Chapter 39
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Conflicting writings on the term "the Mystery of God".
In passage 1 below, Shoghi Effendi states that Abdu'l-Baha was conferred by Baha'u'llah the 'unique title of "Sirru'llah" (the Mystery of God), a designation so
appropriate to One Who, though essentially human and holding a station
radically and fundamentally different from that occupied by Bahá'u'lláh...' which conflicts with other writings. The Mystery of God is not a 'unique' term, and is applied to the two classes of Prophets in the Holy Writings. For example, in passage 2, the Mystery of God is Bahá'u'lláh, an Independent Prophet. In passage 3, the Mystery of God is Imam Ali, a Branch, and the first Dependent/Lesser Prophet in the era of Muhammad. In passage 4, the Mystery of God ("Divine Mystery") is the Bab, an Independent Prophet.
,
1)
He alone had been accorded the privilege of being called "the Master,"
an honor from which His Father had strictly excluded all His other
sons. Upon Him that loving and unerring Father had chosen to confer the
unique title of "Sirru'llah" (the Mystery of God),
a designation so appropriate to One Who, though essentially human and
holding a station radically and fundamentally different from that
occupied by Bahá'u'lláh and His Forerunner, could still claim to be the
perfect Exemplar of His Faith, to be endowed with super-human
knowledge, and to be regarded as the stainless mirror reflecting His
light. To Him, whilst in Adrianople, that same Father had, in the
Suriy-i-Ghusn (Tablet of the Branch), referred as "this sacred and
glorious Being, this Branch of Holiness," as "the Limb of the Law of
God," as His "most great favor" unto men, as His "most perfect bounty"
conferred upon them, as One through Whom "every mouldering bone is
quickened," declaring that "whoso turneth towards Him hath turned
towards God," and that "they who deprive themselves of the shadow of
the Branch are lost in the wilderness of error."...
-- Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 242
2)
The Mystery of God, Bahá'u'lláh, the Independent Prophet:
While engulfed in tribulations I heard a most wondrous, a most sweet
voice, calling above My head. Turning My face, I beheld a Maiden -- the
embodiment of the remembrance of the name of My Lord -- suspended in
the air before Me. So rejoiced was she in her very soul that her
countenance shone with the ornament of the good pleasure of God, and
her cheeks glowed with the brightness of the All-Merciful. Betwixt
earth and heaven she was raising a call which captivated the hearts and
minds of men. She was imparting to both My inward and outer being
tidings which rejoiced My soul, and the souls of God's honoured
servants.
1.7
Pointing with her finger unto My head, she addressed all who are in
heaven and all who are on earth, saying: By God! This is the
Best-Beloved of the worlds, and yet ye comprehend not. This is the
Beauty of God amongst you, and the power of His sovereignty within you,
could ye but understand. This is the Mystery of God and His Treasure,
the Cause of God and His glory unto all who are in the kingdoms of
Revelation and of creation, if ye be of them that perceive. This is He
Whose Presence is the ardent desire of the denizens of the Realm of
eternity, and of them that dwell within the Tabernacle of glory, and
yet from His Beauty do ye turn aside.
1.8
O people of the Bayan!
If ye aid Him not, God will assuredly assist Him with the powers of
earth and heaven, and sustain Him with the hosts of the unseen through
His command "Be", and it is! The day is approaching when God will have,
by an act of His Will, raised up a race of men the nature of which is
inscrutable to all save God, the All-Powerful, the Self-Subsisting. He
shall purify them from the defilement of idle fancies and corrupt
desires, shall lift them up to the heights of holiness, and shall cause
them to manifest the signs of His sovereignty and might upon earth. Thus hath it been ordained by God, the All-Glorious, the All-Loving.
-- Baha'u'llah, Surih of the Temple, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 5
3)
The Mystery of God, Imam Ali, the first Dependent Prophet in the era of Muhammad:
He whose acceptance of my guardianship is based on external reality
more than internal truth, he is that one "whose balance will be Light"
[Qur'an 7:9] Those whose scale will be light, will be their souls in
perdition [Qur'an 23:103 and 101:8]. Salman! The faith of no believer
will attain perfection unless and until he recognizes me with
luminousness. If he attains this then he has truly attained faith whose
heart is tested with true faith and whose chest is dilated in true
Islam whose faith is based on discernment. He who is convicted of
shortcoming in this cognition he will be a doubter immersed in
disbelief.
O Salman! And O Jandab [Abu Dharr]! In truth My recognition in
luminousness is the recognition of God [Ma'rifat Allah] and Recognition
and knowledge of God is indeed my knowledge and this is what is meant
by sincere devotion/pure religion [ad-Deen al Khaalis, Qur'an 39:3]...
Salman! We are the Mystery of God [Sirru'llah] that shall not remain
hidden. We are His light that shall never be extinguished, His Grace
that is not to be expected from any one but Him. Muhammad is our first,
Muhammad our last, Muhammad our all.
Muhammad is our first, Muhammad our last, Muhammad our all. He who
recognises us in this regard has consummated the Faith in truth.
-- Imam Ali, Sermon of Ma'rifat bin-Nuraaniyyat (Recognition with Luminousness). Translation by K. Fananapazir.
4)
The Mystery of God, the Bab (the Primal Point), the Independent Prophet:
Magnify Thou, O Lord my God, Him Who is the Primal Point, the Divine
Mystery, the Unseen Essence, the Day-Spring of Divinity, and the
Manifestation of Thy Lordship, through Whom all the knowledge of the
past and all the knowledge of the future were made plain, through Whom
the pearls of Thy hidden wisdom were uncovered, and the mystery of
Thy treasured name disclosed, Whom Thou hast appointed as the Announcer
of the One through Whose name the letter B and the letter E have been
joined and united, through Whom Thy majesty, Thy sovereignty and Thy
might were made known, through Whom Thy words have been sent down, and
Thy laws set forth with clearness, and Thy signs spread abroad, and Thy
Word established, through Whom the hearts of Thy chosen ones were laid
bare, and all that were in the heavens and all that were on the earth
were gathered together, Whom Thou hast called Ali-Muhammad in the
kingdom of Thy names, and the Spirit of Spirits in the Tablets of Thine
irrevocable decree, Whom Thou hast invested with Thine own title, unto
Whose name all other names have, at Thy bidding and through the power
of Thy might, been made to return, and in Whom Thou hast caused all
Thine attributes and titles to attain their final consummation. To Him
also belong such names as lay hid within Thy stainless tabernacles, in
Thine invisible world and Thy sanctified cities.
-- Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 84
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