Bahá’í Manuscripts/Text

Bahá’í Manuscripts

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BAHÁ’Í MANUSCRIPTS

C·M·R [Page 3] BAHÁ’Í SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY ELIOT, MAINE [Page 4]

BAHÁ’Í MANUSCRIPTS

SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR PRESERVATION AND ARRANGEMENT

BY CHARLES MASON REMEY 1923 [Page 5]

Approved by the National Bahá’í Archives Committee of America and passed by the National Bahá’í Reviewing Committee of America

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PREFACE

This article upon Bahá’í manuscripts, their preservation and arrangement, was written several years ago and lately edited. Recent interest in Bahá’í manuscripts has been so upon the increase, however, that several months ago, our present National Spiritual Assembly, in America, appointed a committee for amassing, arranging and preserving the records of the Cause. This marks the first officially organized step toward the establishment of National Bahá’í Archives in this country, a work which one can readily foresee will, ere long, assume international importance.

The Bahá’í world is one world, irrespective of national boundaries, and that which is of benefit to the work in one land, benefits it in all other lands as well. The work of gathering and preserving these manuscripts is, therefore, a service for the Cause Universal.

General Bahá’í Archives can be gathered only through the interest and co-operation of the believers, and in order to enlist the participation of the Bahá’ís in this service, this accompanying article is being circulated.

CHARLES MASON REMEY,

Newport, Rhode Island,

21, September, 1923.

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BAHÁ’Í MANUSCRIPTS

One of the aspirations of every one desiring to study the Bahá’í teachings and to work in the Cause, is to possess as large a library as possible of the Holy Writings of this religion. Although at the present time a number of these sacred texts are published in books, pamphlets and leaflets, available through the Bahá’í Publishing Society, there are, nevertheless, a large number of the Revealed Writings to be found only in manuscript form. As one delves in the Bahá’í thought he, therefore, finds the matter contained in manuscript to be of growing interest and of very vital import to the Cause.

It was while traveling among the Bahá’ís in Persia, that the writer’s interest was first directed toward the importance of preserving and caring for the records of the Cause in manuscript. The Oriental Bahá’ís preserve their sacred manuscripts with painstaking care. This service is probably due to the fact that the Oriental people are naturally endowed with a very reverential and religious nature, and, added to this, among the Bahá’ís the spirit of faith has been fostered and developed to the highest degree, through years of service, persecution and general suffering for the sake of the Cause. Besides, the Persians are an artistic and poetic people, descended from a most ancient civilization. All of these elements, spiritual and artistic, taken together with an intense devotion to the Cause, create, within the Bahá’ís there, a very deep love and reverence for the Word of God, in the spiritual sense, and also for the written word in its material or documentary form.

When the writer was in Persia, in the summer of 1908, the only Bahá’í literature which he saw, and knew to have been reproduced in that country, was in manuscript, with the exception of some photographs of Persian and Arabic manuscripts. These had been reproduced through a laborious and painstaking method of photo-manifolding, a step toward the printing press, which the Bahá’ís were then looking forward to establishing as soon as their conditions allowed its use. At that time he understood there was no printing press operating in all of Persia, the only printed Bahá’í books in Persian having been done in Bombay. [Page 8] Under such conditions one can readily understand the great attention which the Oriental Bahá’ís bestow upon their manuscript literature. With them, men make a profession of transcribing tablets, and some attain great artistic perfection as scribes. Chiefest among these, in the day of Bahá’u’lláh, was Mishkin-Qalam, a few of whose original, illuminated manuscripts are possessed by the Bahá’ís in America. The original of the special form of the Greatest Name, in Persian, which appears so frequently on the Bahá’í documents, is from Mishkin-Qalam’s pen. This alone has made him famous as a penman in the Occident, as well as among the people in the Orient.

Mi’rzá Váli’u’lláh, son of Varqá and brother of Rúhu’lláh, the martyrs, once told the writer of his brother Rúhu’lláh’s transcriptions of the Holy Words. As the father journeyed. from place to place, teaching the Glad Tidings of El Abhá, little Rúhu’lláh accompanied him, and, as the father taught, the little boy (he was but 12 years old when martyred), would sit near by, making copies of the Revealed Words. These copies would be given to those who were interested and attracted; thus did this little boy do his Bahá’í service. Many are familiar with the story of the spiritual triumph of Varqá and his little son. They both gave their lives in the Path of the Beloved.

