25 April 2023
Greetings Friends:
Here you will find updates and background documents for our exploration of the divine Kitáb-I-Íqan.The provided links should lead you to them. New Links will be added as needed and requested.
Dalton Garis
Welcome!
BISMI'LLAH 'IL-BAHIY'I'L-ABHA!
(In the Name of God, the Glory of the All-Glorious)
Welcome!
This blog will be an occasional post of quiet but persistent analyses of current world events, a what's-behind-the-curtain, so to speak. It also contains notes, holy Tablets, and readings pertaining to the online courses, Kitab-I-Iqan, and the divine Qur'an.
The position of this blog is unabashedly seeking to discover the Hand of God in these terrible and unprecedented in scale and chaotic troubles affecting the world. It takes as given that the Ancient Being, the Creator of all things has not for one instant abandoned mankind to its desired self-destructive fate, but has rather intervened at set times in history to alter the course of events.
This has been accomplished by the instrumentality of the divinely chosen human being acting as God's Mouthpiece, His divinely chosen Manifestation, Messenger or Prophet, appearing among His own people, to broadcast that which He Hears from the Holy Ghost, the Ray of the revelation of God, the angel Gabriel, or Jibrail, whispering into the inner and outer ear of the holy Messenger. After the set time, so that those people can either accept or reject the truth from God, the divine Fragrance of God's new Revelation is wafted over the entire earth, to actuate the changes necessary in human society so that it grows, matures, and stage by stage, carries on an ever-advancing civilization.
Troubles of the present magnitude occurring all over the world are a sign that mankind has outgrown the current set of structured solutions and requires a new, more dynamic and inclusive structure, prophesied in previous divine Messages, but latent, until the appointed Hour, when their full force and potency can be revealed to a disheartened and distracted mankind.
From this can be gathered that the present author is convinced by all available evidence which he has investigated that there is only one God; that this Ancient Being has had a purpose in creating us; that there is a distinction to be made in all events between the why and the how, that the instrumentality is not synonymous with the purpose or underlying reason for the happening of any particular event or set of events; and that the author is convinced by the Writings of His Holiness Baha'u'llah that He is indeed the promised One of all previous divine Revelations--even as each previous divine Messenger was the fulfillment of all previous divine Messages, that He it is Who has been given authority of God to unseal the divine Seal of the Qur'an; and that all previous divinely revealed Prophets and Messengers of Allah have prayed to witness this Day of God, the Day when all mankind will be gathered under His shadow, the Day when "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven."
Thus, the task at hand is to understand and pry apart the how from the why of all those what's that we see all around us.
The sailing schooner shown above is an appropriate metaphor for this blog. The sailor uses all experience and available knowledge to chart a course across the traceless expanse of the ocean, with its hidden treasures and dangers, surrendering will and ego to whatever the heavens may stir up. Wind precedes rain and sun follows storm. In this way does the Master of all things test and try us, to see what inside of our hearts promotes strength and hope, rather than weakness and despair, until our allotted time runs out and we return to our final home.
Kind regards to all of you,
Dalton DeGaris
(In the Name of God, the Glory of the All-Glorious)
Welcome!This blog will be an occasional post of quiet but persistent analyses of current world events, a what's-behind-the-curtain, so to speak. It also contains notes, holy Tablets, and readings pertaining to the online courses, Kitab-I-Iqan, and the divine Qur'an.
The position of this blog is unabashedly seeking to discover the Hand of God in these terrible and unprecedented in scale and chaotic troubles affecting the world. It takes as given that the Ancient Being, the Creator of all things has not for one instant abandoned mankind to its desired self-destructive fate, but has rather intervened at set times in history to alter the course of events.
This has been accomplished by the instrumentality of the divinely chosen human being acting as God's Mouthpiece, His divinely chosen Manifestation, Messenger or Prophet, appearing among His own people, to broadcast that which He Hears from the Holy Ghost, the Ray of the revelation of God, the angel Gabriel, or Jibrail, whispering into the inner and outer ear of the holy Messenger. After the set time, so that those people can either accept or reject the truth from God, the divine Fragrance of God's new Revelation is wafted over the entire earth, to actuate the changes necessary in human society so that it grows, matures, and stage by stage, carries on an ever-advancing civilization.
Troubles of the present magnitude occurring all over the world are a sign that mankind has outgrown the current set of structured solutions and requires a new, more dynamic and inclusive structure, prophesied in previous divine Messages, but latent, until the appointed Hour, when their full force and potency can be revealed to a disheartened and distracted mankind.
From this can be gathered that the present author is convinced by all available evidence which he has investigated that there is only one God; that this Ancient Being has had a purpose in creating us; that there is a distinction to be made in all events between the why and the how, that the instrumentality is not synonymous with the purpose or underlying reason for the happening of any particular event or set of events; and that the author is convinced by the Writings of His Holiness Baha'u'llah that He is indeed the promised One of all previous divine Revelations--even as each previous divine Messenger was the fulfillment of all previous divine Messages, that He it is Who has been given authority of God to unseal the divine Seal of the Qur'an; and that all previous divinely revealed Prophets and Messengers of Allah have prayed to witness this Day of God, the Day when all mankind will be gathered under His shadow, the Day when "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven."
Thus, the task at hand is to understand and pry apart the how from the why of all those what's that we see all around us.
The sailing schooner shown above is an appropriate metaphor for this blog. The sailor uses all experience and available knowledge to chart a course across the traceless expanse of the ocean, with its hidden treasures and dangers, surrendering will and ego to whatever the heavens may stir up. Wind precedes rain and sun follows storm. In this way does the Master of all things test and try us, to see what inside of our hearts promotes strength and hope, rather than weakness and despair, until our allotted time runs out and we return to our final home.
Kind regards to all of you,
Dalton DeGaris
THE
SPIRITUAL BASIS OF WORLD PEACE
by
HORACE
HOLLEY
From The Bahá’í World, Volume V
89 and 90 of
the Bahá’í Era
April
1932-1934, A.D., pp. 511-517
DESPITE its serious mistakes in the realm of ultimate
interpretation of values, modern science has made possible one notable advance
of at least indirectly a spiritual nature: it has created within the human mind
a firm sense of the existence of universal law. The modern man inhabits a world whose
processes he is increasingly convinced are understandable and trustworthy,
capable of rational perception, and even where not yet known, impossible to be
held subject to mere chance and caprice.
By this substantial gain, the modern man stands above
and beyond the ancestor whose universe was a superficial appearance concealing forces
and powers whose unknown processes continually suggested a variety of conflicting
aims and wills, contact with which compelled him to develop elaborate rituals
in the nature of a fearful if cunning defense. The modern man, moreover, has won an entirely
new sense of courage and integrity not only from his capacity to understand nature
rationally but also from his proven power of making mechanical instruments and
appliances superior to those with which by nature lie was endowed. In the camera he possesses a superior eye; in
the radio a superior ear; in the electronic tube a touch infinitely more
sensitive than that of the human hand.
But the hour of triumph and conquest in man's age-old
struggle with nature has by some mysterious providence coincided with his utter
humiliation in his relations with himself and his fellowman. Time surely never
witnessed a spectacle more dramatic and more momentous than this tragic
contrast between man as scientist and as citizen, between man as mechanic and
man as the orphan of life, a lost and bewildered soul.
