About: This brief yet sacred Tablet was revealed in Arabic by the Báb and addressed to Shaykh ‘Alíy-i-Turshízí, surnamed ‘Azím, one of the distinguished early believers of the Bábí Faith. The precise date and place of the Tablet’s revelation are presently unknown. The text presented below constitutes a provisional English rendering prepared on the basis of an extant manuscript copy.
Ordinarily, when translating Tablets or Epistles of the Báb, I include some notes or brief commentary on particular passages. In this case I refrained from doing so because the wording of the passage seemed somewhat ambiguous, and I did not wish to offer an explanation that might prove misleading.
In the Tablet, the Báb addresses ‘Azím with the following words: “We have indeed read the book which thou didst send down by the leave of God, and have come to know therein the mention of the name of Abraham, and then of him upon whom the oil was sent down.” In Bábí and Bahá’í sacred writings, the term “Book” (kitāb in Arabic and Persian) often refers to a revealed or sacred scripture, though at times it can also denote written materials more generally. In this passage, the verb nazzalta ("thou didst send down") is used, a term frequently associated with revelation ― that is, with something divinely sent down from above through a prophet or Manifestation of God. At first glance, therefore, one might assume that the Báb is referring to a sacred text.
However, the wording is quite specific: "the book which thou didst send down by the leave of God." In this context, the pronoun "thou" appears to refer to ‘Azím himself. This opens the possibility that the book may have been a written work or document that ‘Azím had composed or transmitted to the Báb. The Báb may then be employing elevated and reverential language in addressing him. We know from other historical sources that the Báb held Shaykh ‘Alí-i-Turshízí in high esteem, which is reflected in the honorific title "‘Azím" that He bestowed upon him.
For this reason I chose not to include a definitive explanatory note, since the precise referent of "the book" remains uncertain. I have revisited the passage several times in the course of translation, and this ambiguity seems inherent in the wording itself, unless there is some contextual clue that I overlooked.
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