cire perdue

One day I pondered what is the reward of a hundred martyrs? I was rather stumped, being a rather concrete at times, and black & white person at others. I finally laughed with the thought that they all got death, and said with a little silliness that the answer was death. Having had a scary experience and being hospitalized and seeing the Master who imparted that I was loved, that things would be okay, and that life lived without laughter has too much fear in it. As a result I understand that love is not fearful, does not impart fear, and that the martyrs who danced to their deaths and sang as they died were absolutely totally in love with Baha'u'llah. I found this quote which inspired me to post the thread, and I remember the Babi mother who threw the head of her son back to the crowd, and said, "What I have given to God, I will not take back." Only love could have produced courage like that.

"Love is a light that never dwelleth in a heart possessed by fear."
(Baha'u'llah, The Four Valleys, p. 58)

It is better to laugh in the face of death than to fear death throughout one's life for then one is always dying. By laughing we live more fully no matter what the circumstances. We may choose our glass to be half empty or half full, I think I choose neither. I will laugh at the vessel instead and savor the remainder of its contents as if for the first time with every sip. I like alternate options, don't you?

LordOfGoblins

I dont think "reward of a hundred martyrs is literal..."
How then there be a reward like that just from reciting a prayer?
Bsically it is to emphasise the limitless bounty of God perhaps, and the significance of that tablet in relation to that.
Just what I think..

cire perdue

However the prayer says that if you are really sincere, then you will get answers. Am I supposed to not believe that? I have not held my breath, or expected a mercedes benz, since all my friends drive Porsches, and I must make amends, but I know that prayer works. (Mercedes Benz....Janis Joplin song, and I go around singing, "Lord, Won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz....)

I was saying to myself that Tablet in the MRI, crying like my mum just died, and got to visit with the Master. That was a reward of a hundred martyrs to me. I feel like I had lived my entire life to get that and it made everything worthwhile.

It may take years, but at some point in our lives we are going to get answers we did not expect whether we deserve them or not. Sometime they are wondrous, sometime they are significant, and sometime we may just say, "Oh, okay." However I still do not have the answer to the question. What IS the reward of 100 martyrs? I probably still don't have that reward, but I am surely happy with what I did have happen.

Fadl

To understand the mechanics of how simply reciting a tablet could earn the reward of a hundred martyrs, considering the following quotations may be useful.

The Tablet concludes:

"Learn well this Tablet, O Ahmad. Chant it during thy days and withhold not thyself therefrom. For verily, God hath ordained for the one who chants it, the reward of a hundred martyrs and a service in both worlds..."

and the Guardian has said about the Tablet:

"These daily obligatory prayers, together with a few other specific ones, such as the Healing Prayer, the Tablet of Ahmad, have been invested by Bahá'u'lláh with a special potency and significance, and should therefore be accepted as such and be recited by the believers with unquestioning faith and confidence, that through them they may enter into a much closer communion with God, and identify themselves more fully with His laws and precepts."
-Baha'i Prayers, p. 204

Keep in mind that the Tablet of Ahmad is primarily a Tablet of inspiration for the teacher of the Faith, and read what the Guardian has said in a letter dated 3 August 1932 written on his behalf to an individual believer, quoted in "Bahá'í News", 68, (Nov 1932), p. 3) about martyrdom and teaching:

"Every day has certain needs. In those early days the Cause needed Martyrs, and people who would stand all sorts of torture and persecution in expressing their faith and spreading the message sent by God. Those days are, however, gone. The Cause at present does not need martyrs who would die for the faith, but servants who desire to teach and establish the Cause throughout the world. To live to teach in the present day is like being martyred in those early days. It is the spirit that moves us that counts, not the act through which that spirit expresses itself; and that spirit is to serve the Cause of God with our heart and soul."
-The Compilation of Compilations vol II, p. 5

Now considering that the Tablet of Ahmad has a special "potency" the one who chants it regularly and "learn[s] well this tablet" is going to be affected by its power and potency. What will that effect be? Probably to teach with selfless abandon, since that is the theme of the tablet. When we recite this tablet with sincerity, the effect will eventually be "to serve the Cause of God with our heart and soul" which really means dying of the self, as explained in the Valley of true poverty and absolute nothingness of The Seven Valleys, and living in God. In the Arabic Hidden Words it is revealed:

"If thou lovest Me, turn away from thyself; and if thou seekest My pleasure, regard not thine own; that thou mayest die in Me and I may eternally live in thee."