What wonder that many sensitive and fragile personalities
endeavor, in such a terrible hour, to abandon and repudiate all that so much
bitter effort has secured, preferring the passive peace of some irrational and
unworldly faith to the active struggle required in order to extend the powers
of reason from the scientific to the social domain. By quitting the
battlefield, they think to win for themselves some secret treaty, the terms of
which will enable them to continue their existence untroubled, even though the
continuance be as the dreamless sleep of a child.
For the more heroic, the meaning of life in this age
has come to be the supreme obligation, inevitable (and therefore glorious)
because it has been imposed by an historic sequence of events arising from
humanity itself, of going forward to the peak of another mountain of
achievement, far higher than material science, from which the race can rise
above its social ignorance and confusion even as in previous ages man has
achieved victory over other problems which at the time appeared as desperate as
the modern struggle for world peace.
In surveying this supreme obligation in the light of
our rational powers, the formidable antagonism of social institutions
culminating in the armed national states is clearly no superhuman situation but
an antagonism emanating directly from the human will. If we envisage war or economic
disaster as overwhelming earthquakes, as all-destroying hurricanes, the symbol
cannot be made to transfer responsibility from man to the nature, to the universe,
from which actual earthquakes and hurricanes proceed. The antagonistic institutions, large and
small, are nothing more than groups of people willingly captive to a
competitive ideal.
What devastates society is the diversity and conflict
of loyalties; in other words the fatal lack of one loyalty embracing
mankind. Conscious effort for the
attainment of world order must begin here, in an intense and constant
realization of the disparity between the organic unity of the external universe
and the disunity of the subjective world.
Measured by the diversity of loyalties, human society
would appear to be constituted of members of unrelated species no less
essentially committed to strife than the beasts of the jungle or the insects of
the swamp. Because the world of nature
contains different species which pursue and are pursued, it would appear as
though humanity had taken its lesson of life from a lower order, a kingdom of
existence bereft of reason, in which nature has implanted the seeds of
incessant physical struggle.
But the instinct of self-preservation dominating the
animal is adjusted to the attainment of its own goal, while the diverse
loyalties of mankind are impossible of realization. Their effect is to
undermine the very foundation of human life. Not to instinct but to spiritual
ignorance must be attributed that condition of society in which men's highest loyalties
arrive at destruction and death, a self-betrayal rather than a fulfillment of
self.
Every loyalty is composed of two elements: an external object which can be rationally
grasped and perceived, and a subjective motive which is elusive because identified
with the object or goal to be achieved. For this reason, rational comparison of
5n-flicting loyalties is impossible, because the rational power has become
adapted to values external to man and is helpless in dealing with the origin
and character of motives. The motive is prior to the object, and the motive
employs reason as its instrument and justification. Human reason is a
searchlight which throws a brilliant light upon scenes outside and beyond the
realm of motive, but behind the searchlight all is blackest darkness. We therefore insist upon an unvarying and
ever reliable mathematics but tolerate extreme variety and unreliability in
religion. We have become rational in relation to all that is below man, but
remain pre-rational in relation to all that pertains to the human heart itself.
This chasm in the continuity of rational reality is
excused on the assumption that the rational power is inherently limited, can
only deal with a restricted area of values, and that consequently, when the
profoundest human motives are at issue, reason must give way to faith. This assumption means nothing less than that
the searchlight of the rational power cannot, for some reason not explained, be
turned in any direction save that external to human nature. It means also that
man in himself is not an organic unity but is a dual being, split by the artificial
distinction between reason and faith and compelled eternally to act under two
irreconcilable laws. The distinction is not removed but rather further
complicated by the claim that faith is a "higher" reason, a power
having author-fry to annul, at any time, what ordinary reason holds to be
useful, true or necessary. For such a claim establishes more than duality at the heart of human life Ñ it compels a
strife between "mind" and "heart" at crucial moments of
destiny which constitutes the ultimate source of conflict in society as a
whole.
To recapitulate: the civilization in which the very
existence of humanity is enmeshed has become the prey of nationalistic, class,
racial and also ecclesiastical loyalties.
These irreconcilable loyalties have, in our own generation, precipitated
an international war and an international economic collapse which have not only
released the greatest amount of death and suffering recorded in human history
but have impaired the whole structure of civilization. Furthermore, these
loyalties, despite the bitterest experience, remain essentially unreconciled
and are today more highly armed for destruction than in 1914. This is the
objective picture of human life today. When we examine these loyalties we find
them resting upon motives and flowing from impulses which defy control, rooted
as they are in the subjective world of the heart which remains irrational,
while rationalizing its wishes and its aims.
In this world, blind faith and not reason sits upon the throne. But the
demands of that faith no longer correspond to the clear needs of human life. Faith has identified itself not with life but
with death. The power of reason, which perceives the crisis, at present cannot
deal with motives, but on the contrary is the instrument and tool by which
irrational faith forges its own destruction.
Every organized loyalty has rationalized itself into a self-contained
philosophy beyond the reach of successful attack from without and beyond the
reach of suspicion on the part of those remaining within. Society has become chaos
because man is divided against himself. He has become powerful in all realms
where he has applied reason; he has become a helpless victim in the realm where
he has renounced reason in favor of blind faith. The influence which has made man willing to
sacrifice reason for faith, which has convinced him that his deepest motives
and highest loyalties are subject to laws outside or beyond reason, is
organized religion Ñ the exclusive and dogmatic church.
The next step, therefore, for those who sincerely
desire to serve the rational ideal of world order, Lies in a reexamination of
the claim sponsored by the dogmas of every creed and inculcated into the tender
and responsive minds of children, that reason has no concern with the deepest
motives of life but is an alien power which must remain outside the holy of
holies until given the lesser task of justifying the motives adopted, in some
mysterious and irrational way, by faith and also the task of enabling faith to
achieve its aim.
The picture of the subjective world corresponding to
the insane condition of modern civilization is that man's religion has remained
primitive and pre-rational while man s knowledge and capacity for action have
miraculously multiplied. The ghost of the savage behind the altar commands the
soul of the statesman who instigates war and of the economist who turns
industry into a daily and lifelong social combat.
The claim that reason cannot deal with the substance
of faith is a wholly artificial claim. It rests upon an assumption of human duality
directly projecting the conception of warring, antagonistic gods marking the
age of the savage. If God is one, and
God is the creator of humanity, then the human spirit is one in essence and can
achieve an organic unity far beyond this present stage characterized by the
assumed irreconcilability of reason and faith. Since progress and achievement
have followed upon every determined effort of man to control the forces of life
and respond to the rational order of the universe, how can we entertain the
impossible and wholly unauthorized claim that the door to the reality of human
nature is to reason forever barred? One-half civilized, one-half primitive
savage – this condition of humanity is in itself the most challenging proof
that progress, far from being finished and complete, offers today the
possibility of advance in the spiritual realm comparable to that already
achieved in the field of material science.
Abdu'1-Bahi is a world personage in this age with an
importance to humanity f at transcending that of people now exerting supreme social
influence, for the reason that tAbdu'1-BabA carried the power of reason across
the chasm which for us still yawns between intelligence and faith. In Him there existed a consciousness fulfilled
and organically united, blending perfectly the power of understanding with the
quality of faith. His faith had no irrational element, and his reason illumined
the dark recesses where faith is born and its quality determined. Against the whole momentum of an age
glorifying the savage in its religion, He stood rocklike, immovable in the
conviction that these very social disasters are evidence that the time to
attain spiritual knowledge has dawned. In place of the traditional conception of man
as being forever divided against himself, He established a reality which reason
can accept, and faith, true faith, must recognize and extol as the highest
privilege of existence. Perceiving that
spiritual ignorance has run its course in the organization of armed national states,
He spoke with assurance of man's future attainment of world unity and world
order to follow this brief period during which the irrational, savage outlook
is being finally discredited and left behind.
