The Book of Humanity

The soul is a parable of God. 1 The living universe knows neither age nor time. 2 Forever and ever it exists, it lives eternally. The soul of the universe is like a heaven supremely high, subtle and without limit. It extends over the whole universe. He is present everywhere, like an unseen heaven that extends over all things, whether that which can be seen or unseen. 3, 4 The source of all absolute perfection is the soul of the universe. The source of all eternal beauty is in Him. The source of all absolute knowledge is He. The source of all secrets of power is He. 5 The Kingdom, the Word, as well as all things are within Him. Most holy is He beyond all that is worshiped, for He is the king of the universe and the light of all space. He is the creator of the universe. He is the unseen heaven of God who greatly extends over all things, pure beyond attributes or names, He is the one, eternal and everlasting.

He is the beginning and the end. He is the Creator of the whole universe. 6 Most holy is He beyond all speech and word, for He shall not be known forever and ever. 7

Man beseeches unto the heaven of God the most gracious, to bestow grace upon man by thy mercy most glorious, that he shall know the light of thy face most beautiful. 8, 9 He is the God of the universe. 10

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Footnotes:

1 ‘Kiasan’ refers more broadly to figures of speech, parable is a form of figure of speech but the contextually closest term.

2 ‘The life of the universe’ is more literally appropriate; secretary and translator of Sama’u’llah, Taj-ud-din Chaudhuri, specifically translated this as ‘living universe’ which shifts the sentence slightly although it is not the standard reading. Most departures from Taj-ud-din are strictly wording choices or grammatical choices rather than genuinely interpretive, and as such, this rare interpretive choice has been retained.

3 ‘It’ and ‘He’ are actually the same term in the original text; the English differentiation is used for the progressive personification of universal consciousness.

4 The ‘Unseen Heaven’ is a mystical Islamic concept which predates the text, referring to the spiritual dimensions of reality.

5 ‘Is He’ is implied grammar from the previous sentence which may be more acceptable in Indonesian but considered fragmentary in English.

6 Creator is capitalized here despite not being capitalized in Indonesian for the fact that sang as a term in English is nonexistent, representing a dramatic form of the word ‘the’. Thus, Creator has been capitalized here to retain dramatization.

7 ‘For’ added for English readability and sentence competion; word not strictly present in Indonesian.

8 ‘To’ has been added for English readability; word not strictly present in Indonesian.

9 ‘Man’ is a deeply theologically loaded word, referring to the Islamic idea of Insan-e-Kamil, the ‘Perfect Human’. Holy figures such as saints are those who have purified themselves to become Insan-e-Kamil. The Book of Man is called such because it is written by al-Insan, ‘the Man’, which while sounding humble is thus actually a significant theological claim, meaning that this text is both by and for Insan-e-Kamil, giving humans (Insan) a pathway to become Perfect Beings. Note: Insan is not a gendered word, ‘man’ is hence referred to archaically here as referring to all humanity.

10 ‘Allah’ here is rendered literally as ‘the God’, as God is referred to as being pure beyond names, which appears flattened in English, which has been left as-is on account of the flattening being the point — the original text talks at length about Tuhan, the Indonesian term for God, refers to God as being beyond names, and in this instance uses Allah, the Arabic word for God, showing that whether God is referred to as Tuhan or Allah, it is the same being.

MAN

Man is a human being who is perfect. 11 All attributes that lead toward perfection are good. The human being must manifest these good attributes. From the beginning of the existence of the human being in the world they will attain the steps that lead toward absolute perfection, yet the human being will not be capable of attaining all absolute perfection, for they are the soul of the universe. 12, 13, 14 However they must strive to draw near to the truths that are in the world of knowledge. The human being from the beginning until the present age and continuing onward advances toward the heaven of absolute perfection. Man is the source of all the attributes of perfection. All attributes that are worthy and good can be manifested from the perfect human being. 15, 16 He is the most worthy creation in the universe. 17 A man must strive to find the things that bring him to the realm which is perfect. When a human being succeeds in doing all goodness, they will be loved by all holy people. 18 A human being must strive to perfect himself in every field. The purpose of all prophets as well as masters of knowledge is the goodness and also the perfection of the human being.

