Meeting I
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§1-10.
What immediately strikes the reader is the perfectly formal scientific and rational analytical structure of the Kitáb-I-Íqán. The very first paragraph sets out the assertion that is to be proved. What follows are the proofs, replete with examples from actual events plus logical arguments in support of the initial assertion. Such writings are to be found in all the formal peer-reviewed scientific and mathematical journals in existence. In this way the scientific rational analytical technique is set out as the tool by which things may be known and understood. We shall see as we move through these pages that even purely spiritual topics, that would not lend themselves to literal supportive arguments and examples, are yet fully amenable to rational analysis and procedures. Thus, the Kitáb-I-Íqán establishes, once and for all, that the entire universe of God is of a content fully questionable and discoverable using formal rational analysis, and that spiritual topics may indeed be discussed and analyzed in the same objective manner as material subjects with which we are familiar. The era of darkness and superstition, of evidence by magic and tradition, is, with these opening paragraphs of the Kitáb-I-Íqán, brought to an end!
§2 is a restatement of §1 and fleshes out its assertion that none can comprehend the holy Words of God unless certain spiritual requirements are fulfilled. Is this any different than a mathematician or organic chemist saying that before the mathematical or chemical formulae can be understood a knowledge of fundamental calculus or organic chemistry must be acquired? While an on-radio TED lecture might open our eyes to a new movement or idea, to really understand what the specialist is saying would require some background into the subject beyond what could be gleaned in the TED talk itself. In the present case, however, what is needed is not a specialized training or knowledge, per se, but rather what constitutes a good moral and spiritual underpinning to life sincerely lived. But this is just what God has been begging us to achieve since revealing Himself to us through the manifestations of His Messengers and Prophets.
§3 begins an examination of the historical record in support of the hypothesis that one must become at least somewhat spiritual and detached from the things of this world in order to comprehend the verses of God. It states that in spite of mankind’s fervent desire to be reunited with God through the advent of the Return of the past Manifestation, whenever the Advent occurred it was denied. We are then asked how this could be.
§4 asks us to consider the source of the people’s denial of the new Message. It is the very ones most highly trained and educated in the intricacies of the established belief, the priests and clerics who are the source of their denial. This is another strange thing. §5 declares the Words of God to be beyond the “ordinary comprehension of men.” This hints at the reason why the clergy cannot understand them: because their motives and attributes are base and they have not themselves undergone any reformation of character by exposure to God’s verses, and have remained singularly unmoved and unaffected thereby.
For next week: continue with §§5-10; §§11-19.
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Meeting II
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§1-10, contd.
§5 explains that the words coming from these Manifestations are vast in number, and “beyond the ordinary comprehension of men.” We accept this, as evidenced by all mankind turning away from those words when first revealed. The surah of Húd is given as evidence in support of the bewildering attitude of the peoples whenever a Manifestation appeared. We are asked to contrast the behavior of the Prophets with that of the peoples.
Furthermore, in these sentences the true meaning of “bread of heaven” becomes clear, not physical bread, which only sustains for a few hours, but spiritual bread that descends from the heaven of the Will of our Lord and is the bread of life to all sensible beings.
Since §5 explains that the words of the Manifestations are beyond the ordinary comprehension of men, with what comprehension can they be understood? That comprehension is being promised to us if and when we follow the instructions of §1, that is, to detach ourselves from the things of this world. As Christ said, “That which is born of flesh is flesh, and that which is born of spirit is spirit.” (John 3:6). We can take from this that for material things a material understanding—science and technology, among other things—is needed. But for spiritual things material understanding is not enough.
In §6 we learn that were we to study the actions of the people, their denials, and comprehend the reason for their objections, and contrast that to the behavior of the sublime Manifestations of God, the greater will be our faith in God, that is also to say, become convinced of the truth.
§7 relates the advent of Noah and how He was treated. With respect to the 950 years of Noah’s life, it does not reflect the actual years of His life, but rather the life of the influence and existence of Noah’s influence in the land, about 1,000 years. During this time the people were warned of their demise if they did not heed His call to embrace the Cause of God and reform their behavior. In this respect, it should also be considered that this is nothing less than a call to treat all peoples as members of one family, to be considerate of parents and the old, and to nurture the weak and young. But these teachings were ignored, and as §8 tells us, God tests His creatures to separate the good from the bad. Every, Messenger, every Word of God declares and affirms this. As it is written, “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.” (Revelations 3:19, KJV)
§§9 and 10 introduce us to two Messengers sent to the peoples along the Red Sea not recorded in the Old or New Testament, Húd and Salíh, Who also called the peoples to God and His teachings.
For next week: §§11-19.
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Meeting III
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§11-19.
§11 recalls the dispensation of Abraham, the “Friend of God”. Again, we are instructed that only the detached ones recognized Him, and none of the educated and powerful, none of those held in high esteem by the judgment of the common people. All those leaders condemned Him and banished Him and His clan from their home, which, in those days, could be tantamount to a death sentence.
Then in §12 we read about Moses and begin to comprehend why the Bible said that the Sun was made in the fourth day. There was Adam, Noah, Abraham, and then, Moses. So vast and comprehensive was His revelation allowed to be in relation to what had preceded Him that it was likened to the Sun in the heaven of the revelations of God. (Then, Jesus, and then Mohammed, the Seal of the Prophets. And then, as the Bible tells us, “God rested from His work on the 7th Day.”) Moses gave specific laws and ordinances governing daily life both personally and collectively, covering everything from marriage and divorce, to holy war, to the treatment of orphans, inheritance, taxation and the priesthood: a very comprehensive revelation.
§§13-14 ask us to ponder what could have been the motive for such opposition from Pharaoh and his people. The Return was, after all, announced and rehearsed to the people and the priesthood, so that the signs of the advent would be understood, yet the people always turned aside and denounced the Messengers as they appeared to them. How were They being judged and measured by the peoples? By the standards learned from the priests and educated classes, even though the Messengers Themselves repeatedly warned the people not to heed them but rather to be detached from worldly measures and to judge them according to spiritual measures.
And furthermore, whatever in the past caused the people to turn aside, the same causes the present generation to turn aside, namely, attachment to the things of this material life and a failure to embrace spiritual standards.
§15 lays the blame squarely on the priestly classes for the people’s rejection of the Messengers, because, as even the Kitáb-I-Aqdás tells us, had the priests and clergy believed, so would have the majority of the people have believed. Not only did the clergy instruct the people to turn aside from the divine Message, but they demanded the Messengers be killed and persecuted, calling them the greatest of sinners for saying that They were sent by God. This outrageous behavior is repeated at the coming of every Messenger.
§16 appeals to us, now that we have seen how frightful and awful it is to measure spiritual things by material standards, to embrace the terminology and forms of contemplating “with the eye of God” what He has sent to us. Our hearts are far more willing to attempt this, to make this leap of faith, as behind us lies the desiccated remains of those civilizations that have perished for their failure. Baha’u’llah also declares in the same sentence that before now the mysteries He is about to reveal have never been revealed before.
He says that lack of knowledge was one fault that kept the clergy from understanding the Words of the Manifestations and of comprehending Their message. This is strange, considering how many decades they have given over to total dedication of the study of the existing religious chronicles. It did them no good, in the end, and actually veiled them from true understanding. Again, the reason is that the kind of knowledge they obtained was human and in line with their own human understanding, which can never, Baha’u’llah assures us, comprehend the divine Cause unaided by the Manifestations of God Themselves. “Then it is for Us to explain it,” the Qur’an assures us.
§17 discusses the revelation of Jesus. It says that the people of Moses actually refused to accept that the prophecies referring to the coming of the Messiah were never to be taken literally. By insisting on a literal interpretation they had changed the religion of Moses into the ideology of the rabbis! That is, it became in their hands a closed system of self-verifying tautologies, one that could never stand up to rational analysis on any level. Not so for true religion, which employs the exact same rational analysis and evidentiary procedures to investigate spiritual things as does science to investigate material things. All the Messengers declare this, how rational and logical is the Message of God.
§19 discloses the signs laid down by Jesus regarding His Second Coming. Next time we see to what they referred.
For next week: §§20-28.
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Meeting IV
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§20-28.
§20 discusses the theme of the oneness of God in the presence of His calling Himself by different names at different times. The comparison is made to the sun, which is one and the same sun, illuminating each day of the week even though each day is called by a distinct name.
The Bible, referring to the words of Jesus, is now discussed in §21, while in the next paragraph Baha’u’llah declares yet again that the present discussion is for the purpose of bringing mankind to the threshold of the knowledge of God, a knowledge that had thentofore been hidden from mankind—a “dewdrop” He offers, as He says, in §27. Baha’u’llah further declares this to be that “bread of heaven” promised to mankind, a bread that will never be withheld from those deserving of it, and which can never be exhausted. So now the meaning of that term also is broadened and explained to us for all time. And what about the tree “yielding its fruit in all seasons”? No material tree does this; they only yield fruit in one season. So the tree now mentioned must be that “tree beyond which there is no passing”, the tree of the Manifestation of God, representing the nearest, and farthest, any soul may travel in search of God.
Poignantly, Baha’u’llah laments in §23 that mankind willfully rejects to partake of this bread, even though it quickens lives and brings them closer to that which is for their benefit. He warns the reader that He will not for ever be revealing the verses of God, that the time will come when it is finished for this Dispensation; that we should “make haste” to acquire whatever we can of these divine truths during the season of revelation.
Have a closer look at this statement and see if it refers to things beyond just the time while Baha’u’llah is living on earth among us. History has shown that during the springtime of the new Dispensation, many novel discoveries are made in every branch of science, engineering, and knowledge generally. Past books of wisdom are newly interpreted and brought to a new standard of understanding. Commerce and social relations are broadened and expanded as never before. And religionists are at the forefront of making these discoveries and cataloguing all this new knowledge for the benefit of mankind. Then, the season of discovery passes and mankind begins working on the mere details of what had been previously worked out. Later still mankind contents itself with mere outward forms and imitations of what had existed before. Finally, knowledge itself is eschewed and intellectuals are held in suspicion, with religionists now being in the forefront of opposing science. That is the time just before the advent of a new Dispensation from God.
The time referred to by Baha’u’llah here, therefore, might also include not just the days during which He walks upon our earth and reveals God’s Cause to us, but also the time after, during which the revelation of God is transforming knowledge itself and tearing down all past barriers to true understanding.
§24 discusses in detail the Words of Jesus referring to His Own Return as it is understood in both Arabic and Farsi. §25 explains how Christians down the centuries have misinterpreted those Words, as evidenced by their failure to embrace the revelation of Mohammed, the Seal of the Prophets. §26 further explains that they wrongly believed that the law of the Gospel must never be annulled, while it is in fact the duty of each Manifestation to revise these laws and ordinances in order that mankind may mature and advance in understanding and action.
We will defer discussing §§27-8 until next week.
For next week: §§29-35.
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Meeting V
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§29-35; continuing with §§27-8.
In §27 Baha’u’llah agrees to share with us “a dewdrop out of the fathomless ocean of the truths treasured in these holy words [of §26]”, He says, so that the “overpowering majesty of the Word of God may not prevent them” … from attainment of divine mysteries. Then, in §28 He describes what is meant by the “oppression of those days”, that it refers to the situation existing today, as is clearly demonstrated by the examples used to buttress the argument, examples of which we are all too familiar from our daily observations. The description is a magnificent characterization of both the spiritual sphere and the political situation in which we live. Toward the end of the paragraph the description becomes so incisive and damning that it causes us to hold our breath in response to the power of the words, the words of God Himself. §28 explains that this oppression is an essential component of the coming of each new dispensation, and a little reflection reveals why: there must be a complete overturning of the soil of the human heart so that new seeds of potent growth may be sown. This is hard stuff. “And thou art called to a stern business,” the Qur’an says.
§30 explains the impossibility of any form of literal interpretation, as it profanes the word of God and constitutes “naught but open blasphemy.” Then we encounter all the possible spiritual meanings for the term sun in §31, a few of which Baha’u’llah demonstrates. “Assuredly, the visible sun is but a sign of the splendor of that Day-star of Truth, that Sun Which can never have a peer, a likeness, or rival.” If we consider that, just like the Sun of Truth, we cannot actually look at the visible sun because of the intense brightness of its glory, the idea that it is a sign of the Manifestation of God begins to make perfect sense.
§32 explains that the limitations observed on the Manifestations, Their seeming inability to perform certain things is not due to any inherent limitation They may have, but rather a limitation on our own understanding. And furthermore, They are sent to teach us what is needed for us to continue our spiritual and material growth until the appearance of the next Manifestation. As a divine Teacher, there are many things left unexplained, leaving some of them for us to decipher for ourselves, and others to be explained only by the next Manifestation.
§33 reminds us that the term, “suns”, has also been applied to signify the twelve Imams of Shi’ah Islam, or the “immaculate Souls”, as Baha’u’llah refers to them. §34 states that the suns, and moons, also represent former Manifestations of God, the influence of which has died out and fading in every land, to be replaced by the darkness of irreligion.
§35 ties these concepts together showing that as one Sun rises, the stars that (or who) guided the people across the trackless desert of this material life as constellations guide wayfarers traveling the desert, guided by the stars of the night sky, fade from sight. (In this sense, that these religions were revealed to desert peoples living near the equator meant that they would have been familiar with almost the full array of the night sky stars, as well as the primacy of water, good fertile earth, etc.) Of course, it fits perfectly that the terms sun and moon would also signify the religious leaders, who will be hurled down from their exalted position when they oppose the Manifestation of God.
Furthermore, consider the flags of Persia and the Ottoman Empire. The Persian flag was a sun, while the Ottoman flag displayed a crescent moon. Both the Ottoman empire and the Qajar dynasty were blotted out as a result of their opposition to the advent of Baha’u’llah. “And the sun and moon are [or shall be] joined together in hellish fire,” states Baha’u’llah, quoting Mohammed, the Apostle of God.
For next week: §§36-44.
