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12.1 Tampering with the Iqan’s text
The most glaring cases which the text have been tampered with appears Shoghi Effendi's translation if the Kitab-i-Irfan of which two editions are available (Bahai World 1926-1928 Vol III P. 200).
In the original text quoted by Prof. Browne in his Persian introduction to the Nuqta'al-Kaf p. -- Baha accounts for his return to Baghdad from his self imposed exile in the northern Iraq in the following terms:
باری
تا آنکه از مصدر امر حکم رجوع صادر شد و لابد تسلیم شدم و راجع نمودم
See introduction to the Aqdas, p.13 (Brenten’s translation) (of the Book of Assurance (IQAN) P. 180.
Please note that Baha speaks in the first person singular, and states that he returned at the command of the "Source of Command" who was Subh-i Azal.
In Baha'u'llah and New Era by J.E Esslemont, Bahai publishing committee, New York, Revised Edition, first printing March 1939, approved by Shoghi Effendi and the American National Spiritual, P.36, Shoghi Effendi translates the text as follows:
"…until the hour when from the mystic source, there came the summons bidding us to return when we came surrendering our will to his, we submitted to his injunction."
Converted to the "Mystical source" and Baha is quoted as speaking in the first person plural.
Again in the original text the following passage occurs :
و این عبد در کمال رضا جان بر کف حاضرم که شاید از عنایت
الهی و فضل سبحان این حرف مذکور و مشهور در سبیل نقطه و کلمة مستور فدا شود.
Prof. Browne's Persian Introduction Ibid. P. لز
In some copies " و کلمة مستور " appears as "و کلمه علیا" both these words denote Subh-i Azal.
Shoghi Effendi’s version as it appears in the Dawn-Breakers, Nabil's Narrative under the name of the book, sums as follows :
"I stand, life in hand, that per chance through god's loving kindness and grace, this revealed and magnificent letter may lay down his life as a sacrifice in the path of the Primal Point, the most exalted word. "
Here "مذکور مشهور" is turned into "revealed and magnificent" and the word "and" immediately following the "Point" is suppressed to give a different slant to "و کلمة مستور" or "و کلمه علیا".
The strange part of it is that Shoghi Effendi in his "God Passes By" accuses of having tempered with sacred texts.
The Iqan was written in at Baghdad in A.H 1278 (1861-1862).- Prof. Browne's Persian introduction to the Nuqta-al-Kaf, PP. کو - که note 7 .
It was written for Hajji Mirza Sayyid Muhammad, Sayyid Ali Muhammad's maternal uncle. Materials for the study BÁBi Religion by Prof. Browne P. 12.
For this reason it was named Khaluiyya. Following Baha's pretensions at Edirne in 1866, it was renamed by him Iqan.
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