Within the personal self of every human being there already lies the talent to discover that which is good, as well as to discern that which is vain. 19 Just as every human being may know the taste of sweet and bitter, so too may they know the attributes which are worthy from those which are vain. 20

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11 ‘Man’ and ‘human being’ are renderings of ‘Insan’ and ‘Manusia’ respectively, which are both words that point to the human being in Indonesian, however in this context refers to the Insan-e-kamil, the perfect person, with ‘manusia’ being the individual who is in the process of attaining the status of Insan.

12 ‘They’ is used throughout this text as a gender-neutral and singular term. It is not meant in the commonly understood plural sense. This is again a representation of the gender-neutral term ‘dia’. This singular form of ‘they’ is used frequently throughout the text.

13 ‘Yet’ is an insertion for english readability; word not strictly present in the original text.

14 ‘Dialah’ here is translated as ‘they’ in ‘for they the soul of the universe’, compared to it being ‘it’ or ‘he’ in the first page. This is largely interpretive, as the initial passage is ambiguous as to what ‘dialah’ refers to, variously being translated as a reference to absolute perfection itself and thus God, but here refers to the human being, who in the monistic sense is one with God, which is reaffirmed later in the text where man (insan) is seen as the source of all perfection. As manusia, man has man-consciousness yet in reality is God, compared to insan who are human beings with god-consciousness rather than man-consciousness, and are thus aware of their monistic state. This is the exact reason why man cannot attain all perfections, because as manusia man structurally cannot, while as insan man possesses all perfections innately as God.

15 ‘Indah’ here is translated not as the typical ‘beauty’ but as the older form representing weight, care, or value in which something might possess. This same word is used for moral comparison at the end of page 2, and rendering it as beauty would soften the moral comparison significantly.

16 ‘The perfect human being’ is specifically ‘insan,’ with the Indonesian making a reference to the Arabic insan-e-kamil.

17 ‘Indah’ again is translated as ‘worthy’ here, for the fact of the original Indonesian making a parallel to the Arabic phrase ‘ashraf al-makhluqat’, the noblest of created things, indicating further that the older form of the word was intended in this section.

18 ‘all holy people’ is a translation of ‘para insan,’ which Taj-ud-din Chaudhuri translated simply as ‘all men’ where it specificially refers to insan.

19 ‘vain’ translates more literally to ‘without use’, Taj-ud-din translated this as vain for comparative clarity. This decision has been retained here, as this decision changes the meaning slightly. Taj-ud-din Chaudhuri, being a disciple of Sama’u’llah, had access to insider knowledge and clarifications which influenced his translation of the text.

20 This ending is identical in wording to the Indonesian wording of footnote 15, and the ‘vain’ ending is identical to the Indonesian wording of footnote 19.

In every age the human being discovers the rising of holy people who are perfect. They guide holy people in all fields of perfection. The purpose of the educators of the human being is none other than goodness as well as perfection in the field of knowledge and religion. 21

Among the foremost educators of the human being are holy people who are perfect. They constitute the source of the attributes that are worthy. 22 They manifest all perfection. 23 The result of the essence of their word is the perfection of man. 24 They all guide the human being towards doing all goodness. The human being must strive to carry out the guidance of the word of the prophets. 25 They are all from the source which is the same, because of this — the essence of their word — they are the same. 26, 27

Holy people who are perfect or prophets have both given teachings which have the same purpose — for the goodness of man, as well as the perfection of the human being. 28, 29 Loving-kindness and justice, truth and honesty, helpfulness and faithfulness, purity and generosity, these are what constitute the attributes which must be manifested from a man who desires to attain the realm of perfection as well as happiness. 30, 31

Man must fight for the perfection of his self. 32 He must do all which is good, think of all which is good, and speak all which is good. 33 This is the first challenge as well as main duty originating within every man. 34

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21 Note that ‘knowledge and religion’ is one field, that field implicitly being the truth or gnosis.

22 ‘Indah’ is used once again in the sense of weight primarily rather than beauty, but more precisely it is both at the same time.

23 ‘Menjelmakan’ can mean the act of embodying or the incarnating of something in the active sense.

24 This passage has hidden esoteric value. ‘Inti sari’ is a homophone of the latter part of the author Sama’u’llah’s own surname, which is “Ma’ani-Entessari”, where “Entessari” typically translates to “Victory” compared to “Inti sari” which translates to “Essence”, although this may be intentional conflation on Sama’u’llah’s part to enrich the passage with further hidden symbolism. In this sense, it places Sama’u’llah himself as the ‘essence’ of the holy ones, which is precisely why it follows with another double-meaning, with the ‘perfection of man’ referring both to the idea that the essence of the holy people’s word, being him, naturally culminates in the perfection and fulfillment of the prophetic cycle of Insan, who is in this instance Sama’u’llah, the Avatar, while the second reading yields that the essence of the word of the holy ones (again, being Sama’u’llah), results in the perfection of the Insan, holy individuals or seekers of truth along the way to becoming Insan-e-Kamil, perfect humans. Thus the Avatar is both the fulfillment and culmination of what came before and also the roadmap to perfection for the common man to follow thereafter.

