Chapter 15
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Conflicting writings on schism and its supposed implications. Last updated: 2024/03/03.
In passage 1, the House says that after a faith is divided (by schism) "its force [is]
spent", which is not in keeping with the divine teachings. In passage
2, Shoghi Effendi's statement, "[schisms] discredited Islam", is also not in keeping
with the divine teachings. Schisms happen due to the failings of one or
more groups of believers, who form separate
sects, with different leadership and/or doctrine. The Quran says the following about them. "Be not like those who are divided amongst themselves and fall
into disputations after receiving Clear Signs: For them is a dreadful
penalty;" -- Quran 3:105. "As
for those who divide their religion and break up into sects, thou hast
no part in them in the least: their affair is with Allah: He will in
the end tell them the truth of all that they did." -- Quran 6:159. In the case of Islam, divine guidance continued for a
period of over two centuries through the Holy Imams, who are
Manifestations of God (Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Muhammad, one of the two classes of Prophets). A number
of prophecies about the coming of the Bab and Baha'u'llah were revealed by the
Holy Imams. The schism that occurred after the ascension of Muhammad is
actually foretold in the Quran and the Bible (detailed references available at
the link on successorship at the bottom of this page), and was caused by those who disobeyed the Quran and disobeyed
Muhammad. In passage 3 by Baha'u'llah, Imam Ali is the first of the angels
referred to in Qur'án 2:210: "Will they wait until Allah comes to them
in canopies of clouds, with angels (in His train)." "angels (in His
train)" refers to the Holy Imams who appeared after the ascension of
Muhammad, as his successors. "A Day that God shall come" is also a
reference to the fact that the Holy Imams are Manifestations of God
(Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Muhammad, one of the two classes of Prophets).
Those who rejected Imam Ali ("He came down in the clouds of Revelation
in the Temple of 'Ali"), a Manifestation of God, brought their own
perdition. Those who recognised and followed Imám Ali (and the rest of the Holy Imams) attained
salvation -- they fulfilled their Covenant by following Imam Ali, who refers to himself as "the Object of the Covenant".
1)
A Covenant in the religious sense is a binding agreement between God
and man, whereby God requires of man certain behaviour in return for
which He guarantees certain blessings, or whereby He gives man certain
bounties in return for which He takes from those who accept them an
undertaking to behave in a certain way. There is, for example, the
Greater Covenant which every Manifestation of God makes with His
followers, promising that in the fulness of time a new Manifestation
will be sent, and taking from them the undertaking to accept Him when
this occurs. There is also the Lesser Covenant that a Manifestation of
God makes with His followers that they will accept His appointed
successor after Him. If they do so, the Faith can remain united and
pure. If not, the Faith becomes divided and its force spent. It is a
Covenant of this kind that Bahá'u'lláh made with His followers
regarding 'Abdu'l-Bahá and that 'Abdu'l-Bahá perpetuated through the
Administrative Order...
(23 March 1975, from a letter written by the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer)
-- Compilations, The Compilation of Compilations vol. I, p. 111
2)
In the Muhammadan Revelation, however, although His Faith as compared
with that of Christ was, so far as the administration of His
Dispensation is concerned, more complete and more specific in its
provisions, yet in the matter of succession, it gave no written, no
binding and conclusive instructions to those whose mission was to
propagate His Cause. For the text of the Qur'án, the ordinances of
which regarding prayer, fasting, marriage, divorce, inheritance,
pilgrimage, and the like, have after the revolution of thirteen hundred
years remained intact and operative, gives no definite guidance
regarding the Law of Succession, the source of all the dissensions, the
controversies, and schisms which have dismembered and discredited Islam.
-- Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 20
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 -- (Provisional translation by K. Fananapazir)
2:208. O ye who believe! enter into Islam whole-heartedly; and follow
not the footsteps of the Evil One; for he is to you an avowed enemy.
2:209. If ye backslide after the clear (signs) have come to you, then know that Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise.
2:210. Will they wait until Allah comes to them in canopies of clouds,
with angels (in His train) and the question is (thus) settled? But to
Allah do all questions go back (for decision).
2:211. Ask the Children of Israel how many Clear (Signs) We have sent
them. But if anyone, after Allah's favor has come to him, substitutes
(something else), Allah is strict in punishment.
2:212. The life of this world is alluring to those who reject faith,
and they scoff at those who believe. But the righteous will be above
them on the Day of Resurrection; for Allah bestows His abundance
without measures on whom He will.
-- The Qur'an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 2.
4)
The Holy Qur'án hath testified that true Faith is recognition of divine unity and confession to both the Prophet [recognition of Muhammad, the Independent Prophet, the Manifestation of God] and the Imámate [recognition of the Holy Imams, Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Muhammad, the Manifestations of God].
He who attaineth unto both hath fulfilled his faith. A true believer is
the one who does not reject any matter pertaining to Us, for God
Himself hath dilated His Breast such that He may accept all. He will
not doubt or be mistrustful. He who cavileth why and wherefore becometh
a disbeliever. We are, verily, the Cause of God![15]
-- Imam Ali, The Sermon of Ma'rifat bin-Nurániyyat (Recognition with Luminousness). Translation by K. Fananapazir.