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Meeting VI
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§36-44.
§36 mentions that sun and moon can also refer to religious leaders, due to their exalted and well-established positions as spiritual guides of the people. Here, the Qur’anic verse, “ Verily the sun and moon are both condemned to the torment of infernal fire,” does not, however, correspond to this verse, but another verse entirely, 75.9, and even there it reads differently than what Baha’u’llah tells us. This could be because the order of some verses have changed; or, that the Qur’ans used by Shi’ahs uses a differing order for some of the verses than what is found in ordinary Sunni schools. Indeed, the closest we come to this verse is 75:9, which only says the sun and moon will be joined together. This joining together could be with respect to God’s judgment, that is, both are considered the same in the sight of God in terms of their behavior, remembering also that the Persian flag and symbol is the phoenix arising from the sun, while the flag and symbol for the Ottoman Empire is the crescent moon. Those two nation states were joined together in being condemned by God for their treatment of the Bab and Baha’u’llah, and their refusing to acknowledge the truth of the verses of the Qur’an which declare Their appearance in the “time of the End.”
§37 uses a term, “Urvatu’l-Wuthqa” (a Persian “v” becomes “w” in Arabic), which means, the Sure Handle, or Firm Handle, a handle that will not fail. Since it is capitalized it indicates a reference to the Supreme Being or His appointed Messenger. Here again, Baha’u’llah invites us to follow the path to salvation, of surrendering our own preconceptions in favor of the truth of God.
§38 explains that suns and moons can also refer to laws and ordinance established in every revelation, which subsequently become nullified (or affirmed) with the advent of the next divine Messenger. The “lights that have emanated from the Day-Star of Truth” Baha’u’llah has used before and will again to indicate the Twelve Imams of Shi’ah Islam. §39 is used to affirm this.
§40 illustrates not only a further use of the terms sun and moon, but also the extreme gentleness of Baha’u’llah while conversing with a person ignorant of the true purpose and significance of the verses of the divine Writ. The heaven of the knowledge of God is contained within the Qur’an, which comprehends all past dispensations, within which shine stars of guidance. The sun is fasting, while prayer—that which illuminates us during the darkness, the darksome night of despair, or the interval between the rising of the Sun of the Manifestation of one dispensation and the other—is the moon. §41 summarizes the theme developed in the last few paragraphs.
§42 reiterates this, and now builds upon §§39-41 with the example of the Christian leaders, who refuse even now to admit that Mohammed was the fulfillment of the prophecies laid down by Jesus Christ. Consequently, Christians the world over suffer the denial of the teachings and meaning of their own Book. We also consider that, just as Christians do believe fully in the divine station of Moses, but not Mohammed, so do Muslims today accept that Christ was a divine Messenger, but refuse to acknowledge the divine Manifestations of the Bab and Baha’u’llah. In a thousand years will Baha’is do the same by accepting Baha’u’llah and all past Messengers while denying the truth of whatever comes after? One thing that argues against this is the verses in the Bible that say that the days we are in now are the worst the world has ever seen, and will ever see again.
§§43-44 again invite to mankind to use its intelligence and rational capacity in accepting these clear and demonstrable truths, and to reject the superstitions of the condemned.
For next week: §§ 45-53.
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Meeting VII
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§45-53.
In this reading we learn of some possible meanings of commonly encountered terms in the Bible, the Qur’an and other holy Books. They include, “earth”, “heaven”, “water”, “cleaving of the heavens”, etc. After these are understood properly, as god has intended for them, countless new meanings of divine unity unfold. Did mankind really imagine the Manifestations of God were giving a teaching on agronomy and the weather? Of what benefit could that be to justify all Their suffering and sacrifice? How could such teachings rejuvenate the dead body of mankind for a millenium?
§45 discusses the Qur’anic quote, “But nay, I swear by the Lord of the Easts and the Wests…” Since the Manifestations of God appear at different places, then each of those announcements is where the Sun of Revelation rises into the heaven of the knowledge of God, blotting out the night stars (including the dawn star, Azal) and illuminating the earth—that is, the thoughts and ideas of the hearts of mankind, creating new sciences and vistas of understanding. Then the water of the spirit falls from this heaven allowing this heart soil to bring forth spiritual thoughts and actions, thus, creating new institutions and social constructions, commerce, where international and inter-tribal relations improve, and the peoples of the new Faith lead all mankind in knowledge acquisition, science and the arts, as superstitions and ideologies are cast off and reality is embraced.
§46 mentions how this heaven will be cloven it two, that is, divided into two parts. Certainly, with the revelation of a new message from God, those who live within this knowledge will be in one quarter of the heavens, while those who do not will be dwelling in another. Then we are made to comprehend the immensity of the event of the appearance of one Soul Who changes what has existed undisturbed for a thousand years. §47 describes Their suffering and perseverance when delivering the message with which They had been entrusted, giving us some idea how important and mysterious that message must be, or why else would They suffer so much to deliver it.
§48 discusses the meanings of “changing of the earth”, that it refers to that same earth Christ mentioned when He said that from good earth comes good plants and trees. And He is not telling farmers and shepherds what good soil can do, but comparing it to the qualities of the human heart. When the water of the knowledge of God falls upon soil freshened and prepared by the Word of God for the Age, it is capable of accomplishing all the things we see all around us; while the barren soil can take no benefit therefrom. Thus, “Knowledge is a light which God casteth into the heart of whomsoever He willeth.” – a saying of the Imams, perhaps. §49 continues the discussion, while §50 declares that even the material earth has been changed.
§51 mentions how “The whole earth shall on the Resurrection Day be but His handful, and in His right hand shall the heavens be folded together. …” Both these illusions indicate the same thing, as Baha’u’llah explains. §52 continues to gently explain to us how the heaven of one revelation is replaced by the next, and how this is illustrated to us by the Messengers.
§53 points out how the purpose of using all these terms to make spiritual predictions has been to test the hearts, who follows from who does not. Otherwise, as Baha’u’llah explains, it would have been a simple matter for God to have His Manifestations address mankind in a different fashion. But had that been done, how could genuine faith and belief have been established and distinguished from hypocrisy?
For next week: §§54-62.
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Meeting VIII
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§54-62.
Further examples of how God tests mankind to filter out the impure from approaching His Court of understanding are now given. §54 discusses how with the revelation of Mohammed the “point of adoration”, the direction all must turn during obligatory prayers, was changed from Jerusalem to the sacred Mosque, the Kab’ah, wherein are found the idols Abraham smashed, as well as the Sacred Stone. While praying, Mohammed heard the voice of Gabriel instructing Him to turn away from Jerusalem and toward Mecca, which He did. Seeing this, some of His companions immediately apostatized their faith and fled away from Him.
The same is done one way or another during the revelation of each new dispensation from God. Christ Jesus changed two of the Ten Commandments, one concerning divorce and the other the Sabbath Day law. Additionally, during the Conference of Badásht, The Bab revealed the new teaching that women should no longer veil their faces in public. When Tahirih came out of her tent with her face unveiled one follower attempted to slit his own throat with a sword, while others fled the scene. And all this was to test and prove the hearts of mankind to see who follows the teachings of God and who “turns on his heels.” §55 adds to this that God later told Mohammed that the reason for changing the point of adoration was only to see who followed, and not just to please the tender-hearted Mohammed. §56 reiterates this.
Then, in §57 we read how Moses Himself was guilty of murder in killing an Egyptian who was struggling with a Hebrew. Imagine how the people would think of a man, who had a speech impediment and was guilty of murder, who then suddenly declared that he was a Manifestation of God! How could persons of ordinary sense ever accept such a claim? And as we learn in §59, the same was true for Christ Jesus, Who was known to be fatherless. Mary declared it was a virgin birth; but what would ordinary persons of common sense believe? “Virgin birth, indeed!” they would say, “That is nothing but a made-up story to cover her own indiscretions! There is no such thing as a woman giving birth without first a man knowing her!” Of course, today the virgin birth of Jesus is an article of faith; but what would we have thought at the time, 2,000 years ago? Far from bestowing on Jesus this miracle, it rather condemned Him, even unto today, to being rejected by His own people; and this, even while that people accepted that their own Messenger, that is, Moses, was guilty of murder, and needed His brother, Aaron, to speak for Him and interpret His garbled speech. And so the Egyptians had denied Moses for those very reasons. Thus, the Hebrews were blinded from seeing the glory of Christ or of ever accepting Him as the promised Messiah.
§61 asks us to “grasp the purpose of God” in doing these things, that it was made so that only the detached soul and pure heart could accept that God chooses for His purpose whosoever He wishes, and to none is given the right to question. And §62 warns us to be aware that things similar in nature may occur in this Day of God to blind the people from accepting the latest Manifestations. Indeed, none of those impediments to acceptance have been manifested in this Day, yet still the people reject their Messenger.
For next week: §§63-71.
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Meeting IX
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§63-71.
Continuing with the discussion, in §63 Baha’u’llah states that the signs currently being manifested in the heaven of understanding, and the fresh fruits yielded by the soil of the hearts of men, both of which are unprecedented since the dawn of the last dispensation, all point to this being the Day of God. And, He further states, even though none of the difficulties which had prevented the peoples of old from embracing the Teachings of their Messenger—such as Jesus being fatherless and Moses being guilty of manslaughter—have appeared in this Dispensation, still, the peoples of today are failing to comprehend that all the promised signs in the Books of God have been fulfilled in the most comprehensive and beauteous ways.
In §64, Baha’u’llah reveals that the Face of God is, presently, “in the veil” as it were. The images He now relates demonstrate of what mankind has never been told in past ages, describing—as best as can be fitted into words—what the spiritual eye can behold in this Day, the promised Day of God. Never before has mankind heard such words from the blessed mouth of the Manifestation of God. It is indeed a fantastic manifestation! No wonder the Manifestations of the past found it impossible to relate in words what lay before mankind in the fulfillment of this new Day. With what words could such a thing possibly have been accomplished that the ears of the peoples of old could comprehend? Thus, they were not spoken nor recorded, except as we can read the Books of old today.
§65 is fascinating for its revelation of the inner Heart of Baha’u’llah, how He has been allowed to declare what has never been spoken of old. Here we read of His capacity to reveal more, and yet more, were a hearing ear to be found. In the last sentences, Baha’u’llah declares that these irrefutable arguments, which unite and fulfill the prophecies of old, will, of themselves, enable hearts and minds to find peace. With that accomplished, being the foundation of unity of thought, could world peace be far behind?
§66 identifies the signs and their meanings which accompany the appearance of the Manifestation—the falling off of religion and of standards of decency and morality, for which religion is the root and stem—then we should expect the imminent coming of God’s Messenger. But in this instance, Baha’u’llah discusses the appearance of those signs in the visible heaven. That would include, of course, the great Star Shower of 13 November 1833, the likes of which was absolutely unprecedented in the past; and the appearance of a great star, which then was rapidly eclipsed by yet another even greater star, etc.
§67 then uses the example of Abraham, the Friend of God, and how the people of His country saw a star. §68 mentions Moses, “He Who held converse with God”, and how the Egyptian astronomers saw a star and warned pharaoh that it presaged the appearance of “One Who holds your fate and the fate of Egypt in His grasp.” Then, in §69 and §70 Jesus is mentioned, and how the Zoroastrian priests sighted a star and followed it until it led them to Bethlehem. Finally, in §72 Mohammed and the star that appeared at His appearance is discussed, and how the seers of those days told the people that a Messenger is coming.
For next week: §§72-80.
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Meeting X
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§72-80.
In §72 Baha’u’llah now discusses the signs announcing the Dispensation of the Bab, how astronomers have announced sighting “a star in heaven.” Actually, there were two stars sighted, one appearing first, then the other, which became brighter while the first star became dimmer—an extraordinary event—signaling the subsequent decline of the Faith of the Bab and its subsumation and rebirth in the new Dispensation of Baha’u’llah. They also signaled the appearance of Sheikh Ahmad and Siyyid Kazím. In §73 it is clearly stated that a visible star appears in the visible heaven, while in the invisible heaven of the spirit a Star arises signifying either the Forerunners of the new Dispensation or the divine Manifestation Himself.
In §74 the verse quoted by Baha’u’llah is from the New Testament Gospel of Matthew 24:30 (KJV). Baha’u’llah explains that these words describe the time when the power of the past religion has been spent and no longer influences the masses, especially the young, who leave it in droves and ignore its teachings, characterizing them as being for ancient times and no longer applicable to this new age. Thus, the new material age shows itself, while the religion of old seems no longer of any use. A new world is emerging as knowledge increases (Book of Daniel) but the spiritual root of this change is still for the most part hidden from sight. §75 continues to discuss the different applications for the term ‘heaven’.
§76 is one of the most profound in the Book, as far as my present understanding can fathom. It describes knowledge itself, and ends with the fine words, “Cling unto the robe of the Desire of thy heart, and put thou away all shame; bid the worldly wise be gone, however great their name.” The quote is unattributed, unfortunately, unless it is known among Shi’ah as a saying of one of the Imams.
Again, in §77, we are reminded to detach ourselves from the world in order to have the capacity for spiritual comprehension; while §78 informs us what has been meant by the term “huri”. We hear how the common understanding of this term to mean seventy-two virginal women awaiting the male martyr in the Faith of God. But here we learn that this is false. It means pure and never before understood meanings of the Words of God, Words that have the power to completely transform the soul and carry it away upon waves of ecstasy.
Now, in §79, we learn the specific and differentiated meanings of clouds, how they can stand for things that are contrary to what we expect from whoever claims to be a Messenger of God. Since these acts obscure people’s sight from visioning the light of the Sun of Truth, they are just as any kind of “palpable smoke” in the visible heavens. And (§80) they will be cut, or “cloven asunder” by the Sword of Truth, the blessed Tongue of the Manifestation of God cutting away the ideologies, conventions and traditions that have grown up around the light of God and obscured it.
For next week: §§81-90.
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Meeting XI
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§81-90.