"God's greatest gift to man is that of intellect,
or understanding. Understanding is the power by which man acquires his
knowledge of the several kingdoms of creation, and of various stages of
existence, as well as of much that is invisible. Possessing this gift he is, in
himself, the sum of earlier creations; he is able to get into touch with those
kingdoms, and by this gift he frequently, through his scientific knowledge, can
reach out with prophetic vision. Intellect is, in truth, the most precious gift
bestowed upon man by the divine bounty.
Man alone among created beings, has this wonderful power.
"All creation, preceding man, is bound by the
stern law of nature. The great sun, the multitudes of stars, the oceans and
seas, the mountains, the rivers, the trees, and all animals, great or small Ñ
none are able to evade obedience to nature's law.
"Man alone has freedom, and by his understanding
or intellect has been able to gain control of and adapt some of those natural
laws to his own needs.
“God gave this power to man that it might be used for
the advancement of civilization, for the good of humanity, to increase love and
concord and peace. But man prefers to
use this gift to destroy instead of to build, for injustice and oppression, for
hatred and discord and devastation, for the destruction of his
fellow-creatures, whom Christ has commanded that he should love as himself. . .
.
“Consider the aim of creation: is it possible that all
is created to evolve and develop through countless ages with this small goal in
view Ñ a few years of a man's life on earth? Is it not unthinkable that this
should be the final aim of existence?
"The mineral evolves until it is absorbed in the
life of the plant, the plant progresses until it finally loses its life in that
of the animal; the animal, in its turn, forming part of the food of man, is
absorbed into human life. Thus, man is shown to be the sum of all creation, the
superior of all created beings, the goal to which countless ages of existence
have progressed. . . .
“When we speak of the soul we mean the motive power of
this physical body which lives under its entire control in accordance with its
dictates. If the soul identifies itself with the material world it remains
dark, for in the natural world there is corruption, aggression, struggles for
existence, greed, darkness, transgression and vice. If the soul remains in this
station and moves along these paths it will be the recipient of this darkness; but,
if it becomes the recipient of the graces of the world of mind, its darkness
will be transformed into light, its tyranny into justice, its ignorance into
wisdom, its aggression into loving kindness, until it reach the apex. Man will become free from egotism; he will be
released from the material world. . . .
“There is, however, a faculty in man which unfolds to
his vision the secrets of existence. It gives him a power whereby he may
investigate the reality of every object. It leads man on and on to the luminous
station of divine sublimity and frees him from the fetters of self, causing him
to ascend to the pure heaven of sanctity. This is the power of the mind, for
the soul is not, of itself, capable of unrolling the mysteries of phenomena;
but the mind can accomplish this and therefore it is a power superior to the
soul.
“There is still another power which is differentiated
from that of the soul and mind. This third power is the spirit which is an
emanation from the divine Bestower; it is the effulgence of the Sun of Reality,
the radiation of the celestial world, the spirit of faith, the spirit Christ
refers to when he says: ‘Those that are born of the flesh are flesh, and those
that are born of the spirit are spirit.' . . .
“If a man reflects he will understand the spiritual
significance of the law of progress; how all things move from the inferior to
the superior degree. . . .
“The greatest power in the realm and range of human
existence is spirit – the divine breath which animates and pervades all
things. It is manifested throughout
creation in different degrees or kingdoms.
“In the mineral kingdom it manifests itself by the
power of cohesion. In the vegetable kingdom
it is the spirit augmentative or power of growth, the animus of life and
development in plants, trees and organisms of the floral world. In this degree
of its manifestation, spirit is unconscious of the powers which qualify the
kingdom of the animal. The distinctive
virtue or ‘plus' of the animal is sense perception; it sees, hears, smells,
tastes and feels but in turn is incapable of the conscious ideation or
reflection which characterize and differentiate the human kingdom. The animal neither exercises nor apprehends
this distinctive human power and gift. From
the visible it cannot draw conclusions regarding the invisible whereas the
human mind from visible and known premises attains knowledge of the unknown and
invisible. . . . Likewise the human
spirit has its limitations. It can not comprehend the phenomena of the kingdom
transcending the human station, for it is a captive of powers and life forces
which have their operation upon its own plane of existence and it cannot go beyond
that boundary. . . .
"The mission of the Prophets, the revelation of the holy books, the manifestation of the
heavenly teachers and the purpose of divine philosophy all center in the
training of the human realities so that they may become clear and pure as mirrors and reflect the
light and love of the Sun of Reality.
This is the true evolution and progress of humanity."
In this teaching, if we apprehend it correctly, the
law of progress is revealed as the action of a higher form of life upon a
lower. An element in the mineral kingdom remains in the limitations of that
kingdom until it is gathered up and assimilated by the vegetable kingdom, which
in turn rises not by its own power but through action of the animal
kingdom. Elements in the vegetable
kingdom die in that kingdom to be reborn in the animal kingdom, and similarly
elements in the realm of the animal, when assimilated by man, die to be reborn
as it were on a higher plane.
But how is man to rise above himself? For man there is no higher kingdom of physical
existence to extend this principle of development by actual assimilation of the
physical type. Of the four degrees of
existence in the world of nature, man himself is the apex; wherefore the
elements of man's physical being can go no higher, but through his physical
death are restored to the lower planes. In
this closed circle of physical existence the elements eternally rise and fall,
establishing the rhythmic cycle of the world of nature.
In his primitive, savage state, man sought however to
extend this cycle from the physical to the conscious realm. He believed that he could acquire the
qualities of another man by eating his flesh. This conception, prolonged during
nameless ages, assumed an elaborate ritual and formed the basis of his
religious beliefs. Little by little the bloody sacrifice became refined;
instead of eating the flesh he laid it upon the altar of his tribal god. Eventually the stark savage belief persisted
only as a symbol; it became sufficient to sacrifice an animal in place of a
human being. By Old Testament times even
this more innocent murder was condemned by Prophetic leaders. The sacrifice was preferably wholly symbolic,
by gifts, by flowers and fruit.
Behind this evolution of belief and religious practice
we may feel the burden of a bitter, prolonged struggle for understanding of the
spiritual law of evolution: the conception that qualities are obtained by
partaking of substance had the apparent sanction of nature itself.
Even today the struggle has not been won. For even today the blind faith is widespread
that man draws near God and partakes of divine qualities in mass or communion –
by partaking of a physical substance, a consecrated bread and wine.
What wonder, when religion in its most sacred
teachings has not left behind the primitive savage who sought to evolve and
progress by eating the flesh of his fallen foe – what wonder that mankind has
no capacity to arise above loyalties essentially blind, selfish and partisan,
loyalties that are tribal in essence, loyalties that can devastate the entire
civilized world? For the mirror of
rational intelligence, endowed with power to reflect whatever realities it
faces, has been given no realm of spiritual truth to substitute for the visible
realm of nature – the lower world of insect and of beast.