The Bahá’is here in the Occident have but little conception of the trials and struggles which the believers in the Orient have undergone in order to preserve the written Word of God. Even during comparatively recent times, not to mention the days of the ministries of the Báb, and of Bahá’u’lláh, to be found with a manuscript of the Bahá’í Writings on one’s person, was often sufficient to cause the bearer’s death at the hands of fanatical Mussulmans.

Under such conditions, the believers were often obliged to hide their sacred manuscripts. Many instances are told of the way in which tablets were secreted, plastered up in niches in walls, and even buried in the ground for safe keeping. Again, at times, rather than have sacred documents fall into the hands of ignorant, fanatical people, who would misunderstand them, in times of extremity the Bahá’ís even resorted to destroying these Holy Writings. Some of the believers in America have [Page 9] been told of a certain Oriental Bahá’í who was carrying a package of Tablets, when he was surrounded by enemies and cast into prison. Rather than have these fall into unfriendly hands, this faithful soul spent the better part of one night in chewing up his manuscripts into a pulp. Thus he used the only means at hand to destroy these documents and protect the Cause.

It is said that in the days of the imprisonment of the Báb, His written teachings were sometimes sealed up in waterproof stuff and transported in jars of maast (sour milk), and even secreted in loaves of bread, in order to make possible their transmission from Him past His prison guards to His followers at a distance. Under conditions such as these, it is easy to understand how, at a very early date in the history of the Cause, there developed among the Bahá’ís, as a sacred tradition, the reverential care and custodianship of the Revealed Word in manuscript, a veneration which has been handed down by them to us in this day.

Although, at the present time here in the Occident, it would seem that the profusion of printed Bahá’í books, pamphlets, and leaflets might diminish rather than increase the interest of our people in the study of manuscripts, yet an increasing number of ‎Bahá’í’s Bahá’ís‎ are occupying themselves with the diffusion of Tablets in manuscript.

Twenty-four years ago all the written Bahá’í teachings in this country were hand-copied. Each tablet was then cherished with a fervour, the loss of which, through the increase of printed matter, one can but regret. Each one of the then small group of friends sought diligently to increase his meagre supply of the Holy Words, and hours were spent in transcribing the Revealed Utterances.

The writer remembers the first bit of printed Bahá’í literature he ever saw. It was during his first visit to the Master, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, in Haifa, in the winter of 1901. The Hidden Words had been published in Chicago, and one copy had been sent to the Holy Land. Enthusiastic over the prospect of this addition to the meagre collection of the utterances, a group of the assembled pilgrims proceeded to make copies of the contents of this book, one of the party reading it aloud, slowly, while each one of the others took it down in handwriting — so anxious were they to have these Holy Words, and perhaps, too, a bit fearful lest they [Page 10] might never have the opportunity of actually possessing a duplicate of this much coveted booklet.

Notwithstanding the present-day advance in the circulation of Bahá’í books, let all remember that every line of print had its birth in manuscript and that it is because of the preservation and care of these manuscripts, by the Bahá’ís of a few decades ago, that we are now in possession of the many books which are carrying the Message of the Glad Tidings to numbers of people in all parts of the world.

Most of all consider how careful all should be in the preservation and care of the Bahá’í writings and records in their possession, which are still only in manuscript. Since the present printed matter is an outgrowth of written records, the future development of Bahá’í literature depends upon the thought and care now bestowed upon the sacred literature in manuscript form, of which the people of the present day are the custodians.

The letters and accounts of the everyday events happening in the Cause, today, are often seemingly of little present value to many, but without doubt, the time will come when people will be as interested in knowing and understanding the conditions in the Cause, in this day and age, as the world now is in knowing things which happened in the early days of past dispensations. Trivial as some letters and written documents may seem, they always convey, through their style and language and thought, an intimate spirit of the present which will prove of value to the future historian, in the same way that the fragmentary documents of bygone ages give to the present-day historian an insight into the lives of the people of the past, which could be attained in no other way.

