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The ''Kitáb-i-Íqán'' (, "Book of Certitude") is a book written by
Baháʼu'lláh Baháʼu'lláh (, born Ḥusayn-ʻAlí; 12 November 1817 – 29 May 1892) was an Iranian religious leader who founded the Baháʼí Faith. He was born to an aristocratic family in Iran and was exiled due to his adherence to the messianic Báb ...
, the founder of the
Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...
. It is the religion's primary theological work and one of many texts that Baháʼís hold
sacred Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects ( ...
. It is considered the second most important book in the Baháʼí writings, with the most important being the '' Kitáb-i-Aqdas''. One Baháʼí scholar states that it can be regarded as the "most influential Quran commentary in Persian outside the Muslim world," because of its international audience. The ''Kitáb-i-Íqán'' is sometimes referred to as the Book of Íqán or simply The Íqán.


History

The ''Kitáb-i-Íqán'' was composed partly in Persian and partly in Arabic by
Baháʼu'lláh Baháʼu'lláh (, born Ḥusayn-ʻAlí; 12 November 1817 – 29 May 1892) was an Iranian religious leader who founded the Baháʼí Faith. He was born to an aristocratic family in Iran and was exiled due to his adherence to the messianic Báb ...
, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith, in 1861, when he was living as an exile in
Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...
, then a province of the
Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
. The uncle of the Báb, Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid Muḥammad, had been perplexed to hear that the promised one of Islam was his own nephew. When he was told that this was the same objection voiced by the uncle of the prophet
Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
of Islam, he was shaken and decided to investigate the matter. In 1861, he traveled to Karbala, Iraq, to visit his brother, Ḥájí Mírzá Ḥasan-ʻAlí, and then went to Baghdad to meet Baháʼu'lláh. There he posed four written questions to Baháʼu'lláh about the signs of the promised one's appearance. The 200 pages (in original languages) of the ''Kitáb-i-Íqán'' were written in the course of at most two days and two nights in reply about January 15, 1861.The questions Ḥájí Mírzá Siyyid Muḥammad posed, and the letter he wrote to his son from Baghdad on January 17, 1861 (which dates the composition of the book) are both published in Ahang Rabbani,
The Conversion of the Great-Uncle of the Báb
" ''World Order,'' vol. 30, no. 3 (Spring, 1999), pp. 19-38 (the four questions can be found on pp. 32-33).
The ''Kitáb-i-Íqán'' was probably the first work of Bahá’u’lláh published in print. A lithographed edition was published by relatives of the Báb (the Afnáns) in
Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, around 1882 by the Ḥasaní Zívar Press. It was first translated into English in 1904, one of the first works of Baháʼu'lláh to appear in English. Shoghi Effendi re-translated the work into English in 1931. In 1934 an Arabic translation was published in Egypt.


