Chapter 12
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Conflicting writings on when the illegitimacy of the Caliphate was evident.
In passage 1 below, Shoghi Effendi says 1300 years had to pass
before "the illegitimacy of the institution of the Caliphate" would be
"fully and publicly demonstrated". The illegitimacy
of the Caliphate was clear after those who formed the Sunni sect rejected the Holy Imams, the Dependent/Lesser Prophets in the era Muhammad (the
Manifestations of God);
disobeying Muhammad and the Quran, which is to disobey God. This is a subject that has been
covered extensively in the Baha'i and Islamic writings. See, for example,
passages 2 - 6.
1)
Thirteen hundred years had to elapse from the death of the Prophet
Muhammad ere the illegitimacy of the institution of the Caliphate, the
founders of which had usurped the authority of the lawful successors of
the Apostle of God, would be fully and publicly demonstrated.
-- Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 178
2)
No doubt is there that obedience is unacceptable except through
obedience to the Proof of God. Had that not been so, then the deeds of
them that showed enmity towards the People of the House [the Family of
Muhammad, the Holy Imams] would have been mentioned before God, whereas
in this day, all decree that none should worship them, nor have their
deeds borne any fruit. In this way, the non- Shi'is today act in
accordance with the decrees of the Qur'án, whereas, since they have
turned aside from the Imamate (vilayat), these deeds are worthless in
the sight of God.
-- The Bab, The Persian Bayan
3)
Say I swear by God! They to whom you attribute knowledge and have
accepted them as your divines they are in the sight of God the worst of
men nay the quintessence of evil flees from them. Thus has the matter
been inscribed in the scrolls of God's knowledge. We testify that they
have not drunk from the fountains of knowledge and they have not
attained unto a word of Wisdom and have not become aware of the
mysteries of Revelation and have been racing in the land of their
selfish desires. Nothing of rejection and denial against a prophet or a
successor of a prophet has come to pass except after their permission.
Thus has always been their injunction carried out on the Countenances
of holiness.
Say to them: O ignorant ones! Did We not reveal in the past: "A Day
that God shall come in the canopies of clouds."[4] How is it that when
He came down in the clouds of Revelation in the Temple of 'Ali [Imam
Ali], you turned away and rejected Him and waxed haughty and brought
about your own perdition?[5] Was it not also revealed in your Book:
"the Day when Thy Lord comes or certain of the signs of Thy Lord."[6]
And when He did come with evident signs wherefore did ye turn away from
those signs and veiled yourselves with the veils of self?..
[4] Qur'án 2:210.
[5] Qur'án 25:18 and 48:12.
[6] Qur'an 6:158.
-- Baha'u'llah, Surih-i-Sabr (Lawh-i-Ayyúb), Surih of Patience or Tablet of Job - (Translation by K. Fananapazir)
4)
As for the station of the Imams and of the near ones at the threshold
of grandeur, it is that of spiritual honor and glory. Their right is to
the authority of the All-Merciful, and their crown of glory is the dust
of the divine path. Their gleaming scepter is the lights of the bounty
of God. Their royal throne is the seat of hearts, and their exalted and
great crown is in the kingdom of God. They are the monarchs of the
world of spirit and heart, not that of water and clay. They are
sovereigns of the realm of the placeless, not of the graveyards of the
contingent world. No one can usurp or plunder this glorious station or
this pre-existent grandeur.
--`Abdu'l-Bahá's "Treatise on Leadership" (a provisional translation by Juan Cole)
Full text available at: http://bahai-library.com/abdulbaha_risalih_siyasiyyih_cole
5)
If we ponder a while over the Qur'anic verses and proofs, and the
traditional accounts which have come down to us from those stars of the
heaven of Divine Unity, the Holy Imams, we shall be convinced of the
fact that if a soul is endowed with the attributes of true faith and
characterized with spiritual qualities he will become to all mankind an
emblem of the outstretched mercies of God. For the attributes of the
people of faith are justice and fair-mindedness; forbearance and
compassion and generosity; consideration for others; candor,
trustworthiness, and loyalty; love and loving-kindness; devotion and
determination and humanity. If therefore an individual is truly
righteous, he will avail himself of all those means which will attract
the hearts of men, and through the attributes of God he will draw them
to the straight path of faith and cause them to drink from the river of
everlasting life.
-- Abdu'l-Bahá, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 55
6)
More detailed references on the successorship of the Holy Imams.
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