In §81 it is explained that the dark clouds expected at the advent of a new revelation from God are not, as most expect, physical clouds. Rather, mankind will be enshrouded spiritually by the “dark clouds” of controversy and doubt, which prevent mankind from beholding the Sun of Truth in the heaven of revelation. Such occurs with the advent of every Manifestation of God, Baha’u’llah explains.
For instance, that the promised Messenger eats food, sleeps, and walks among men, is an example of this. Even though the divine Qur’an states clearly that were God to reveal Himself to angels, an angel would be sent out to them; and if to ginn, then a Messenger of God that is a ginn would be sent to them. But since God’s divine Message was to be sent to the Arabs of the peninsula, then Allah sent a Messenger from among their own selves to reveal what is promised. §81 reiterates this essential truth.
§82 reminds us that heaven-sent trials act as veils and clouds; and that we should require as evidence of that Messenger’s truth and spiritual veracity something of value to mankind and ourselves, rather than quizzing Him regarding some obscure Verse from a past revelation. Do we presume to judge God?—or, does God judge us? Does God do whatsoever He wishes? Or is it we who have this power?
§83 laments that even in the presence of such clear warnings the Qur’an declares, “What can such expect but that God should come down to them overshadowed with clouds?” (2:210), even while the clergy themselves bear witness to the truth and abiding guidance of this same verse, yet they lead the charge against the Manifestation whenever and wherever He is revealed and appears.
§84: “On the Day when the heaven shall give out a palpable smoke that shall enshroud mankind: This will be an afflictive torment.” (44:10-11), where “smoke” symbolizes dissentions an disagreements, with each soul choosing his or her own path, blinded by this smoke from seeing the one true Sun of Truth. And as for those blessed souls who persevere and find the True Friend, the world will hate and persecute them for daring to believe that they have found the truth, while the clergy and priestly classes have utterly failed to discern the Straight Path. “”And when they meet you they say, ‘We believe’; but when they are apart they bite their fingers’ ends at you, out of wrath. Say: ‘Die in your wrath!’ God truly knoweth the very recesses of your breasts.” (3:119). §85 states, “As most of the divines have failed to apprehend the meaning of these verses, and have not grasped the significance of the Day of Resurrection, they therefore have foolishly interpreted these verses according to their own idle fancy and faulty conception. The one true God is My witness! Little perception is required to enable them to gather from the symbolic language of these two verses all that We have proposed to propound, …” The Sadratu’l-Muntaha is now the Sadratu’l-Bahá!
§86-7 discuss the meanings of “Angels”, who shall accompany the Manifestation of God, as related in the divine Qur’an, “The surest testimony of God to man” , such as the Apostles of Christ and the Imams of Mohammed, those “rightly guided” souls. But, again, they shall suffer unnumbered persecutions by those who have been raised up blind from among the dead in spirit. “ ‘Have I been assembled with others, blind?’ Say: ‘Yea! By Him that rideth upon the clouds!’ ”
§88 gives the example of Jesus and His followers, how they are blinded from seeing that all the promised signs have been fulfilled, because they await the literal fulfillment of those divine signs. “Say: wait, you! Even as those before you are waiting!” In the End they will come to know! §89 explains that the literal interpretation of all the Words of God, not only makes no sense, nor carries any abiding value, but is, after all, an interpretation, forcing all of God’s Revelation into the Procrustean bed of material dimensions, and denies utterly the spiritual and mystic values of the Words of Allah. Then §90 points out that even though the clergy classes have failed to comprehend any of this, they still lay claim to the seats of high honor and erudition, “… Fearful, lest the least discredit blemish the display of their magnificence!”
For next week: §§91-99.
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Meeting XII
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§91-99.
This section, the last in Part 1 of the divine Kitáb-I-Íqán, is concerned with what is meant by “perverting the Word of God”, and “corrupting the divine Text”. The common belief is that this refers to literally writing something else than what God has revealed in His mighty Book. But such is not the case. Rather, it signifies where persons heard or read the Word of God and then distorted the meaning to accord with their own private desires. ‘Ali, “Commander of the Faithful,” and “He Who was rightly guided”, has said, “They bend the Qur’an around themselves instead of bending their own selves around the Qur’an”, meaning, they make of the Book what they wish, follow what accords with their desires and reject the rest, citing as evidence to support their position some vague and inconclusive hadith, one that might never have been proven as authoritative. Just as we see today how Shar’iah Law has been so grossly perverted, even while its teachers and upholders practice open usury and commit other acts condemned in God’s mighty Book. “Believe ye in part of the Book and reject part?” (2:85).
This position is hypocritical and unsupportable; If you believe part of a Book as having been revealed by God, on what basis can you reject the other parts of that same Book, given that the book is one Book, divinely revealed from beginning to end? The only explanation is that some ordinances you like and some you do not, and wish to observe those laws and ordinances that agree with your own personal tastes and preferences. When all mankind does this (which it has) the entire heaven of the knowledge of God, and the earth of the human heart, become so corrupted that the purpose of God in revealing His laws—to effect a change in the ways and doings of humankind, to make it more spiritual and close to Him—becomes utterly frustrated and buried under falsehoods. God forbid! For our own salvation God chastises us for such actions, so that we do not become of the lost, and remote from that Source of Life and all things throughout eternity. “And if the Truth had been in accordance with their desires all in the heaven and earth would be corrupted. But We have brought them their Reminder.” (23:71).
This is yet another instance showing the utter falseness and foolishness in insisting on a material, literal meaning of all things in the holy Books. Would even a child accept that Eve was made from Adam’s rib while he slept; and that Eve is blameworthy for offering Adam an apple to eat from a tree? Or further, that for so doing a curse was laid upon all mankind down through the generations until Christ Jesus lifted it by ransoming mankind with His blessed blood? If Eve and Adam sinned, what was the sin of their children, and of all the unborn generations of mankind? Indeed, where did Cain find a wife to marry if Adam and Eve were the literally the first two humans on earth? And, if we take Genesis literally, and the sun was made on the fourth Day, how long were the previous three days?—etc., etc.
The true meaning of perverting the Word of God is clearly shown here, with examples drawn from what occurred in the Revelation of His Holiness Mohammed, when the Jews of Kaybar questioned Him concerning the law to be applied for adultery between a married man and a married woman, in §92. In §93 it is clearly revealed that corruption means hearing the words of God, then changing or perverting them, and not that the Book itself has been altered. “Can a man who believeth in a book, and deemeth it to be inspired by God, mutilate it?” (Íqán: §93).
Then what is the meaning of the Qur’anic verse, “Woe unto those who, with their own hands, transcribe the Book corruptly, and then say: ‘This is from God,’ that they may sell it for some mean price.” (2:79). The people believe that the Jews and Christians have transcribed the Bible so as to eliminate all references to the coming of Mohammed. This is not what happened, for all the references and prophesies concerning the Dispensation of Mohammed to come after Christ are there and clear for any reader to see. What was meant, rather, is the writing of dissertations and arguments discrediting any interpretation that would indicate that Mohammed was the promised One, the One awaited by mankind, to revive the fortunes of civilization itself. And isn’t the same being practices today by the established religious doctors to discredit the dispensations of the Bab and Baha’u’llah? This is what the verse meant. Furthermore, were some to actually have written a distorted and mutilated copy of the Bible, that instance concerned only a few in the vicinity of Mecca. The Bible was widespread by that time throughout Europe and the middle East, so that it was impossible for all copies to have been seized and similarly distorted.
And what about the belief that the true Book of God went up into heaven with Christ? This also is proven to be foolishness, since it infers unfairness and injustice to God, for chastising men who have no Book to guide them, a blasphemous charge! So then, Baha’u’llah exhorts mankind not to repeat endlessly the same mistakes as were made by our ancestors during the times of the advent of the previous Manifestations of God, but to use our intelligence and God-given reason to comprehend what He has graciously revealed to us.
Since Part 1 only has two §§ remaining, let’s finish them now, then move on to Part 2 for next time.
Now readers are asked to contemplate how all that has been revealed is proof that God can only be known through His own Self, and that the holy Mirrors, the divine Messengers sent by Him to educate mankind, are as His own Self, except that he is Himself and They are Themselves, and created by Him.
Finally, Baha’u’llah exhorts the people of the Bayan not to forego what has been promised them in the Book, by turning aside from “Him Whom God shall make manifest” in the days following upon the martyrdom of the Bab. As it says in Revelations, “The second woe is passed; behold, the third one cometh quickly.” (Revelations 11:14). He directs them to inquire using God-sanctioned questioning, and not to rely on their own feeble and defective understanding.
For next week: §§102-110.
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Meeting XIII
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§102-110.
As Part 1 discussed the first question put to Baha’u’llah—why, throughout history in spite of all the prophesies and warnings and clear signs the peoples persist in denying their Messenger whenever He is revealed to them—so Part 2 takes up the second question posed to Baha’u’llah, that is, how is it that the Messenger fulfills all the signs but we do not actually see this fulfillment in this world, beyond a limited degree. What is this sovereignty They wield, and where is Their victory over the unbelieving peoples; and why do we not witness it? In fact, does not each one of these divinely appointed Messengers suffer death or banishment along with Their followers?
In perfect rational analysis and evidentiary procedure, the first § of Part 2, §102, sets out the argument to be proven. This is the experimental hypothesis, as it is termed in science, stating that all the Manifestations of God possess absolute and unchallenged sovereignty, even though no human credits it. The null hypothesis is that there is no such sovereignty unless fully acknowledged by the peoples of the world.
§103 provides the background and context within which the argument is made, and sketches out how evidence supporting it will be developed, beginning with a fuller statement of the proposition, explaining that the Manifestations of God are His and independent of all on earth. This places Their Revelation in the same context as science in its independence. The force of gravity is independent of whatever we may think about it and of our opinions and knowledge. It does not depend for its existence or reality on our recognition of it.
We see this every day, as we observe how much trouble and hardship mankind makes for itself by breaking the immutable spiritual laws of life, laws the mechanics and existence of which have been revealed to us by Almighty God, just as a speeding automobile gets into trouble when attempting to take a road curve too fast, that it skids off the road and endangers the occupants. Whether a speeding auto, or sex outside of marriage, the sad results are both harmful. That is why the Prophets warned us with the severest interdictions against breaking these interpersonal laws, that we might be protected from harming our own selves. That is the same reason why the states post speed limits on roads.
§104 explains that God can in no way manifest Himself to mankind, anymore than the visible sun could show itself by visiting the earth. All would be burned to a cinder were that to happen, and so also in the spiritual realms. Thus, Allah chooses certain Souls to represent and manifest Himself to mankind, that we may inherit the true life of faith and escape the death of unbelief.
Now consider the last sentence in this paragraph: “No sign can indicate His presence or His absence; inasmuch as by a word of His command all that are in heaven and on earth have come into existence…” In other words, God makes both signs, so how could any sign indicate where He is or is not? And furthermore (§105), there can be no direct connection between the Creator and what He deigns to create. Only by His grace and permission can we learn of Him and His laws.
Thus, as §106 explains, Allah has cause to appear the divinely-appointed Representatives of His own Self, to mirror His reality. This same independence and over-arching sovereignty is argued to be an essential character of each and every Manifestation of Allah, that the truth revealed through Them is not dependent for its existence or validity upon mankind’s acceptance. §107 marshals numerous arguments in defense of this position, including recognized authoritative traditions and Qur’anic verses. And by this means it is possible to know God, because that is the image in which we were created, in His likeness, spiritually, of course.
§109 explains that all things bear the mark of their Creator, but to a supreme degree is this true of man. Thus, by understanding the Messengers and Their Message we understand God, and come to a comprehension of our own selves. In this § is also a saying of ‘Ali, the Rightly Guided, declaring light to be as waves, and this, more than 1,000 years before such was the conclusion of science. Of all men the greatest who have ever come to exist are the Manifestations, the Messengers of God, the One the Single.
Finally, in §110, we learn that the full array of noble attributes God has bequeathed to the Manifestation of His own Self, He has bestowed upon all the Prophets, and not just one, even while He has caused some to outshine others in this world. That is, because a Manifestation did perform a thing is no evidence that He could not, but must be regarded as the essence of wisdom in what mankind is capable to bear and comprehend within the limits of his collective spiritual growth and maturity.
For next week: §§111-119.
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Meeting XIV
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§111-119.
In §111 Baha’u’llah explains why/how the people have gone astray: because they followed their religious leaders in denying the Messenger of God chosen from among them, the luminous and crystal springs of divine knowledge and inner meaning . . . and have rather contented themselves with the misguided and misleading words of the clergy, the salt that burneth bitterly, who, for the most part, sought only to cement their positions of leadership. And for evidence Baha’u’llah marshals the events that have occurred during the Bab’s Dispensation, when countless verses were revealed by God, all for the most part the people have ignored. Qur’an 7:145 is a further statement of this phenomenon. In the next few paragraphs examples from Mohammed’s revelation will be used.
§113 returns to addressing the question of why is the declared and prophesied sovereignty and authority of the Manifestations of God not witnessed. It is reiterated that it is an essential and fundamental quality of not just the promised Qá’im, but of every Messenger “endowed with constancy.” As §114 points out, that sovereignty is the spiritual ascendency of the Manifestations of God, their unchallengeable authority in spiritual matters and all that pertains to comprehending the Word of God in whatever age it is revealed. And further, that this sovereignty and ascendency is revealed to the peoples of the earth in direct proportion to their capacity to apprehend it, and not at all limited to the Manifestations Themselves, Who, as decreed by God, are unlimited in Their powers. And now we witness the visible manifestation of Mohammed’s sovereignty, and also (on this April Friday celebrated by Christians as the day on which Christ was crucified) that of Christ, Moses, and all other past Messengers from Adam and beyond. But during the days They were on earth and walking among us They were cruelly ignored an vilified.
§115 cites Mohammed’s blessed words in saying that none else has suffered what He had suffered. He carried that burden of denial for decades; and even one of His wives made trouble for Him. §116 cites the words of Gabriel to Mohammed, that He should seek a ladder unto heaven or an opening in the earth to escape the people’s denunciations and mockery, saying in this way that there was no cure, no escape.
