Chapter 41
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Conflicting writings regarding the possibility of schism in the Baha'i Faith. Last updated: May 10th, 2024.
Passage 1 by Shoghi Effendi states, "the possibility of permanent schism between the followers of the Prophet has been prevented"; which conflicts with the Holy Writings in passages 2 - 7. In the era of Muhammad, it was foretold in the Quran (sections 2, 3, 14) that there would be those who reject the Holy Imams (Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Muhammad, one of the two classes of Prophets),
creating a schism and forming the Sunni sect (more details available in Chapter 15). Similarly, it has
been foretold by Baha'u'llah that there will be those who reject Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah, "His chosen ones who shall be manifested unto men", mentioned in passage 3, for example. Also,
the formation of the "Orthodox Baha'is" sect after the death of Shoghi
Effendi, is arguably a schism, even though they constituted a small
minority. In light of the prophecies in passages 2 - 7, the
statement attributed to Abdu'l-Baha in passage 8, appears to be
falsified.
1)
... The fundamental difference, however, between this Dispensation and all
previous ones is this, that in this Revelation the possibility of
permanent schism between the followers of the Prophet has been
prevented through the direct and explicit instructions providing for
the necessary instruments designed to maintain the organic unity of the
body of the Faithful."
-- Shoghi Effendi, Directives from the Guardian, p. 41
2)
71. O MY FRIENDS!
Call ye to mind that covenant
ye have entered into with Me upon Mount Paran, situate within the
hallowed precincts of Zaman. I have taken to witness the concourse on
high and the dwellers in the city of eternity, yet now none do I find
faithful unto the covenant. Of a certainty pride and rebellion have
effaced it from the hearts, in such wise that no trace thereof
remaineth. Yet knowing this, I waited and disclosed it not.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, The Persian Hidden Words.
Persian no. 71
The "Covenant" mentioned in the Hidden Words is the Covenant and
Testament which was entered into by the pen of the Most High in the
hallowed precincts of the Paran of the love of God, the summit of timeless time.[10] The "dwellers in the city of eternity" and the "concourse on
high" are souls who are firm in the Covenant.
('Abdu'l-Bahá, from a Tablet to an individual believer -- translated from the Persian)
3)
There lay concealed within the Holy Veil, and prepared for the service
of God, a company of His chosen ones who shall be manifested unto men,
who shall aid His Cause, who shall be afraid of no one, though the
entire human race rise up and war against them. These are the ones who,
before the gaze of the dwellers on earth and the denizens of heaven,
shall arise and, shouting aloud, acclaim the name of the Almighty, and
summon the children of men to the path of God, the All-Glorious, the
All-Praised. Walk thou in their way, and let no one dismay thee. Be of
them whom the tumult of the world, however much it may agitate them in
the path of their Creator, can never sadden, whose purpose the blame of
the blamer will never defeat.
Go forth with the Tablet of God and His signs, and rejoin them that
have believed in Me, and announce unto them tidings of Our most holy
Paradise. Warn, then, those that have joined partners with Him. Say: I
am come to you, O people, from the Throne of glory, and bear you an
announcement from God, the Most Powerful, the Most Exalted, the Most
Great. In mine hand I carry the testimony of God, your Lord and the
Lord of your sires of old. Weigh it with the just Balance that ye
possess, the Balance of the testimony of the Prophets and Messengers of
God. If ye find it to be established in truth, if ye believe it to be
of God, beware, then, lest ye cavil at it, and render your works vain,
and be numbered with the infidels. It is indeed the sign of God that
hath been sent down through the power of truth, through which the
validity of His Cause hath been demonstrated unto His creatures, and
the ensigns of purity lifted up betwixt earth and heaven...
