A Discussion and Deepening on the Persian Bayan! Session #3

Week three: Vahid I-Vahid II (pp. 39-48: 9 pp; pp. 49-132: 81 pp)

If you are joining for the first time, We encourage everyone that plans on attending these study sessions to review these resources below, prior to attending. We will be going through a lot of materials in a very short time.

Beginning with its Preface, which is sixteen pages in length including copious notes written by the editor and translator A.L.M. Nicolas and extending throughout its 630 pages, the French version of the Persian Bayán, which has been rendered into English and is the source of this study, concentrates on the following themes: (1) The nature of God; (2) The nature of the Manifestations and Revelations and Dispensations of God; (3) The nature and behavior of human beings –- Christians, Muslims and Bábís (followers of te Báb); (4) The requirements of true belief; (5) New laws for the Bábí Dispensation; (6) References to the succeeding Manifestations of God; (7) The Word of God. There are expositions of less important topics as well— (8) the significance of the science of numbers; (9) the insignificance of the science of grammar; (10) on the spiritual meanings of certain colors; (11) the spiritual equivalents and rankings of material substances; (12) several abwáb are given over to an explanation f various words used in the Qur’án, among them, “Paradise”, “Hell”, “Death”, “The Tomb”, “Resurrection”, “The Return”, “The Balance”, “The Last Judgment”, “The Count”, “Door”, “The Point”, and “Reunion”. In the course of explaining these Qur’ánic symbolic terms, the Báb addresses (for the most part) the seven major themes cited earlier.