§117 then has us observe the change today, where over 1 billion Muslims prey to God five times per day, fast, and observe His other laws. That is ascendency for certain.
§118 requires more discussion than there is room for this week, and is attached to the paragraphs tht follow it. That will be a good starting place for next week.
For next week: §§118-126.
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Meeting XV
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§118-126.
Continuing from last week, §118-119 begins one of the most accessible concentrations of profundity in the Íqán. It concerns how with one verse all persons were judged and divided by God into those who believed and those who did not, even while they themselves were completely unaware of this. Baha’u’llah goes on to reveal in §120 that those who heard and understood that the verses were meant spiritually and not literally were, upon hearing and accepting the verses, separated from those who only understood it literally. Consider that a class of chemistry students are all similar before taking the final exam, but are separated and ranked by grade after taking the final exam. It is the same with the Word of God: we all hear and read it, but infinite is the difference between those who believe and those who ignore.
Furthermore, the paragraph also observes how the believers were transformed and given a new life after hearing the words of the Messenger, how they had been like copper but became like gold. Their personalities had been transformed, so that whereas before they were sheepish and full of fears, now they were like holy warriors fighting in the way of God, whether with sword or tongue.
§119 explains that this is the meaning of the well-known verse found in Isaiah and elsewhere in the holy Books, stating that the wolf and the lamb will feed together. It signifies that those who had been meek and good sheep all their lives are gathered together with those who subsequent to hearing and accepting the new revelation from God had been wolves, were now trustworthy souls from whom a lamb should not fear. “And He has united their hearts . . . .”
Baha’u’llah mocks those literalists still waiting to see this with their own eyes, that is, a wolf and a lamb grazing in a pasture! Now imaging that we look out our window and see this actually and literally taking place. I imaging the following conversation: “Edith, Edith! Come here and see this! It’s incredible! A wolf and lamb eating grass just over there! Wow! Well. OK. I’m hungry. What’s for supper?” That would be how it would go, and nothing would change in the behavior of any human. Of what benefit would it be? And that is the purpose of God in manifesting Himself to us, isn’t it?—to change human behavior, to make us more loving and united? (The verse quoted in this paragraph, “Swift is He in reckoning!” is found in the Qur’an in 2:202; 3:19; 6:62; and 14:51.)
§121 then shows how when the Messenger would mention true life and death, true judgment, the people would mock at it, and declare that blessed Soul a sorcerer. But since the words were taken down and became part of the Qur’an, then the Qur’anic doctors were exercised to make sense of them and explain them to the people as literally making sense! We see the same thing today, how Christian creationists contort their minds and tongues in trying to explain how the Book of Genesis makes literal sense, oblivious of the reality that science is the first emanation of God; and that the days mentioned in Genesis represent the dispensations of the divine Prophets from Adam to Mohammed, making the sum of six (Adam. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Mohammed). To the literalists God says, “What! Will ye give that which is good in exchange for that which is evil? Wretched is that which ye have falsely exchanged! Surely, ye are a people, evil, in grievous loss.” Thus, sayeth the Lord.
Then §123 mentions what is meant by the “trumpet”, and the like, how it refers to the revelations from God. Just as it has been revealed, “And they said, ‘When shall this be?’ And He answered, ‘Perchance, it is nigh.’”, meaning that He was the trumpet blast, and His revelation the call from on high.
Baha’u’llah laments in §124 how far the peoples of the world have fallen away from the reality of the verses revealed by God, how centuries of misconstruing has blotted out the light of divine guidance.
In §§125-6 it explained how such things have occurred in every dispensation, using as examples the record of the Gospel of Christ Jesus, how the people stumbled over this same concept of a spiritual meaning, not a literal meaning, being intended. The conversation recorded between Nicodemus and Christ about being born again is a good example. And yet, while the Christians accept and comprehend the spiritual meaning of being born again they nonetheless choke on those same words and concepts when being revealed by any other Messenger appearing after Christ. That is why Christ was rejected, and also why Mohammed was.
For next week: §§127-135.
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Meeting XVI
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§127-135.
Continuing the theme of true life and death begun in §125, and in §126 a supporting example was given from the Gospels, §127 now uses an example from Imam ‘Ali, the fourth Caliph, the “Commander of the Faithful” to Shi’ahs, and “The Rightly Guided” to Sunnis.
§128 begins with something worth committing to memory: that the purpose of God in sending Messengers from age to age is “… No other but to affirm the spiritual significance of the terms ‘life,’ ‘resurrection,’ and ‘judgment’”. Physical life is “… Common to both men and animals, …” But spiritual life is possessed only by believers in the unity of God. §129 references the sufferings of Hamzih, the Prince of Martyrs, on whom His Holiness Mohammed declared to be living, while Abu Jahl, the uncle of the Apostle, was pronounced dead because he refused to believe. §129 then recalls the silly objections by the people and clergy of that Day; while §130 says that this condition of ignorance still exists and always will among the clergy-class, as we see for ourselves in reading the Books of God, how it was the clergy-class who invariably led the opposition to the Cause of the next Messenger revealed of God.
§130 ends with the astounding declaration by Baha’u’llah, the Manifestation of God for this Day of God, that what was revealed by past Messengers has been fully explained in this Book, the Kitáb-I-Íqán, the Book of Certitude, that Book promised by the Messengers of God that would be revealed in the “time of the end” that would “unseal” all the holy Books of the past, including most particularly, the divine Qur’an, which was “sealed” by Mohammed until the time of the end, when it would be unsealed by the hand of God. Even as the Qur’an declares, “Then it is for Us to explain it.” (77:19), and “And upon God is the responsibility to explain the Straight Path …” (16:9). Baha’u’llah reveals: “Thus God hath reaffirmed the law of the day of His Revelation, and inscribed it with the Pen of power upon the mystic Tablet hidden beneath the veil of celestial glory.”
§131 declares the arguments of the just preceding paragraphs to be supporting the true meaning of the “sovereignty” of God; while §132 explains that rational explanations exist for all levels of reality, but we cannot comprehend them; that spiritual sovereignty means mankind’s willingness, even after the passage of thousands of years, to bow the knee before His Name.
§133-4 use more rational argument to demonstrate how the sovereignty of God could never mean earthly sovereignty, because the ungodly have always ruled over it, while the believers have always suffered at their hands. §134 also recites the well-known verse that has never been literally realized, “Feign would they put out God’s light with their mouths. But God hath willed to perfect His light, albeit the infidels abhor it!” (9:33) How extraordinary, then, that the Iranian Shi’ah clergy led the people to destroy the House of the Bab in Shiraz, and are now erecting a new mosque of exquisite beauty on its foundation. And what Qur’anic verse did they choose to adorn the arch over the main entrance? It is, “Feign would they put out God’s light with their mouths. But God hath willed to perfect His light, albeit the infidels abhor it!” (!!!). Furthermore, it was Ahmadinejad’s plan to build a straight road, direct from Tehran to Shiraz, on which the faithful would flow to this new and splendid mosque, oblivious of the significance of the blasted foundation on which it was being built, and how the people would indeed flow on that new road, but not for the expressed purpose he had intended.
§135 cites Imam Hussein, Son of ‘Ali, who ended life at the hands of the Umayyáds in the plain of Karbilá. His head was then put on a pike and marched all the way back to Damascus, capital of modern Syria, as a trophy, where it remained on public display for centuries.
For next week: §§136-144.
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Meeting XVII
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§136-144.
§§136-7 continue to demonstrate that a literal interpretation of the holy Writ makes no sense and could never accord with reality. This is something we should understand completely. Consider if the Book of Genesis were to be taken literally, as most interpreters now do. Would anyone of normal intelligence believe such fantasies? According to the text the sun wasn’t made until the fourth day; so, how many hours were the preceding three days? But these days have nothing to do with literal days; rather, they count the Advents of the Abrahamic Messengers of God, starting with Adam, and counting Noah, Abraham, and then Moses, He Who conversed with God. Certainly, such a revelation would be likened to the sun itself for its surpassing luminosity. Each and every country on earth has in its legal code some semblance of the Ten Commandments. That is the sun indeed! And as for the sixth Day, this was the Seal of the Prophets, wherein the Adamic Cycle was completed and sealed, to be unsealed as to its true meaning, including the true meaning of the divine Qur’an, only by a following Manifestation of God, on the Day of Resurrection, when all mankind would be summoned to a reckoning with Him, the Day of God Himself, this Day. None other than this Book, the divine Kitáb-I-Íqán, is the Voice of God for this Day. The revelation of this Book, through the divinely appointed Pen of Baha’u’llah, unseals the hidden and manifest meanings of all past holy Books revealed by God through the mouths of His chosen Messengers and Prophets.
§138-140 describe the tragedy of the martyrdom of Imam Hussein on the plains of Karbilá by the Umayyad leaders. Yet now every Shia bows the knee and weeps for Him during Ashura. This is the real sovereignty, as is the sovereignty of Christ Jesus, described in §141. And what are true and abiding riches? The poverty of Jesus is given as an example and a remonstrance to the acquisitive peoples of the world, those who pride themselves in their wealth, their children and houses. “By the righteousness of God! Thousands of treasures circle round this poverty, and a myriad kingdoms of glory yearn for such abasement! Shouldst thou attain a drop of the ocean of the inner meaning of these words, thou wouldst surely forsake the world and all that is therein, and, as the Phoenix, wouldst consume thyself n the flames of the undying fire.” This is the complete and total independence of true wealth from the transitory things of this life. §142 uses another example to buttress this point.
And §143:“O men, ye are but paupers in need of God; but God is the rich, the Self-Subsisting.” (35.15). In §144 the references to the Words of Jesus are, in order of their appearance, Matthew 26:44; Mark 14:22: and Luke 22:69.
For next week: §§145-154.
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Meeting XVIII
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§145-154.
The divine themes covered in these paragraphs begin with yet another example of real sovereignty (§145); then reveal some of the truths (§§146-8) concerning the appearance of successively manifested Messengers of God and the certainty thereof (see also Qur’an 44:6-7); finally uniting these two themes with an explanation of the true meaning of the Day of Resurrection and the Day of God (§§149-154). Clearly, “Truth is one point which the ignorant have multiplied”!
§146 discusses the truth that the holy Books of the Jews announce the coming of One after Moses Who would unify mankind under one law and make Mosaic law the law of the world. Since the Jews interpreted all that literally, and since a literal fulfillment of these divine verses has never appeared in a manner they will accept, the Jews have repudiated the truth of every Messenger of God appearing after Moses. It is further revealed by Baha’u’llah that the people of the Qur’an are committing the same error and actually are repeating the words and expressing the sentiments of the Jews of old by their literal and erroneous interpretation of the term “Seal of the Prophets” how their interpretation denies that “God shall do whatsoever He willeth”, and, “He shall not be asked of His doings.”
Even were the term seal to mean that revelation has been sealed by Mohammed for all time, we know that seals are broken in due course, that knowledge is always growing and expanding, and that nothing can stop this process.
Look at the term seal as used with respect to students proceeding through a university. Imagine that a professor just conducted the final exam for a class on microeconomics. The semester is finished and the grades have been posted. Now, the students’ knowledge of microeconomics is “sealed” in the sense that they have heard their last instructor in that topic. But the following semester some take a further course in microeconomics, Micro-II, we’ll call it. This next professor “breaks the seal” placed on their knowledge by revealing more on the subject. Again, the semester ends, the final exam is given and the grades posted, and their knowledge has been thus “sealed”. And again, in time, yet another professor of economics “breaks that seal” by teaching them more.
In precisely the same way His holiness Mohammed represents the “seal” of revelation from God with the completion of His divine message (“And this day We have perfected your religion”). However, there are additional and very accessible meanings we can recognize. Mohammed was the last Messenger of God in the Adamic Cycle, a line starting with Adam, and continuing with Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and finally ending with Him. His revelation was the “Sixth Day” mentioned in Genesis during which time “God created the heavens and the earth.” Then, “God rested from His work” having completed the Adamic Cycle, before beginning a new Cycle of the Days of God. That Cycle was attained through the revelation of the “Gate of God”, His holiness, the Bab. After the Bab there would come the first in the new Cycle, “Him Whom God shall make manifest”, in the Cycle of Light, the Cycle of Glory.
We are reminded that the divine Qur’an promises that we shall attain the presence of God, the character of which is now taken up. §§149-151 discuss how “attainment unto the presence of God” has been understood. One is that it means attainment unto the essence of God Himself. The discussion proves that this is impossible to all beings, that only God has access to such a thing. Secondly, that attainment has been interpreted as attainment unto the general revelation of God. Again, Baha’u’llah patiently explains that this is already possible, not just for humans but for all beings, who receive in due proportion the divine grace and bounties of God. Actually what is meant by “attainment unto the presence of God” is to attain the presence of God’s Messenger, His Prophet and Manifestation, Who is revealed to mankind only on the Day of Resurrection. On that Day one can attain unto the Face of God by attaining—that is, recognizing—the divine Messenger of God while on earth among us.
§§152-4 reveal that the dispensation of God in revealing a Manifestation of Himself, one of those perfect Mirrors Who unfailingly reflect all the divine attributes of God and exercise His undisputed sovereignty and authority, is the true meaning of the term “Resurrection”.
§153 presents an incredible fact: that one righteous act performed on the Day of Resurrection is worth thousands of such acts performed at other times. This is clear because of how the vector of growth and maturity of an entire civilization can be altered during its earliest days of growth. If during those early days great things are accomplished then for centuries thereafter such acts will be emulated and copied, redounding to the everlasting growth of an entire people. In the same way, the manner of the people’s response to the appearance of a divine Messenger determines their fate for a millennium. Had the Jews and Christians accepted en masse the Apostleship of Mohammed and become Muslims, content with the will of God rather than steadfastly clinging to their own imaginings and the gods of their own ideologies, quite possibly the entire world would have become Muslim. Likewise for other peoples living during other times. But as has been explained to mankind by every Manifestation sent by God, the peoples break the covenant of God that they may continue following their own traditions and beliefs. “Believe ye in part of the Book and reject part?”
