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The Bab's Panj Sha'n (Five Modes)
by John Walbridge
Circumstances
of its composition.
We know
exactly when the Panj Sha’n was written: 19
March–4 April 1850. The day it was begun was both
Naw-Rúz and 5 Jumádá I, the first day of the seventh
Bábí year and the sixth anniversary according to the
lunar calendar of the Báb’s declaration of his mission
to Mullá Husayn. That day and on each of the following
sixteen days he wrote a passage in each of the five
styles in commentary on a name of God. In the published
Azalí edition, four parts are missing, corresponding
to the eighth, thirteen, fifteen, and sixteenth days,
and the Azalí scribe apologizes that one or two other
parts are taken from manuscripts of lesser authority.
Some, though not all, of the parts are dedicated to
individual believers.
We know
these particulars not from the text itself but from
a document published at the end of the Azalí edition.
This is evidently the Báb’s correspondence log for
the period 19 March–20 June 1850. It consists of entries
separated by horizontal lines. Each entry gives the
name of God for that day (of which more later), the
number of the day in the Bábí month, the day of the
week in the conventional Arabic name and the Bábí name,
and notes about what the Báb wrote on each day and
what was dispatched to believers. The whole is firmly
dated by a heading giving the opening date in both
the lunar and Bábí calendars. There are certain minor
difficulties relating to the dating, but nothing that
casts doubt on the authenticity of the document.
The notes
on the Báb’s writings are divided into three columns.
The first is headed, “that which was sent down from
God most high” contains a note of the general content
of the Báb’s writing that day. This gradually dwindles
from a long paragraph on the first day to a few words
or nothing later in the document. Beginning on the
second day, the second column contains a brief statement
about the amount and type of writing on that day.
For example on day 2, on which the Báb revealed a chapter
in each of the five styles on the theme, “God is unique,”
we read, "in commentary on the name ‘unity’ revealed
in the five modes. That which flowed from the Pen
of God was five sheets.” The third column, “that which
ascended unto God most high by the Primal Point,” seems
to be notes concerning outgoing correspondence, with
addressees indicated by abbreviations and numbers indicating
the number of sheets. In some cases, the addressees
can be identified, but not always.
The contents
of the present book are clearly indicated by the entries
for the month of Bahá, the first month of the Bábí
year; and it was this that enabled the Azalí scribe
to compile his edition and put the chapters in their
proper order. After 17 Bahá there are no further entries
indicating writing in this style, evidence that the
book as we have it is largely complete.
The log
continues for several more Bábí months. Many days
are blank except for the name of God for that day and
the dates. Other days record the writing of talismans,
prayers, etc. Mid-May saw a burst of correspondence,
ending abruptly on 14 May. This presumably marks the
departure of Sayyáh;, the last Bábí courier to leave
Chihríq, who carried the Báb’s remaining papers to
Mullá `Abdu’l-Karím Qazvíní. Though the latter part
of the month saw considerable writing, it was mainly
prayers and other such things not necessarily intended
to be sent immediately to the believers. The last
recorded revelation was 1 Núr/3 June. The last ten
days bear the same name of God, “God is most high”
(Alláh A`lá). The log ends on Friday, 18 Núr/20
June 1850, apparently the day after the Báb reached
Tabríz. Most likely Sayyid Husayn Yazdí carried the
log with him to safety after the execution of the Báb.
Presumably it then passed into Baháú’lláh’s hands
and was among the Bábí manuscripts kept by Azal.
The historical
interest of this document is clear, but its full use
must await a more determined effort to decipher its
cryptic notations.
The
Style and Content of Panj Sha’n
The Panj
Sha’n, as I have indicated, consists of 14 sets
of passages in each of the five styles into which the
Báb conventionally divided his revelation:
verses
(ayát)
prayers
(munáját)
sermons
(Khutbih)
commentary
(tafsír)
Persian
(fársí)
Each day
of the month—and presumably year—was assigned a name
of God. These are all in the elative and are repeated
twice:
1: al-a’lah
al-a’lah
2: al-awhad
al-awhad
3: al-a’had
al-a’had
4:
al-ahyá al-ahyá
These are
dedicated—sometimes—to particular believers, including
Dayyán, Azal, Táhirih, Bahá'u'lláh, and—forlornly—the
Báb’s beloved uncle, Hájí Mírzá Sayyid `Alí, who had
been killed a month earlier in Tehran and of whose
death the Báb was never told. Others are more difficult
to identify.