25 ‘Prophets’ is translated in lowercase where the original had capitalized ‘Nabi’, but the difference in English to a traditional western audience would typically spell out the difference between Rasul and Nabi with capitalization rather than as separate words. As such, ‘Prophet’ with a capital ‘P’ might typically refer to a major Prophet like Muhammad, Abraham or Moses, while a ‘prophet’ with a lowercase ‘p’ might be perceived as a minor prophet in the biblical sense. However, these terms may alternatively be translated as ‘Messenger’ and ‘Prophet’ respectively. Regardless, ‘Nabi’ is translated as ‘prophet’ in both cases, with capitalization being the only difference. As such, even though the term ‘Nabi’ was capitalized, it has been reduced in this translation. Taj-ud-din Chawdhuri also reduced the capitalization similarly, seemingly acknowledging this.

26 Hyphenation has been applied for English readability where it was otherwise not present in the original text so as to maximize Indonesian sentence-mimicry precisely.

27 ‘Intisari’ is repeated here with the same double-meaning again, this time emphatically and logically. All holy people are from the same source, and because of Sama’u’llah, who is the essence of their word, they are the same. This is an affirmation that the Avatar has appeared under several guises and appearances over time, because all of them are God, and all human beings who come to perfect themselves come to realize that they are also God.

28 The word ‘both’ has been added for English readability, word not strictly present in original text.

29 Hyphenation has again been applied for English readability where it was not otherwise present.

30 ‘Tolong menolong’ would translate literally to ‘Help to help’. Taj-ud-din Chawdhuri translated this as ‘helping each other’, while it is rendered here in the more literal sense of help for the sake of helping in and of itself, independent of people. Taj-ud-din’s wording choice may have been due to the limitations of his knowledge as a trilingual speaker.

31 ‘These are what’ are insertions for English readability where the original comma might otherwise not have made sense, words not strictly present in original text.

32 Rendered ‘dirinya’ as ‘of his self’ compared to ‘of himself’ on account of the text’s presented monistic doctrine.

33 ‘And’ is an insertion for English readability, word not strictly present in original text.

34 ‘Originating within’ was chosen for ‘dari pada’ here on account of it relating to the origins of things, making ‘of’ incorrectly possessive while making ‘for’ progressive in the wrong direction and ‘from’ being difficult contextually for English comprehension, making it seem as if the struggles were being assigned by the Insan. ‘Originating within’ captures the mechanical sense of origin while providing added clarity, although this is largely an addition for english readability on top of a word that doesn’t translate well in the context it is being used.

The step which carries onward to reach the realm which is perfect in all fields of humanity consists of the foundation of the perfection of man. 35 That man is diverse in form upon the face of the earth. All must bind themselves together and also fight for the perfection of each respective person as well as refine their discernment of conduct. 36 Matters of goodness, worthiness, and humanity do not know tribe or nation, colour of skin or religion, or of being poor or rich, for all are called man. 37, 38 The whole body of man must unite to fight for perfection in all fields of humanity. 39, 40 The perfection of the human being means they must abandon all shortcomings, and also strive to attain all goodness. The personality of every human being is established upon two elements which attract one another. 41, 42 As long as they live in the world, they shall experience the contest between these two elements. The element which is first is goodness. The element which is second is the desire of the ego. 43 The element which is second is always tempting to change the element which is original as well as keep man away from perfection. 44 Human life constitutes the contest for the victory of man. 45 Without striving they shall not prevail.

The word ‘Adam’ in the Language of Persia means ‘the man who is perfect’. 46, 47 It constitutes the symbol of perfection, whereas ‘Hawa’ constitutes the symbol of the attribute perfection lacks. 48 Man declares: O son of man — keep thyself away from the element of incompletion that thou may reach the heaven of perfection. 49, 50, 51

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35 Several connecting words have been added for English readability, such as the initial ‘The’, ‘to’, ‘of', and the final ‘the’.