For next week: §§155-163.
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Meeting XIX
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§155-163.
This reading begins with §155 containing a reference to a hadith saying that when the Qa’ím arises he will choose many who are last to be first in terms of their spiritual rank, while many who are considered first in that rank shall be set last. This is similar to Christ’s words in Matthew 19:30, where He reveals, “But many who are last shall be first and many who are first shall be last.” These words are a clear warning not to trust the judgment of the people when determining who is spiritually advanced. It is God Who informs us how to judge such things.
Consider, for instance, what the first paragraph revealed in the Kitáb-I-Íqán, how it warns us to set aside all material references—schooling, degrees, and so forth, even while most would determine a true scholar as having a knowledge of all the various arguments and dissertations from past scholars, and to have memorized the Qur’án itself in some instances. But Bahá’u’lláh assures us that such things are not the criterion for a clear comprehension of the divine Books. Indeed, one of the main themes of the Iqán is that such man-made knowledge is of no use. For were it of any use, those having such a knowledge would one and all embraced the new Message of God in its own day of revelation and would have never opposed the Prophets and Messengers. We know this because Baha’u’llah reveals that the purpose of all knowledge and its goal is the recognition of God and His Messengers whenever and wherever made manifest.
The words, “Say, O people of the earth! …”, constitute the promised Trumpet blast, which is to usher in the Day of God and awaken the people from the bed of heedlessness and arise from the graves of unbelief. Think how much greater this is than beholding a visionary angel above our heads floating between heaven and earth blowing on a trumpet! Of what value would that be to anyone, when compared to what we are reading now?
Then, in §156, Bahá’u’lláh promises us that as we contemplate these words the mysteries of God’s revelation will be opened to us.
§157 relates how the Jewish doctors in the time of Mohammed requested that He perform a certain miracle. But Mohammed answered them, as recorded in the divine Qur’an 3:182, that there came to them others before who did what they asked, but the people murdered them. As it says, “Did they not disbelieve in the signs of Moses?” Thus, whoever during the days immediately adjacent to a new revelation from God through His messenger, who rejects, is of those who would always reject, no mater which Messenger they witnessed or of Whose words they heard; and those who believe would believe no matter in the presence of which Messenger they were standing. We must consider, as Baha’u’llah has asked us, how many of today’s believers would believe were they to be carried back in time to the birth of that dispensation: few indeed. Rather, they would cling to the previous one and reject whatever comes after. §158 continues this theme; while §159 shows explicitly that He Whom the people denied was the very One they were expecting, and some of them knew it, certainly, the religious scholars knew it. That is the meaning of the words, “He of Whom they had a knowledge came unto them”(2:89).
§160 declares to us that the divine Qur’an is “… the surest testimony of God unto men”, in case we still entertained any doubt as to its preeminent position.
§161 reveals the inner truths of the Manifestations of God seeming to be different from each other, while they are all one and the same in terms of their representing God on earth and being commissioned to reveal His divine words and teachings. “Our cause is but one” (54:50). In the same way, §162 continues, the followers of these divine Masters are also reborn and renewed with the revelation of each subsequent dispensation from God. And likewise, so is the reappearance of those opposers. Whoever opposes one of God’s Messengers has opposed them all, since each is of the same substance as all the others. As Baha’u’llah says, a rose is a rose, no matter where or when it grows and appears.
§§162-3 invites us to consider the transformative power of the teachings from the new Messenger, how a people who had been imprisoned by the religious traditions of their ancestors when once standing in the presence of the new Light of God, were transmuted into spiritual giants, capable of carrying forward the Cause of God throughout the world. Since they were clearly not the same as before, and since they were thus reborn into the spirit of everlasting life, then they were considered to be the return of those of old who had performed similarly during the day of the previous advent of God. And further, it is clear that it was nothing but the teachings of God which caused such a transformation, or was capable of causing it. When we look at what happened on the Arabian Peninsula after the coming of Mohammed, the Apostle of God, and compare it to what existed just previously, there is simply no other explanation than that it was the teachings of God through Mohammed which could have been responsible for that complete transformation.
For next week: §§164-172.
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Meeting XX
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§155-163.
This reading begins with §155 containing a reference to a hadith saying that when the Qa’ím arises he will choose many who are last to be first in terms of their spiritual rank, while many who are considered first in that rank shall be set last. This is similar to Christ’s words in Matthew 19:30, where He reveals, “But many who are last shall be first and many who are first shall be last.” These words are a clear warning not to trust the judgment of the people when determining who is spiritually advanced. It is God Who informs us how to judge such things.
Consider, for instance, what the first paragraph revealed in the Kitáb-I-Íqán, how it warns us to set aside all material references—schooling, degrees, and so forth, even while most would determine a true scholar as having a knowledge of all the various arguments and dissertations from past scholars, and to have memorized the Qur’án itself in some instances. But Bahá’u’lláh assures us that such things are not the criterion for a clear comprehension of the divine Books. Indeed, one of the main themes of the Iqán is that such man-made knowledge is of no use. For were it of any use, those having such a knowledge would one and all embraced the new Message of God in its own day of revelation and would have never opposed the Prophets and Messengers. We know this because Baha’u’llah reveals that the purpose of all knowledge and its goal is the recognition of God and His Messengers whenever and wherever made manifest.
The words, “Say, O people of the earth! …”, constitute the promised Trumpet blast, which is to usher in the Day of God and awaken the people from the bed of heedlessness and arise from the graves of unbelief. Think how much greater this is than beholding a visionary angel above our heads floating between heaven and earth blowing on a trumpet! Of what value would that be to anyone, when compared to what we are reading now?
Then, in §156, Bahá’u’lláh promises us that as we contemplate these words the mysteries of God’s revelation will be opened to us.
§157 relates how the Jewish doctors in the time of Mohammed requested that He perform a certain miracle. But Mohammed answered them, as recorded in the divine Qur’an 3:182, that there came to them others before who did what they asked, but the people murdered them. As it says, “Did they not disbelieve in the signs of Moses?” Thus, whoever during the days immediately adjacent to a new revelation from God through His messenger, who rejects, is of those who would always reject, no mater which Messenger they witnessed or of Whose words they heard; and those who believe would believe no matter in the presence of which Messenger they were standing. We must consider, as Baha’u’llah has asked us, how many of today’s believers would believe were they to be carried back in time to the birth of that dispensation: few indeed. Rather, they would cling to the previous one and reject whatever comes after. §158 continues this theme; while §159 shows explicitly that He Whom the people denied was the very One they were expecting, and some of them knew it, certainly, the religious scholars knew it. That is the meaning of the words, “He of Whom they had a knowledge came unto them”(2:89).
§160 declares to us that the divine Qur’an is “… the surest testimony of God unto men”, in case we still entertained any doubt as to its preeminent position.
§161 reveals the inner truths of the Manifestations of God seeming to be different from each other, while they are all one and the same in terms of their representing God on earth and being commissioned to reveal His divine words and teachings. “Our cause is but one” (54:50). In the same way, §162 continues, the followers of these divine Masters are also reborn and renewed with the revelation of each subsequent dispensation from God. And likewise, so is the reappearance of those opposers. Whoever opposes one of God’s Messengers has opposed them all, since each is of the same substance as all the others. As Baha’u’llah says, a rose is a rose, no matter where or when it grows and appears.
§§162-3 invites us to consider the transformative power of the teachings from the new Messenger, how a people who had been imprisoned by the religious traditions of their ancestors when once standing in the presence of the new Light of God, were transmuted into spiritual giants, capable of carrying forward the Cause of God throughout the world. Since they were clearly not the same as before, and since they were thus reborn into the spirit of everlasting life, then they were considered to be the return of those of old who had performed similarly during the day of the previous advent of God. And further, it is clear that it was nothing but the teachings of God which caused such a transformation, or was capable of causing it. When we look at what happened on the Arabian Peninsula after the coming of Mohammed, the Apostle of God, and compare it to what existed just previously, there is simply no other explanation than that it was the teachings of God through Mohammed which could have been responsible for that complete transformation.
For next week: §§164-172.
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Meeting XXI
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§164-172.
Most of the paragraphs read for this week are concerned with the theme of divine change through the power of faith guided by the Divine Elixir, the Manifestation of God, and a fuller meaning of resurrection and return to include the return of the early followers and believers in the newly revealed Cause of God.
In §165 we learn of the transmutation of copper into gold as understood at that time and place, and how the true elixir is capable of instantaneous transmutation. So also, §167 recounts, is the process of transformation of souls from the death of unbelief to the life of faith.
§168 is truly a phenomenal statement: Baha’u’llah declares that He has, through these verses divinely revealed, finally and for all time, unraveled the mysteries hidden in the holy Books in mankind’s possession, mysteries that have led to disagreements, wars, genocides and miseries for the human tribe, believers and unbelievers, worshippers and skeptics. It declares hereby that the promises made in those Books, that in the time of the end One will be sent by God to make all things clear—to explain what has been hidden since the prophet Daniel was told, “Go thy way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the End” (Daniel 12:9), BC 534, or for 2,551 years and more—have now been fulfilled. Baha’u’llah declares that it has been done through the revelation of the Kitáb-I-Íqán.
§169 explains that not only do the Messengers of God return to us, but those who preceded mankind in embracing the new Faith are also the return of those souls who in earlier dispensations had done the same. Once this is comprehensively understood, all the barriers to a fuller understanding of the unity of God fall down, as the walls of Jericho fell before the trumpet-blast of Joshua. §170 now invites us to see all these different names and attributes as parts of one unified whole and all proceed from one divine Source. The differences are only contextual to the times and places of their revelations. §171 continues this theme in explaining its moving parts with even more clarity. Thus armed with the unifying knowledge of God, the meaning of the words, Seal of the Prophets now become clear: Mohammed was the last Messenger in that preparatory age, the age of prophecy and promise, while Baha’u’llah is that divine One Who unseals this divinely set seal, and the Inaugurator of the Age of Fulfillment. And also, each and every Manifestation of God, since manifesting the attributes of God, Who is Himself the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, are all capable of saying, “I am the First of the First and the Last of the Last.”
It is troubling to realize that the peoples of the Qur’an, as Baha’u’llah describes, have used the term “seal” to believe that no Manifestation of God will follow Mohammed, even while they celebrate the “Peak of Eloquence”, the statements of ‘Ali, Commander of the Faithful and the Fourth Caliph, the “One rightly guided”, when He declares that He is the First, the Last, that He is the pilgrimage, He is the Fast, the Book, the True Way. Qur’anic followers accept all these statements coming from ‘Ali as an article of true faith and received wisdom, yet cannot see the truth of these same words when spoken by other Manifestations of God.
For next week: §§173-181.
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Meeting XXII
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§173-181.
§173 makes further reference to the terms “first” and “last” by asking rhetorically what the people think these mean when applied to God Himself; while §174 combines these terms in such a way as to weave a divine tapestry of unification and oneness.
§175 actually describes the nature and purpose of this entire discussion as contained in the Kitáb-I-Íqán, that of “piercing the veils of Glory, unaided.” These veils of glory, terms such as these, prevent the peoples from coming to a true understanding of God’s divine Cause and Word. This is a task, which only God and His Messengers can accomplish. And it has been given to this Messenger, Baha’u’llah, to reveal this Book, which explains all these terms, and sets mankind free from imitation and superstition. §175 also admonishes us not to take the ignorant and stiff-necked clergy as any kind of guide, since in every age and century it has been the clergy who have most vociferously opposed and stirred the people against the true Messenger of God. §176 continues this theme, while §177 identifies the clergy as among the veils of glory themselves.
In §178 we are confronted with the term, “Seal of the Prophets”. Whatever it does mean—and it has been shown to have many immediately applicable and understandable meanings—it certainly can not mean that His holiness Mohammed is the last Messenger that God will ever manifest. He was the last in the line beginning with Adam, Who was the first Prophet, and being the last also means that His revelation is the full and complete culmination of everything that God has revealed up through the dispensation of Mohammed. But again, that does not mean Mohammed is the last Messenger God will ever send. And, if you do the arithmetic suggested in §179 the number of years sums to 50,000,000, suggesting that there have been many cycles and divine dispensations all records of which have been irretrievably lost.
§180 invites us to traverse all these sayings and to embrace the unity and transcendence of God, to submit our pitiful comprehensions and images to the overpowering wealth that is of God.
§181 Baha’u’llah uses to demonstrate that the people of the Qur’an, like the people of Moses, have taken part of the Book of God that is in agreement with their preconceived notions and superstitions while rejecting all the verses that test and challenge them. “And if the Truth had been in accord with their desires all in the heaven and the earth would be corrupted. Nay! But We have brought them their Reminder.” (23:71).
For next week: §§182-190.
Special note: The Qur’an, Sirát 74 Al- Muddaththir (The One Enveloped)
This Surah is filled with mysteries. It prophesies things to come in terms as specific as anything in Daniel and Isaiah. Its first thirty verses comprise the fourth revelation from the mouth of Mohammed. And after verse 30, “And over it are 19”, Mohammed revealed the first of the “Bismillah” invocations that begin so many of the Surahs in the Qur’an. And that invocation has 19 letters!
Verse 31. These nineteen angels guarding the Gates of Hell are the nineteen “Witnesses” Mirza Yahya, the half-brother of Baha’u’llah, appointed, he being the arch covenant-breaker of the Bábí Dispensation, and opposed Baha’u’llah. Both they themselves, and their number being nineteen, were indeed tests for the believers. They were a test for the people of the Bab and Baha’u’llah; and their being nineteen of them was yet another sign in the Qur’an with the interlocking pattern of nineteen in the verses and words therein.
