Chapter 38
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Conflicting writings on the "uniqueness" of the Covenant of Baha'u'llah.
In online discussions, some
Baha'i scholars have suggested that the writings in "The Promulgation
of Universal Peace" and "Star of the West" are not authenticated, and
should not be considered authoritative. Also, in passage 4, Abdu'l-Baha
states, "Any narrative that is not
authenticated by a Text should not be trusted". However, the passages are included in a compilation on "The Covenant" available at the following official link, under "authoritative-texts":
https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/compilations/covenant/covenant.pdf?097db775.
Passages 1 - 3 indicate that the dispensation of Baha'u'llah has a
unique Covenant (e.g. "As to the most great characteristic of the revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, a
specific teaching not given by any of the Prophets of the past: It is
the ordination and appointment of the Center of the Covenant."); which conflicts with the writings of Baha'u'llah, Abdu'l-Baha,
and the Quran. As indicated in passage 5, those faithful to the Covenant
of Muhammad recognised and followed Imam Ali (the pre-existent Branch, the Angel, the Cord of God, the Object of Covenant, the Firm Handle, and so on); the same way those faithful to the Covenant of Baha'u'llah recognised and followed Abdu'l-Baha (who is also the pre-existent Branch, the Angel, the Cord of God, the Center of Covenant, the Firm Handle, and so on). Similarly, in passage 6, those faithful to the Covenant of Moses, followed the "twelve captains",
including Dependent/Lesser Prophets like Aaron, Joshua, Solomon, David
and others. As relates to the Covenant, see also passage 7 from the writings of Baha'u'llah and passage 8 from the writings of Abdu'l-Baha. More references on the Covenant as relates to the two classes of Prophets.
1)
As to the most great characteristic of the revelation of Bahá’u’lláh, a
specific teaching not given by any of the Prophets of the past:
It is the ordination and appointment of the Center of the Covenant. By
this appointment and provision He has safeguarded and protected the
religion of God against differences and schisms, making it impossible
for anyone to create a new sect or faction of belief.
("The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by
‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912",
pp. 455-56) [17]
Unlike the Prophets gone before Him, Whose Covenants were shrouded in
mystery, unlike Bahá'u'lláh, Whose clearly defined Covenant was
incorporated in a specially written Testament, and designated by Him as
"the Book of My Covenant,...
-- Shoghi Effendi, God Passes By, p. 27
2)
Inasmuch as great differences and divergences of denominational belief
had arisen throughout the past, every man with a new idea attributing
it to God, Bahá’u’lláh desired that there should not be any ground or
reason for disagreement among the Bahá’ís. Therefore, with His
own pen He wrote the Book of His Covenant, addressing His relations and
all people of the world, saying, "Verily, I have appointed One Who is
the Center of My Covenant. All must obey Him; all must turn to
Him; He is the Expounder of My Book, and He is informed of My purpose.
All must turn to Him. Whatsoever He says is correct, for, verily,
He knoweth the texts of My Book. Other than He, no one doth know
My Book." The purpose of this statement is that there should never be
discord and divergence among the Bahá’ís but that they should always be
unified and agreed.... Therefore, whosoever obeys the Center of the
Covenant appointed by Bahá’u’lláh has obeyed Bahá’u’lláh, and whosoever
disobeys Him has disobeyed Bahá’u’lláh....
...Beware! Beware! lest anyone should speak from the authority of his
own thoughts or create a new thing out of himself. Beware!
Beware! According to the explicit Covenant of Bahá’u’lláh you
should care nothing at all for such a person. Bahá’u’lláh shuns
such souls.
("The Promulgation of Universal Peace: Talks Delivered by
‘Abdu’l-Bahá during His Visit to the United States and Canada in 1912",
2nd ed. (Wilmette: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1982), pp. 322-23) [14]
3)
...Bahá’u’lláh covenanted, not that I (‘Abdu’l-Bahá) am the Promised
One, but that ‘Abdu’l-Bahá is the Expounder of the Book and the Centre
of His Covenant, and that the Promised One of Bahá’u’lláh will appear
after one thousand or thousands of years. This is the Covenant
which Bahá’u’lláh made. If a person shall deviate, he is not
acceptable at the threshold of Bahá’u’lláh. In case of difference,
‘Abdu’l-Bahá must be consulted. All must revolve around his good
pleasure. After ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, whenever the Universal House of Justice
is organized it will ward off differences.
