of Baha'u'llah date from the nineties of the last century. Over forty
years ago the Aqdas, a volume of general Tablets including Tarazat,
I_sh_raqat, and others were published in I_sh_qabad (Russia) and Bombay
respectively and copies of these though rare are still procurable.
Simultaneously with these, if not earlier, some of the writings of
Baha'u'llah were published by the Oriental Department of the Imperial
Russian University at St. Petersburgh under the supervision of its
director Baron Rosen (and more particulars about these could be found in
the books of E. G. Browne) and these of course are not undated like some
of those published in Bombay.

The main bulk of the writings of Baha'u'llah however are to be found in
manuscript form written by noted scribes after the fashion of orientals.
These scribes did not leave all their manuscripts undated and Jinabi Zain,
a very noted Baha'i scribe, always dated his copies of the writings of
Baha'u'llah at the end of the volume in what E. G. Browne calls
'colophenes' and the description of some of these colophenes could be
found in the works of the Cambridge Professor.

The son of the above-mentioned scribe is still living in Haifa and does
very much the same work as his father. He claims that as early as 1868 his
father used to write copies of the Iqan for the Baha'is in Persia as a
source of livelihood, and that after 1885 when he went to Akka to join
Baha'u'llah's party his entire work and time was devoted to copying the
sacred writings for sale among Baha'is. These copies are to be found all
throughout the East and are almost invariably dated.

Letter of 9 June 1930

9 June 1930

Concerning the accounts of visits to Haifa, published by the friends
during the Master's life-time, Shoghi Effendi is very reluctant to
attribute to them much authority. Most of these are personal impressions
and are to be valued only as such. Baha'u'llah definitely states that only
His actual writings are to be relied upon. Such reports may be interesting
but not authoritative, no matter who the reporter may be...

Letter of 22 October 1930

22 October 1930

...If those heroic deeds have made such an impression upon you, would not
the reading of the narrative arouse the friends to greater sacrifices and
stimulate them to more intensive service? It was not mere physical torture
that the friends in Persia had to endure but also moral persecution for
they were cursed and vi