The evil of Mirza Yahya was imaged in the Book of Genesis as the Golden Calf which was the idol of the hands of certain men among the people of Moses, and which made a sound when a fire was set to burn in its stomach. This was a rehearsal of what was to come in the Time of the End. That fire was the fire of jealousy with which Mirza Yahya burned whenever he saw the rising fame and glory of his half-brother, Baha’u’llah. Just as the magician Samírí during the time of Moses incited the people to make the golden calf, so a man stood behind Mirza Yahya, inciting him to ever greater evil. That man was Siyyid Mohammed’i’Isfaháni, one of the “one-eyed liar”-s the Hadiths warned us about, who would lead the people astray, and represented “The Beast”. Haji Mirza Karim Khan also had one eye, and was well known by all the people in Persia. He opposed the Bab and Baha’u’llah. Baha’u’llah referenced him in the Kitáb-I-Aqdás, explained the Qur’anic references to him, and is also mentioned in this Kitáb-I-Íqán, as we shall see. Siyyid Mohammed, on the other hand, was known only by a few as the power behind Mirza Yahya.
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Meeting XXIII
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§182-190.
§182 explains that by insisting on the literal interpretation of the term “Seal of the Prophets” to mean that no Manifestation of God will be sent after Mohammed, that all revelation is ended, the people of the Qur’an have deprived themselves of the blessings given by the verse “attainment unto the divine Presence.” That is because if they believe that no Messenger will ever again be sent down from the heaven of divine revelation, how, then, could they attain unto the divine Presence?
Nor will God be asked or questioned about what He chooses to do. It’s this way: Either we believe that God is smarter than humans, even all humans combined into the mightiest brain, or we do not. And if we do, then it is not for us to question Him but for Him to question us. In §183, however, it is explained how the peoples of the world have come to trust in their own conceptions and worship the gods of their ideologies and dogmas rather than trust in the overarching knowledge, wisdom, and omnipotence of God. §184 describes how mankind has placed itself in mortal danger by rejecting God and thus following their own thoughts and desires.
§185 places the year when these lines were penned by Baha’u’llah as 1863-4 AD, or 1279-80 AH. Here also we understand the purpose of reading and studying the divine words of God, that is, to recognize Him whensoever He appears in any age and century that we may attain unto the divine Presence. Otherwise, just reading and becoming knowledgeable about the Books of God is of no benefit if it causes us to shun the Manifestation when He appears with proof and testimony.
§186-7 describes the omniscience of truth, that it offers no shelter to anyone. Either it is accepted or it is rejected, and thereby we are judged and grouped. Just as students file into class for their final exam, then file out again after taking it, they have been judged, graded and separated in a range from lowest to highest. While they may still look no different from each other, nor from the way they looked before taking the exam, they are, nonetheless, distinctly different now.
§188 is full of mystery. It begins, “We seal our theme ….” That is, “seal the theme of this holy Book”, and not the revelation itself. Then we read the famous Qur’anic verse, “And God calleth to the Abode of Peace; and He guideth whom He will unto the right way.” (10:25). Baghdad means “abode of peace. It is where Baha’u’llah declared that He was the Messenger of the Day of God, the first Messenger in the new divine cycle, the Cycle of Bahá. It is where a spiritually parched mankind could slake its thirst from the goblet of God “tempered at the camphor fountain.” That is the meaning of this Qur’anic verse, a verse the meaning of which, beyond the obviousness of its outer meaning, had puzzled and eluded mankind for over a thousand years.
§189 explains that what had been proposed by this Book has been carefully and repeatedly explained. We can take from this that if we have not yet understood a certain part it is probable that reviewing it will unlock that meaning which had escaped us.
§190 declares to all mankind that Bahá'u'lláh is capable of revealing more, infinitely more, than what has already been revealed; that He is ready to invite the “Brides of inner meaning”, that is, the legendary ”huris”, heavenly maidens of such incomparable beauty as to dazzle, to come forth from their heavenly abode and bestow their beauty on all mankind.
Later on Bahá'u'lláh will quote the famous hadith that says that each word of God has 72 meanings; while here in §190 Bahá’u’lláh tells us that each of these meanings are like heavenly maids, huris as referred to in that hadith. From these two facts we see where the fantasy of each true Muslim martyr receiving 72 virgin brides in the hereafter (!).
For next week: §§191-199.
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Meeting XXIV
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§191-199.
§191 restates the earlier argument affirming the two-fold position of the Manifestations of God, one of distinction and separate identity, and the other of absolute unity. The following paragraph argues that it is because of this twin character of the Messengers that the peoples have been confused and disputed with the Messengers. §193 asserts that this difference in station explains the difference in Their divine speech, that is, when assuming one station or another station while discoursing, as bidden by God. It can certainly be imagined how much trouble this would cause to the weak-minded and the ideologically-addled, as they try to force all divine speech into the Procrustean bed of either a purely literal interpretation or mystical meaning, rather than understanding each verse as it is intended. And this intention can be ascertained by comparing it with the former Manifestation’s record of verses, as we know. What is used for one must be used consistently for all. That is how we understand that just as the peoples of past dispensations expected the literal fulfillment of many of the prophesies regarding the Return, and therefore rejected the Manifestation of God appearing in their midst, so also today, we would be foolish to expect the literal fulfillment of the promises for the Day of God in this day of resurrection.
§196 continues the argument regarding the essential unity of the Messengers of God by using examples to better explain and illustrate it. It also makes plain that They think of Themselves as being utter nothingness while voicing the words of God. They have been purged of all self, all personal identity and speak with the unalloyed purity of the speech of the Ancient of Days. Truly, this is a thing we cannot begin to understand but at which we can only wonder. §198 continues this theme.
§199 establishes that no human can comprehend the verses of God, and that only the Messengers Themselves, as commissioned by God, can do this. As revealed and previously referenced, “Then it is for Us to explain it.” (77:19). See also 77:17 and 16:9. And further, that so imprisoned are the peoples in their dogmas and ideologies that any departure by the next Manifestation of God from their idle fancies and imaginings cause all of Them to be rejected. “It will not be in accordance with your wishes, nor of those of the people of the Scripture” (4:123), and “And never comes to them a Reminder as a recent revelation from the Most-Gracious but they turn away therefrom” (26:5) are evidence of this clear reality. Se also 2:87.
For next week: §§200-208.
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Meeting XXV
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§200-208.
In these first paragraphs we come across several significant definitions for true knowledge; and also are introduced to a man who has been used as a negative example and been denounced by no less than three Manifestations of God, an astounding thing. That man is also featured in the recognized authoritative hadiths and identified as being that “one-eyed liar”, who would appear in the time of the end to lead the people astray.
§202 says, “Knowledge is one point which the foolish have multiplied.” And also, “Knowledge is a light which God sheddeth into the heart of whomsoever He willeth.” §202 argues that since the true knowledge is not that limited knowledge possessed by men but something infinitely more transcendent the peoples of every age have scoffed at the answers given to their questions by the Messengers of God. Again, in §203: “Knowledge is all that is knowable; and might and power, all creation.”
The real subject of §203, however, concerns “… a certain man. …” That was, in fact, Haji Mirza Karim Khan. Bahá’is are first introduced to him in The Dawnbreakers: Nabil’s narrative, on page 39, where he is identified as one of those considered by some to take over the Shaikhi school after Siyyid Kazím returned to private life. But Karim Khan was sparsely-bearded and had only one eye. Upon leaving Kazím’s school he wrote his thesis and asked the Siyyid to approve of it and recommend him for a post, so that he might start his own classes. “Accursed be he!” said the Siyyid, “For years he has been associated with me, and now that he intends to depart, his one aim, after so many years of study and companionship, is to diffuse through his book, such heretical and atheistic doctrines as he now wishes me to endorse. He has covenanted with a number of self-seeking hypocrites with the view of establishing himself in [the region of] Kirman, and in order to assume, after my departure from this world, the reigns of undisputed leadership. How grievously he erred in his judgment! …. My prayer for you is that you may be protected from the mischievous influence which he, the Antichrist [emphasis mine] of the promised revelation [of the Bab], will in future exercise.” Thus, Haji Mirza Karim Khan is identified as the Antichrist of the Bábí Dispensation, he who would lead people astray and oppose the Bab at every turn.
Considering how infamous a position he held in religious history is there an earlier reference to this man? A few paragraphs further on in the Kitáb-I-Íqán we will read of three Qur’anic verses that refer to him, according to Bahá’u’lláh, 44:43-4; and 44:49. For now there is this reference from the hadiths compiled by Sahih Al-Bukhari (9/7131 (O.P. 245)): “No Prophet was sent but He warned His followers against the one-eyed liar. Beware! He is blind in one eye and your Lord is not so, and there will be written between his eyes the word ‘kafir’ [unbeliever]. ” Bahá'u'lláh further specifies that Karim Khan is considered a religious leader by the people.[*]
§204 continues to excoriate Karim Khan for his pretentious claims. The quotes, “Flingeth thou thy calumnies ….” And, “All human attainment moveth upon a lame ass, whilst truth, riding upon the wind, darteth across space”, are not referenced. They could be sayings of the Imams or hadiths. Bahá'u'lláh warns us here that we will never comprehend the true meaning of the Mir’aj if we are already burdened with Karim Khan’s false teachings.
§205 makes an astounding claim, one that none but the Manifestation of God commissioned to fulfill it can make: that these verses of Bahá’u’lláh fulfill the promise and charge to “burn away the veils of knowledge”, and the “veils of glory” because He has set the standard of true knowledge and thrown out all false knowledge from the Books of God and therefore in turn the hearts of men. Thus, mankind is a new creation, even as He has revealed, “Verily, We have caused every soul to expire by virtue of Our irresistible and all-subduing sovereignty. We have, then, called into being a new creation, as a token of Our grace unto men. …” Gleanings, XIV, pp. 29-30.
§§206-7 goes on to say that the purpose of Kahn’s mentioning what persons should know was to display his own knowledge of these things. Yet, how much the people follow him! §208 mentions alchemy as one of the essential sciences that must be mastered in order to comprehend the verses of God. Not one ounce of gold has ever been known to have been produced by Kahn, in spite of his boast of mastery of alchemy.
For next week: §§209-217.
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[*] That would seem to eliminate Siyyid Mohammed’i’Isfaháni, the Anti-Christ of the Bahá’í Dispensation, from consideration in this context. He also had one eye (or was blind in one eye) but was never a leader among the people, preferring instead to control and pull the strings of Mirza Yahya, the Arch-Covenant breaker of the Bahá’í Dispensation. See references in these notes to the Golden Calf, and how it presaged and was a rehearsal for the Time of the End.
Meeting XXVI
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§209-217.
§209 begins with this remarkable element: that the Qur’anic verses 44:43-4, and 44:49 have as one of their subjects none other than this Haji Mirza Karim Khan. Thus, says Bahá’u’lláh, the Manifestation of God for this Day. And (§210) the Qur’anic verse 6:59 is thus proven. The Bab is identified as Moses, while Karim Khan is likened to that magician, Samírí, who contended with Moses, caused the people to make the Golden Calf and led them into perdition. §211 asks us not to seek blessed and spiritual things from corrupt hearts, that only pure hearts are capable of yielding spiritual truths.
§212 declares as proven, therefore, that it is purity of heart and not acquired knowledge that leads to the Straight Path of the knowledge of God, therefore supporting the first assertion, as found in §1 of this Book. And who has a better “custody” of the Scriptures, or any other holy Book, than the Manifestation of God Himself?
§§213-219 comprise what has become known as the “Tablet of the True Seeker”. In Part I of the Kitáb-I-Íqán we learned the necessity, just reiterated in these past few paragraphs, of having a pure heart if we are to comprehend the verses of God. Now we learn the specific attributes of such purity that a soul must strive to gain in order to be considered a true seeker. In no other source can we read such concentrated specificity regarding the actions expected of a true seeker after the comprehension of God’s truth.
§215 informs us that these characteristics just mentioned have already been discussed in The Seven Valleys, which describes the stages of spiritual maturation (available as The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys, from booksellers), and concludes by stating that all this can be summed up by the Qur’anic verse 29:69, “Whoso maketh efforts for Us, in Our ways shall We assuredly guide him.” §§216-17 explain and declare what result will transpire, what transformation, can be expected when fulfilling these essential spiritual conditions—the certitude, the discernment and comprehension of that enlightened soul, so much so that it will attain a nearness that can be measured by two tandem arrow flights from a bow. We are left to contemplate and wonder that this could symbolize.
For next week: §§218-26.
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Meeting XXVII
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§218-26.
§218 assures us that once we become attached to the City of God we would never wish to be separated from it again. And we see in our own lives that once the doors of that spiritual knowledge are open to us we become a new person compared to which our previous selves were just a shadow of a being, without light or focus. As it says in Psalms (121:8), “The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.” This is what happens when, through knowledge and rational examination has convinced us of the truth and soundness of this knowledge, we come to have an abiding faith in it and no longer question it, just as we no longer question the veracity of classical mechanics or arithmetic, or that a hot stove gives us a painful burn.
§219 again mentions the “veils of glory”. To what does this refer? To the misinterpretation of the words of God, so that they become an ideology, and mythical in the eyes of its followers, thus blinding them from seeing its essential unification in truth as spoken by all the Prophets and Manifestations of God. “Although they had preyed for victory over those who believed not; yet, when He of Whom they had knowledge appeared unto them, they denied Him. …” (83:6; 2:89). We believe this because in this paragraph we are told that the City of God is the Book of God, the revelation of God in its day. And further, that that City will be renewed and reborn through the continuing revelations from the Manifestations of God, that is, His Messengers. As the divine Qur’an states, “As a mercy from Your Lord, verily, We are always sending Messengers.” (44:6-7).
§§220-2 support this argument with examples from former dispensations, the Qur’an being the most recent prior revelation, coming just before the revelation of the Bab and lasting 1260 lunar calendar years. And Bahá’u’lláh states that the truth of the Qur’an—“…the surest testimony of God unto men…” (Íqán §160)—will never be surpassed by any other revelation. That is possible since all following dispensations support, explain and unite the truth of God as revealed in the Qur’an. Again, however, such wording has been twisted by men to force it to mean that no other dispensation can ever supersede it in any way, which, of course, is to mutilate the meaning of God’s word. It is we who should bend our wills around the teachings of God, rather than for us to bend the Words of God around our own wills and selfish desires.