5)
And likewise in the sacred verse: "Obey God and obey the Apostle, and
those among you invested with authority." By "those invested with
authority" is meant primarily and more especially the Imáms -- the
blessings of God rest upon them! They, verily, are the manifestations
of the power of God, and the sources of His authority, and the
repositories of His knowledge, and the daysprings of His commandments.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 90
Also, the statements, "If they do so, the Faith can remain united and
pure. If not, the Faith becomes divided and its force spent" and "schisms which have dismembered and discredited Islam" are making distinctions between Revelations of God; between one without
a major schism (the Baha'i Faith) and one with (Islam); which conflicts with the teachings of
Baha'u'llah on Divine Unity in passages 6 and 7 below. In passages #8, Imam
Ali is the Cord of God (the Dependent/Lesser Prophet) referred to in the
Quran, and the bearer of the Signs of God. This is also a prophecy of
the division that occurred in Islam after the ascension of Muhammad.
Even after the clear warnings in the Quran, the majority of Muslims rejected the Holy Imams, forming the Sunni sect. Later, many other divisions occurred in Islam.
6)
XXIV. Beware, O believers in the Unity of God, lest ye be tempted to
make any distinction between any of the Manifestations of His Cause, or
to discriminate against the signs that have accompanied and proclaimed
their Revelation. This indeed is the true meaning of Divine Unity, if
ye be of them that apprehend and believe this truth. Be ye assured,
moreover, that the works and acts of each and every one of these
Manifestations of God, nay whatever pertaineth unto them, and
whatsoever they may manifest in the future, are all ordained by God,
and are a reflection of His Will and Purpose. Whoso maketh the
slightest possible difference between their persons, their words, their
messages, their acts and manners, hath indeed disbelieved in God, hath
repudiated His signs, and betrayed the Cause of His Messengers.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 59
7)
I testify, O Thou Who art the Lord of the whole creation, and the
Desire of whosoever hath sought Thee, that, amidst Thy creatures, They
[the Manifestations of God] resemble the sun which no matter how often
it riseth and setteth is still the one and the same sun. Whoso maketh
any distinction between any of Them hath truly failed to attain the
ultimate purpose, and to reach the highest goal, and hath been deprived
of the mysteries of unity and of the lights of sanctity and oneness. I
testify, moreover, that Thou hast decreed that none on the face of the
earth should equal Them, and none of Thy creatures be able to be
compared with any of Them, in order that Thine own singleness and
peerlessness might be recognized and established.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations, p. 50-51
8)
GOD says in the Qur'án: "Take ye hold of the Cord of God, all of you, and become ye not disunited."[1]
[1 Qur'án 3:103.]
-- Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets of the Divine Plan, p. 100
3:102 O ye who believe! Fear God as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islám.
3:103 And hold fast, all together, by the rope [cord] which God
(stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves; and
remember with gratitude God's favour on you; for ye were enemies and He
joined your hearts in love, so that by His Grace, ye became brethren;
and ye were on the brink of the pit of Fire, and He saved you from it.
Thus doth God make His Signs clear to you: That ye may be guided.
3:104 Let there arise out of you a band of people [i.e. the Holy Imams] inviting to all that
is good, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong: They
are the ones to attain felicity.
3:105 Be not like those who are divided amongst themselves and fall
into disputations after receiving Clear Signs: For them is a dreadful
penalty,-
3:106 On the Day when some faces will be (lit up with) white, and some
faces will be (in the gloom of) black: To those whose faces will be
black, (will be said): "Did ye reject Faith after accepting it? Taste
then the penalty for rejecting Faith."
3:107 But those whose faces will be (lit with) white,- they will be in (the light of) God's mercy: therein to dwell (for ever).
3:108 These are the Signs of God: We rehearse them to thee in Truth: And God means no injustice to any of His creatures.
-- The Qur'an: 3 - AL-I-IMRAN,
The truth is Mine and certitude is at My side. Leadership is Mine and
the righteous shall follow Me. I am the first to acknowledge faith, the
Cord of God that shall not be broken, the One who will raise the world
to justice even as it hath been brought low by oppression. I am the
companion of Gabriel and the archangel Michael is beside Me. I am the
tree of guidance, and the essence of righteousness. I shall gather
together the world of creation through the Word of God that gathers
together all things. I give life unto humanity and I am the treasury of
all divine commands. To Me hath been given the Luminous Pen and the
Crimson Camel[6].
-- Imam Ali, Sermon of Glorification. Translation by K. Fananapazir.
As
indicated in the passage 9 below, the appearance of Imam Ali, a
Manifestation of God, is "His [God's] Grace that is expected from none
other save Him". To suggest that Islam's
"force [is] spent", or that Islam is "discredited" due to schism, conflicts with this fundamental divine teaching. Passage 9 is also where Imam Ali says, "Muhammad is our first, Muhammad our
last, Muhammad our all", which is cited by Baha'u'llah in the Kitab-i-Iqan when explaining the "station of pure abstraction and essential unity" of the Manifestations
of God, which includes the Holy Imams.
9)
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.
References on the Successorship of the Holy Imams.
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