Contents

The ''Kitáb-i-Íqán'' consists of two parts. The first part of the book deals with the foundational discourse that divine revelation is progressive and religions are related to one another, with each major monotheistic religion accepting the previous ones and, often in veiled terms, prophesying the advent of the next one. Since the questioner is a Muslim, Baháʼu'lláh uses verses from the Bible to show how a
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
could interpret his own sacred texts in allegorical terms to come to believe in the next religion. By extension, the same method of interpretation can be used for a
Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...
to see the validity of the claims of the Báb. The second and longer part of the book is the substantive discourse and deals with specific proofs, both theological and logical, of the mission of the Báb. One of the best-known passages of this part is known as the "Tablet of the True Seeker". While Baháʼu'lláh had claimed to have received a revelation some ten years earlier in the Síyáh-Chál (lit. "black pit"), a dungeon in
Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...
, he had not yet openly declared his mission. References to his own station in the Baháʼí Faith as a Manifestation of God therefore appear only in veiled form. Christopher Buck, author of a major study of the ''Kitáb-i-Íqán'', has referred to this theme of the book as its "messianic secret", paralleling the same theme in the
Gospel of Mark The Gospel of Mark is the second of the four canonical Gospels and one of the three synoptic Gospels, synoptic Gospels. It tells of the ministry of Jesus from baptism of Jesus, his baptism by John the Baptist to his death, the Burial of Jesus, ...
in the Christian
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
. Shoghi Effendi gave the following lengthy description of the book's content:
Within a compass of two hundred pages it proclaims unequivocally the existence and oneness of a personal
God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
, unknowable, inaccessible, the source of all
Revelation Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...
, eternal, omniscient, omnipresent and almighty; asserts the relativity of religious truth and the continuity of Divine Revelation; affirms the unity of the
Prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...
s, the universality of their Message, the identity of their fundamental teachings, the sanctity of their scriptures, and the twofold character of their stations; denounces the blindness and perversity of the divines and doctors of every age; cites and elucidates the allegorical passages of the
New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...
, the abstruse verses of the
Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...
, and the cryptic Muhammadan
traditions A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common exa ...
which have bred those age-long misunderstandings, doubts and animosities that have sundered and kept apart the followers of the world's leading religious systems; enumerates the essential prerequisites for the attainment by every true seeker of the object of his quest; demonstrates the validity, the sublimity and significance of the Báb's Revelation; acclaims the heroism and detachment of His disciples; foreshadows, and prophesies the world-wide triumph of the Revelation promised to the people of the Bayán; upholds the purity and innocence of the
Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
; glorifies the Imams of the Faith of Muhammad; celebrates the martyrdom, and lauds the spiritual sovereignty, of the Imam Husayn; unfolds the meaning of such symbolic terms as " Return," " Resurrection," "
Seal of the Prophets Seal of the Prophets (; or ) is a title used in the Qur'an and by Muslims to designate the Islamic prophet Muhammad as the last of the prophets sent by God. The title is applied to Muhammad in verse 33:40 of the Qur'an, with the popular Yu ...
" and " Day of Judgment"; adumbrates and distinguishes between the three stages of Divine Revelation; and expatiates, in glowing terms, upon the glories and wonders of the " City of God," renewed, at fixed intervals, by the dispensation of Providence, for the guidance, the benefit and salvation of all mankind. Well may it be claimed that of all the books revealed by the Author of the Baháʼí Revelation, this Book alone, by sweeping away the age-long barriers that have so insurmountably separated the great religions of the world, has laid down a broad and unassailable foundation for the complete and permanent reconciliation of their followers.


Significance

The ''Kitáb-i-Íqán'' is the major theological work of Baháʼu'lláh, and hence of the Baháʼí Faith. It is sometimes referred to as the completion of the '' Persian Bayán''. Shoghi Effendi, head of the Baháʼí Faith from 1921 to 1957, referred to the work as follows:
A model of Persian prose, of a style at once original, chaste and vigorous, and remarkably lucid, both cogent in argument and matchless in its irresistible eloquence, this Book, setting forth in outline the Grand Redemptive Scheme of God, occupies a position unequalled by any work in the entire range of Baháʼí literature, except the '' Kitáb-i-Aqdas'', Baháʼu'lláh's Most Holy Book.


See also

* '' Kitáb-i-Badíʻ'' * '' Gems of Divine Mysteries'' * '' Some Answered Questions'' * Writings of Baháʼu'lláh * Baháʼí literature


Notes


References

* * * * *


Further reading

* * * Ishraq-Khavari, 'Abdu'l-Hamid (1972).
Qamus-i Iqan
'. 4 volumes (in Persian; used in Hooper Dunbar's and Sohrab Kourosh's books). * Kourosh, Sohrab (2016, 2021, 2023). Self Study Notes for The Kitáb-i-Íqán, Book of Certitude, Kourosh Publishing, USA. Volume I: ISBN 978-0692811825; Volume II: ISBN 979-8656226516; Volume III: 979-8717984799. * Mírzá Abu'l-Faḍl (1898).
Fara'id
' (The Peerless Gems; in Persian). * * * *
Related documents on bahai-library.com


External links


Outline of the Kitáb-i-Íqán

Compendium on the Kitáb-i-Íqán
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitab-i-Íqán 1861 books 1861 in religion Works by Baháʼu'lláh 19th-century Persian books