But ‘Abdu'1-Baha has illumined that lost world of
spiritual truth. He has freed the power
of reason and intelligence from its servitude to biological fact and disclosed
an illimitable universe still to be explored.
The central principle of ‘Abdu'l-Baha’s teaching is
that the Prophets, human though they are in all that pertains to the body,
constitute an order of existence higher than man, a kingdom which acts upon
man, purifying his motives and releasing his innate powers, assimilating man
and raising him to a plane of consciousness transcending his former nature as truly
as the animal transcends the senseless tree. By the spirit that flows through the Prophet,
animating his words, man, in turning sincerely to that Source of Reality, is
saved from the dominance of instincts and motives emanating from the world of
nature which is lower in degree because it lacks the quality of mind.
The relation of man to Prophet is not that of flesh
sacrificed to a jealous tribal god, not that of slave to a Monarch enthroned
upon mysterious magical powers; it is the relation of child to parent, of
student to educator, and the true essence of religion consists in attaining
knowledge of and rendering devotion to the laws and principles of [spiritual] evolution
in the kingdom of spirit. The faithful
student of spiritual truth is, in consciousness, assimilated by and into that
truth, no less actually than the mineral element which the living root absorbs.
As exemplified by ‘Abdu'1-Baha, religion is clearly a
value not merely conforming to reason but
the realm which offers reason and understanding its supreme opportunity[1]. The substance of spiritual truth constitutes
the real world in which intelligence can function freely and become completely
fulfilled. The actual relation of reason
to faith arises from consideration of the fact that it is by faith that man has
capacity to recognize the Prophet – it is the quality of faith which makes it
possible to turn the searchlight of intelligence toward the source of reality;
but the knowledge thereby obtained remains a function of the rational mind. Faith, then, is an expression of will and not
of intelligence. ‘Abdu'1-Baha has
forever freed man from superstition and imagination. He has interpreted the reality of man in the
light of the reality of religion. That
religion in its purity conforms to reason is His fundamental claim.
From this higher level of perception one can turn back
to the condition of divided and antagonistic loyalties which underlies the
sinister turmoil of this period, and apprehend it as evidence of the decay of
the inherited religions. The God-given
intelligence of humanity is functioning in the darkness of unfaith, and hence
the devotion to falsified religions, the hysteria of economic and political movements,
the soul-consuming strife of race and class.
In the rise of psychological sciences which explore the
"unconscious" and "subconscious" fields in man, we have a
valiant, if misdirected, struggle to extend the powers of rational intelligence
to control human motives and beliefs. In
reality, man has no mysterious “subconscious” self, but rather, in his natural
condition, draws upon the instincts and impulses of the animal world. It is the physical organism, directly
receptive to and penetrated by the same forces acting upon the animal kingdom,
which psychologists actually explore. It
is possible to plumb the depths of nature in man's being, but human reality – the
direction of man's true progress – lies not backward in that dark abyss but
forward toward "rebirth" into the spiritual kingdom.
This age, in its confused struggle of ideals, has but
given rational form to the blind feelings of man's physical, therefore animal
organism. Our society vainly endeavors, in its most turbulent mass movements,
to find outlet for fears, rages and frustrated hopes which in the animal are
temporary and harmless, but in a society possessing scientific means of
destruction can lead to nothing else than universal conflict. A rational faith –
a knowledge of how these motives can be transmuted into forces of cooperation –
alone stands between us and this catastrophe. The basis of world order, in short, is a
humanity whose mind is not acted upon from the lower kingdoms but is illumined
by the light of God.
Until men become imbued with true, rational faith, the
supreme goal of world order and peace will never be achieved. For universal peace is a reality only on the
plane of spiritual truth. Civilization
bereft of any source of reality and guidance is a dead body, prey to the
maggots and the worms. Through the power
of the Holy Spirit alone can we leave this death behind.
"The Holy Spirit is the light from the Sun of
Truth bringing, by its infinite power, life and illumination to all mankind,
flooding all souls with divine radiance, conveying the blessings of God's mercy
to the whole world. The earth, without the
medium of the warmth and light of the rays of the sun, could receive no
benefits from the sun. Likewise, the
Holy Spirit is the very cause of the life of man; without the Holy Spirit he
would have no intellect, he would be unable to acquire his scientific knowledge
by which his great influence over the rest of creation is gained. The Holy Spirit it is, which, through the
mediation of the Prophets of God, teaches spiritual virtues to man and enables
him to acquire eternal life."
In this clear, unflickering light reflected from the
mind of ‘Abdu'l-Baha as from a burnished mirror held to the sun, humanity has
been granted capacity of vision in the otherwise darkened subjective
world. By His insight one can rise above
the mass consciousness and apprehend the meaning of the age not as the
superficial clash of nations, classes and races, but as the final struggle of
the animal nature with the spiritual nature of man. The raging tornado has its central point of
perfect calm, and the Faith of Baha'u'llah promulgated by ‘Abdu'1-Baha is the
universal peace hidden from physical sight behind the desperate movements of
the dying civilization in which we live. Entering that Faith, men attain peace within
themselves, and by this peace have peace with each other – the Most Great Peace,
the Peace of God.
The Essence of the divine Qur'an
It is said that the whole of the Qur'an is contained within the first Surah of it;
. . . And that all of that is contained within the Opening Verse of it,"Bismi'llah . . .";
. . . And that all of that is contained within the dot under its letter "ba" (ب ).
The Most Clear Signs that this is the Day of Judgment, of Resurrection, of God Himself
Please find herein some of the most outstanding Qur'anic references to this Day of Resurrection and of the fate of the people that have used the divinely revealed Verses of God to deny their Revealer, the chosen Author of all Verses and all Names.
It is hoped that this will encourage interest in studying the divine Qur'an, the "surest testimony of God to man", as Baha'u'llah tells us in the divine Kitab-I-Iqan (p. 151, older ed., §160, newer ed.), which is the promised Book of God that unseals the meaning of all past revealed divine Books of God. God commands us to study the divine Qur'an, that we may know the truth, that "God doth whatsoever He willeth," and that those who have said "the Hand of God is chained up" have drawn upon themselves the wrath of the Almighty. "The hand of God is above their hands" (Qur'an, Al-Fath 48:10).
"O My friend, were the bird of thy mind to explore the heavens of the revelation of the Qur'an, were it to contemplate the realms of divine knowledge unfolded therein, thou wouldst assuredly find unnumbered doors of knowledge set open before thee. Thou wouldst certainly recognize that all these things which have in this day hindered this people from attaining the shores of the ocean of eternal grace, the same things in the Muhammadan Dispensation prevented the people of that age from recognizing that divine Luminary, and from testifying to His truth. Thou wilt also apprehend the mysteries of "return" and "revelation," and wilt securely abide within the loftiest chambers of certitude and assurance."
- (Kitab-I-Iqan, p.147-8, old ed., §156, new ed.)
When considering the applicability of the Qur'anic Verses to today's conditions, use the Verses with a heart turning to God and beseeching His mercy to understand what has been hidden before the revelation of the divine Kitab-I-Iqan, and it will become immediately obvious how these Verses perfectly describe the world we live in today.
Another sure aid in discovering in the Qur'anic Verses what had been hidden is to recite the "Tablet to the Teacher." found on pages 131-134 of the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, and also in the Tablet Ishraqat, found on pp. 117-119 in Tablets of Baha'u'llah Revealed after the Kitab-al'Aqdas.