§223 affirms that God Himself has established His revealed Word as the surest form of guidance for mankind, and specifically, the words and verses of the divine Qur’an. §224 references those letters which begin many of the Surahs of the Qur’an. These letters have been a mystery for more than 1260 years, until Bahá'u'lláh explained their meaning. See, for instance, the paper, “The Disconnected Letters of the Qur’an and the Significance of the Number 19”, by Robert T. Cameron (1997, available online), and Rashad Khalifa’s book, Qur’an: Visual Presentation of the Miracle (1982). Bahá’u’lláh tells us here that one of the things they stand for is the Family of Mohammed, the Apostle of God. He says here that within them the “pearls of His Unity are treasured.” In Arabic, the word “unity” is spelled with letters, their numeric value, using the Abjad reckoning, sums to 19 (!).
§224 instructs all mankind to cling to the words of God revealed in His revelations, and to consider all other sources of knowledge as derivative, and dependent for their truth and veracity on their agreement with those divinely revealed verses. §225 returns to the truth of the Qur’an and declares that whoever denies the truth of the Qur’an has thus rejected all the revealed words of God, regardless of that person’s outward and nominal fealty to one of God’s holy Books.
§226 returns to the well-known Qur’anic verse, “And if ye be in doubt as to that which We have sent down unto Our Servant, then produce a Surah like it, and summon your witnesses beside God, if ye are men of truth.” (2:23). When Mohammed revealed this verse the people scoffed and mocked Him, thinking that what was being referred to was the literary style and structure of what He was speaking. But rather, it was the spiritual ascendency and their capacity to change and alter human behavior, placing them on a spiritual path. The unavoidable conclusion is that the verses of God are the greatest and surest proof of the truth of God’s Reality.
For next week: §§227-235.
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Meeting XXVIII
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§227-235.
§227 is an earthquake under our feet. All the arguments have been fully supported with formal rational procedures. There is now no excuse for hanging back from the threshold of His Presence. Thus, Bahá’u’lláh, the Mouthpiece of God for this Day, exhorts us to accept what has been proven by logic and rational analysis—to believe and have faith in the scientific method of analysis, that is—and submit to the Teachings of God as revealed in His Book, and not to follow the directions of every blind cleric. Follow, instead, the revealed Words of God Himself. The primacy of the Verses is now clear, as is their full explanation. “Then it is for Us to explain it,” it says in the Qur’an (77:19). And this is what was promised 2,541 years ago, isn’t it?—when God revealed to Daniel the Prophet, as He recorded, “And I heard but understood not: then, said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? And He said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.” That was in 534 BC. Since it has all been explained, or “unsealed”, as described in Revelations, this is, therefore, the Time of the End.
§228 quotes a Qur’anic verse that with its logic and reason plows the earth of our understanding: “Such are the verses of God: with truth do We recite them to thee. But in what revelation will they believe, if they reject God and His verses?” (45:5). Once understood, this verse is sufficient to induce falling headlong into the life of faith and belief. §229 reiterates this with the Qur’anic verse just following, 45:6: those who hear the verses yet pretend that they heard nothing of import or value. The end of this paragraph contains a quote, not from the Qur’an, though with the same overpowering Voice, appears to be freshly revealed through the Pen of Bahá’u’lláh, in chastising the people for doing what their fathers of old, who lived in the time of the last Messenger, in rejecting His verses. §230 continues with this theme with even more evidence from the Qur’an. In the most condemnatory speech Bahá’u’lláh characterizes the people of this Day who have rejected the verses of God as revealed through the Pen of the Bab. And §231 continues this theme.
§232 destroys the false argument that only the well-educated and scholarly can truly comprehend the meaning of the Qur’an—so that the common people should listen and follow them and not try to live according to what they read in the Qur’an. There are clerics of every dispensation who believe this and warn the people from “playing God” by trying to understand the word of God for themselves.
We have learned, however, that it has in fact been the clergy and trained scholars who have led the people onto a false path of unbelief and caused their rejection of the Messengers whenever One appears among them, chosen from their own population. And in §233 we learn that indeed the common people are preferred over those scholars by God, and that such things as acquired knowledge have never led the peoples unto God. §234 quotes the verse, “As for those who believe not in the verses of God, or that they shall ever meet Him, these of My mercy shall despair, and these doth a grievous chastisement await.” (29:23). Remember, that Mohammed warns us that Hell is but deep regrets. Calling Mohammed a poet they led the people away from that Straight Path. The next paragraph observes that exactly the same things have happened in this day, the same as all those words of denunciation and rejection used against Mohammed, Christ, Moses and all other previous Messengers.
For next week: §§236-244.
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Meeting XXIX
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§236-244.
§236 contains a Qur’anic verse we would be wise to memorize, both the verse and where to find it in the Qur’an. Because of its all-sufficient evidence, it is fully quoted here: “And Joseph came to you aforetime with clear tokens, but ye ceased not to doubt of the message with which He came to you, until, when He died, ye said, ‘God will by n means raise up a Messenger after Him.’ Thus God misleadeth him who is a transgressor, a doubter.” (40:34, Ghafir, or Al Mu’min). Consider the unanswerable logic it contains: only after His death did the people believe in Him; they believed that another Messenger the like of Him would never appear again. Isn’t this what the followers of every religion say today, that God will never raise another Messenger, a Jesus, a Moses, a Mohammed, a Krishna, but instead, will end the earth, destroy all the people save for a few remaining true believers, who will rebuild the world according to their own defective and exclusionary beliefs? This is how God misleads such disbelieving folk, by their own minds fastening upon an ideological falsehood they refuse to relinquish, and which shall never come to pass.
Consider also that Muslims rejoice when a Christian becomes a Muslim. They deny that he has rejected Christ and Christianity, but rather, that he has embraced true Christianity by becoming a believer in Islam. But what is their reaction if this same person becomes a follower of Bahá’u’lláh, believing that He is the return of Mohammed and offers the true essence of the pure and promised fulfillment of Islam? Quite different.
§237 reiterates this by using as an example the people of the Qur’an, who have falsely imagined that “Seal of the Prophets” means that God will never manifest another Messenger, chosen from among the people, to be His new and reborn Mouthpiece, just as the people who denied Joseph had. But the Qur’an itself, in many instances, condemns a people who believe so. Besides the just-quoted verse 40:34 there is 44:6-7, “As a mercy from your Lord, verily, We are ever sending Messengers.”
§238 now explains one of the sublime meanings of “… Whom God causeth to err through a knowledge,” that it identifies those who have clung to their own conceptions and rejected the teachings of God. “And if the Truth had been in accordance with their desires all in the heaven and earth would be corrupted. Nay! But We have brought to them their Reminder.” (23:71).
Now that all the objections and false beliefs have been destroyed through the Words of God Bahá’u’lláh invites us in §239, and again in §241, to turn away from our own selves and a defective thought process, and embrace the guidance offered by the Messengers of God, while warning the peoples of the dire calamity they bring upon themselves for their refusal to put away falsehood and stop denying the Manifestations of God. “Say: My Lord pays attention to you because of your invocation to Him. But now you have indeed denied, so the torment will be upon you forever.” (25:77). The torment of doubt and the incapacity to recognize the truth is certainly a torment enkindling fire.
Could any true believers in God and His unity deny and persecute the Messengers of God upon their return? Christ said, “… I go away and come again unto you.” (John 14:28). And His return is presaged with the exact same signs and happenings that occurred at His last coming. §240 displays the peoples’ denials of the greatest of divinely inspired outpourings to date, in the revelation of the Bab, the Gate of God. If they deny such things then how can they vindicate their declaration that they are believers in the divine Qur’an?
§242 quotes another Qur’anic verse[*] that identifies the character of the denials and of those who pronounce them. This is similar to another verse of the Qur’an quoted in the Íqán when discussing the people of Moses in the time of the Pharaoh, when a believer in Moses living in the house of Pharaoh said that if the Messenger is indeed a liar, God will not guide Him, but if He speaks the truth then part of what He threatens will surely come to pass. Bahá’u’lláh here reveals the words of the followers of Mohammed said to the deniers during its earliest days, a direct quote it would seem: “Ye oppress and persecute us, and yet, what else have we done except that we have believed in God, and in the verses sent down unto us through the tongue of Mohammed, and in those which descended upon the Prophets of old?” This argument, or testimony, as Bahá’u’lláh declares it at the end of this paragraph, is what “… The divine King has taught His servants.”
In that case, §243 declares, how can anyone who rejects the Writings of the Bab call himself a true believer in Mohammed? We are reminded that God will never turn aside or vex anyone who sincerely seeks after His Presence, His mercy and grace. The significance of this statement goes beyond just giving assurance to the seekers after truth, it further completely destroys the religious ideology and thought that hold that only those educated in the best religious schools, and who have memorized thousands of ahadiths, sayings, verses, and discoursed on all the famous arguments of religious leaders of the past—only these can be trusted to have a true understanding of the verses of God. But here it is demonstrated that those are the ones who absolutely cannot understand anything of the truth of God’s message and Cause, as shown by their consistent and complete denial of the Manifestations of God whenever they have made Their appearance. §244 references the Qur’anic verse stating that even if Mohammed had produced a book written on parchment sent down from heaven the people would still deny, just as all peoples who ask for a sign have, as soon as it has been given, they reject it, declaring it to be a work of magic. The Jews asked that Mohammed produce a sign that an offering sacrificed upon an alter which a flame from the sky would devour. He answered, “Did they not disbelieve in the signs of Moses?” (28:48).
For next week: §§245-253.
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[*] While the Kitáb-I-Íqán footnote reference to this verse lists it as 5:62, most versions of the translated Qur’an will have it as 5:59.
Meeting XXX
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§245-253.
We are returned to the mention of Haji Mirza Karim Khan and his false arguments, who opposed the Bab and sewed doubts in the people’s minds. The people have taken him to their hearts and rejected the Bab. Now Bahá’u’lláh in §245 demolishes the argument common among all peoples who refuse to believe in the new Manifestation of God because they did not witness the literal fulfillment of those signs and portents that must accompany the revelation, and which, as we have been shown, were never meant literally, but allegorically.
Furthermore, if the signs that accompanied the revelation of the Bab are denied, then the truth of what other Messenger could ever be vindicated? The signs accompanying each and every Manifestation of God are always the same. We also have this in the Qur’an, “And you will find no change in God’s way of dealing.” Thus, the signs are the same, the Messengers are essentially one and the same, and the denials of the peoples are repeated age to age. What they deny today they denied 1,200 years ago, and again with the appearance of Jesus, and Moses. Remember 40:34 (Ghafir): “And indeed Joseph did come to you, in times gone by, with clear signs, but you ceased not to doubt in that which He did bring unto you, till when He died you said, ‘No Messenger will God send after Him.’ Thus, God leaves astray him who is a denier, a transgressor.” According to Bahá’u’lláh this argument suffices all the peoples of the world.
§246-7 mention how the only ones that do come into the new Cause in the beginning are those marginalized by society, with no power and no great wealth. That, of course, is because of their detachment from the things of this world, while the denying rich and powerful are fully invested in the status quo and have no interest in seeking beyond satisfying their own appetites. But in the dispensation of the Bab, even many of the rich and famous have indeed embraced the new Faith, a thing not seen in former dispensations. These were martyred and their heads put on spears and pikes, and their families were rounded up and marched to the capitol of Persia, just as happened to the followers of Imam Hussein at Karbilá. We then are asked which party bears the truth, those who offer up their lives, their substance and families for the Cause of God, or rather those who hold the reins of religious authority and would not say anything that might cause their fame to suffer among the people? §250 details this argument further, so that there is no doubt as to who is worthy of trust.
§251 then discuss the martyrdom of Imam Hussein, and how it is regarded by Shi’ites as perfect proof of His sincerity and love of God. That martyrdom, however lasted only from morning to midday of one day, while, Bahá’u’lláh points out that for 18 years the Bábís have suffered continual and unremitting persecution, privation and torture at the hands of the people. §252-3 quote the divine Qur’an regarding the criterion of truth, that he who offers up his life and wishes for death is sincere.[*]
For next week: §§254-262.
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[*] Note the confusion created by ISIS and the suicide bombers. But with ISIS the object is to kill as many as possible and not just be willing to die for the Cause of God.
Meeting XXXI
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§254-262.
§254 quotes Baha’u’llah’s revelation of one of the Hidden Words, revealed to Him during this time, and revealed to the world beyond upon His quitting the self-imposed isolation from all people except for a personal aid, who accompanied Him, when He left Baghdad to sojourn in Kurdistan, near Sullimaniyyih. During the revelation of this Kitáb-I-Íqán He had deliberately withdrawn from the Bábí community because of the upheavals caused by the devilish schemes of Mirza Yahya, Baha’u’llah’s half-brother who had designs on its leadership, and who was directed in all those actions by the Anti-Christ of the Bahá’í Revelation, that one-eyed liar spoken of in the hadiths who would appear at this time to mislead the people, Siyyid Mohammed-i-Isfaháni. Indeed, this entire chapter is referenced in the divine Qur’an specifically, in verse 9:48, that says, “Verily, they had plotted sedition before, and had upset matters for You; until the Truth came, and the decree of God became manifest, albeit they hated it.” It is also fully rehearsed by the events surrounding the revelation of Moses to the Jewish people, when Moses had withdrawn to Sinai and received the Tablets of the Ten Commandments from God at the Burning Bush, and returning to His people, found them worshipping the Golden Calf—which had no voice of its own, but would moo when a fire was set under its belly. So then there was the Great Dividing. Precisely the same thing befell the people the Bab with respect to Bahá’u’lláh and the pretender, His half-brother, Mirza Yahya, who had no ideas of his own but would make a noise and appear to be his own man whenever that Satan, the Anti-Christ of the Bahá’í revelation, Siyyid Mohammed-i-Isfaháni, that “one-eyed liar” spoken of in the hadith, who would appear in the last days and would deceive many. He would stir up the fires of jealousy and envy in the belly of Mirza Yahya and thus inspired he would do great evil in word and deed.