For instance, it is doubtful if any modern account of some of the events connected with the life of The Báb and of Bahá’u’lláh could possibly give us a picture so scintillating with vigor and interest, as do the accounts of the early believers and writers. Notwithstanding the fact that these writings are often very fragmentary, and in themselves are of no great literary value; yet they give us, as nothing else could, a glimpse into the hearts of the people of those days.

For some years past the writer has been collecting and preserving and arranging such manuscript records and archives of [Page 11] the Bahá’í Cause as he has been able to get into his possession, having so arranged his affairs that this collection will eventually become the property of the Bahá’í organization in America.

While the system evolved in this work is very elementary, and is only a first step toward the system of preservation and arrangement of these records which he hopes eventually will be developed, there are, nevertheless, several reasons why it seems to him advisable to offer in this article a few suggestions to the friends regarding the preservation and arrangement of Tablets and other manuscript matter pertaining to the Cause. First, because as yet, there seems to be no general plan generally adhered to by the friends for the preservation of such archival records; second, because, in the absence of such a system, various people, knowing of his work in this line, have asked him for advice regarding this matter; and, third, because the simple system which his labors have led him to develop seems not only to insure, to a considerable extent, the safety and permanence of the records, but also to afford a certain efficiency in referring to the material in question.*

Without doubt, the time ultimately will come when general Bahá’í archives will be preserved on a very extended scale, but until now this has been done by an Assembly, or by an individual here and there. Some years ago a plan was inaugurated by Mr. Albert R. Windust, the custodian of the archives of the Spiritual Assembly of Bahá’ís of Chicago, then known as the House of Spirituality, whereby notices were sent to the Assemblies, asking the friends to intrust to his care copies of translations of Tablets revealed to them, for permanent preservation and reference.

Many of the translations of the Tablets thus intrusted to the care of the Bahá’í Assembly of Chicago, through Mr. Windust, appeared later in book form. It would not have been possible for us to have, at so early a date, the three cherished volumes of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Tablets, had the Chicago friends not started this amassing of Bahá’í archives.

• NOTE. Since the writing of this article the National Spiritual Assembly of Bahá’ís in America has appointed a National Bahá’í Archives Committee to collect, arrange and preserve Bahá’í documents of archival value.

[Page 12] The thought in writing these notes upon the preservation and arrangement of manuscripts is to share with the friends a simple system of handling Bahá’í records, in the hope that each one who possesses Bahá’í documents will be led to preserve them carefully, and so to arrange their possessions that these treasures will be retained always in the hands of those Bahá’ís who will appreciate their value, preserve them, and hand them down to others.

For convenience of classifying the Bahá’í manuscripts in one's possession, they may be considered under five classes: First. Original Holy Writings. Second. Illuminated texts of the Holy Writings. Third. Copies of the Holy Writings and translations of the same. Fourth. Writings of the Guardian of the Cause. Fifth. Writings of the friends.

These five categories seem to cover all of the Bahá’í written records.

First. Original Revealed Holy Writings

First. Original Revealed Holy Writings, bearing the signature or seal of the Revealer. In the Western world practically all of this class are from the pen of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, but in the Orient some of the Bahá’ís have also valuable, original manuscripts from the pens of Bahá’u’lláh and The Báb.

The most important consideration in the handling of these most valuable manuscripts is their preservation, after which is that of their use for reference. As, for the most part, the people in America depend for references upon the translations of the Tablets, rather than upon the original texts in Arabic or Persian, so the matter of the preservation of these documents is practically the only one to be considered. The safest place for these treasures, in most cases, is in the many well-organized and incorporated safe deposit bank vaults, which may be found in every American city and town.

Tablets had better not be kept in their original envelopes, for taking them out of the envelopes, unfolding them, folding them again, then replacing them in their envelopes wears and tears the sheets. A good way to preserve original Tablets is to place them in heavy paper folders of legal size, which, in [Page 13] turn, may be kept in a portfolio. In order to do this, remove the Tablets from their envelopes. On one inside page of the folder the Tablet and envelope may be placed flat and hinged in place by stickers or small squares of paper; or Tablet and envelope may be fastened in place by strips of paper carefully pasted across the corners of the folder at angles of forty-five degrees. Upon the opposite page of the folder, in like manner, may be attached the manuscript of the original translation of the Tablet.

