The Four Valleys

The Four Valleys (Persian: چهار وادی Chahár Vádí) is a Tablet revealed in Persian by Bahá'u'lláh. It covers many subjects while describing mans journey towards God, such as interpretation of scriptures, religious beliefs and doctrines of the past. It has been officially translated into English at the request of Shoghi Effendi.

Structure

The Tablet is structured around descriptions of four paths or Valleys in a mystic's journey towards the goal of the Divine.

Roughly summarized they are:

• Maqsúd, in English the Intended One, which is to try and draw near to God through observance of religious Law, as theologians do.
• Mahmud, the English the Praiseworthy One, which is to try and draw near to God through reason and intellect, as philosophers do.
• Majdhub, in English the Attracting One, which is to try and draw near to God through the heart, as the Sufi mystics do.
• Mahbub, in English the Beloved, which is to try and draw near to God with a combination of observance of religious Law, reason and intellect, and the heart. This last is considered the highest or truest form of mystic union.

It is open to interpretation whether these stages are four distinct paths towards God, or four stages within a single path towards God.

History

The Four Valleys was revealed in approximately 1857 in Baghdad, in response to questions from Shaykh `Abdu'r-Raḥmán, the "honored and indisputable leader" of the Qádiríyyih Order of Sufism, who had met Bahá'u'lláh when He was in Sulaymániyyih. The Shaykh never identified as a Bahá'í, but was known to his followers as having high respect and admiration for Bahá'u'lláh. Unfortunately the questions to which Bahá'u'lláh was responding have not survived. The contents of the Tablet indicate that it may have been revealed by Bahá'u'lláh in His own Hand, rather than being dictated to an amanuensis.

In 1934 Shoghi Effendi requested that Ali Kuli Khan translate the Four Valleys into English and re-translate the Seven Valleys, which he had translated in the early 1900's. They were translated and approved as a single manuscript, and published together in June 1936. The two Tablets continue to be published together to this day, however it should be noted that despite this they are separate and independent Tablets.

In 1945 a new English translation of the Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys was produced by Ali Kuli Khan and his daughter Marzieh Gail. In 2019 an updated translation of the Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys was published by the Bahá'í World Centre in the compilation The Call of the Divine Beloved.

Translation

• Translation in The Call of the Divine Beloved

See also

• The Seven Valleys

References

• Ayman, Iraj; Afnani, Muin. "Four Valleys - Wilmette Institute faculty notes". Retrieved 2009-03-28.
• Bahá'u'lláh (1991) [1856-63]. The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. ISBN 0877432279. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
• Effendi, Shoghi (1944). God Passes By. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. ISBN 0877430209. Retrieved 2009-03-28.
• Hatcher, J.S. (1997). The Ocean of His Words: A Reader's Guide to the Art of Bahá'u'lláh. Wilmette, Illinois, USA: Bahá'í Publishing Trust. ISBN 0877432597.
• Taherzadeh, A. (1976), The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 1: Baghdad 1853-63, Oxford, UK: George Ronald, ISBN 0853982708

External links

Bahai.works has a related page: Four Valleys

• Compendium on the Four Valleys
• Will, Knowledge, and Love as Explained in Bahá’u’lláh's Four Valleys by Julio Savi

This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Sharealike 3.0 Unported License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article [from 27 October 2009 The Four Valleys].