(‘Abdu’l-Bahá, cited in "Star of the West", vol. IV, no. 14, November 1913, p. 237) [13]
4)
1431. Any Narrative not Authenticated by a Text should not be Trusted
"Thou has written
concerning the pilgrims and pilgrims' note. Any narrative that is not
authenticated by a Text should not be trusted. Narratives, even if
true, cause confusion. For the people of Baha, the Text, and only the
Text, is authentic."
('Abdu'l-Bahá: from a previously untranslated tablet)
-- Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 437
5)
3:81. Behold! Allah took the Covenant of the Prophets, saying: "I give
you a Book and Wisdom; then comes to you a Messenger [i.e. Imam Ali and the other Imams] confirming what is
with you; do ye believe him and render him help." Allah said: "Do ye
agree, and take this My Covenant as binding on you?" They said: "We
agree." He said: "Then bear witness, and I [God] am with you among the
witnesses [as the Holy Imams, Manifestations of God, Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Muhammad, one of the two classes of Prophets]."
3:82. If any turn back after this [i.e. reject the Holy Imams], they are perverted transgressors.
3:83. Do they seek for other than the Religion of Allah? While all
creatures in the heavens and on earth have, willing or unwilling, bowed
to His Will (accepted Islam), and to Him shall they all be brought back.
3:84. Say: "We believe in
Allah, and in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed to
Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and in (Books) given to
Moses, Jesus, and the Prophets, from their Lord; we make no distinction
between one and another among them, and to Allah do we bow our will (in
Islam)."
3:85. If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to
Allah), never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will
be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual good).
3:86. How shall Allah guide those who reject faith after they accepted
it and bore witness that the Messenger [i.e. Imam Ali and the other Imams] was true and that clear signs
had come unto them? But Allah guides not a people unjust.
3:87. Of such the reward is that on them (rests) the curse of Allah, of His angels, and of all mankind.
-- The Qur'an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 3.
I am the Word of God [Kalimat'u'lláh] which hath been uttered in the world of creation, the Object of the covenant
that hath been promised in the prayers and salutations which lie in the
reality of all created things... I am the first to acknowledge faith,
the Cord of God that shall not be broken,... I give life unto humanity and I am the treasury of all divine commands....
-- Imam Ali, Sermon of Glorification (translation by K. Fananapazir).
Full text available at: https://bahai-library.com/imam-ali_khutbat_iftikhar
And narrated Sad that the Prophet [Muhammad] said to 'Ali [Imam Ali], "Will you not be pleased from this that you are to me like Aaron [branch] was to Moses [root]?"
-- Volume 5, Book 57, Number 57: (Hadith, Bukhari Vol 5).
Abu Dawud on Shahih Abi Dawud wrote: Masyruq said: We were sitting with
Abdullah bin Mas'ud to learn the Qur'an from him. Someone asked him:
Did you ask the Messenger of Allah [Muhammad] s.a.w how many caliphs will rule this Ummah
(nation)? Ibnu Mas'ud answered: Of course we asked this thing from
Rasulullah s.a.w and he answered: "Twelve [Twelve Imams], like the amount of the
leaders of Banu Isra'il. [like the twelve Dependent Prophets in the era of Moses]"
-- (Shahih Al-Bukhari)
References on the Successorship of the Holy Imams.
More Hadith on the twelve Imams from Wikipedia.
6)
5:12. Allah did aforetime take a Covenant from the Children of Israel, and We appointed twelve captains
among them, and Allah said: "I am with you: if ye (but) establish
regular prayers, practice regular charity, believe in My apostles,
honor and assist them and loan to Allah a beautiful loan, verily I will
wipe out from you your evils, and admit you to gardens with rivers
flowing beneath; but if any of you, after this, resisteth faith, he
hath truly wandered from the path of rectitude."
5:13. But because of their breach of their Covenant, We cursed them, and
made their hearts grow hard: they change the words from their (right)
places and forget a good part of the Message that was sent them, nor
wilt thou cease to find them, barring a few, ever bent on (new)
deceits: but forgive them and overlook (their misdeeds): for Allah
loveth those who are kind.
-- The Qur'an (Yusuf Ali tr), Surah 5
5:12 Allah made a covenant of old with the Children of Israel and We raised among them twelve chieftains, and Allah said: Lo! I am with you. If ye establish worship and pay the poor-due, and believe in My messengers
and support them, and lend unto Allah a kindly loan, surely I shall
remit your sins, and surely I shall bring you into Gardens underneath
which rivers flow. Whoso among you disbelieveth after this will go
astray from a plain road.
