most Great Prison, Akká
> 
> Role of Amanuensis or Secretary: 
> No mention is made of any direct role in the revelation or transcription of the 
> Tablet. However, Taherzadeh mentions that, after its revelation, Mírzá Áqá 
> Jan asked Bahá'u'lláh what would happen if, despite all the cruelties and the 
> injustices to which Alí Páshá has subjected Bahá'u'lláh and His followers, the 
> Páshá were to repent. Bahá'u'lláh's "emphatic response" was that whatever had 
> been stated in the Tablet would inevitable be fulfilled.
> 
> Other Tablets revealed at about the same time:
> There were many Tablets revealed around this time, most notably the epistles 
> to the Kings, such as the Súriy-i-Ra'ís, Lawh-i-Fu'ád, Second Tablet to 
> Napoleon III, Tablet to Pope Pius IX, Tablet to Czar Alexander II, and the 
> Tablet to Queen Victoria. 
> 
> Style, subject, and genre of the Tablet: [?]
> 
> I. Tone of Tablet: 
>         1. Tablets with the tone of command and authority.
> II. Subjects Covered by Tablet: 
>         4. Tablets concerning matters of government and world order, and those 
> addressed to the kings.
>         6. Tablets exhorting men to education, goodly character and divine 
> virtues.
> III. Literary Genre of Tablet:
>         1. Letter to an individual. 
> 
> Voice of Tablet: [?] Bahá'u'lláh
> 
> Outline Contents of Tablet:
> 
> (This summary taken from a provisional translation.) Bahá'u'lláh rebukes Alí 
> Páshá for his cruel and inhumane treatment of Bahá'u'lláh's followers. He tells 
> the Páshá that men like him have regarded God's manifestations as wrong-
> doers, and this Páshá regards Bahá'u'lláh as a guilty wrong-doer. But the 
> Manifestations and those who believe in God have not committed the crimes of 
> which they're accused. It is rather the names of these rulers that are lost in 
> history, just as this Páshá's name, too, will be lost to history. 
> 
> The Páshá has persecuted a number of people who showed no opposition to 
> him. Even the guards admitted that the Bahá'ís were innocent. The Bahá'ís 
> were locked in a gloomy dungeon and given neither bread nor water. They have 
> now been in this dungeon for some time, even though all the people of 
> Adrianople would testify that they are innocent and saintly. Upon being exiled 
> one Bahá'í killed himself, and a second drowned himself during the voyage. Yet 
> the government is increasing their hardships and giving them nothing to eat 
> but inedible bread. 
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh says that He is not telling the Páshá these things to make him 
> mindful, because he is and will remain heedless. Their humiliation will not 
> last, just as the current glory and power the Páshá enjoys will not last. To 
> exemplify the ephemeralness of earthly glories, Bahá'u'lláh relates His famous 
> story of watching the puppet show as a child, in which many glorious 
> personalities and events played across the stage but at the end all went back 
> into the same box and were gone. In like wise, this earth has no lasting 
> importance in the eyes of God, and all of the earth's treasures, glories, and 
> haughty rulers will disappear in the tomb. In light of this, Bahá'u'lláh calls to 
> the Páshá to cease opposing the Bahá'ís and God's Cause.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh then calls to the people of the Earth to listen to His message and 
> ponder the above story. All things must pass away, and only the cause of God 
> is ultimately important. Bahá'u'lláh quotes the philosopher Avicenna (Ibn Sina) 
> to the effect that the people of the Earth must be admonished and must wake 
> up. Bahá'u'lláh then speaks to the Páshá again, telling him that he has not 
> succeeded in conquering Bahá'u'lláh, but rather it is he, the Páshá, who is in 
> truth defeated. Bahá'u'lláh reminds the Páshá that He had asked for but one 
> favor: to grant Him an audience of ten minutes to verify the proof of 
> Bahá'u'lláh's statements and His mission, a request the Páshá ignored.
> 
> Bahá'u'lláh concludes by telling the Páshá that two of His followers had just 
> died, and the guards had stolen the money given to them to arrange for a 
> proper funeral. If the Páshá truly understood his low state and the true 
> station of Bahá'u'lláh, he would leave everything to come and live with the 
> Bahá'ís in the prison.
> 
> Principal themes of the Tablet:
> The predominant theme is the ephemeralness of this earthly life. Bahá'u'lláh 
> tells Alí Páshá not to rely on his pomp and glory, for they will pass away. Only 
> the Cause of God is eternal. The second major theme would seem to be the 
> innocence of the Bahá'ís and the injustice of the Páshá's treatment of them.
> 
> Tablet's relationship to other tablets:
> One student observes that it is "interesting to compare the notion of tests and 
> difficulties in Lawh-i-Salmán, a believer, and those tests Bahá'u'lláh says Alí 
> Páshá faces. In the former He tells a believer to pay no attention to them. God 
> does what He pleaseth and so long as we are obedient, moving in line with His 
> will, we will move ahead in spite of physical life's ups and downs. To the non-
> believer (or disobedient 'believer') these same kinds of tests and difficulties 
> are shown as a terrible threat. He stresses the instability and futility of 
> earthly life, that pomp and glory here will vanish, 'that God's chastisement 
> will assail him from every direction and confusion overtake his peoples and 
> government, and affirms that the wrath of God has ... (permanently) surrounded 
> him.'"
> 
> Also, as one of the epistles to the rulers of the world, this Tablet fits in with 
> the overall themes of informing the rulers of His station and Message and 
> calling them to accept the new Revelation, reminding them that their earthly 
> rule is not ultimately real, for only God holds true power. Another student 
> adds that "here we can see another proposition by Bahá'u'lláh to establish the 
> validity of His Revelation. He gave similar proposals to Nasiri'd-DIn Sháh of 
> Persia in the Lawh-I-Sultán, and a similar proposal was given to Mullá Hassan 
> 'Amu who came to see Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad representing a group of 
> dignitaries of Shiite, but in both cases there was no response from the other 
> side."
> 
> 
> Biography or bio note of the recipient of the Tablet:
> A brief biography of Alí Páshá has been included in an appendix to _Bahá'u'lláh: 
> King of Glory_, 469:
>         Muhammad Amin 'Alí Páshá was born in Istanbul in February 1815, the 
> son of a shopkeeper. Because he had acquired a knowledge of French, he was 
> able to obtain a post in the translation bureau of the Ottoman government in 
> 1833. He was sent on several foreign missions and was the Turkish Counsellor 
> in London, 1838-9. In 1840, he became Minister of Foreign Affairs for a short 
> time and returned to this position in 1846 under Rashid Páshá. In 1852 he 
> became Grand Vizier for a few months and then, in 1854, he was again 
> appointed Foreign Minister and, in 1855, Grand Vizier (until the following 
> year). He continued in high office for most of the rest of his life, being 
> Foreign Minister in 1857-8, July 1861 and November 1861 to 1867, and Grand 
> Vizier in 1858-9, 1861 and 1867-71. After Fu'ád Páshá's death in 1869, he 
> combined the posts of Foreign Minister and Grand Vizier. He was a successful 
> diplomat and one of a small group of Turkish statesmen determined to steer 
> Turkey into the nineteenth century, but he tended to be authoritarian and 
> overbearing in his personal manner. He died on 7 September 1871 after three 
> months of illness.
>
> — *Tablet to the Premier [Ali Pasha]: Tablet study outline (Used by permission of the curator)*