Glory, its association with the two classes of Prophets. Last updated: October 13th, 2024.
1)
Followers of Baha'u'llah, the Independent Prophet, and reference made to those who are "the first to circle round His throne of glory".
CXLVII. The Most Great Name beareth Me witness! How sad if any man
were, in this Day, to rest his heart on the transitory things of this
world! Arise, and cling firmly to the Cause of God. Be most loving one
to another. Burn away, wholly for the sake of the Well-Beloved, the
veil of self with the flame of the undying Fire, and with faces joyous
and beaming with light, associate with your neighbor. Ye have well
observed, in all its aspects, the behavior of Him Who is the Word of
Truth amidst you. Ye know full well how hard it is for this Youth to
allow, though it be for one night, the heart of any one of the beloved
of God to be saddened by Him.
The Word of God hath set the heart of the world afire; how regrettable
if ye fail to be enkindled with its flame! Please God, ye will regard
this blessed night as the night of unity, will knit your souls
together, and resolve to adorn yourselves with the ornament of a goodly
and praiseworthy character. Let your principal concern be to rescue the
fallen from the slough of impending extinction, and to help him embrace
the ancient Faith of God. Your behavior towards your neighbor should be
such as to manifest clearly the signs of the one true God, for ye are
the first among men to be re-created by His Spirit, the first to adore
and bow the knee before Him, the first to circle round His throne of
glory. I swear by Him Who hath caused Me to reveal whatever hath
pleased Him! Ye are better known to the inmates of the Kingdom on high
than ye are known to your own selves. Think ye these words to be vain
and empty? Would that ye had the power to perceive the things your
Lord, the All-Merciful, doth see--things that attest the excellence of
your rank, that bear witness to the greatness of your worth, that
proclaim the sublimity of your station! God grant that your desires and
unmortified passions may not hinder you from that which hath been
ordained for you.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 316
2)
O ye that circle the throne of glory!
Hearken unto My Call which is raised from the midst of the Burning
Bush, 'Verily I am God and there is none other God but Me. Hence
worship Me, and for the sake of Him Who is the Most Great Remembrance,
offer ye prayers, purged from the insinuations of the people, for
verily your Lord, the One true God, is none other than the Sovereign
Truth. Indeed such as invoke others besides Him are deservedly numbered
among the inmates of the fire, while He Who is the Remembrance of God
verily abideth, firm and undeviating, on the Path of Truth amidst the
Burning Bush.'...
-- The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 69
3)
And of all men, the most accomplished, the most distinguished and the
most excellent are the Manifestations of the Sun of Truth. Nay, all
else besides these Manifestations, live by the operation of their Will,
and move and have their being through the outpourings of their grace.
"But for Thee, I would have not created the heavens." Nay, all in their
holy presence fade into utter nothingness, and are a thing forgotten.
Human tongue can never befittingly sing their praise, and human speech
can never unfold their mystery. These Tabernacles of holiness, these
primal Mirrors which reflect the light of unfading glory, are but
expressions of Him Who is the Invisible of the Invisibles. By the
revelation of these gems of divine virtue all the names and attributes
of God, such as knowledge and power, sovereignty and dominion, mercy
and wisdom, glory, bounty and grace, are made manifest.
These attributes of God are not and have never been vouchsafed
specially unto certain Prophets, and withheld from others. Nay, all the
Prophets of God, His well-favoured, His holy, and
chosen Messengers, are, without exception, the bearers of His
names, and the embodiments of His attributes. They only differ in the
intensity of their revelation, and the comparative potency of their
light. Even as He hath revealed: "Some of the Apostles We have caused
to excel the others."[1] It hath therefore become manifest and evident
that within the tabernacles of these Prophets and chosen Ones of God
the light of His infinite names and exalted attributes hath been
reflected, even though the light of some of these attributes may or may
not be outwardly revealed from these luminous Temples to the eyes of
men. That a certain attribute of God hath not been outwardly manifested
by these Essences of Detachment doth in no wise imply that they Who are
the Daysprings of God's attributes and the Treasuries of His holy names
did not actually possess it. Therefore, these illuminated Souls, these
beauteous Countenances have, each and every one of them, been endowed
with all the attributes of God, such as sovereignty, dominion, and the
like, even though to outward seeming they be shorn of all earthly
majesty. To every discerning eye this is evident and manifest; it
requireth neither proof nor evidence.
[1 Qur'án 2:253.]
-- Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 102
4)
Blessed is he whom His Call hath attracted to the summit of glory, who
hath drawn nigh to the ultimate Purpose, and who hath recognized
through the shrill voice of My Pen of Glory that which the Lord of this
world and of the next hath willed. Whoso faileth to quaff the choice
wine which We have unsealed through the potency of Our Name, the
All-Compelling, shall be unable to discern the splendours of the light
of divine unity
or to grasp the essential purpose underlying the Scriptures of God, the
Lord of heaven and earth, the sovereign Ruler of this world and of the
world to come. Such a man shall be accounted among the faithless in the
Book of God, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed.
-- Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 105
5)
In passage below from Gleanings CXXIX:
"There lay concealed within the Holy Veil" -- refers to the realm of pre-existence of the Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah, the same as the pre-existence of the Holy Imams.
"a company of His chosen ones" -- the Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah.
"Warn, then, those that have joined partners with Him" -- warn
those who reject the Dependent Prophet as the Face of God (similar, for
example, to those who rejected Imam Ali as the Face of God in the era
of Muhammad).
"I am come from the Throne of glory" -- reference to her/his station as a Prophet, a Dependent Prophet of Baha'u'llah.
"And bear you an announcement from God" -- the declaration of the Dependent Prophet.
"Weigh it with the just Balance that ye possess, the Balance of the testimony of the Prophets and Messengers of God" -- judge their testimony with same standards you use for Prophets and Messengers of God, as they are.
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.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, CXXIX, p. 280
6)
Abdu'l-Baha, the Branch, the "temple of Abha [Glory]".
Say: Verily, the ocean of pre-existence [Abdu'l-Baha] hath branched forth from this
most great Ocean [Baha'u'llah, the Root]. Blessed, therefore, is he who abides upon Its shores,
and is of those who are established thereon. Verily, this most sacred
temple of Abha [Glory] -- the Branch of Holiness hath branched forth from the
Sadratu'l-Muntaha. Blessed is whosoever sought shelter beneath it and
is of those who rest therein.
Say: Verily, the branch of command hath sprung forth from this root
which God hath firmly planted in the ground of the will, the limb of
which has been elevated to a station which encompasses all existence.
Therefore, exalted be He for this creation, the lofty, the blessed, the
inaccessible, the mighty!
O ye people! Draw nigh unto It, and taste the fruits of its knowledge
and wisdom on the part of the mighty, the knowing One. Whosoever will
not taste thereof shall be deprived of the bounty, even though he hath
partaken of all that is in the earth -- were ye of those who know.
Say: Verily a word hath gone forth in favor from the most great Tablet
and God has adorned It with the mantle of Himself, and made it
sovereign over all in the earth and a sign of His grandeur and
omnipotence among the creatures; in order that through it, the people
shall praise their Lord, the mighty, the powerful, the wise; and that,
through it, they shall glorify their creator and sanctify the self of
God which standeth within all things. Verily, this is naught but a
Revelation upon the part of the wise, the ancient One!
Say: O people, praise ye God, for its Manifestation, for verily it is
the most great favor upon you and the most perfect blessing upon you;
and through Him every moldering bone is quickened Whosoever turns to
Him hath surely turned unto God, and whosoever turneth away from Him
hath turned away from My beauty denied My proof and is of those who
transgress. Verily, He is the remembrance of God amongst you and His
trust within you, and His manifestation unto you and His appearance
among the servants who are nigh. Thus have I been commanded to convey
to you the message of God, your Creator; and I have delivered to you
that of which I was commanded. Whereupon, thereunto testifieth God,
then His angels, then His messengers, and then His holy servants.
-- Baha'u'llah, The Tablet of the Branch - from BWF
7)
In passage below, the "immortal temples of glory" are the Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah (also
referred to as "assayers" earlier in the same tablet, and "handmaidens" in Tablet of the Holy Mariner revealed in Arabic).
We have passed beyond the loftiness of abstraction, the sublimity of
divine oneness, the ultimate recognition that God is above all
attributes, and the most great sanctification. Now, they must put forth
their utmost effort and give their unswerving attention, so that their
inward secrets not be contrary to their overt behavior, nor their
outward deeds at variance with their inner mysteries. We have traversed
the stage of expending the self for others. Arise to expend justice and
fairness upon the souls that pertain to you.
In the end, however, you prefer the cloak of carnal longing and desire
to the robe of divine benediction, and you exchange the song of the
nightingale of immortality for the disagreeable croaking of death that
issues from the throats of the hateful and rebellious. How miserable a
trade you make! We are from God and to him do we return. God willing,
we maintain the hope that the immortal temples of glory shall, through
the adornment of holiness and the divine attributes, appear illumined,
gentle, pure and undefiled like the eternal sun. This is not difficult
for God.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of the Holy Mariner from the Persian. A provisional translation by Juan Cole.
8)
1.20
O Ears of this Temple [the Maid of Heaven, Baha'u'llah, the Independent Prophet]!
Purge yourselves from all idle clamour and hearken unto the voice of
your Lord. He, verily, revealeth unto you, from the Throne of glory,
that there is none other God save Me, the All-Glorious, the Almighty,
the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. Erelong shall We bring into
being through you pure and undefiled ears which will heed the Word of
God and that which hath appeared from the Dayspring of the Utterance of
your Lord, the All-Merciful. They shall assuredly perceive the sweet
accents of Divine Revelation that proceed from these most blessed and
hallowed precincts.
-- Baha'u'llah, Surih of the Temple, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 11
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