The Verses are ordered here as they appear in the divine Qur'an, and are perspicuous to all for whom neither love nor hate has prejudiced their hearts.
* * *
2:84-5. These two Verses were revealed to criticize followers of Moses during the time of the revelation of the Dispensation of His Holiness Mohammed. But the Verses are never just for one time or one people; and today this same Verse describes what is happening throughout the countries of the Middle East and the Muslim regions of South and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Rim countries.
"And when We took your covenant not to shed the blood of your people, nor turn out your own people from their dwellings. Then you ratified it and you bear witness. After this it is you who kill one another, and drive out a party of you from their homes, strive against them, in sin and transgression. And if they come to you as captives, you ransom them, although their expulsion was forbidden to you. Then, do you believe in a part of the Book and reject the rest? ..."
Again, see how these Verses also indicate that whoever and whenever a
people once guided by a Book of God should reject the Verses of God
coming after it, confirming what is in it, then on those people will be
great difficulty and disunity - disunity and mutual violence from
themselves, since the sovereign source of all manner of unity is from
God and disunity is from man.
Entire volumes could be written - and will be written in future - concerning the inner meanings of these Verses! For, they clearly declare that a people, once praying for God's curse upon those who they considered unbelievers yet, when there came to them above the horizon of revelation Him Whom their own religion had prophesied would appear to them in the Latter Days, following the example of the leaders of their religion, all denied Him - the Face of God Himself - turning Him out or killing Him and His followers. This can be verified by turning to the Surah of Hud in the divine Qur'an and of the holy Books of the past.
2:89-91. "And when there came to them a Book from God, confirming what is with them - although aforetime they had invoked God in order to gain victory over the unbelievers, then when there came to them that of which they had knowledge, they disbelieved in it. The curse of God upon the disbelievers! How wretched is that for which they have sold their own souls! - that they should disbelieve in that which God hath revealed, begrudging that God should reveal of His grace to whomsoever He willeth from among His servants! ... And when it is said unto them, 'Believe in what God has sent down,' they say, 'We believe in what was sent down to us.' And they disbelieve in what was sent down after it, even though it is a confirmation of what is with them. Why, then, have you killed the Prophets of God aforetime, if you indeed have been believers?"
Entire volumes could be written - and will be written in future - concerning the inner meanings of these Verses! For, they clearly declare that a people, once praying for God's curse upon those who they considered unbelievers yet, when there came to them above the horizon of revelation Him Whom their own religion had prophesied would appear to them in the Latter Days, following the example of the leaders of their religion, all denied Him - the Face of God Himself - turning Him out or killing Him and His followers. This can be verified by turning to the Surah of Hud in the divine Qur'an and of the holy Books of the past.
2:106. Indicating that God is sovereign over His Verses, that he can change or abrogate them as He chooses, and that He shall not be asked of His doings.
"Whatever Verse do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, We send down another one better or similar to it. Know ye not that God is able to do all things?"
Then,
3:86. "How shall God guide a people who disbelieved after their belief, and after they bore witness that the Messenger is true, and after clear proofs had come unto them? And God guides not a people rebellious, disbelieving."
This Verse clearly and evidently indicates that when a people believe in a divine Book of God and the Messenger revealing it, then the responsibility to respond positively to every subsequent Messenger of God is inescapable for them in a way of seriousness not applied to others.
Now, observe in the following Verses, how much unity was - and is - required of the Believers; that unity is therefore of God and all disunity is of our own selves.
3:103-107. "And hold fast all of you together to the Rope of Allah, and be not divided among yourselves. And remember God's favor on you - for you were enemies one to another, but He joined your hearts together, so that by His Grace, you became brethren. And you were on the edge of a pit of fire, and He saved you from it. Thus, does God make His Signs clear unto you, that ye may be guided.
"Let there arise out of you a people inviting to all that is good, and forbidding what is rejected by God; and it is these who are the successful.
"And be not of those who divided among themselves after clear proofs had come to them. It is they for whom there is an awful torment.
"On the Day when some faces will become darkened in countenance. As for them, it will be said unto them, 'Did you reject Faith after accepting it? Then taste the torment of rejecting Faith.'
"And for those whose faces become illumined, they will be under God's Mercy; therein to dwell forever."
8:63. "And He has united their hearts. If you had spent all that is in the earth, ye could not have united their hearts, but God has united them. Certainly, He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise."
See how closely these Verses, revealed over 1,000 years ago, coincide with the Verses of God revealed by Baha'u'llah concerning the Believers who had gathered around Vahid during the waring of the forces of unbelief against them in Nayriz, from an unpublished Tablet called the Tablet of Patience, revealed just prior Baha'u'llah's journey from Iraq to Constantinople:
"O people of Nayriz! Recall the bounty of God, when you were on the edge of the pit of unbelief; but God redeemed you with His loving kindness, and guided you to His Name, 'Vahid.' Recall further, when ye were enemies one to another, but God brought harmony into your hearts and united you, and uplifted your names, and revealed to you Verses from the Tongue of Glory of the Well-Beloved."
Does this not indicate the full resurrection of the peoples of old, both good and bad, believers and unbelievers, in spirit, in the peoples of this Day, the Day of God, of resurrection and of the rebirth of all things?
6:134. "O assembly of jinn and mankind! Did not there come to you Messengers from amongst you, reciting to you My Verses and warning you of the Meeting of this Day of yours?"
7:35. "O children of Adam! If there come to you Messengers from amongst you, reciting to you My Verses, then whomsoever becomes pious and righteous, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve."
10:25. "And God calls to the Abode of Peace [Baghdad] and guides whomsoever He willeth onto the Straight Path."
This is a clear reference to Baha'u'llah's sojourn in Baghdad and His declaration that He was "He Whom God shall make manifest", the One prophesied by the Bab as the Lord of all Mankind and the promised One of all ages.
11:103-4. ". . . That is the Day whereon mankind will be gathered together, and that is the Day when all will be assembled.
"And We delay it only for a term appointed."
Truly, mankind has been gathered together in a world when anyone from any place is able to talk to anyone else located in any place on earth, thanks to the technologies developed by virtue of the copious rain of God's revelation that has fallen upon all mankind. And all peoples can hear the Word of God, so that each soul can decide what is to be done in regard to belief in God, the One Creator of all things.
18:104. "And We said to the Children of Israel after him: 'Dwell in the land. Then, when the Great Day comes near, We will gather you all together as a mixed crowd."
3:103-107. "And hold fast all of you together to the Rope of Allah, and be not divided among yourselves. And remember God's favor on you - for you were enemies one to another, but He joined your hearts together, so that by His Grace, you became brethren. And you were on the edge of a pit of fire, and He saved you from it. Thus, does God make His Signs clear unto you, that ye may be guided.
"Let there arise out of you a people inviting to all that is good, and forbidding what is rejected by God; and it is these who are the successful.
"And be not of those who divided among themselves after clear proofs had come to them. It is they for whom there is an awful torment.
"On the Day when some faces will become darkened in countenance. As for them, it will be said unto them, 'Did you reject Faith after accepting it? Then taste the torment of rejecting Faith.'
"And for those whose faces become illumined, they will be under God's Mercy; therein to dwell forever."
8:63. "And He has united their hearts. If you had spent all that is in the earth, ye could not have united their hearts, but God has united them. Certainly, He is the All-Mighty, the All-Wise."