Cry out before the gaze of the dwellers of heaven and of earth: I am
the Maid of Heaven, the Offspring begotten by the Spirit of Bahá. My
habitation is the Mansion of His Name, the All-Glorious. Before the
Concourse on high I was adorned with the ornament of His names. I was
wrapt within the veil of an inviolable security, and lay hidden from
the eyes of men. Methinks that I heard a Voice of divine and
incomparable sweetness, proceeding from the right hand of the God of
Mercy, and lo, the whole Paradise stirred and trembled before Me, in
its longing to hear its accents, and gaze on the beauty of Him that
uttered them. Thus have We revealed in this luminous Tablet, and in the
sweetest of languages, the verses which the Tongue of Eternity was
moved to utter in the Qayyúmu'l-Asmá.
Say: He ordaineth as He pleaseth, by virtue of His sovereignty, and
doeth whatsoever He willeth at His own behest. He shall not be asked of
the things it pleaseth Him to ordain. He, in truth, is the
Unrestrained, the All-Powerful, the All-Wise.
They that have disbelieved in God and rebelled against His sovereignty
are the helpless victims of their corrupt inclinations and desires.
These shall return to their abode in the fire of hell: wretched is the
abode of the deniers!
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 279-284
4)
"We will now mention unto thee Trustworthiness and the station thereof
in the estimation of God, thy Lord, the Lord of the Mighty Throne. One
day of days We repaired unto Our Green Island. Upon Our arrival, We
beheld its streams flowing, and its trees luxuriant, and the sunlight
playing in their midst. Turning Our face to the right, We beheld what
the pen is powerless to describe; nor can it set forth that which the
eye of the Lord of Mankind witnessed in that most sanctified, that most
sublime, that blest, and most exalted Spot. Turning, then, to the left
We gazed on one of the Beauties [one of the Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah] of the Most Sublime Paradise, standing
on a pillar of light, and calling aloud saying: `O inmates of earth and
heaven! Behold ye My beauty, and My radiance, and My revelation, and My
effulgence. By God, the True One! I am Trustworthiness and the
revelation thereof, and the beauty thereof. I will recompense whosoever
will cleave unto Me, and recognize My rank and station, and hold fast
unto My hem. I am the most great ornament of the people of Bahá, and
the vesture of glory unto all who are in the kingdom of creation. I am
the supreme instrument for the prosperity of the world, and the horizon
of assurance unto all beings.' Thus have We sent down for thee that
which will draw men nigh unto the Lord of creation."
This Wronged One hath, at all times, summoned the peoples of the world
unto that which will exalt them, and draw them nigh unto God. From the
Most Sublime Horizon there hath shone forth that which leaveth no room
unto any one for vacillation, repudiation or denial. The wayward,
however, have failed to profit therefrom; nay, it shall only increase
their loss.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 136-137
5)
... For ages and centuries they settled and dwelt in that pleasant and
spiritual station, in that divine and holy rose garden, with perfect
joy and happiness.
Then the gales of divine tests and the winds of lordly temptation blew
from the Sheba of the everlasting Cause. They became distracted by the
beauty of the wine server and grew heedless of the immortal countenance,
to the extent that they imagined the shadow to be the sun and phantoms
to be light. They set out for the ladders of the greatest name so that
they might scale those heavens and arrive at that seat and place. When
they rose toward it, the divine assayers descended upon them with the sacred touchstone, by the irresistible decree of the lord. When these emissaries did not perceive the scent [fragrance] of the spiritual youth, they forbade entry to all.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of the Holy Mariner (from the Persian). A provisional translation by Juan Cole.
6)
39:67 No just estimate have they made of God, such as is due to Him: On
the Day of Judgment the whole of the earth will be but His handful, and
the heavens will be rolled up in His right hand: Glory to Him! High is
He above the Partners they attribute to Him!
39:68 The Trumpet will (just) be sounded [appearance of the Bab],
when all that are in the heavens and on earth will swoon, except such
as it will please God (to exempt). Then will a second one be sounded [appearance of Baha'u'llah], when, behold, they will be standing and looking on!