The book
contains nothing that might reasonably be called an
argument. Instead names of God and invocations are
endlessly repeated and varied, often in ways unsanctioned
by Arabic usage. Syntax is nearly as ideosyncratic.
Thus, for example, the first page has Alláh
used as a superlative in the form a’lah, an
infinitive ilhán, participles mu’talih, mu’lah,
and so on. To the extent that the book has content,
it is not in the form of an extended argument but in
enraptured rhapsodies about particular themes. Thus
the sermon on the first day rhapsodizes about the first
day of Bahá—Naw-Rúz—as the “day of God,” the name given
it by the Báb in the Bayán. It such respects it is
similar to the Kitábu’l-Asmá’, written sometime
earlier and also arranged on a calendrical basis.
Evaluation
The question
now arises as to why the Báb might have wished to write
such a strange book—and why many Bábís chose to copy
it and the Azalís to publish it. As one of my Bahá’í
teachers commented about the similar work, Kitábu’l-Asmá’,
“After a while a modern person gets bored, puts down
the book, and reads something else.” But I don't think
that would be true of its intended readers.
In the
Persian Bayán viii:14 the Báb commands his followers
to recite 700 verses of the Bayán every twenty-four
hours. Bayán in the Báb’s usage refers to his
writings in general, not just to the Bayán proper.
Each part of Panj Sha’n is about thirty pages
long, roughly equalling the requisite 700 verses (a
verse according to the Báb being forty letters or about
a line). Now it also seems clear that the Báb envisioned
the believer meditating on a different name of God
each day. Lists are given in the Kitábu’l-Asmá’
and the correspondence log mentioned above (though
the lists do not agree). Thus the believer, I infer,
might fulfil his obligation by reciting one chapter
of five parts from the Panj Sha’n each day.
The Báb’s
manipulation of Arabic morphology is certainly deliberate,
as is the case in his other Arabic works. An exact
knowledge of Arabic was the most prized possession
of the Islamic scholar, for the Arabic of the Qur’án
was, as the Qur’án itself testifies, a miracle sufficient
to demonstrate the truth of Muhammad’s prophethood.
Thus, when the Báb flouted the rules of Arabic morphology
and syntax and proclaimed the resulting works to be
scripture, he was proclaiming his own authority to
abrogate the whole Islamic religious system. The ‘ulamá
understood this perfectly well and thus were extremely
anxious to dismiss the Báb’s literary innovations as
the result of his ignorance of Arabic, for to acknowledge
his right to use Arabic in this way would have been
to implicitly acknowledge the old and hitherto unmet
challenge of the Qur’án: “Then produce a súrah like it, and call on whom you can, apart from God, if you speak truly.” (10:39). It was exactly
the debate played out in the arts in modern Europe,
with modernists asserting their freedom by breaking
with traditional forms and styles and traditionalists
condemning them for being supposedly unable to master
the traditional forms.
With this
the stylistic quirks of the book begin to make sense.
The book is to be understood as a sort of Bábí breviary,
a work of devotions not of instruction. For this the
Báb’s style is appropriate. While his style in this
work may be numbing in large doses, it is unquestionably
hypnotic in smaller doses. Recited, the Panj Sha’n
is akin to Sufi dhikr, in which the same evocative
words are repeated ceaselessly, in this case with gradual
variations. The utter freedom with which the Báb reinvents
Arabic grammar is an open proclamation of his claim
to prophethood. The aesthetic is thus rather modern
in certain ways, with its contempt for convention and
rigorous formal rules. Perhaps we should see Panj
Sha’n as a minimalist work or a sort of devotional
Finnegans Wake. There can be no doubt of its
ethereal beauty.
Appendix The Bab's Variations
on the Name "God" in five styles
Among the
last works of the Báb is a large book consisting of
rhapsodies on various names of God rendered in the
five literary styles into which he divided his writings
and written in a strange style full of artificially
constructions from Arabic roots. This work, the Panj
Sha’n or “Five Modes,” and similar works of the
Báb like the Kitábu’l-Asmá’, are not
easily explicable to the contemporary mind. The following
is a very preliminary examination of this unusual work.