See how closely these Verses, revealed over 1,000 years ago, coincide with the Verses of God revealed by Baha'u'llah concerning the Believers who had gathered around Vahid during the waring of the forces of unbelief against them in Nayriz, from an unpublished Tablet called the Tablet of Patience, revealed just prior Baha'u'llah's journey from Iraq to Constantinople:
"O people of Nayriz! Recall the bounty of God, when you were on the edge of the pit of unbelief; but God redeemed you with His loving kindness, and guided you to His Name, 'Vahid.' Recall further, when ye were enemies one to another, but God brought harmony into your hearts and united you, and uplifted your names, and revealed to you Verses from the Tongue of Glory of the Well-Beloved."
Does this not indicate the full resurrection of the peoples of old, both good and bad, believers and unbelievers, in spirit, in the peoples of this Day, the Day of God, of resurrection and of the rebirth of all things?
6:134. "O assembly of jinn and mankind! Did not there come to you Messengers from amongst you, reciting to you My Verses and warning you of the Meeting of this Day of yours?"
7:35. "O children of Adam! If there come to you Messengers from amongst you, reciting to you My Verses, then whomsoever becomes pious and righteous, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve."
10:25. "And God calls to the Abode of Peace [Baghdad] and guides whomsoever He willeth onto the Straight Path."
This is a clear reference to Baha'u'llah's sojourn in Baghdad and His declaration that He was "He Whom God shall make manifest", the One prophesied by the Bab as the Lord of all Mankind and the promised One of all ages.
11:103-4. ". . . That is the Day whereon mankind will be gathered together, and that is the Day when all will be assembled.
"And We delay it only for a term appointed."
Truly, mankind has been gathered together in a world when anyone from any place is able to talk to anyone else located in any place on earth, thanks to the technologies developed by virtue of the copious rain of God's revelation that has fallen upon all mankind. And all peoples can hear the Word of God, so that each soul can decide what is to be done in regard to belief in God, the One Creator of all things.
18:104. "And We said to the Children of Israel after him: 'Dwell in the land. Then, when the Great Day comes near, We will gather you all together as a mixed crowd."
This refers to the return of the Jews to their homeland, which can only occur in the Time of the End, the Day of God, the Day of the Resurrection of all things, when the Lord of Hosts appears.
21:104. "And the Day when We shall roll up the heavens like a scroll rolled up for books. As We began the first creation We shall repeat it - a promise binding upon Us. Truly, We shall accomplish it!"
Those who expect to see the literal and physical fulfillment of this prophesy are awaiting the appearance of the god of their on creation, their own ideology, those who are blind to the Verses of God. What is actually referred to is the rolling up of the heaven of comprehension of God and His Ways, while a new understanding, a new heaven of comprehension, will be unrolled to all mankind, making the old understanding obsolete.
22:7. "Surly the Hour is coming, about which there is no doubt. And certainly, God will resurrect those who are in their graves [of unbelief]."
22:52. "And a day with your Lord is one-thousand years of what you reckon."
Thus, the Day of God, will last no less than one-thousand years before again being renewed and the spirit of faith resurrected and reborn by reason of the appearance of another Messenger of God.
25:25. "And the Day when the heavens shall be rent asunder with clouds, and the angels, rank on rank, will be sent down."
Again, these "clouds" are misunderstandings that keep the people from seeing clearly the heavens of the knowledge of God. Certainly, today there is a complete misapprehension of the Cause of God among the generality of mankind, blinding them from the Straight Path.
36:51. "And there shall be a second blast on the Trumpet, and behold! from the graves they will come out quickly to their Lord."
36:65. "This Day We shall seal up their mouths, and their hands will speak to Us, and their legs will bear witness to what they used to earn."
That in the Day of Resurrection no one will be asked of his doings is a sign of the Day of God. The peoples' actions, their deeds done in the night when no Messenger had come to them, and after the Dawn of the new Day was manifest will testify of them and of what is in their hearts and souls.
40:67. They made not a just estimate of God, such as id due to Him. And on the Day of Resurrection the whole earth shall be grasped in His Hand; and the heavens shall be rolled up in His Right Hand. Glorified is He above all that they associate as partners with Him!"
Again, this Verse reiterates what has been previously revealed and discussed above. The heaven of spiritual understanding and the earth in the heart of man that receives the rain of spiritual teachings and brings forth according to its capacity the fruits and trees and living things the Lord of mankind provides us - unity, the solution to our difficulties and the washing away of our pain from within.
40:68. "And the Trumpet will be blown; and all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth will swoon away, save him whom God wills. Then it shall be blown a second time; and behold! they will be standing, looking about."
36:51. "And there shall be a second blast on the Trumpet, and behold! from the graves they will come out quickly to their Lord."
36:65. "This Day We shall seal up their mouths, and their hands will speak to Us, and their legs will bear witness to what they used to earn."
That in the Day of Resurrection no one will be asked of his doings is a sign of the Day of God. The peoples' actions, their deeds done in the night when no Messenger had come to them, and after the Dawn of the new Day was manifest will testify of them and of what is in their hearts and souls.
40:67. They made not a just estimate of God, such as id due to Him. And on the Day of Resurrection the whole earth shall be grasped in His Hand; and the heavens shall be rolled up in His Right Hand. Glorified is He above all that they associate as partners with Him!"
Again, this Verse reiterates what has been previously revealed and discussed above. The heaven of spiritual understanding and the earth in the heart of man that receives the rain of spiritual teachings and brings forth according to its capacity the fruits and trees and living things the Lord of mankind provides us - unity, the solution to our difficulties and the washing away of our pain from within.
40:68. "And the Trumpet will be blown; and all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth will swoon away, save him whom God wills. Then it shall be blown a second time; and behold! they will be standing, looking about."
This refers to the twin Manifestations of God to appear in the Day of God.
40:69. "And the earth shall shine with the light of its lord. . . ."
That is, the earth of understanding will reflect the light of the teachings of God in all things, and under all conditions.
". . . And the Book will be placed open . . . ."
The holy Books of old will be explained to us that we have full understanding thereof. The revelation of the divine Kitab-I-Iqan did this, laying wide open the Books of God for all to understand and comprehend, and shining the light of understanding upon all things.
". . . And the Prophets and witnesses will be brought forward, and it will be judged between them with truth, and they will not be wronged."
That is, with the Books fully explained, the people will be asked as to why they chose their own ways over the ways taught to them by God, why they had willingly and deliberately strayed from the Straight Path by following those leaders among them who had joined partners with God, that is, asserted their own beliefs and desires above what was revealed in the holy Books of the Prophets and the Messengers.
50:22. "Indeed you were heedless of this. Now We have removed the veil covering your eyes; and sharp is your sight this Day!"
That with the revelation of the Bab's and Baha'u'llah's Books and Tablets, everything is explained, the people can see; and therefore it can be said that for us today, "There is no refuge for thee but God."
51:47. "And with Hands did We construct the heaven. We are able to extend the vastness of the space thereof."
An amazing Verse in its portents! First, the Hands of the Cause of God are referenced as those souls who shall construct the heavens of the knowledge of God, and extend the space thereof; and second, that the physical universe, as science has discovered, is increasing in its vastness.
52:9-11. "On the Day when the heaven will shake with dreadful shaking. And the mountains will be moved away with movement. Then woe that Day to the deniers!"