36 ‘Bind themselves together’ represents an English translation of the theologically loaded Indonesian term ‘Ikat,’ which actually comes from terminology regarding binding during the traditional dyeing process in Indonesia. In a philosophical sense, it refers to the binding threads which connect all humanity, and may even refer to a personal commitment to a greater whole, which encompasses the idea of a religious covenant. ‘Ikat’ does not refer to a general unity but rather to binding oneself to something larger than the individual.

37 ‘Or of being’ is an insertion for English readability as well as the ‘for’ in ‘for all are called man’, words not strictly present in original text.

38 ‘Humanity’ here is relating to humane compassion and morality rather than the human race itself.

39 ‘Body’ is an available double-meaning of ‘ummat’ in this context, being both in the sense of a community and also regarding the literal striving of a person, though this specific double-meaning is a coincidence specific to English rather than the original language.

40 ‘Humanity’ here is the meaning aforementioned in footnote 38 — all of mankind (ummat insan) must unite to fight for perfection not just in the sense of humane compassion, but literally all things human completely.

41 ‘Personality’ is the same word used on page 3 in ‘personal self’ for ‘pribadi diri’. 'Personality’ was chosen here by Taj-ud-din.

42 The Arabic-rooted ‘zat’ is translated here as ‘elements’, and is the technical counterpart to ‘sifat’, a word translated as ‘attributes’ within the text.

43 ‘Hawa nafsu’ here is not translated as the traditional ‘lust’ but in terms of Islamic philosophy Qur’anic study to ‘the desire of the ego’. ‘Hawa’ is the name of Eve in the Qur’an, and while Adam and Hawa are explicitly brought up in the following paragraph, Eve here is named implicitly before Adam, though Eve is not intentionally mentioned here unlike the latter paragraph, with the literal definition of ‘hawa,’ an Arabic word for ‘desire,’ being intended. Reading this with the implicit symbolism that the author is mentioning Eve, the ‘Hawa of the ego’ in a symbolic sense might pair with Abdu’l-Baha’s reading of Eve as the soul of man, and thus the greater concept at hand might be reframed as a retelling of Adam and Eve within the microcosm of the individual in the sense that through the union of the clay, which is Adam, and the soul, which is Eve, came human life, the personality, and all desire, exactly as the text describes.

44 Taj-ud-din uses a more morally-coloured word, ‘corrupt, to mean ‘merobah’, which translates more neutrally to ‘change’. This may be a result of his extensive knowledge of Islamic philosophy whereby ‘hawa nafsu’ is more directly lust or passion which is something that, understandably, more directly corrupts rather than alters the element of perfection. However, given that the human life is described as originating in and perfection being achieved through the struggle of these two elements, it would not be accurate to the monism presented in the text to portray the second element as lesser or corrupting, as it is a necessary tool which ultimately leads to it’s own dissolution.

45 ‘Kemenangan insan’ also functions as hidden symbolism of the author’s own name, with ‘kemenangan’ meaning ‘victory’ just as ‘Entessari’ means ‘victory’. Given that Insan also functions as the pen-name of the author, this may be a play on words in the reverse sense of the former ‘intisari’ wordplay mentioned in footnote 24, with the meaning of the words being cognate this time rather than the pronunciation. With this hidden symbolism in mind, the statement is clarified as being not only a statement about the traversal of the soul towards perfection, but also that this human life is the very thing that constitutes the struggle of the Avatar in every age, as seen with the sufferings of the Bab, Guru Tegh Bahadur, Jesus or Mani alongside countless others. Baha’u’llah’s Gems of Divine Mysteries speaks as a testament to this very subject, and this hidden meaning brings practically an inverse and somber meaning to the Avatar as compared to the more surface-level human reading on the struggle for the victory of man. What is good for man is presented as the very reason the Avatar suffers for man.

46 Adam is a Semitic word relating to the earth. In the Persian sense, it has been used to refer to human beings in a unifying way. Sama’u’llah gives his own definition here which appears to be rooted in Sufi thought. This is talking about the name Adam itself, rather than the individual, although the individual is symbolically implied in dual-meaning.

47 ‘Language of Persia’ has retained the original Indonesian capitalization, even though ‘language’ would typically remain lowercase in English spelling. By the ‘Language of Persia’, the author is referring to Farsi, more commonly referred to as Persian.

