Crimson Tablet or Crimson Book

[sjoh...@sbhep.physics.sunysb.edu]

I have run across a few mentionings of 'The Crimson Book' or 'The Crimson
Tablet' in Baha'u'llah's writings (most recently in His Will and Testament).

My question is: Is He referring to one particular Tablet (if so which one)
or is this a reference to a general class of Tablet? Does the color crimson
have some deeper significance?

Thanks for all the help.

Allah'u'Abha!

Stephen

"Someone find me a man who has forgotten the words so that I may have a
word with him." -- Lao-Tzu

[sjoh...@sbhep.physics.sunysb.edu]

where Stephen writes:
>I have run across a few mentionings of 'The Crimson Book' or 'The Crimson
>Tablet' in Baha'u'llah's writings (most recently in His Will and Testament).

>My question is: Is He referring to one particular Tablet (if so which one)
>or is this a reference to a general class of Tablet? Does the color crimson
>have some deeper significance?

In the Kitabi-Aqdas there is reference to 'Crimson Ark' and 'Crimson Spot' -
see notes 115 and 127- these terms refer to the Cause of Baha'u'llah and Akka,
respectively. I, too, have come across the terms mentioned above and seem to
recall that the 'Crimson Book' refers to the _Kitabi-Aqdas_ and 'Crimson Tablet'
to the _Kitabi-Ahdi_ or _Book of the Covenant_. The 'Crimson Tablet' may also
refer to the _Tablet of Carmel_.

This is mostly conjecture on my part, as I cannot find the source explaning the
two terms; the logic behind my conjecture is that there seems to be a
connection between 'Crimson Book/Tablet' and 'Crimson Ark/Spot' all refering to
something deeply significant and important to the religious/historical
significance of the Faith. The works I mentioned seem to be the most pivotal.

You may check out the series _The Revelation of Baha'u'llah_ by Adib
Taherzadeh, there's no reference to the specific terms in the index, but there
may be mention in connection with the works I suggested.

Thanks for reading,
Jeff Williams
IN%"z3...@ttacs3.ttu.edu"

%***********************************************************%
% "All our knowledge- past, present, and future- %
% is nothing compared to what we will never know." %
% - Tsiolkovsky - %
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[G. Brent Poirier]

On 8 Feb 1994 sjoh...@sbhep.physics.sunysb.edu wrote:

> I have run across a few mentionings of 'The Crimson Book' or 'The Crimson
> Tablet' in Baha'u'llah's writings (most recently in His Will and Testament).
> My question is: Is He referring to one particular Tablet (if so which one)
> or is this a reference to a general class of Tablet? Does the color crimson
> have some deeper significance?

These two quotes may be of service.

Brent Poirier, Attorney, Las Cruces NM 88006-6068 USA gpoi...@nmsu.edu
"The drive towards world unity is one of the dominant, pervasive features
of life on the planet during the closing years of the twentieth century."
The Universal House of Justice, "The Promise of World Peace"

"This same Covenant He had anticipated in His Kitab-i-Aqdas, had
alluded to it as He bade His last farewell to the members of His
family, who had been summoned to His bed-side, in the days
immediately preceding His ascension, and had incorporated it in a
special document which He designated as "the Book of My Covenant,"
and which He entrusted, during His last illness, to His eldest son
'Abdu'l-Baha. Written entirely in His own hand; unsealed, on the
ninth day after His ascension in the presence of nine witnesses
chosen from amongst His companions and members of His Family; read
subsequently, on the afternoon of that same day, before a large
company assembled in His Most Holy Tomb, including His sons, some
of the Bab's kinsmen, pilgrims and resident believers, this unique
and epoch-making Document, designated by Baha'u'llah as His "Most
Great Tablet," and alluded to by Him as the "Crimson Book" in His
"Epistle to the Son of the Wolf," can find no parallel in the
Scriptures of any previous Dispensation, not excluding that of the
Bab Himself. For nowhere in the books pertaining to any of the
world's religious systems, not even among the writings of the
Author of the Babi Revelation, do we find any single document
establishing a Covenant endowed with an authority comparable to the
Covenant which Baha'u'llah had Himself instituted."
(Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, page 238)

"...what Baha'u'llah did not elaborate but what He meant by the
'word' recorded in the Crimson Book was the Power of the Covenant.
"The Crimson Book refers to the Book of His Covenant, and the
reference above means the power for unity which the Covenant
possesses and radiates. On page 238 of God Passes By you will find
the cross-reference to the Crimson Book and the Epistle to the Son
of the Wolf."
(Letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual
believer, January 5, 1948; Lights of Guidance, 2nd Edition, 1988,
page 181, #595)

[Springer]

In article <2j9bj5$e...@noc1.world.net> sjoh...@sbhep.physics.sunysb.edu writes:
>I have run across a few mentionings of 'The Crimson Book' or 'The Crimson
>Tablet' in Baha'u'llah's writings (most recently in His Will and Testament).
>
>My question is: Is He referring to one particular Tablet (if so which one)
>or is this a reference to a general class of Tablet? Does the color crimson
>have some deeper significance?
>
>Thanks for all the help.
>
>Allah'u'Abha!
>
>Stephen
>

My understanding of this is that it is the "Big Book of God," if you
will, which Christians and Muslims also have a tradition of.

Crimson, however, is special to the Baha'i Faith -- it is the color
of the blood of the followers. Thus we are all members of the Crimson Ark.
There are plenty of references to crimson and blood in the Writings; my
favorite example is that of Baha'u'llah saying, in one of the Hidden Words,
that He holds in highest esteem those willing to tinge their hair (He may
even use the word "crimson") with their own blood for His love.

As a topic springing from this one, does anyone know if and where
suicide might be directly forbidden by Baha'u'llah? I haven't been able to
find it in the Aqdas, but perhaps in a tablet?

Regards,

Springer.

[Darren Hiebert]

In article <1994Feb16.1...@cs.cornell.edu> sj...@midway.uchicago.edu (Springer) writes:

> As a topic springing from this one, does anyone know if and where
> suicide might be directly forbidden by Baha'u'llah? I haven't been able to
> find it in the Aqdas, but perhaps in a tablet?

"Suicide is forbidden in the Cause. God Who is the Author of all life
can alone take it away, and dispose of it in the way He deems best.
Whoever commits suicide endangers his soul, and will suffer spiritually
as a result in the other Worlds Beyond."

(Shoghi Effendi, quoted in a letter written on behalf of the
Universal House of Justice, dated June 7, 1979)

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