Treatise on Spiritual Wayfaring unto God (Risálah fi's-Sulúk ilá Alláh)

Abstract: The Risálah fi’s-Sulúk ilá Alláh occupies a distinctive position among the earliest writings of the Báb. Composed prior to the passing of Siyyid Káẓim-i-Rashtí (31 December 1843), and before the Báb’s declaration in May 1844, it belongs to the earliest stratum of His revelation, in which inherited Islamic and Shaykhí concepts are preserved and reconfigured within a new revelatory synthesis.

Although brief, the treatise is of considerable theological significance. It is explicitly mentioned in the Kitábu’l-Fihrist. Nader Saeidi identifies its addressee as Mullá Ḥasan, while Abú’l-Qásim Afnán proposes Mullá Taqí Harátí, interpreting the opening invocation yá sá’il al-tuqá (يا سائل التقى) as an allusive designation. The text also refers to an earlier work of Siyyid Káẓim on sulúk, situating it within an established Shaykhí discourse on spiritual wayfaring.

A clear distinction must be maintained between this work (Fi’s-Sulúk I) and a later treatise of the same title (Fi’s-Sulúk II), addressed to Abú Ṭálibi’l-Ḥusaynáví and composed after the Báb’s declaration. Both are listed in the Kitábu’l-Fihrist but belong to distinct revelatory stages and must not be conflated.

As Nader Saeidi observes, the present treatise reinterprets religious law as inward ascent, wherein ritual acts signify stages of the soul’s journey. Central is the mediating role of love (ḥubb), articulated through a fourfold structure of divine manifestation within the human reality. The Báb thus moves toward an interiorised metaphysic in which outward practice becomes symbolic of ontological transformation.

The manuscript basis is Tehran Bahá’í Archives Ms. 6006 C. Despite its importance, the Risálah fi’s-Sulúk ilá Alláh has received limited scholarly attention.