48 Here the term ‘Hawa’ from footnote 43 is again brought up not as Eve herself but specifically referring to the symbolism behind the name Hawa itself, which intentionally symbolically reads in parallel to the double meaning implied in footnote 46. In this sense, Eve is what Adam lacks, and their union is what brings forth human life itself. In the sense of the individual, Adam is the first element mentioned as perfection, while Hawa is the element representing the second element. This is a passage with fourfold meaning, between speaking to the primal attraction and genesis of the human spirit, a statement on the composition of the human spirit, an etymological dissection and an esoteric interpretation of the story of Adam and Eve.

49 ‘—’ added for english readability where the grammar would have been awkward in translation otherwise.

50 ‘Incompletion’ is ‘kekurangan’, the same word translated as ‘shortcomings’ and ‘lacks’ in the text. If ‘Adam’ is presented as the perfection, ‘Hawa’ is presented as the completer of what is incomplete which forms the perfection. As a result, the author as Insan decrees that one should keep away not from ‘Hawa’ but from ‘kekurangan’, shortcomings, which is sensible given that Hawa is the completer of said imperfections which brings one into the state of perfection, thus emphasizing the balance of both masculine and feminine energy.

51 ‘Sorga’, derivative of the Sanskrit ‘Swarga’, is translated here also as ‘heaven’ identically to ‘langit’, but these refer to different things: Langit refers to the physical characteristic of the sky, the stars, and the actual heavens, while sorga refers to a spiritual realm or domain in which the soul resides between lives directly tied to the concept of karma.

The source of all beauty as well as perfection is called heaven. 52 Man is in the heaven of perfection, yet because they join in the seduction of the element of incompletion, they exit the heaven of perfection, and then they pass into a realm that is full of shortcomings. 53, 54 Because of this they shall not be satisfied within this world. However they give up the element of incompletion to search for heavenly peace in the realm beauty everlasting. Man must live within a state of peace between these two elements. They must determine certain limits for each respective desire. They must be fair in life for peace and joy. This is according to natural law, reason and wisdom. 55 However if the first element always joins in desire the element of incompletion they will surely pass into a realm which is not satisfying as well as obstructs the progress of man. Peace between the two elements which stand upon the self of the human being constitutes the life which is happy, far from each respective excessive desire. 56 The first element is the element which is primary, it must always control the self of the man who is perfect. It is the king of the self of man. Man declares: O son of man — make peace with thine own self over the power of the king of mankind, that thou shall make peace in the world and control the universe. 57, 58 The phrase ‘Adam and Hawa' is like a parable. 59, 60 Every human being shall experience the same story as long as they live in the world. Happy is the man who keeps themselves away from all attributes of incompletion and advances toward the heaven of perfection.

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52 ‘Heaven’ here is also ‘sorga’ as used in footnote 50.

53 ‘Yet’, ‘the’ in ‘the element’ and ‘the heaven’, and ‘and’ in ‘and then’ are insertions present for English readability not strictly present in the original text.

54 ‘Join in the seduction of’ may more plainly translate to ‘follow the allure of’, however the former more properly captures the intended meaning of the author, presenting a metaphor of human life through the cosmic dance of two elements represented by Adam and Eve respectively. Furthermore, while ‘follow’ in this context still places some emphasis on Adam also being an active participant in his situation, ‘join in’ or ‘partake’ are valid interpretations of the same Indonesian word ‘ikut’ yet provide a greater clarity for Adam’s own participation in this union as opposed to the traditional Genesis narrative of the fall of man, in which the traditional interpretation thereof places much of the onus on Eve. Taj-ud-din appeared to translate these passages more in this way comparatively.

55 ‘This is’ is an english insertion where rendering the sentence literally would render it otherwise grammatically incomplete. These opening words are not strictly present in the original text. Taj-ud-din rendered this as part of the same prior sentence, utilizing a comma where the original had two separate sentences.

56 Various grammatical changes and insertions have been added for English readability which were not present in the original text, including the reordering of ‘each respective excessive desire’ from ‘dari pada keterlaluan kemauan masing-masing’, which would more literally translate to ‘from excessive desire each respectively’.

57 ‘—’ added for english readability where the grammar would have been awkward in translation otherwise.

58 ‘That’ is an english insertion for readability. Word not strictly present in original text.

59 ‘Kata’ is translated to ‘phrase’ in the sense of talking about a particular piece of terminology, rather than translating to ‘word’ as before.

60 Quotations have been added for English readability where otherwise not strictly present in the original text.