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''The Seven Valleys'' ( ''Haft-Vádí'') is a book written in Persian by Bahá'u'lláh, the founder of the Bahá'í Faith. ''The Four Valleys'' ( ''Chahár Vádí'') was also written by Bahá'u'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. == Seven Valleys == ''The Seven Valleys'' was written around 1860 in Baghdad after Bahá'u'lláh had returned from the Sulaymaniyah region in Kurdistan. The work was written in response to questions posed by Shaykh Muhyi'd-Din, a judge, who was a follower of the Qádiríyyih Order of Sufism. About the time of writing to Bahá'u'lláh, he quit his job, and spent the rest of his life wandering around Iraqi Kurdistan. This work has been called by Shoghi Effendi his "greatest mystical composition", and in the West was one of the earliest available books of Bahá'u'lláh, first translated directly to French in 1905, and English in 1906. The style of ''The Seven Valleys'' is highly poetic, though not composed in verse. Nearly every line of the text contains rhymes and plays on words, which can be lost in translation. As the recipient was of Sufi origin, Bahá'u'lláh used historical and religious subtleties which sometimes used only one or a few words to refer to Qur'anic verses, traditions, and well-known poems. In English, frequent footnotes are used to convey certain background information. The book follows the path of the soul on a spiritual journey passing through different stages, from this world to other realms which are closer to God, as first described by the 12th Century Sufi poet Farid al-Din Attar in his Conference of the Birds. Bahá'u'lláh in the work explains the meanings and the significance of the seven stages.〔 In the introduction, Bahá'u'lláh says "Some have called these Seven Valleys, and others, Seven Cities." The stages are accomplished in order, and the goal of the journey is to follow "the Right Path", "abandon the drop of life and come to the sea of the Life-Bestower", and "gaze on the Beloved". In the conclusion of the book, he mentions: :"These journeys have no visible ending in the world of time, but the severed wayfarer—if invisible confirmation descend upon him and the Guardian of the Cause assist him—may cross these seven stages in seven steps, nay rather in seven breaths, nay rather in a single breath, if God will and desire it." In its introductory section Bahá'u'lláh refers to new age beginning with a cycle of time beginning called a ''Kull-i-Shay using metaphors of the Hindu end times expectations of a Golden Age arising from age of darkness: '' the creation of all things (lit. Kull-i Shay') in this black and ruinous age''. It is also used in the Will and Testament of the Báb as well as in other Bábí contexts. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Seven Valleys」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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