"Five Grades of Revelation" by the Bab: Thematic Fragments of the Text. Introduction, Translation from the Persian Laguage and Commentaries by Youli A. Ioannesyan
The article introduces the reader to one of the latest Writings of the Bab (founder of the Babi faith): The Panj Sha’n. It contains a brief review of its content illustrated by relevant passages. This Writing consists of various Arabic and Persian texts different in style and content. What makes The Panj Sha’n unique among the Bab’s writings is that it comprises the five “modes” or “grades” of what the Bab described as his revelation. The texts are very difficult for understanding and translation, but, as the author of the article shows by demonstrating their examples in his provisional Russian translation, the viewpoint expressed by some scholars that this Writing is “almost unreadable” and “untranslatable” is largely exaggerated.