Provisional Translation
- Dear Divine Handmaiden,
- Pari Jan, daughter of Mulla Muhammad Ali the martyr
- and wife of Mulla Hasan the martyr.
- Upon them be the Glory of Glories!
- O thou vestige of two highly distinguished martyrs!
- Indeed, you never rested for an instant in your life,
- You never settled down.
- You never sought peace and comfort.
- You never experienced joy.
- On the contrary, the traps of afflictions ensnared you
- And the chains of oppression held you captive
- till you witnessed your honorable father fallen on the dust,
- soaked in his own blood
- and found your beloved husband mutilated on the altar of love.
- Your home was looted and plundered.
- You experienced succeeding waves of calamities.
- Despite all of this, you did not waiver for an instant.
- You did not sigh even in secret.
- You comforted your tearful eyes and your burning heart
- with the remembrance of the kindness and favor
- of the All-Merciful God.
- In short, you drank the wine from every bitter chalice
- and suffered every hardship
- till you drew near and were accepted with favor
- at the Threshold of the Blessed Beauty.
- May my life be a sacrifice for His loved ones!
- Although the afflictions were severe
- And the disasters were devastating like a flood,
- because you were subjected to the darkest of horrors
- in the path of the Almighty
- for the sake of the Love of the Greatest Name,
- it is incumbent upon you to be grateful, to meditate,
- to give praise and to extol the Incomparable God
- for having singled you out for such a bounty
- for having endowed you with such grace,
- and for having enabled you to attain such privilege.
- The days of your life are fleeting: whether they should be more bitter than poison
- or sweeter than nectar and honey – they both shall pass.
- But the difference is this:
- During your lifetime you felt the sting of nettles rather than the sweetness of honey, experienced tyranny rather than loyalty, endured disasters rather than bestowals, suffered affliction rather than endless comfort and abundant blessings.
- There is a famous proverb: “after a hard and perilous night of riding, the caravan is happy and grateful when the morning comes”.
- My deepest hope from the grace and bounty of the Blessed Beauty is that Jinab-i-Aqa Mulla Baba grows into being the true son of his great father and that Fatimah Noora will follow in the path of the great Khadijih. I beseech God that both of them will be confirmed and successful in achieving that which is worthy of the offspring of martyrs.
- Give my most fresh and glorious greetings to Mirza Hussein, the honorable son of Agha Mirza Ahmad Ali Nayrizi.
- Upon thee be the Glory of Glories!
-
'Abdu’l-Bahá
Biography
Tablets to Pari Jan Khanum
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