Brief Commentary on Bayān 6:6

‫ِﺴﻢ ﷲ ﻣ ﻊ ﻗﺪس‬
‫ﻟﻌﺰة و و اﳉﻼل و ّﺬب‬ ّ ‫اﻠﻬ ّﻢ ﺻﻞ ﲆ اﻟﺒﻴﺎن و َﻣﻦ !ٓﻣﻦ ِﺑﻪ ﰲ‬
ّ -ِ ‫ٔن‬/‫ﰻ ﺷ‬
‫ ّﻟﺴﻄﻮة و اﻟﻌﺪال‬-ِ ‫اﻠﻬ ّﻢ َﻣﻦ ﱂ ﻳﺆﻣﻦ ِﺑﻪ‬
N. Wahid Azal © 2019

‫ ﺑﻴﺎن ﻓﺎرﳼ‬6 ‫ﺪ‬7‫ از وا‬6 ‫ب‬-

‫ﺸ@ﺖ ﰲ ذ= ﻣﺮ‬B‫ﺸ@ﺖ او ﺗ‬D‫ﺐ ﳇّﻬﺎ ﻣﺎ ا‬G‫ﰻ اﻟﻜ‬
ّ ‫ﰲ ﺣﲂ ﳏﻮ‬
‫ﻦ او ﺷﻮد‬M‫ﻜﻪ در اﺛﺒﺎت اﻣﺮ ﷲ و د‬Pٓ! ‫ﳏﻮ ﰻ ﻛﺘﺐ‬
6th Gate of the 6th Unity

Regarding the ordinance of the effacement of all books, all of them, expect those which

hath blossomed/bloomed or shall blossom/bloom in that Cause...there must be an

effacement of every book except those affirming the Cause of God and His

religion...(my trans.)

Commentary: The word maḥw (‫ )ﳏﻮ‬in Arabic has a deep nuance and even

deeper context and connotation in the utterances of the Imāms (‫)ع‬. Notably it

occurs in the second theophanic sequence of the ḥadīth al-ḥaqīqa addressed to

Kumayl by ʿAli (‫ )ع‬which is a central and centrifugal proof-text to the religion

of the Bayān from start to finish. To wit

‫ﳏﻮ اﳌﻮﻫﻮم ﻣﻊ ﲱﻮ اﳌﻌﻠﻮم‬

The effacement (maḥw) of conjecture via the realization of what can be

realized/known (my trans.)

That entire gate of the Persian Bayān is pretty much revolving around this

particular angle of things. The Manifestation is the Appearance of Truth

(capital 'T') and all which has been conjectured about It is only that,

conjecture. Therefore, upon the Appearance of the Truth conjecture about It

must be effaced in order for the Real to be realized within the horizons (afāq)

and the selves (anfus) (paraphrasing Qur'an 41:53). This here is my basic

commentary on this chapter of the Bayān whose context is immediately

apparent to those who know the Bayān inside and out as I do: every wording,

expression, every turn of phrase, every quotation and what it refers to. The

Primal Point chose every word He employed carefully with every word

employed having a context rich in high Imamology. This particular gate and

ordinance of the Bayān revolves specifically around the second theophanic

sequence of the ḥadīth al-ḥaqīqa or kumayl; and it should be noted that

nowhere does the Point use the words ḥarq (‫( )ﺣﺮق‬to burn) or hadm (‫( )ﻫﺪم‬to

destroy) in relation to this ordinance which reinforces the explicit subtlety of

this particular point and issue even further -- a subtle but obvious point

(whether unnoticed or deliberately lied about) that went right over the heads
of Habāʾ al-Afik of Nār, his son, great grandson, all those who follow those

manifestations of the Letter Shīn ‫ﻠﻴﲔ‬ ‫دون‬, and not a few ḥawzawīs who ought
to know better.

So contrary to the quotation, the Arabic phrasing of 6:6 in the Arabic Bayān is

quite ambiguously worded but also quite telling at the same time as to what is

being referred to. To wit:

‫ﺸ[ﺌﻮن‬B‫ﻟﺒﻴﺎن و ﻣﺎ اﻧﱲ ﰲ ﻇ\ ﺗ‬- ‫ﱲ و ﻟ`ﺴﺪﻟﻦ‬a‫ﳣﺤﻮن ﰻ ﻣﺎ ﻛﺘ‬d‫و‬

And you must efface all that which you have written and reason/demonstrate [things]

[instead] by the Bayān otherwise under its shade you will not blossom/bloom. (my

trans.)

There is no unequivocal command here for the destruction of books. It is a

command for the ‘effacement’ of what has been written and so that instead

the benchmark is the Bayān (i.e. the ‘present’), rather than the past (i.e. ‘what

has been written’), which is altogether a cipher and reference to sequence two

of the ḥadīth al-ḥaqīqa or kumayl quoted above. In other words, what the Bāb is

stating is not to cling to old baggage when this baggage has already been

unburdened. There is a great deal of Ibn ʿArabī's theory of theophanies

(tajallīyāt) here and elsewhere in the Point’s writings and within His overall

theory about Progressive Revelation. Each Manifestation represents one of

the incessant and endless Theophanic Self-Disclosures of God. These

Theophanic Self-Disclosures can never exhaust themselves and appear in

each moment under infinite forms and guises from one moment to the next.

Yet to take a single Effulgence and Theophanic Self-Disclosure of God as the

only one (like, for instances, the Christians do) becomes a halting and/or a

form of ossification -- or even idolatry -- against Tawḥīd (the unicity of God),

hence the seeker and realized gnostic must accept all of the Divine

Effulgences and Self-Disclosures of the Lord of Power as they appear to

him/her on the Path while not clinging to the previous experiences as the

only ones (whilst moving on his/her Way) while rejecting newer ones since

the All-High and Its Self-Disclosures are infinite, endless and without

cessation and “each Day It is upon some new task” (Qur'an 55:29) whilst the All-

High already-always (even with the endless forms of Divine Effulgence and

Self-Disclosure that overflow from It from Pre-Eternity to Post-Eternity)

remains the Same, One Single Everlasting without rival or peer:

‫ﺪ ًا ﲳﺪ ًا ﺑِﻼ ﺪل و ﻛﻔﻮ‬7‫ﺪ ًا ا‬7‫وا‬

None of the translators whose translations have been quoted have paid any

diligent attention to what is actually going on in the passages being taken

controversially, especially the precise wording. Yet the context would’ve

been readily apparent to any 19th century Twelver Shiʿite from either a

Shaykhī background or one with even a smattering of ahl al-baytī ʿirfānī

inclinations given this wording, hence why thousands rallied under the

Primal Point’s banner at the time. So kindly take those translations being
quoted and burn them. They are useless and absolutely misleading because

elsewhere in the Bayan He unequivocally advises the study and safekeeping

of books on ḥikma (i.e. philosophy, mysticism, the occult sciences, etc).

‫ﱲ ِﺑﺘﻔﺴﲑ ﲆ ﳇﻤﺔ‬n‫ﺒﻌﻴﳯﻢ إن ﻛﻨﱲ ﺟ‬G‫ﻦ ﻣ‬Mh‫ اﳞﺎ اﻟﻬﺒﺎﺋﲔ و اﳌُﺴﻠﻤﲔ و ّا‬m
ّ ‫ٔت ِﺑﻪ إن ﻛﻨﱲ ِﻣﻦ‬/‫ﻞ ﻫﺬا ﻓ‬u‫اﶈﻮ ﰲ اﻟﺒﻴﺎن ﻣ‬
‫اﻟﺼﺎدﻗﲔ‬
413

N. Wahid Azal © 2019