Upon the outside upper edge of the folder a note may be made of the date of its translation (the Tablets themselves rarely are dated), the name of the recipient, and, if desirable, a digest of the contents of the Tablet. This simple arrangement is sufficient for most personal collections of original Tablets, for these are usually not large, and at most, can be contained in a portfolio or two.

While in Tihrán, Persia, the writer frequently visited the home of Mi’rzá Áziz’u’llah Khan and Mi’rza Váli’u’lláh Khan, the sons of Varqá, the martyr. These friends have a large collection of the original Revealed Sacred manuscripts, including several hundred Tablets, many of which were from the pen of Bahá’u’lláh, and some from the pen of The Báb. One of the latter, as the writer recalls it, was very finely written in red ink in the form of a pentacle. So small was the chirography, that, at first sight, the surface written upon appeared to be but a red textured paper, but upon close scrutiny, it was found to be covered with the very finest of writing, done in red ink. This collection of Tablets was arranged in packages, each wrapped in squares of silk and placed on shelves in cabinets.

A very common practice among the people in Persia is to have their original Tablets mounted on cardboard, and the blank portions of the paper decorated and illuminated, thus forming an irregular decorative frame about the script of the text. However, one would venture a word of caution to those who would mount an original Tablet by ordinary pasting, for unless very carefully done the dampness of the paste may blur the writing.

The friends in America are quite familiar with the yellowish, glazed paper upon which the Master ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote many of His Tablets. The slightest bit of moisture will efface the [Page 14] texts written upon this paper with the ink usually employed by the Master, which was not waterproof. Hence the necessity of keeping these precious documents absolutely dry. The following story illustrates the perishable quality of this ink when it comes in contact with dampness:

One of the Bahá’í martyrs, a man on a mission, was carrying a package of Tablets addressed to friends in a certain city where persecution was in progress. He was waylaid by enemies, beaten, and left to die by the roadside in the scorching sun, bleeding from many knife wounds. By great exertion he was able to crawl and drag himself to a stream of water flowing near to slake his dying thirst. Later when his persecutors returned to search his person for evidence which would lead them to locating other Bahá’ís, the soul of the man had taken its flight to the Supreme Concourse. The package of Tablets had become so soaked with his blood and the water of the stream, into which he had partially fallen, as to efface the ink sufficiently to render the writing quite illegible.

Here in America, as well as in other countries, occasionally one sees Tablets framed under glass and hung as wall decorations. Although this protects them from the dangers of handling, and at the same time allows their inspection, it still remains to be seen what effect will be produced by this constant exposure to the light. One might take warning from the fate of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. For many years this original document was under glass where visitors might view it, in the State Department, in Washington, but while exposed thus to the light it began to fade. Now, in order to preserve it, it has been placed in a darkened safe, and a facsimile is on view in the frame formerly occupied by the original.

In the home of Consul and Mrs. Schwarz, of Stuttgart, the writer saw a valuable collection of original Tablets preserved between uniformly cut sheets of glass, framed in the "passe partout" style. The original Tablet and its translation were placed back to back between two sheets of glass, the passe partout binding hermetically sealing the papers. These frames were placed in a portable wooden case, fitted with grooves to hold each frame firmly in place. As the case was closed, the Tablets were protected from the light. If one wishes to handle [Page 15] his Tablets to a degree which might damage them, this is an excellent system for their preservation. About the only objection to the use of such a device is its bulk and weight, for, with the many destructive fires with which we contend in this country, because of the amount of timber and other inflammable material used in the ordinary building construction, we feel that such precious documents should be kept in a fireproof place; very often a bank vault, where the space is too restricted to admit of such a bulky arrangement. In the European countries, however, where non-inflammable building materials are in more general use than here, and where very destructive fires are very rare, fireproof vaults are not the necessity that they are with us.