It is based on a quick examination of the work and
not a full reading of it. I have used the Azalí edition
published in Iran in the early 1960s. It should be
noted that there is also a Persian Panj Sha’n,
a much smaller book, that I have not seen.
[1]
In
the Name of God, Very God, Very God!
I,
I am God--No God is there but Me--Very God, Very God.
In
God's Name, Very God, Very God.
God
by God, Very God, Very God.
In
God's Name, Godlike God, Godlike God.
God,
no God is there but He, Very God, Very God.
God,
no God is there but He, Godlike God, Godlike God.
God,
no God is there but He, God as God in Godhead.
God,
no God is there but He, God, attainèd Godhood.
God
of the heavens, God of the earth, God of the void between,
that Godheadis God's, is His,
and
God is High God, God, Divine.
God
of the heavens, God of the earth, God of the void between,
that Godheadis God's, is His,
and
God is Godhead, God as God, attainèd Godhood.
God,
King of Kings divine, God of the heavens, God of the
earth, God of thevoid between, that Godhead is God's,
is His,
and
God is God, God as God, attainèd Godhood.
Say,
God is Very God above all that is made god--
Nothing
in the heavens, nothing in the earth,
nothing
in the void between
can
hinder Him as Sovereign King.
He
is High God, God, Divine.
Say,
God is Very God above all that is made god--
Nothing
in the heavens, nothing in the earth,
nothing
in the void between
can
hinder Him, Divine in the Divinity of His Godhead.
He
is High God, God, Divine.
You
are exalted, O God
--God
of the heavens, God of the earth, God of the void between--
You bestow divinity on whom You choose
and
withdraw it from whom You choose,
Exalt
whom You choose, bring low whom You choose.
You
aid whom You choose, forsake whom You choose,
Glorify
whom You choose, [2] abase whom You choose,
Enrich
whom You choose, ruin whom You choose.
In
Your grasp is the kingdom of all things.
You
create what You choose by Your command.
You
are powerful over all things.
You
are exalted, O God.
You
are the God of Divinities.
You
entrust the Command to whom You choose,
and
withdraw it from whom You choose,
Exalt
whom You choose, bring low whom You choose.
You
aid whom You choose, forsake whom You choose,
Enrich
whom You choose, ruin whom You choose.
Glorify
whom You choose, abase whom You choose.
In
Your grasp is the kingdom of all things.
You
create what You choose by Your command.
You,
You are High God, God, Divine.
Say,
You, O God, You are Very God of Very Gods.
Let
all worship You who dwell
in
the heavens, in the earth, in the void between.
Let
all bow down to You who dwell
in
the Kingdom of the Cause and Creation and beyond.
It
is You Who knows all things.
Say,
You, O God, You arise as God
of
the heavens and the earth and the void between.
Then
plant the tree of affirmation
in
all that You have created
or
will create by Your command
until
that day on which You manifest
the
Manifestation of Your Self
that
all may believe in Him
and
be sure on Him
then
bow down before His face.
Say,
God is Very God above
all
who have gods.
None
in the heavens, none in the earth,
none
in the void between,
can
hinder Him in the Godlike Godhead
of
His Divinity in Himself.
He
it is Who is High God, God, Divine.
This
is a Book from God
to
Him Whom God shall make manifest,
testifying
that there is no God but I,
God-in-Self,
Divine.
I
have made the beginning of each religion the word
"There
is no God but God"
that
perhaps those who were given the Book
may
seek certainty in the Day of Your manifestation.
Such
as these are the proofs of affirmation in the Book
of God.
These
are the firm.
But
those who are veiled from You
[3]
at the moment of Your manifestation,
though
they affirm the unity of God
in
the number of "All Things,"
will
find no profit in their affirmation
of
the unity of God, their Lord.
Say
unto all things, Fear Me, for I am God,
there
is no God but Me!
None
but I shall behold Me.
Whoso
seeks to behold Me,
Let
him behold Him Whom God shall manifest,
for
He is narrow and dangerous Bridge!
I,
I am God. There is no God but Me!
No
thing shall see Me.
He
who desires to look upon Me,
let
him look to Him Whom God shall make manifest,
for
He is the narrow and dangerous Bridge!
I,
I am God. There is no God but Me!
No
being shall know Me.
He
who desires to know Me,
let
him come to know Him Whom God shall make manifest,
for
He is the lofty and exalted book!
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