THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE BAHA'{ WORLD CENTRE. Department of the Secretariat 20 November 1989 Dear Bah4’f Friend, The Universal House of Justice referred to the Research Department your letter of 12 September 1989 in which you asked three questions related to the Tablets revealed by Bah&’u’11&h to the kings. We are now directed to send you the enclosed copy of the memorandum prepared in response. It is hoped that a study of this material will provide the enlightenment you seek on this historical aspect of the Faith. With loving BahS’{ greetings, Ailhns Urckibate. For Department of the Secretariat EnclosureMEMORANDUM To: The Universal House of Justice Date: 20 November 1989 From: The Research Department TABLETS 10 THE KINGS In his letter dated 12 September 1989 to the Universal House of Justice Me raises three questions about Bahé'u’ll4h’s Tablets to the kings. We provide the following response. 1. Delivery of the Tablets Mr. quotes the following statement from “Epistle to the Son of the Wolf", rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bah4"i Publishing Trust, 1979), p. 59: Our purpose is that haply the breezes of Revelation may envelop thee, and cause thee to arise, wholly for the sake of God, and serve His Cause, and that thou mayest transmit any of the Tablets of the kings which might have remained undelivered and he asks which of the Tablets to the kings were not delivered. Before answering this specific question it is necessary to consider the scope of Bah4'u'llah's proclamation and the means by which it was communicated With regard to the extent of the proclamation, Shoghi Effendi in “The Promised Day Is Come”, rev. ed. (Wilmette: Baha‘'{ Publishing Trust, 1980), p. 21, states that “all the kings of the earth have been collectively addressed" by Bahé‘u'lldh's “Pen”, and he quotes the words of Bahé‘u'llah on this subject: Never since the beginning of the world hath the Message been so openly proclaimed. (God Passes By”, rev. ed. (Wilmette: Bah4'{ Publishing Trust, 1987), p. 212) In “The Promised Day Is Come”, pp. 20-21, Shoghi Effendi lists the most important rulers who were “the object of Bahd‘u'llah's special attention” The Emperor of the French, the most powerful ruler of his day on the European continent, Napoleon I11; Pope Pius IX, the supreme head of the highest church in Christendom, and wielder of the scepter of both temporal and spiritual authority; the omnipotent Czar of the vast Russian Empire, Alexander IT; the renowned Queen Victoria, whose sov- ereignty extended over the greatest political combination the world has witnessed; William I, the conqueror of Napoleon III, King of Prussia and the newly acclaimed monarch of a unified Germany; Francis Joseph, the autocratic king-emperor of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the heir of the far-faned Holy Roman Empire; the tyrannical ‘Abdu’l-‘Aziz, the embodiment of the concentrated power vested in the Sultanate and the Caliphate; the notorious Ndgiri'din Shah, the despotic ruler of Persia and the mightiest potentate of Shi'ih Islam -- in a word, most of the preeminent embodiments of power and of sovereignty in His day became, fone by one, the object of Bah4'u'llah's special attention, and were made to sustain, in varying degrees, the weight of the force communicated by His appeals and warnings.Memorandum to the Universal House of Justice 20 November 1989 From the Research Department Page Two For additional details of the kings and rulers, ecclesiastical leaders and other individuals and groups to whom Bahé‘u‘ll4h addressed His proclamation, Mr. is referred to: = “The Promised Day Is Come", pp. 19-21 - “God Passes By”, rev. ed. (Wilmette: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1987), pp. 171-76; and pp. 206-12. Shoghi Effendi explains that the proclamation was communicated “in books, Epistles, and Tablets”. Of the rulers listed in the extract from “The Promised Day is Come”, cited above, specific individual Tablet(s) were addressed to: - Napoleon III (2 Tablets) = Pope Pius 1X - Czar Alexander IT = Queen Victoria = Sultan ‘Abdu'l- "Aziz + Négiri'd-Din shah Nabil, in “The Dawn-Breakers: Nabil’s Narrative of the Early Days of the Bah4"{ Revelation”, trans. and ed. Shoghi Effendi (Wilmette: Bahai Publishing Trust, 1974), describes a number of gatherings which took place in ‘Akké at which Bah4‘u'1léh was present. He reports some of Bahd'u’llh's comments about the delivery of the Epistles to the kings that were revealed during His incar- ceration in the Most Great Prison: “Prom Our Most Great Prison We were moved to address to the several rulers and crowned heads of the world Epistles in which We summoned them to arise and embrace the Cause of God. To the Shah of Persia We sent Our messenger Badi‘, into whose hands We entrusted the Tablet. It was he who raised it aloft before the eyes of the multitude and, with uplifted voice, appealed to his sovereign to heed the words that Tablet contained. The rest of the Epistlés likewise reached their destination. To the Tablet We addressed to the Emperor of France, an answer was received from his minister, the original of which is now in the possession of the Most Great Branch. To him We addressed these words: ‘Bid the high priest, 0 Monarch of France, to cease ringing his bells, for, lo! the Most Great Bell, which the hands of the will of the Lord thy God are ringing, is made manifest in the person of His chosen One.’ ‘The Epistle We addressed to the Czar of Russia, alone failed to reach its destination. Other Tablets, however, have reached him, and that Epistle will eventually be delivered Into his hands. In “The Promised Day Is Come”, p. 65, Shoghi Effendi describes the delivery of the Tablets to Napoleon IIT, Queen Victoria, Sult4n “Abdu'l-‘Aziz, and Nagiri‘’d-Din Shah, The Research Department has not been able to locate any additional information about whether or not the Tablet to Czar Alexander 11, referred to by Baha'u'llah, has yet been delivered