Second

Second. The illuminated manuscripts of the Holy Words, such as the hand-made copies of the Greatest Name and Tablets, most beautiful among which are those of Mishkin-Qalam (already referred to) and some of the other well-known Bahá’í artist scribes of the Orient. The mass of such illuminated matter is held by the friends in the Orient, but one often sees isolated examples in the possession of the Bahá’ís here in the Occident. Although this class of illuminated manuscripts should be preserved most carefully, it is of equal, and perhaps of even greater importance, that they be so arranged as to be viewed and seen by people, because of their artistic merit. Therefore their framing under glass seems to be the method most generally used by the friends in both the Occident and Orient for the accomplishment of this double purpose. Once the writer saw a fine collection of such works mounted on large sheets of cardboard and kept in a portfolio, from which they were brought forth to be exhibited upon special occasions. This seems to be a good arrangement, where the collection is a large one.

Third

Third. Copies of the Holy Writings, or of the translations of the same, both typed and in script. In this classification of copies of the Holy Writings and their translations we of the western world, as yet, have had to consider mostly translations, since but a very few of us are sufficiently proficient in Persian to interest ourselves in amassing these writings in their original text. [Page 16] It is of primary importance that documents in this category be so arranged as to render their contents easily accessible to the student. In fact, this is of greater importance than their mere preservation, since this material in question is all copied matter, and in case of defacement probably could, with some little trouble, be replaced.

A good way to arrange these writings, which treat of many questions and principles, is to group them under subjects or topics. The first difficulty encountered will be that frequently in one Tablet will be found matter to be classed under several headings. This problem may be solved, however, by making as many copies of the Tablet as there are subjects for classification. Each copy may then be classed under one of these subjects, and the portion of the text of each particular copy which deals with that subject under consideration may be underscored or marked on the margin with a pencil line. Thus one Tablet may be classed under each of the subjects of which it treats. This system is better than that of cutting the Tablets up into parts, because it conserves the continuity of the Tablets. In arranging these copies it is well to adhere to the alphabetic classification of, I, subject; II, author; III, name of the person to whom it was revealed; and IV, name of the translator.

These documents can be placed in groups in paper folders the size of regular letter paper, eight and a half by eleven inches, with the subjects written or typed on the outer edge of the paper folder in such a manner as to be easily seen in running over the folders after they are placed in the drawer of a filing cabinet.

The most convenient form of filing cabinet is of the so-called vertical type. These cabinets can be procured in various forms and qualities from commercial houses which handle office equipment. With such a simple arrangement, a number of Tablets may be so classed that, in a moment, one can obtain all the data in one’s possession on any certain subject.

Fourth. The writings of the Guardian of the Cause.

A. Original signed letters and communications and articles. B. Copies of the same. [Page 17] Fifth. Writings of the friends in type or in script, such as letters, explanations, elucidations, or lessons on the teachings, accounts of the work, personal experiences, Bahá’í travels, and other data pertaining to the Cause. In this classification of articles, correspondence, and so forth, one may have (a) hand-written original manuscripts, (b) typed copies, bearing the signature of the author, or merely copies, (c) script, or (d) typed without signature.

In a large collection, a separate classification can be made for each of these four classes, (a), (b), (c), (d), but for a modest-sized file of records, these may all be classed together, in the same file, under their respective subjects. Their arrangement or classification should be carried out upon the same alphabetic system used for the translations of Tablets and Holy Writings as suggested for the third classification.

For obvious reasons, it is most desirable to keep the Holy Words quite distinct from those of the people; therefore, a separate file is suggested for these articles and letters.

In addition to the written documents of the Cause, one is often in possession of photographs of the Master, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and pictures of the Holy Shrines and sacred places of the Cause, as well as of groups of the Bahá’ís, and photographs of individual believers. Where the collection is a large one and desired for reference use, photographs are preserved best when mounted on heavy bristol boards. These boards may be cut to fit a vertical letter file cabinet drawer. By writing the subject of the picture on the upper left-hand edge of the card, as it stands in the drawer, and by arranging these boards or cards in alphabetic order, or in groups under subjects, one can readily find the desired picture. However, for a small collection of Bahá’í photographs, destined for personal, rather than general use, a loose-leaf album with an adjustable binding, allowing the insertion of and the rearrangement of the leaves, will probably prove to be the most convenient method of arrangement.

