Writings Bahá'u'lláh by rank
From Bahai9
Rankings between Works:[edit]
- Kitáb-i-Aqdas - "this "Most Holy Book,"...may well be regarded as the brightest emanation of the mind of Bahá'u'lláh" (GPB 213)
- Kitáb-i-Íqán - "occupies a position unequalled by any work in the entire range of Bahá'í literature, except the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Bahá'u'lláh's Most Holy Book" (GPB 139)
- Hidden Words - "Next to this unique repository of inestimable treasures [The Kitáb-i-Íqán] must rank that marvelous collection of gem-like utterances, the "Hidden Words"" (GPB 139-140)
No. 1 Rankings within Categories:[edit]
| Work | Field/Rank | Explanation of Ranking |
|---|---|---|
| Kitáb-i-Aqdas | (legal/institutional) | ("this "Most Holy Book,"...may well be regarded as the brightest emanation of the mind of Bahá'u'lláh" (GPB 213); see also GPB 213-216) |
| Kitáb-i-Íqán | "doctrinal writings" | "of unsurpassed preeminence among the doctrinal ... writings" (GPB 140) |
| "spiritual significance of the Cause" | “The Íqán is the most important book written on the spiritual significance of the Cause.” (LDG, vol. i., p. 37) | |
| “...the most important book wherein Bahá’u’lláh explains the basic beliefs of the Faith.” | (On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, 28 June 1930) | |
| “...the most fundamental book on the Bahá’í Revelation." | From a postscript in the hand of Shoghi Effendi on a letter written on his behalf to an individual believer, 25 August 1932 | |
| "foremost among...priceless treasures" | “Foremost among the priceless treasures cast forth from the billowing ocean of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation ranks the Kitáb-i-Íqán (Book of Certitude)...” (GPB 138) | |
| Hidden Words | "ethical writings" | "of unsurpassed preeminence among...ethical writings" (GPB 140) |
| Seven Valleys | "greatest mystical composition" | "To these two outstanding contributions to the world's religious literature, occupying respectively, positions of unsurpassed preeminence among the doctrinal and ethical writings of the Author of the Bahá'í Dispensation, was added, during that same period, a treatise that may well be regarded as His greatest mystical composition, designated as the "Seven Valleys,"") (GPB 140) |
| Súriy-i-Mulúk | "most momentous Tablet" | "The Súriy-i-Mulúk, the most momentous Tablet revealed by Bahá'u'lláh (Súrih of Kings)" (GPB 171) |
| Epistle to the Son of the Wolf | "the last outstanding Tablet revealed by the pen of Bahá'u'lláh" | "...mention must be made of His Epistle to Shaykh Muhammad-Taqí, surnamed "Ibn-i-Dhi'b" (Son of the Wolf), the last outstanding Tablet revealed by the pen of Bahá'u'lláh, in which He calls upon that rapacious priest to repent of his acts, quotes some of the most characteristic and celebrated passages of His own writings, and adduces proofs establishing the validity of His Cause." (GPB 219) |
| Ishráqát, Bishárát, Tarázát, Tajallíyát, Kalímát-i-Firdawsíyyih, Lawh-i-Aqdas, Lawh-i-Dunyá, Lawh-i-Maqsúd | "among the choicest fruits which His mind has yielded" and "the most noteworthy" of the "unnumbered Tablets, which He continued to reveal until the last days of His earthly life" after the "formulation by Bahá'u'lláh, in His Kitáb-i-Aqdas, of the fundamental laws of His Dispensation" | "The formulation by Bahá'u'lláh, in His Kitáb-i-Aqdas, of the fundamental laws of His Dispensation was followed, as His Mission drew to a close, by the enunciation of certain precepts and principles which lie at the very core of His Faith, by the reaffirmation of truths He had previously proclaimed, by the elaboration and elucidation of some of the laws He had already laid down, by the revelation of further prophecies and warnings, and by the establishment of subsidiary ordinances designed to supplement the provisions of His Most Holy Book. These were recorded in unnumbered Tablets, which He continued to reveal until the last days of His earthly life, among which the "Ishráqát" (Splendors), the "Bishárát" (Glad Tidings), the "Tarázát" (Ornaments), the "Tajallíyát" (Effulgences), the "Kalímát-i-Firdawsíyyih" (Words of Paradise), the "Lawh-i-Aqdas" (Most Holy Tablet), the "Lawh-i-Dunyá" (Tablet of the World), the "Lawh-i-Maqsúd" (Tablet of Maqsúd), are the most noteworthy. These Tablets--mighty and final effusions of His indefatigable pen-- must rank among the choicest fruits which His mind has yielded, and mark the consummation of His forty-year-long ministry." (GPB 216) |
| Kitáb-i-‘Ahd | "important Tablets as Bahá’u’lláh’s “Book of My Covenant”" | “He feels, indeed, that the time has come for the German believers to acquire a thorough knowledge as well as a full understanding of such important Tablets as Bahá’u’lláh’s “Book of My Covenant” and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament, both of which constitute the very bedrock upon which the entire administrative system of the Faith has been raised and established. As to the “Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh” it also constitutes an invaluable supplement to these afore-mentioned Tablets.”
|
| Súriy-i-Haykal | "one of the most challenging works of Bahá'u'lláh" | "In the Súratu'l-Haykal, one of the most challenging works of Bahá'u'lláh, the following verses, each of which testifies to the resistless power infused into the Revelation proclaimed by its Author, have been recorded..." |
