Lawḥ-i-Kullu’ṭ-Ṭa‘ám

Lawḥ-i-Kullu’ṭ-Ṭa‘ám, provisionally translated as the Tablet of All Food, is an early Arabic Tablet revealed by Bahá’u’lláh in Kazimayn, a quarter of Baghdad, prior to His seclusion in Kurdistan, placing its revelation in either late 1853 or early 1854. He revealed the Tablet in His own hand and chanted it Himself.

Subject

The Tablet is a commentary on verse 3:93 of the Qur'an:

All food was lawful to the Children of Israel except what Israel had made unlawful to himself before the Torah was revealed. Say, [O Muhammad], "So bring the Torah and recite it, if you should be truthful."

Muin Afnáni notes that much of the Tablet uses allegorical language, and suggests that it is the earliest extant example of Bahá’u’lláh explaining the concept of Manifestation of God. Stephen Lambden describes it as esoteric and states that it defines various interpretations of the terms 'food', 'Israel' and the 'children of Israel' in the context of the verse, notably relating them to the Bábi Faith. Bijan Ma'sumanian notes that there are nine distinct interpretations of the term food in the Tablet, with five referring to a hierarchy of existence of Realms or Worlds of God. It is stated that there are limitless Realms though only five are defined in the Tablet, and Ma'sumanian suggests that these defined Realms may eventually serve as the basis for a Bahá'í Theology. They are, from 'highest' to 'lowest':

• The Realm of Háhút, where God's unmanifested essence, without attributes, perfect, changeless, formless, and unknowable resides
• The Realm of Láhút, in which the attributes of God present but unknowable in Háhút are revealed. This results in the emanation of archetypal forms of all created things.
• The Realm of Jabarút or Divine Power, where God provides spiritual sustenance and salvation to mankind. It is in this Realm that the Manifestation of God has individuality while also being able to identify Themselves with God, however the station of a Manifestation of God is one of abstraction and essential unity here, and the Manifestations are seen collectively as one.
• The Realm of Malakút, where the Manifestation of God takes on a historical role with distinct personalities, missions and teachings at fixed times. The distinctions of the Manifestations of God are present here, and they are seen as distinct individuals.
• The Realm of Násút, where the bounty of God causes physical creation and sustenance.

In ‘Abdu’l-Bahá's writings he reveals that Jabarút is the ultimate, highest, Realm that a human soul can attain, however Moojan Momen notes that this does not suggest that a soul which enters the Realm of Jabarút is equivalent to a Manifestation of God.

It has also been interpreted that Bahá’u’lláh alludes to His intention to depart Baghdad by describing the disunity in the Bábí community in the Tablet. Ma'sumanian notes that while the Tablet demonstrates Bahá’u’lláh's superior spiritual insights, as such demonstrating His credibility as a leader of the Bábí community, it also shows that Bahá’u’lláh was not seeking to challenge Mírzá Yaḥyá's position.

History

It was revealed for Ḥájí Mírzá Kamálu’d-Dín Naráqí who had traveled to Baghdad to meet Mírzá Yaḥyá, the half-brother of Bahá’u’lláh and figurehead of the Bábí community at the time, and requested an explanation of the verse from him. He was left unsatisfied by Mírzá Yaḥyá's explanation, which has not survived to the present day, and requested an explanation from Bahá’u’lláh who revealed the Lawḥ-i-Kullu’ṭ-Ṭa‘ám for him. It is notably the first time that Bahá’u’lláh responded to a question in writing, and He said that He was doing so due to Mírzá Kamálu’d-Dín's sincerity. Mírzá Kamálu’d-Dín reportedly declared his belief in Bahá’u’lláh after reading the Tablet.

Shoghi Effendi writes the following regarding the revealing of this Tablet in God Passes By:

"Turning to Bahá’u’lláh and repeating his request, he was honored by a Tablet, in which Israel and his children were identified with the Báb and His followers respectively—a Tablet which by reason of the allusions it contained, the beauty of its language and the cogency of its argument, so enraptured the soul of its recipient that he would have, but for the restraining hand of Bahá’u’lláh, proclaimed forthwith his discovery of God’s hidden Secret in the person of the One Who had revealed it."

A small segment of this Tablet has been officially translated by Shoghi Effendi in God Passes By:

"“Oceans of sadness,” He testifies in the Tablet of Qullu’t-Tá’am, “have surged over Me, a drop of which no soul could bear to drink. Such is My grief that My soul hath well nigh departed from My body.” “Give ear, O Kamál!” He, in that same Tablet, depicting His plight, exclaims, “to the voice of this lowly, this forsaken ant, that hath hid itself in its hole, and whose desire is to depart from your midst, and vanish from your sight, by reason of that which the hands of men have wrought. God, verily, hath been witness between Me and His servants.” And again: “Woe is Me, woe is Me!… All that I have seen from the day on which I first drank the pure milk from the breast of My mother until this moment hath been effaced from My memory, in consequence of that which the hands of the people have committed.”

A full official translation does not exist, but a provisional translation has been made.

Provisional Translation

• Provisional translation by Stephen Lambden

External links

• https://bahai-library.com/winters_wilmette_tablets_noteslawh-kull-taam/notes.html
• https://bahai-library.com/winters_wilmette_tablets_noteslawh-kull-taam/outline.html
• Article on the Tablet by Stephen Lamdben