Chapter 7
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Conflicting writings as relates to the successorship of Imam Ali. Last updated: October 8th, 2024.
In passage 1 Shoghi
Effendi asks whether Imam Ali could produce "written and explicit
affirmations" from Muhammad regarding his successorship, "that could
have silenced" those who rejected him, creating a schism (which he refers to
as a "catastrophic" event), forming the Sunni sect and the Caliphate.
Shoghi Effendi is, in effect, attributing an error of omission to
Muhammad, the Most Great Infallibility,
whose station is "sanctified from errors and omissions". Every action
of Muhammad, the Independent Prophet, was ordained by God, and to obey Muhammad (including
obeying his oral statements naming Imam Ali as his successor) is to
obey God. This is stated by Baha'u'llah in passage 2: "It is
incumbent upon everyone to obey Him [Muhammad] in whatsoever God hath
ordained; and whosoever denieth Him hath disbelieved in God, in His
verses, in His Messengers and in His Books." There's no requirement
for Muhammad to produce "written and explicit affirmations" naming Imam
Ali as his successor for the command to be binding. In that age, over
1300 years ago, many (or most?) people were illiterate, hence the
reliance on oral statements. Regarding the Guardian's own successorship, there was no provision in the Will and Testament to address a scenario where the Guardian
has no "lineal descendants" that he could name as his successor, which is what
came to pass. The Guardian
left no will, as far as we know, never addressed his own
succession, and never addresssed why the Will and Testament has
no
provision for a
scenario where the Guardian has no "lineal descendants" he could appoint as his successor. This after having said that succession is "all-important". Specifically,
"... the Qur'án which, though explicit in the laws and ordinances
formulated by the Apostle of God, is silent on the all-important
subject of the succession". The Quran, which was revealed
by God, who is All-Knowing and All-Wise, is not silent on
succession. There are many references to the Holy Imams (Muhammad's successors) in the Quran which
true believers would apprehend, along with Muhammad's oral
statements, which the Quran has instructed them to obey (see, for
example, passage 3). In the Tablet of Job, Baha'u'llah refers to a
number of references to the Holy Imams found in the Quran, as well as in passage 3, below. Also, the Quran 3:105 instructs believers, "Be not like those who are divided amongst themselves and fall
into disputations after receiving Clear Signs [i.e. the Holy Imams, Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Muhammad, one of the two classes of Prophets]: For them is a dreadful
penalty". Additionally, in the Quran 6:159 it says, "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." Also, as indicated in passages 4 and 5, by Baha'u'llah, believers are not to make
any distinctions between the Manifestations of God.
1)
Could Peter, the admitted chief of the Apostles, or the Imam Ali,
the cousin and legitimate successor of the Prophet, produce in support
of the primacy with which both had been invested written and explicit
affirmations from Christ and Muhammad that could have silenced those
who either among their contemporaries or in a later age have repudiated
their authority and, by their action, precipitated the schisms that
persist until the present day? Where, we may confidently ask, in the
recorded sayings of Jesus Christ, whether in the matter of succession
or in the provision of a set of specific laws and clearly defined
administrative ordinances, as distinguished from purely spiritual
principles, can we find anything approaching the detailed injunctions,
laws and warnings that abound in the authenticated utterances of both
Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá? Can any passage of the Qur'án, which in
respect to its legal code, its administrative and devotional ordinances
marks already a notable advance over previous and more corrupted
Revelations, be construed as placing upon an unassailable basis the
undoubted authority with which Muhammad had, verbally and on several
occasions, invested His successor? Can the Author of the Bábí
Dispensation however much He may have succeeded through the provisions
of the Persian Bayan in averting a schism as permanent and catastrophic
as those that afflicted Christianity and Islam -- can He be said to
have produced instruments for the safeguarding of His Faith as definite
and efficacious as those which must for all time preserve the unity of
the organized followers of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh?
-- Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 145
... unlike even the Qur'án which, though explicit in the laws and
ordinances formulated by the Apostle of God, is silent on the
all-important subject of the succession...
-- The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 12. Quotation from the writings of Shoghi Effendi.
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
2)
Consider thou and call to mind the time when Muhammad appeared. He
said, and His word is the truth: 'Pilgrimage to the House [1] is a
service due to God.' [2] And likewise are the daily prayer, fasting,
and the laws which shone forth above the horizon of the Book of God,
the Lord of the World and the true Educator of the peoples and kindreds
of the earth. It is incumbent upon everyone to obey Him in whatsoever
God hath ordained; and whosoever denieth Him hath disbelieved in God,
in His verses, in His Messengers and in His Books. Were He to pronounce
right to be wrong or denial to be belief, He speaketh the truth as
bidden by God. This is a station wherein sins or trespasses neither
exist nor are mentioned.
-- Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 108
Reflect, what could have been the motive for such deeds? What could
have prompted such behaviour towards the Revealers of the beauty of the
All-Glorious [for example, the rejection of the Imam Ali by most Muslims]?
Whatever in days gone by hath been the cause of the denial and
opposition of those people hath now led to the perversity of the people
of this age. To maintain that the testimony of Providence was
incomplete, that it hath therefore been the cause of the denial of the
people, is but open blasphemy. How far from the grace of the
All-Bountiful and from His loving providence and tender mercies it is
to single out a soul from amongst all men for the guidance of His
creatures, and, on one hand, to withhold from Him the full measure of
His divine testimony, and, on the other, inflict severe retribution on
His people for having turned away from His chosen One!
-- Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 12
3)
4:59 O ye who believe! Obey God, and obey the Apostle, and those
charged with authority among you. If ye differ in anything among
yourselves, refer it to God and His Apostle, if ye do believe in God
and the Last Day: That is best, and most suitable for final
determination.
-- Qur'an: 4 - AN-NISA.
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
4)
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
5)
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
XLVII. O Jews! If ye be intent on crucifying once again Jesus, the
Spirit of God, put Me to death, for He hath once more, in My person,
been made manifest unto you. Deal with Me as ye wish, for I have vowed
to lay down My life in the path of God. I will fear no one, though the
powers of earth and heaven be leagued against Me. Followers of the
Gospel! If ye cherish the desire to slay Muhammad, the Apostle of God,
seize Me and put an end to My life, for I am He, and My Self is His
Self. Do unto Me as ye like, for the deepest longing of Mine heart is
to attain the presence of My Best-Beloved in His Kingdom of Glory. Such
is the Divine decree, if ye know it. Followers of Muhammad! If it be
your wish to riddle with your shafts the breast of Him Who hath caused
His Book the Bayan to be sent down unto you, lay hands on Me and
persecute Me, for I am His Well-Beloved, the revelation of His own
Self, though My name be not His name. I have come in the shadows of the
clouds of glory, and am invested by God with invincible sovereignty...
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 100
6)
More
references on the successorship of the Holy Imams, based on Islamic and Baha'i Holy Writings.
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