Those of us who were taught English the ‘old’ way of grammar, parsing, sentence analysis etc will instantly recognise that the title of this article boils down to how Bahá’u’lláh uses the word my in the Tablet of Ahmad. I have been reading this Tablet quite a lot recently and it suddenly dawned on me that Bahá’u’lláh uses at least three different ways to express the concept of ‘my’. (Here I must point out that I am totally dependent on Shoghi Effendi’s translation as I am incapable of reading in the original Arabic).
Some examples will illustrate my point. ‘Nay, by the One in Whose hand is my soul (lower case, emphasis mine).
Three lines further on Bahá’u’lláh switches to:‘O Ahmad! Forget not My bounties…’ ( upper case, emphasis mine)
After this the examples come thick and fast: My days, My distress and banishment, My love, My enemies, My loved ones, My path, My sake.
Finally Bahá’u’lláh switches again to: ‘These favours have We bestowed upon thee as a bounty on Our part and a mercy from Our presence…’‘ (emphasis mine)
Would it make any difference if these three ways of expression were interchanged or switched?
I suggest it would but as I have never read anything about it, or heard anyone speak to it, I can only share my own humble opinion. One possible explanation is that the Tablet was not written all at once and that different styles crept in over its composition. I have no evidence for supporting this and 1 very much doubt it, due to the smooth progression of the work.
Another possible idea is that Bahá’u’lláh was switching between the specific and the general, reflecting the particular circumstances in which He found Himself at the time. I cannot make a clear distinction. It is of course possible that He was using the royal ‘We’ in the third example, but this begs the question why not use it earlier.
My own preference, for what it is worth, is that Bahá'u'lláh is reflecting three different relationships in His choice of the possessive adjective.
In the first example He is highlighting His common humanity. God holds all of us in the palm of His hand. In the second set of examples He is speaking as the Manifestation to humanity. In the third example He is stressing his Oneness with the Creator.
Obviously the Writings of the Manifestation have myriad meanings. I would be interested to learn from anyone else’s insights.
Eddie Whiteside
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