What's a Tablet?
- Connie DeMillo
- Aug 16, 2023
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 18, 2023
This is one of the terms I was embarrassed to ask about in my beginning days as a Baha'i. I had so many questions for my fellow local Baha'is that I chose the most important ones.
Personally, I have a thing for tablets. I don't buy them in bulk, but when my mother-in-law died I got in line for some of her steno pads. Those are perfect for a quick Zoom devotional or Ruhi meeting. Everybody knows what a tablet is, right? Well, yes, but the Baha'i version goes far beyond the secular meaning of tablet.
According to Moojan Momen, a Tablet is "a term used distinctively in the Bahai writings as part of the title of individual compositions of Baha'u'llah addressed to individuals or groups of individuals."
Think back to the mid-1800's. What did Baha'u'allah have at His disposal to reach as many people as possible? The written word and the postal system. When people wrote to Him and asked questions, He answered. And we can still read His responses today.
The book, Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh was published in 1978, and contains sixteen Tablets, including the Tablet of Carmel—which was described by Shoghi Effendi as the Charter establishing the World Spiritual and Administrative Centres of the Bahá’í Faith on Mount Carmel—and the Tablet of Wisdom, in which Bahá’u’lláh explores the subject of human knowledge.
As Baha'is, we are instructed to read the tablets. There is a link below to an online compilation of Baha'u'llah's Tablets, and there is a link to the Fire Tablet in the Dawn Prayers podcast, which is an excellent place to begin your study of Baha'u'llah's Tablets.
If you want more:
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