39:69 And the Earth will shine with the Glory of its Lord [the era of Baha'u'llah, the Glory of God]: the Record (of Deeds) will be placed (open); the prophets and the witnesses will be brought forward [the Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah will be summoned to step forth from the realm of pre-existence and appear on earth] and a just decision pronounced between them; and they will not be wronged (in the least).
39:70 And to every soul will be paid in full (the fruit) of its Deeds; and (God) knoweth best all that they do.
39:71 The Unbelievers will be led to Hell in crowds: until, when they
arrive, there, its gates will be opened. And its keepers will say, "Did
not apostles [Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah] come to you from among yourselves, rehearsing to you the Signs of your Lord [promoting the teachings of Baha'u'llah],
and warning you of the Meeting of This Day of yours?" The answer will
be: "True: but the Decree of Punishment has been proved true against
the Unbelievers!"
-- The Qur'an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 39.
22:49. Say: "O men! I am (sent) to you only to give a clear warning:
22:50. "Those who believe and work righteousness, for them is forgiveness and a sustenance most generous.
22:51. "But those who strive against Our Signs, to frustrate them, they will be Companions of the Fire."
22:52. Never did We send a Messenger or a Prophet before thee, but,
when he framed a desire, Satan threw some (vanity) into his desire: but
Allah will cancel anything (vain) that Satan throws in, and Allah will
confirm (and establish) His Signs: for Allah is full of knowledge and
wisdom:
22:53. That He may make the suggestions thrown in by Satan, but a trial
for those in whose hearts is a disease and who are hardened of heart: verily the wrongdoers are in a schism far (from the Truth):
-- The Qur'an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 22.
7)
Since Thou hast purposed, O my God, to cause all created things to
enter into the tabernacle of Thy transcendent grace and favor, and to
waft over the entire creation the fragrances of the raiment of Thy
glorious unity, and to look upon all things with the eyes of Thy bounty
and Thy oneness, I beseech Thee, therefore, by Thy love, which Thou
hast made to be the mainspring of the revelations of Thine eternal
holiness, and the flame that gloweth within the hearts of such of Thy
creatures as yearn towards Thee, to create, this very moment, for those
of Thy people who are wholly devoted to Thee, and for such of Thy loved
ones as love Thee, out of the essence of Thy bounty and Thy generosity,
and from the inmost spirit of Thy grace and Thy glory, Thy Paradise of
transcendent holiness, and to exalt it above everything except Thee,
and to sanctify it from aught else save Thyself. Create, moreover,
within it, O my God, out of the lights shed by Thy throne, handmaidens [the pre-existent Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah]
who will intone the melodies of Thy wondrous and most sweet invention,
that they may magnify Thy name with such words as have not been heard
by any of Thy creatures, be they the inmates of Thy heaven or the
dwellers of Thine earth, nor been comprehended by any of Thy people.
Unlock, then, the gates of this Paradise to the faces of Thy loved
ones, that haply they may enter them in Thy name, and by the power of
Thy sovereignty, that thereby the sovereign bounties vouchsafed by Thee
unto Thy chosen ones [Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah] and the transcendent gifts granted unto Thy
trusted ones be perfected, that they may extol Thy virtues with such
melodies as none can either intone or describe, and that none of Thy
people may conceive the design of appearing in the guise of any of Thy chosen ones, or of emulating the example of Thy loved ones, and that
none may fail to discern between Thy friends and Thine enemies, or to
distinguish them that are devoted to Thee from such as stubbornly
oppose Thee. Potent art Thou to do what Thou willest, and powerful and
supreme art Thou over all things.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations, p. 326-32
8)
1665. Clarification of Certain Issues Regarding Islam, The Imam Husayn the Imamate, Etc.
...
"The schisms that have afflicted the religions preceding the Faith of
Bahá'u'lláh establish its distinction from all previous Revelations,
and single it out among all other Dispensations, as stated by 'Abdu'l-Bahá.
...
(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, July 30, 1941)
-- Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 496
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