The term, "heaven" or "heavens" has been discussed as referring to the "heavens of religious understanding", the "heavens of the knowledge of God", and the like. The "mountains" represent the established religious laws and customs of the people and that accumulation of dogma, ritual observances, laws and ordinances of past religions - the changing or obviating of which none could imagine, and is considered the greatest of miracles! - because with the appearance of the divine Manifestation of the Day of God, the Viceregent of God on earth, they will be moved away, will disintegrate and fall to pieces and become so many ashes blowing in the wind.
53:1. "By the star when it fades."
Reference to the Azalis, the followers of the arch-breaker of God's Covenant with the people of the Bayan, Mirza Yahya.
Also, when the Sun of the knowledge of God, that is, His Manifestation, rises above the horizon of the revelation of God, the stars of night disappear. But this is a different phenomenon, of the stars not made dark or darkened, but rather, that the new Light is so great as to brighten the heavens of understanding so that these small stars, while still shining, cannot be seen.
56:50. "All will surely be gathered together for the appointed Meeting of a known Day."
These are just the most notable Verses that attracted the attention of this writer, proclaiming the Day of God as this day. Baha'u'llah, however, explains in the divine Kitab-I-Iqan that fully one-third of the entire Qur'an is dedicated to the signs and prophesies of the coming and inevitable Day of God. Thus, we have not even scratched the surface of what is even of the most noteworthy of these signs. And some of them have been omitted since they were already discussed earlier, and an attempt is made here to be brief.
Beyond these Verses from the Book that leaves nothing out can be added the many Hadiths and traditions pertaining to the Day of God. The reader is referred to the last pages of the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf for some of them.
This is from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia:
" The following signs are ascribed to Ali in the coming of Dajjal:[10]
These are in summary the accepted hadithical signs of the Return, the Resurrection, the Day of God Himself.
In comprehending them, we note that Muslim scholars and believers acknowledge that no Hadith can go against what the divine Qur'an has revealed, which rules out these signs and portents having a physical fulfillment, which would not, as Baha'u'llah explains, be true of God Himself. That is, how could the good and sincere be separated from the wicked and hypocritical were all the signs and portents to be literally fulfilled in the visible heavens and earth? - since fear and awe would grip all mankind to such an extent that all would be groveling in the dust for fear of their Lord. rather, those who have spiritual eyes and ears see and hear, while those without them, by reason of their own deeds, see and hear nothing and continue in their accustomed ways, awaiting the hour when God would have taken them and shown them all their deeds, and reminded them of their clear duty to Him and to mankind, which they so studiously ignored.
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40:69. "And the earth shall shine with the light of its lord. . . ."
That is, the earth of understanding will reflect the light of the teachings of God in all things, and under all conditions.
". . . And the Book will be placed open . . . ."
The holy Books of old will be explained to us that we have full understanding thereof. The revelation of the divine Kitab-I-Iqan did this, laying wide open the Books of God for all to understand and comprehend, and shining the light of understanding upon all things.
". . . And the Prophets and witnesses will be brought forward, and it will be judged between them with truth, and they will not be wronged."
That is, with the Books fully explained, the people will be asked as to why they chose their own ways over the ways taught to them by God, why they had willingly and deliberately strayed from the Straight Path by following those leaders among them who had joined partners with God, that is, asserted their own beliefs and desires above what was revealed in the holy Books of the Prophets and the Messengers.
50:22. "Indeed you were heedless of this. Now We have removed the veil covering your eyes; and sharp is your sight this Day!"
That with the revelation of the Bab's and Baha'u'llah's Books and Tablets, everything is explained, the people can see; and therefore it can be said that for us today, "There is no refuge for thee but God."
51:47. "And with Hands did We construct the heaven. We are able to extend the vastness of the space thereof."
An amazing Verse in its portents! First, the Hands of the Cause of God are referenced as those souls who shall construct the heavens of the knowledge of God, and extend the space thereof; and second, that the physical universe, as science has discovered, is increasing in its vastness.
52:9-11. "On the Day when the heaven will shake with dreadful shaking. And the mountains will be moved away with movement. Then woe that Day to the deniers!"
The term, "heaven" or "heavens" has been discussed as referring to the "heavens of religious understanding", the "heavens of the knowledge of God", and the like. The "mountains" represent the established religious laws and customs of the people and that accumulation of dogma, ritual observances, laws and ordinances of past religions - the changing or obviating of which none could imagine, and is considered the greatest of miracles! - because with the appearance of the divine Manifestation of the Day of God, the Viceregent of God on earth, they will be moved away, will disintegrate and fall to pieces and become so many ashes blowing in the wind.
53:1. "By the star when it fades."
Reference to the Azalis, the followers of the arch-breaker of God's Covenant with the people of the Bayan, Mirza Yahya.
Also, when the Sun of the knowledge of God, that is, His Manifestation, rises above the horizon of the revelation of God, the stars of night disappear. But this is a different phenomenon, of the stars not made dark or darkened, but rather, that the new Light is so great as to brighten the heavens of understanding so that these small stars, while still shining, cannot be seen.
56:50. "All will surely be gathered together for the appointed Meeting of a known Day."
These are just the most notable Verses that attracted the attention of this writer, proclaiming the Day of God as this day. Baha'u'llah, however, explains in the divine Kitab-I-Iqan that fully one-third of the entire Qur'an is dedicated to the signs and prophesies of the coming and inevitable Day of God. Thus, we have not even scratched the surface of what is even of the most noteworthy of these signs. And some of them have been omitted since they were already discussed earlier, and an attempt is made here to be brief.
Beyond these Verses from the Book that leaves nothing out can be added the many Hadiths and traditions pertaining to the Day of God. The reader is referred to the last pages of the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf for some of them.
Some of the Arabic traditions regarding the signs of the coming Day of God follow. They refer to the appearance of the Dajjal, or the false god, who will lead many astray.
This is from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia:
" The following signs are ascribed to Ali in the coming of Dajjal:[10]
- People will stop offering the prayers
- Dishonesty will be the way of life
- Falsehood will become a virtue
- People will mortgage their faith for worldly gain
- Usury and bribery will become legitimate
- Imbeciles would rule over the wise
- Blood of innocents would be shed
- Pride will be taken on acts of oppression
- The rulers will be corrupt
- The scholars will be hypocrites
- There will be acute famine at the time
- There will be no shame amongst people
- Many people would worship Satan
- There would be no respect for elderly people
- Damascus will be ruined
- Muslims will lose the control of Jerusalem and it will be "occupied."
- The deserts will "blossom as the rose."
- Men will compete in the building of ever taller buildings. We see this today absolutely, with the new Khalifa building in Dubai now being the next tallest in the world.
- Wild animals will be caged. A clear reference to zoos.
- People will travel on "black camels" which could mean black limousines.
- Christians will involve the whole world in two great wars.
- The sun will rise in the West. That is, the "sun of knowledge and technology" would rise in the Western World, and from there shine upon all other regions, and this has happened. There are other significant meanings as well, when we consider that Akka is West of Hijaz.
- Women would dress like men and men would dress like women. Fully realized and on display.
- Fornication (being sexually active before marriage) and adultery would become commonplace. Again, and unfortunately on display everywhere, especially in our media, which seems to have taken a leadership position of subverting mankind, young and old, with its poisonous and wicked propaganda, and all that just to increase its profits.