5:13 And because of their breaking their covenant, We have cursed them
and made hard their hearts. They change words from their context and
forget a part of that whereof they were admonished. Thou wilt not cease
to discover treachery from all save a few of them. But bear with them
and pardon them. Lo! Allah loveth the kindly.
-- The Qur'an (Pickthall tr), Sura 5
7)
"I have summoned the Maids of Heaven to emerge from behind
the veil of concealment" -- Bahá'u'lláh
has called on His pre-existent Dependent/Lesser Prophets to appear on
earth. "And have clothed them with these words of Mine
-- words of consummate power and wisdom" -- and they
receive their revelation from Him, the Independent Prophet (explained
further by Abdu'l-Baha when describing the "two classes of Prophets").
Those who "violate not the Covenant of God" are the ones who recognise the Dependent/Lesser Prophets, who are the Face of God (like
the Holy Imams in the era of Muhammad), and who "Break not the bond that
uniteth you with your Creator". Bahá'u'lláh, the Independent Prophet,
receives his revelation directly from God. No Independent Prophet will
appear until after at least one thousand years of Baha'u'llah's dispensation have passed.
Wherefore, O My servants, defile not your wings with the clay of
waywardness and vain desires, and suffer them not to be stained with
the dust of envy and hate, that ye may not be hindered from soaring in
the heavens of My divine knowledge.
O My servants! Through the might of God and His power, and out of the
treasury of His knowledge and wisdom, I have brought forth and revealed
unto you the pearls that lay concealed in the depths of His everlasting
ocean. I have summoned the Maids of Heaven to emerge from behind
the veil of concealment, and have clothed them with these words of Mine
-- words of consummate power and wisdom. I have, moreover, with the
hand of divine power, unsealed the choice wine of My Revelation, and
have wafted its holy, its hidden, and musk-laden fragrance upon all
created things. Who else but yourselves is to be blamed if ye choose to
remain unendowed with so great an outpouring of God's transcendent and
all-encompassing grace, with so bright a revelation of His resplendent
mercy?...
O My servants! There shineth nothing else in Mine heart except the
unfading light of the Morn of Divine guidance, and out of My mouth
proceedeth naught but the essence of truth, which the Lord your God
hath revealed. Follow not, therefore, your earthly desires, and violate
not the Covenant of God, nor break your pledge to Him. With firm
determination, with the whole affection of your heart, and with the
full force of your words, turn ye unto Him, and walk not in the ways of
the foolish. The world is but a show, vain and empty, a mere nothing,
bearing the semblance of reality. Set not your affections upon it.
Break not the bond that uniteth you with your Creator, and be not of
those that have erred and strayed from His ways.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 328
8)
In the passage below, from the
writings of Abdu'l-Baha, the "torches [Light] of God's oneness" is another
reference to the Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah, "who would be
the very embodiments of guidance". They are said to be
"torches [Light] of God's oneness", "shining in the heavens where God reigneth
alone" as they are Face of God on earth (like
the Holy Imams in the era of Muhammad); and those who recognise
them show "staunchness [firmness] in the Covenant". As a parallel, the Holy Imams are referred to as "the Light which We have sent down" in Quran 64:8.
203. O thou who art enamoured of the Covenant! The Blessed Beauty [Baha'u'llah]
hath promised this servant that souls would be raised up who would be
the very embodiments of guidance, and banners of the Concourse on high,
torches [Light] of God's oneness, and stars
of His pure truth, shining in the heavens where God reigneth alone.
They would give sight to the blind, and would make the deaf to hear;
they would raise the dead to life. They would confront all the peoples
of the earth, pleading their Cause with proofs of the Lord of the seven
spheres.
It is my hope that in His bounty He will soon raise up these souls,
that His Cause may be exalted. The lodestone which will attract this grace is staunchness in the Covenant. Render thou thanks unto God that thou art firmest of the firm.
O my God, aid Thou Thy servant
to raise up the Word, and to refute what is vain and false, to
establish the truth, to spread the sacred verses abroad, reveal the
splendours, and make the morning's light to dawn in the hearts of the
righteous.
Thou art verily the Generous, the Forgiving.
-- Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 250
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