Hidden Words: Words of Wisdom and Communes from “The Supreme Pen” of Baha’u’llah.

Item Details

Chicago, Bahai Publishing Society, [1905], Wrappers

First

First edition of this revered text. Small octavo, 94 pp. with the last two pages bearing a Questions and Answers segment (later printings have three pages of Questions and Answers according to Collins). Small octavo. 94 pp. Publisher black wrappers with gilt cover lettering (faded). Contemporary owner's signature else a very cleand and tight copy of this fragile item.

The Baha'i faith seems, like catholicism, to be ordered by threes. The founder, Siyyid ʻAlí-Muhammad, who later became the Bab, declared himself a prophet and made his first convert in 1844. As his message was the unity of all faiths he was executed 6 years later. Prior to his execution he stated that a succesor would soon be found. This man, a follower of the Bab, was Siyyid ʻAlí-Muhammad who would eventually become known as Baha’u’llah. After some followers of the Bab , known as Babis, attempted to assasinate the Shah of Persia, many thousands of Babis lwere executed. Baha’u’llah gathered al the remaining followers and established Baha'i as a religion, one with dogma and ceremonies (ostensibly passed down to him from the One God). Baha'i during Baha’u’llah ascendancy was mainly a religion of the Ottoman Empire and Persia. He produced over 18,000 works in his lifetime, in both Arabic and Persian, of which only 8% have been translated into English. Upon his death his son, Abdu'l-Bahá, took the reins and was the person primarily responsible for making Baha'i a world-wide faith. They have three core beliefs; The Oneness of God, the Oneness of Religion and the Oneness of Mankind. The title offered here is considered one of the most sacred texts in the entire Bahai canon.