To our knowledge Bahá'u'lláh's first Tablet was a poem in Persian, Rashh-i-'Amá revealed in the Siyáh-Chál of Tihran soon after the descent of the Most Great Spirit upon His radiant soul. It is a song of victory and joy. Although its language is allusive, His divine experience is clearly proclaimed. In every line He extols the glory of God of which He had become the embodiment, and in every phrase He unveils the spiritual worlds which were then manifested within His soul.
Although consisting of only nineteen lines, this poem in itself constitutes a mighty book. Within it are contained the potentialities, the character, the power and the glory of forty years of Divine Revelation to come. It announces the glad-tidings of the release of spiritual energies which are described by Bahá'u'lláh in such terms as the wafting of the divine musk-laden Breeze, the appearance of the Ocean of the Cause of God, the sounding of the Trumpet Blast, the flow of the Living Waters, the warbling of the Nightingale of Paradise and the appearance of the Maid of Heaven. In language supremely beautiful and soul-stirring, He attributes these energies to Himself. His choice of words, and the beauty, power, depth and mystery of this poem and, indeed, of others which were revealed later, are such that they may well prove impossible to translate.
It is in this ode that Bahá'u'lláh disclosed for the first time one of the unique features of His Revelation, namely, the advent of the 'Day of God' which, at this early stage in His ministry, He clearly associated with Himself. In this poem He also identified His Revelation with the Day foretold in Islam when the well-known saying 'I am He' would be fulfilled. 'I' signifies the person of the Manifestation of God, that is, Bahá'u'lláh, and 'He' is the designation of God Himself. This is an indication of the greatness of His Revelation. Speaking with the voice of God, Bahá'u'lláh indeed proclaimed in many of His Tablets, 'I am God'.
- Adib Taherzadeh (‘The Revelation of Baha'u'llah vol. 1)
[1] This Tablet is included in ‘The Call of the Divine Beloved’ at the Baha’i Reference Library of the Baha’i World Center