The writer would like to offer a suggestion regarding the character of the work and the quality of the paper to be used by the friends who so self-sacrificingly are serving the Cause by typewriting and circulating the Holy Teachings. In many cases [Page 18] the stationery is so very thin and poor and the carbon sheets employed in the manifolding become so dilapidated from over-use that the copies are almost illegible, and consequently their value is greatly diminished. When a reader is bothered by having to stop and expend energy upon deciphering the text, he has just so much less energy and force left for assimilating that which is being read. The aim of the copyist should be to produce as clear and as legible and as exact a reproduction of the text as possible.

Thought and consideration should be given in selecting the paper stock upon which Bahá’í documents are typed or written. A few decades ago practically all of the paper used was what is commercially known as "rag" stock, but of recent years this has been replaced, to a very great degree, by pulp stock. Pulp paper is far cheaper than rag paper, and its lasting qualities are correspondingly lower. In the writer's own brief experience in handling copies of Tablets and letters he finds that, after a few years, pulp paper becomes brittle and breaks at the touch of the hand, but a good rag paper retains its strength. Pure rag stock is expensive, and is often difficult to find, since, from commercial considerations of economy of expense, its use is limited. There are many grades of paper of mixed rag and pulp stock, the highest proportion of rag and the least of pulp being the best. Some of the leading paper manufacturers in this country now class their papers as "permanent," "semi-permanent," and "temporary." For Bahá’í documents, permanent stock should be used. All Bahá’í copyists should be urged to use the best paper procurable, for by so doing, they will be adding much to the value of their service, by making it more lasting and enduring. If one has not had experience in selecting paper, a reliable manufacturer, rather than a dealer, will give the necessary information about various kinds of paper.

It is very important that all copies of Tablets or excerpts from the Holy Texts should be verified before being circulated, both as to correctness of copy and authenticity. Each copy of a Tablet should bear the name of the Revealer, and of the person to whom it was revealed, and the date of the translation, with the name of the translator; or, if it is an excerpt from a Tablet, a book, or an address, it should have attached to it the refer- [Page 19] ence clearly written so that, should the necessity arise, it can be traced back to its origin. Many of the friends will testify to the wisdom and necessity of observing these details, for at various times during the past few years, quotations from the Holy Words have been circulated in which mistakes have occurred, and to which no data was attached by means of which the origin of the document could be traced. All this has caused confusion.

Most disturbing of all, perhaps, have been a few cases of the circulation of various writings from the pens of Bahá’ís by those who failed to attach the authors’ signatures. Later, inadvertently, some one imagined these writings to have proceeded from the Pen of Revelation, and, without verification, attached ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s name thereto and circulated them among the believers. When the circulation of a document of this kind is started, it is very difficult to correct and rectify the mistake. Those of our number who have had experience with such cases, will doubtless indorse this exhortation to exercise the greatest care in these matters.

The Bahá’í Religion maintains the highest standard in everything, and one very necessary application of this principle is that the greatest care should be exercised in the production, circulation, preservation, and arrangement of its sacred literature. One would like to see every copy of every Tablet illuminated on parchment, and protected and handled as one would care for the most precious work of art. If this were possible it would tend to create even a greater reverence for the written document commensurate with that which the believers have in their souls for the spiritual message of its contents. Some material things have a spiritual effect upon souls and many Bahá’ís are ritualists to the extent that they feel that the tender care of the written Word of God in a material way can have no other effect than to make souls more keenly awake and open to the vital spiritual message contained in those words. [Page 20]

NOTE

The National Bahá’í Archives Committee of America is composed of: ALBERT R. WINDUST, Custodian, 600 West Van Buren Street, Chicago, Illinois. GERTRUDE BUIKEMA, Secretary, 1827 West Roosevelt Road, Chicago, Illinois. CHARLES MASON REMEY, Chairman, P. O. Box 1319, Washington, D. C.

The united desire of these friends is to serve the Cause through the building up of a system of general Bahá’í Archives. They solicit co-operation.

Material for preservation may be sent direct to the custodian, Mr. Windust. Correspondence should be directed to the secretary, Miss Buikema.

ANNOUNCEMENT

This pamphlet is an offering to the Bahá’í Cause. A limited number of copies for distribution are in the hands of the National Bahá’í Archives Committee, and will be sent to any one applying to the secretary, Miss Buikema.