So we see that again, that "martyrdom" or dying for the Cause need not be literal death to be glorious. 'Abdu'l-Baha elaborates on this theme:

"Until a being setteth his foot in the plane of sacrifice, he is bereft of every favour and grace; and this plane of sacrifice is the realm of dying to the self, that the radiance of the living God may then shine forth. The martyr's field is the place of detachment from self, that the anthems of eternity may be upraised. Do all ye can to become wholly weary of self, and bind yourselves to that Countenance of Splendours; and once ye have reached such heights of servitude, ye will find, gathered within your shadow, all created things. This is boundless grace; this is the highest sovereignty; this is the life that dieth not. All else save this is at the last but manifest perdition and great loss."
-Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 76

Now, what is so great about teaching, that doing it (a consequence of reciting the Tablet of Ahmad regularly and with sincerity) could earn one the reward of a 100 martyrs?

"Say: To assist Me is to teach My Cause."
-Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 196


"...assist me, by Thy strengthening grace, so to teach Thy Cause that the dead may speed out of their sepulchers, and rush forth towards Thee..."
-Baha'i Prayers, p. 170

"It is better to guide one soul than to possess all that is on earth, for as long as that guided soul is under the shadow of the Tree of Divine Unity, he and the one who hath guided him will both be recipients of God's tender mercy..."
-Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 75

"Say: Teach ye the Cause of God, O people of Baha, for God hath prescribed unto every one the duty of proclaiming His Message, and regardeth it as the most meritorious of all deeds."
-Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 278

It is not difficult to understand how a teacher of the Cause of God might receive the reward of a hundred martyrs, because to become a true and dedicated teacher of the cause is to sacrifice, although metaphorically, ones life and expend it in service of God. Because the Tablet of Ahmad is a tablet concerned with teaching and service to the Cause of God, and because it possesses a special potency, by logical extension the one who chants it sincerely and habitually will render great service and self-sacrifice to the Cause of God, by sacrificing his life, and guiding many souls, and thereby win the reward of a hundred martyrs. This is how I have come to understand it, and I hope that each of you will achieve it, God willing.

cire perdue

Thank you, Fadl, for the work and thought you put in that answer. It means a lot to me. I did come out of the experience with more desire and apparently more ability to teach the Faith. It may be part of the reward of a hundred martyrs to have one's ability to teach enhances...............

Pollwr

I have loved the Tablet of Ahmad since I found it as a teenager, in a prayer book. I do have a tendency to read things literally too. I used to think, well, I wouldn't know what to do with 100 martyrs if they were given to me. It took some years to work out what it was actually saying. I have heard it suggested that it was a percentage reference that the percentage of your sincerity would be reflected in your reward but I have not seen anything to convince me of that suggestion.

Even though I read the whole tablet from time to time I find myself unable to focus on it in its entirety. Each time parts seems to jump out at me, and it can be a different part.

At the moment it is:

"Chant it during thy days and withhold not thyself therefrom."

Does that just mean recite, or does it mean a tuneful chant? I also find myself saving this prayer for the big problems. I hope that does not count as witholding myself from it.

Also this is quite a wonderful statement:

"By God! Should one who is in affliction or grief read this Tablet with absolute sincerity, God will dispel his sadness, solve his difficulties and remove his affliction"

Now as I have grown older and had time to think about my prayers and how they were answered I am of the opinion that sometimes the dispelling of sadness is more about changing the outlook, focus or attitude of the person praying, rather than "fixing" a situation. I used to also have expectations that prayers were answered straight away or not at all or the answer was a resounding "no" but now I see that there is no reference to time. I feel that I have had many prayers that felt unanswered at the time but things happened over sometimes a long time.

Now I just have to get my sincerity absolute and I will have this prayer thing cracked!

cire perdue

If you can find and purchase LEARN WELL THIS TABLET OF AHMAD, you will be blessed. It is a line for line, word for word at times examination of the tablet. About sincerity Richard is almost funny, he says if you are just 5% sincere and God answers 5% of your prayer then you are that much better off. It puts things into perspective!!!!! He does a better job of it than I have reported, but the book is a spiritual dessert! It's wonderful...... If you love the Tablet, you will be excited by the book!!!!

cire perdue

Learn Well This Tablet

Link to this book at George Ronald!!!!