To return, we are reading about those who became true believers in the unity of God upon becoming exposed to the reviving influences of the Bab, and became His followers. §255 states, however, that while such were of high achievement and well versed in the Words of God, they did not hold positions of leadership in upholding the existing practices and beliefs of the people. Those have always been the enemies of the new Revelation of God, as it goes against their own selfish interests, Having such a leadership position in itself becomes an insuperable barrier between the person and true spiritual understanding.
§256 explains that the Bab Himself had already revealed a tablet to each of the high leaders of Islam, describing their character and what motivated their objections to His Cause. Thus were the people warned, so that they could protect themselves from their idle fancies and false ideologies.
§257 declares that a proof that is as the sun in its shining guidance is the constancy of the Bab in spite of all that happened to Him and to His family and people. No matter what, He remained unperturbed and serene. Such a thing is impossible unless supported by God and sanctified by Him. The next two paragraphs mentions His writing about His own martyrdom soon to eclipse His revelation, a sacrifice necessary to usher in the Day of God and Bahá’u’lláh, just as Christ had said in the Gospel according to St. John, 10:1-3 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door (or gate), but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.” §260 reiterates the impossibility of being capable of such things unless walking in the pathway of God and being constantly guided by Him. Just as the Qur’an 40:28 reveals, “And said a man, believing, from the family of Firaun who concealed his faith, "Will you kill a man because he says, ‘My Lord is God,’ when he has already brought you clear proofs from your Lord? If he is a liar, then upon him will be his lie; but if he is truthful, there will strike you some of that which he threatens you. Indeed, God does not guide one who is a transgressor, a liar.” §261 is very poignant indeed, as it quotes Mohammed as having said that two verses have made Him old, and that both have to do with being constant in faith and action. §262 refers to the Bab as that “Branch of Ridwan”, and how constant He was under all circumstances, and how none could either frustrate or divert His divinely appointed tasks.
For next week: §§263-271.
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Meeting XXXII
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§263-271.
Continuing with the evidences of the truth of this Cause §263 remarks that even the exact year the divine Mahdi (He Who will arise [in the Time of the End]), was fulfilled, and everyone knew this. Many in every Persian city were influenced and became believers. Many among those were martyred in front of their families, neighbors and associates, at the behest of the perverted clergy that kept the peoples veiled from recognizing the Bab. §264 asks us to imagine what power is capable of influencing men and women to such deeds and heights of rapturous faith and self-sacrifice except what is born of God.
§266 makes the sweeping claim that all the past scriptures and mysteries are condensed into the Kitab-I-Iqán, that it is the essence of all holy Books that have descended from God. This means that not only is a study of the Iqán useful in itself, but that it is the key that unlocks the treasures of heavenly knowledge unto all mankind, be they living or already passed on; and this so that all peoples can obtain what they require of the knowledge of God.
§267 declares that the people will hate the truth and the Bearer thereof. As the Qur’an says, and as it has been argued throughout the Iqán, that is because the people and their religious leaders have long ago turned away from the true religion of God, as found in every revealed Book, have turned the religion into a set of ideologies and empty formulae, so naturally, the Return of the Messenger will attempt to wash that away and restore the worship of the one true God in the people’s hearts. The Qur’an states in 4:123, “It will not be in accordance with your [Muslims] wishes, nor those of the people of the Scripture.” And to cement the idea in our hearts, that each Messenger is the Return of the last Prophet that had visited the people, we have (10:74), “Then after Him We sent Messengers to their people. They brought them clear proofs, but they would not believe in that which they had already rejected beforehand.” This needs pondering: It says that they had rejected the original religion already, even though they vociferously uphold it in name. This is the manifestation of the divine wind that will stir up dust that shall blind the people and be “an afflictive torment” for them. And §268 explains exactly that. A new Faith and Religion is expected, yet the peoples want it to accord with the false ideology, that empty sepulcher, they have named true religion. And this is the meaning of the cleaving of the skies, that the old falseness will be shorn away and replaced by the new Truth.
§269 records what the Mahdi will do, all of which He—the Bab—has done. §270 shows how the people yet expect that nothing should change. But if that happens, according to the Qur’an, “And if the Truth had indeed accorded with their desires all in the heaven and earth would have been corrupted. Nay! But We have brought them their Reminder [the Bab]” (23:71); while Baha’u’llah explains that further, God’s revelation would be futile were it not to affect a transformation in the character of mankind. And how can there be any such transformation if things are allowed to stay the same and never change? §271 repeats this point using another example of the people aping those of old and repeating the same words their ancestors used to reject and invalidate their Messenger.
For next week: §§272-280.
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Meeting XXXIII
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§272-280.
§272 uses logic to explain the impossibility of comprehending the revelation of the Bab, that all knowledge through the revelation of Mohammed has consisted of just two of the twenty-seven letters of which knowledge is comprised; and that the Qá’im will reveal the remaining twenty-five letters thereof. Then, having shown by well known hadiths its enormity and how it is beyond the understanding of even the Prophets of old, he demonstrates that the people would naturally reject it since they have no way to compass any part of it. Yet these same people, demonstrating only their lack of understanding in rejecting it, have nonetheless denounced Him Who is its Revealer.
§273 declares that this is evidence all have accepted, that is, that things will occur of which the people will be mystified. A tablet exists known among the people that predicts everything that has befallen the people of the Qa’im. But they do not seem to notice this. How could such things occur were the Qa’im simply to sanction the practices current among the people? What reason would they have for opposing Him? The prophetic tablet would remain unfulfilled, an impossibility in the minds of the people.
§274 relates how a certain tradition having specific and identifiable acts which are to occur—a specified number of martyrs at a specified place, done to death by a specified host—is a known and accepted tradition that all recognize, that has been literally fulfilled to the letter. In that case, how could the people, accepting this, allow their ignorance of the meaning of other more obscure traditions to prevent them from accepting the truth? Do we ask the sun for evidence of itself because we don’t comprehend the workings of its nuclear core while its rays shine and give life to all things, or deny the existence of gravity because we can’t see its field directly? §275 then recites the contents of another tradition unmistakably denouncing the religious doctors of this age.
§276 begs the people of the Bayán not to themselves commit such things as denying the obvious because certain obscure things escape their understanding. It also, however, identifies a man who will do great harm by leading the people against the promised Return and rebirth. He is identified as having just one eye. In those days, having just one eye was likely not extremely rare. In fact Siyyid Mohammed-i-Isfaháni, he who led Mirza Yahya astray and goaded him in all his evil acts, had one eye. But he was not any kind of public leader, preferring to work behind the curtains so to speak and control things out of public view. However, there was a leader who had one eye and all the people lionized him at this time. That was Haji Mirza Karim Khan, who was labeled the “anti-Christ” of the Bábí revelation by none other than Siyyid Kazím-i-Rashti, the seer who declared in 1843 AD, 1259 AH, the imminent appearance of the promised Qá’im. In fact the Haji was one of Kazim’s students. Also, a well-known hadith warns the people against the “one-eyed liar”, who will come in the end and deceive many.
Further down in this paragraph another person is mentioned “of such devoutness and piety that men deem it an obligation to obey him, and to whose command they consider it necessary to submit, who will arise to assail the very root of the divine Tree….” Could this be Ayatollah Khomeini and his Red Guard?
Again, §277 exhorts the Bayánic people to hold fast to the truth and not allow their minds to become polluted with falsehoods and suspicions.
As the theme changes and summarizes all that has gone before we stop here and finish next time.
For next week: §§278-290 (End).
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Meeting XXXIV
Explorations in Understanding
The Kitáb-I-Íqán
“And over it are 19 . . . . And We have fixed their number only as a trial for the disbelievers . . . And that the believers may increase in faith”
- Al-Muddaththir (74:30-31)
Kitáb-I-Íqán, §§278-290 (End).
§278 sums up the entire treatise, the entire argument. That Baha’u’llah’s so-called friends are a greater enemy to the Cause of God than its avowed enemies delineates how the Cause will be shamelessly used by those friends to discredit Baha’u’llah and darken the Straight Path to eternal life proffered by God to that generation.
He would not have ever returned from His self-formed exile to face the world had God not willed it, he confesses. “… And no soul can find release except through submission to His will.” (§278). For further insight into the pain in Bahá’u’llah’s heart as a result of what the Covenant-Breakers were doing and would further do, the Tablet of Patience, or, Tablet of Ayyub, (see Provisional translations online) will open the inner eye to it.[*]
During this self-enforced exile the Community of the Followers of the Bab had fallen into ruin and practically foundered. But with the return of Bahá’u’llah it was set aright through His divine guidance, and truth was made distinct from error as light from darkness.
A recital of this episode occurred during the Dispensation of Moses, after His people had made their escape from Egypt over to the Sinai Peninsula, when He took His leave to go up onto Mount Sinai to hear the Words of God from the Burning Bush. Aaron, Moses’s half-brother, was set in charge until Moses returned. During that time the leadership of the community was openly discussed by the weak in faith. It was then that Samírí, the magician, stirred up the people of Moses and caused them to agree to make the Golden Calf to worship. More similarities: The calf was speechless, but when a fire was set under its belly it mooed like a cow. It was the Magician, Samírí, who caused this mischief. Similarly, the nominally appointed head of the Bábí community after the Martyrdom of the Bab, Mirza Yahya, was, in fact constructed and kept on his dreadful course by another, who worked behind the scenes, Ali Mohammed-i-Isfaháni, who, like the magician Samírí of Moses’s time, stirred up the people of weak and wavering faith against Bahá’u’lláh. And again, Mirza Yahya was known to be incapable of speech when in the presence of Bahá’u’lláh. But away from him, the fire of jealousy constantly stoked by Ali Mohammed in the belly of Mirza Yahya caused him to acts of surpassing evil.
Many other similarities can be found throughout the divine holy Books of the past that attest to the Dispensation of Bahá’u’lláh being the fulfillment of all previously revealed religions of God.
The final lines of §279 “conclude” that without the power born of God there is no possibility that a soul could withstand the intrigues, the blasphemies, the hurt and dissention, that the people poured upon Bahá’u’lláh. Only to be a sacrifice to the Cause of the Bab does Bahá’u’lláh say He willingly suffers them all. A similar argument was used to show how the Bab can be seen to be the promised One from His constancy in carrying the Word of God to the people regardless of their constant hatred of it. “Fein would they put out God’s light with their mouths. …”
§280 again demonstrates how selfish desires held by the people have debarred them from an understanding and comprehension of the Word of God. They expected, rather, that, according to the teachings of their clergy and religious leaders, that God must bless their current practices and subdue all their enemies, even though such a thing has never happened in any Dispensation of the past. Indeed, one of the signs and proofs of the truth of any new Revelation from God, is that the peoples will despise it. Then §281 makes specific mention to an accepted tradition that has been fulfilled to the letter. §282 follows this with yet another Hadith that specifies the character and nature of the promised One, each part of which was manifest to the people in the Bab. “… But We shall not make those who are in their graves to hearken.” By, “in their graves”, is clearly meant those whose hearts are dead, and whose inner eye is blinded, and not a reference to those who have taken their exit from this mortal life. Otherwise, those who have passed out of this life await, as we here do, the Dispensations of God, and are challenged to accept them according to proofs and evidences inherent within them, that we may bear witness to them and come to an even closer relationship with our Creator.
§283 describes again the two-fold language spoken by all the Prophets and Messengers of God, the one being shorn of all allusions while the other is mysterious and allegorical, and that this has allowed the people to misconstrue—often deliberately and wittingly—what the Messengers have said, so that they may dispute idly with those Sources of Truth and Reality. But the pure in heart, those who have been detached from the things of this world, have no difficulty in grasping their essential meaning. As it says in the Qur’an, that the Words of God will increase the faith of true and sincere believers, but will drive away and increase the resistance of the ungodly.
Here also we learn that every word spoken by the Messengers has seventy meanings, “of which only one is known by the people.” But “When the Qá’im shall arise He shall reveal unto men all that which remaineth.” And certainly, if history is any guide, since the Advent of the Bab in 1844 AD (1260AH) there has been witnessed an unprecedented increase of all manner of knowledge as compared to any previous time.
In §284 Bahá’u’lláh explains that such things are mentioned so that the people may not become dismayed if they do not yet witness the literal fulfillment of certain traditions, but will embrace the Cause of God on the basis of what they already know and witness with certainty.
§285 contains a chilling prediction: that whatever the people shall do to increase the suffering of the people of God, whatever discredit they intend for it, the same will God do to them and will not remember them. “Such is His decree unto those that have denied Him, and such will it be unto them that have rejected His signs.” As we survey what is happening in the world today we see in it these very signs of this divine process. The next paragraph makes this theme far more personal: “And whoso shall withdraw from the remembrance of the Merciful, We will chain a Satan unto him, and he shall be his fast companion.” 43:36.
Revealed by the letters B and H, meaning Bahá, or glory, the Name of God in this Day. And the Mystic Bird upon the branches of the tree beyond which there is no passing, the Manifestation of God, has revealed it.
§290: “Glorified be our Lord, the Most High!”
We have completed this reading of the Kitáb-I-Íqán that has allowed us to comprehend so much of the holy books of the past, especially the Qur’an, which we continue to study. The Qur’an has just a few Surahs left in our first pass through it. But all these are among the most challenging because of their mysticism and brevity. They were the first Verses revealed by the tongue of Mohammed, while those Surahs appearing earlier in the compiled Qur’an deal with more literate and concrete things, such as the laws for living the faith, etc. This reverse order was done deliberately, so that the reader might accustom himself to God’s newly revealed Word before attempting to unravel the most mystical of His revealed Verses.
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