The Four Valleys
The Four Valleys ( "Chahár Vádí") is a book written in Persian by Baháʼu'lláh, the founder of the Baháʼí Faith. The "Seven Valleys" ( "Haft-Vádí") was also written by Baháʼu'lláh, and the two books are usually published together under the title "The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys". The two books are distinctly different and have no direct relation. In February 2019 an authorized translation of both titles was published by the Baháʼí World Centre in the collection "The Call of the Divine Beloved". Background. The "Four Valleys" was written around 1857 in Baghdad. Baháʼu'lláh had recently returned  from the mountains of Kurdistan where he had spent two years studying with various Sufi sheikhs using the pseudonym "Darvish Muhammad-i-Irani". The "Four Valleys" was written in response to questions of S͟hayk͟h ʻAbdu'r-Rahman-i-Talabani, the "honored and indisputable leader" of the Qádiríyyih Order of Sufism. He never identified as a Baháʼí, but was known to his followers as having high respect and admiration for Baháʼu'lláh. Vocabulary. There is some difficulty in translating a text written in a poetic style, with references to concepts of Sufism that may be foreign in the West. Some names are left  in their original Arabic form. For example, Maqsúd ("the Intended One") in this book is used in connection with the holy Kaaba in Mecca and serves as an adjective for it, i.e., it means "the intended Kaba", however, from the context it is clear that this is not a physical place but rather one of the stations on the path toward God. Content. This tablet seems to contain many subjects, such as interpretation of scriptures, religious beliefs and doctrines of the past. The subjects addressed include mysticism, knowledge, divine philosophy, mysteries of creation, medicine, alchemy, and others. Throughout the book  Baháʼu'lláh exhorts men to education, goodly character and divine virtues. In the book, Baháʼu'lláh describes the qualities and grades of four types of mystical wayfarers: "Those who progress in mystic wayfaring are of four kinds." The four are, roughly: This last is considered the highest or truest form of mystic union.