- Homosexuality and lesbianism would become accepted norms. Indeed, it is taking one's life and reputation in one's hand to dare to suggest that homosexuality is against nature and God, that it is the manifestation of a serious mental disorder, causing suffering and a perversion of natural tendencies, just as - say - for schizophrenia or other serious physico-psychological disorders. Those with real cases of "homophobia" are the members of the medical community who have capitulated and enabled this "normalization" of a serious disorder, rather than attempting to treat it.
- Many children would be born to single parents, out of wedlock. And see the harm and chaos that has developed because of this!
- Alcoholic beverages would be widely consumed.
- Religious knowledge would "disappear", meaning that it would be there but would be disregarded and discredited. A reference again to the "clouds" that will enshroud mankind.
- Time would move swiftly. And so it seems to us living today.
- Nothing would remain of Islam but a dead letter, an empty name. A sad development, but inevitable as we see how it is held hostage by radicals and fanatics who have used it as justification for murder, rape and pillage. And we see with each passing month another Muslim community in the throes of violence, rebellion and disunity. Thus, are they being judged as they have judged others, using the standard of their own holy Book, the divine Qur'an. As it is revealed in Surah 25, Al-Furqan, Verse 30, "And the Messenger will say, 'O My Lord! Verily My people have deserted this Qur'an.' " And when God chooses to degrade a community He allows its disunity ind internal disputes to multiply that it tastes the violence of one another. Because unity and oneness are attributes of God Who He bestows upon those who are pleasing to Him, while for those who reject His teachings He causes their own disunity to overcome them and they cease as a viable, self-subsistent people.
- There would be a "palpable smoke" that would enshroud mankind, an afflictive torment. That is, the heavens of the knowledge of God would be covered up by the smoke of disagreements and disunity, with the ways to the attainment of God's presence multiplied and the signs to the Straight Path difficult to make out.
These are in summary the accepted hadithical signs of the Return, the Resurrection, the Day of God Himself.
In comprehending them, we note that Muslim scholars and believers acknowledge that no Hadith can go against what the divine Qur'an has revealed, which rules out these signs and portents having a physical fulfillment, which would not, as Baha'u'llah explains, be true of God Himself. That is, how could the good and sincere be separated from the wicked and hypocritical were all the signs and portents to be literally fulfilled in the visible heavens and earth? - since fear and awe would grip all mankind to such an extent that all would be groveling in the dust for fear of their Lord. rather, those who have spiritual eyes and ears see and hear, while those without them, by reason of their own deeds, see and hear nothing and continue in their accustomed ways, awaiting the hour when God would have taken them and shown them all their deeds, and reminded them of their clear duty to Him and to mankind, which they so studiously ignored.
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What if:
Just a thought.
- What it says in the Qur'an about the Jews returning to their Homeland "as a mixed crowd" on the "Day of Resurrection," were true?
- And that part in the Qur'an where Mohammed says, "My people have deserted this Qur'an" (25:30) were real?
- As well as where it says they would be "changed for another people" on the "Day of Resurrection" were to happen?
- And where The Bab said in 1845, "Erelong We will, in very truth, torment such as waged war against [Imam] Hussein [13 October 680 AD (10 Muharram 61 AH)] in the Land of the Euphrates [Iraq] with a most afflictive torment, and the most dire and exemplary punishment," - what if that were to actually happen?
- And the prediction of the destruction of the Syrians on the "Day of Resurrection" for orchestrating and celebrating the killing of the Family of the Prophet and keeping the head of Imam Hussein on display in Damascus, actually came true?
Just a thought.
Only a rejuvenated Fear of God can save us now
IN THE WAKE OF THE MASS SHOOTINGS THAT HAVE ROCKED OUR COUNTRY,
Only Way for us now is to Rejuvenate True Religious Consciousness in our Schools, in our media, in our Society.
No way remains for us, no set of laws or outward punishments, can ever hope to protect us from our own selves except to reaffirm what alone can govern our inner selves. Religion alone teaches both the Threat and the Promise that comes with a healthy regard for the Fear of God, a fear which has forever been the restraint on our darker tendencies.
Our society in its rush toward modernity has, for these past fifty years, taught Americans to cast off their personal fear of God, of the dread of His punishment and the hope for His reward. The individual sense of shame is gone, as is any certainty of a life and destination after our physical death and of how our present actions can enhance or degrade that eternal experience from which there is no escape.
Moral education must precede and act as the foundation for all other learning, because without this, nothing whatsoever can prevent us from committing acts of wickedness and shame.
Indeed, the very use of words such as "shame", "wickedness", and "evil" are gone from the common lexicon. They must be reinstated, first in our hearts, then in our mouths and hands.
Agent Behind the Change
BISMI'LLAH 'IL-BAHIY'I'L-ABHA!
(In the Name of God, the Glory of the All-Glorious)
Welcome!This blog will be an occasional post of quiet but persistent analyses of current world events, a what's-behind-the-curtain, so to speak. It also contains notes, holy Tablets, and readings pertaining to the online courses, Kitab-I-Iqan, and the divine Qur'an.
The position of this blog is unabashedly seeking to discover the Hand of God in these terrible and unprecedented in scale and chaotic troubles affecting the world. It takes as given that the Ancient Being, the Creator of all things has not for one instant abandoned mankind to its desired self-destructive fate, but has rather intervened at set times in history to alter the course of events.
This has been accomplished by the instrumentality of the divinely chosen human being acting as God's Mouthpiece, His divinely chosen Manifestation, Messenger or Prophet, appearing among His own people, to broadcast that which He Hears from the Holy Ghost, the Ray of the revelation of God, the angel Gabriel, or Jibrail, whispering into the inner and outer ear of the holy Messenger. After the set time, so that those people can either accept or reject the truth from God, the divine Fragrance of God's new Revelation is wafted over the entire earth, to actuate the changes necessary in human society so that it grows, matures, and stage by stage, carries on an ever-advancing civilization.
Troubles of the present magnitude occurring all over the world are a sign that mankind has outgrown the current set of structured solutions and requires a new, more dynamic and inclusive structure, prophesied in previous divine Messages, but latent, until the appointed Hour, when their full force and potency can be revealed to a disheartened and distracted mankind.
From this can be gathered that the present author is convinced by all available evidence which he has investigated that there is only one God; that this Ancient Being has had a purpose in creating us; that there is a distinction to be made in all events between the why and the how, that the instrumentality is not synonymous with the purpose or underlying reason for the happening of any particular event or set of events; and that the author is convinced by the Writings of His Holiness Baha'u'llah that He is indeed the promised One of all previous divine Revelations--even as each previous divine Messenger was the fulfillment of all previous divine Messages, that He it is Who has been given authority of God to unseal the divine Seal of the Qur'an; and that all previous divinely revealed Prophets and Messengers of Allah have prayed to witness this Day of God, the Day when all mankind will be gathered under His shadow, the Day when "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven."
Thus, the task at hand is to understand and pry apart the how from the why of all those what's that we see all around us.
The sailing schooner shown above is an appropriate metaphor for this blog. The sailor uses all experience and available knowledge to chart a course across the traceless expanse of the ocean, with its hidden treasures and dangers, surrendering will and ego to whatever the heavens may stir up. Wind precedes rain and sun follows storm. In this way does the Master of all things test and try us, to see what inside of our hearts promotes strength and hope, rather than weakness and despair, until our allotted time runs out and we return to our final home.
Kind regards to all of you,
Dalton DeGaris
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