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Chapter 17
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Countenances -- the Prophets (both Independent and Dependent/Lesser), who are the Face of God.
1)
Countenance [of God] as applicable to Bahá'u'lláh, an Independent Prophet.
XI. All glory be to this Day, the Day in which the fragrances of mercy
have been wafted over all created things, a Day so blest that past ages
and centuries can never hope to rival it, a Day in which the
countenance of the Ancient of Days hath turned towards His holy seat.
Thereupon the voices of all created things, and beyond them those of
the Concourse on high, were heard calling aloud: "Haste thee, O Carmel,
for lo, the light of the countenance of God, the Ruler of the Kingdom
of Names and Fashioner of the heavens, hath been lifted upon thee."
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 14
VII. Verily I say, this is the Day in which mankind can behold the
Face, and hear the Voice, of the Promised One. The Call of God hath
been raised, and the light of His countenance hath been lifted up upon
men. It behoveth every man to blot out the trace of every idle word
from the tablet of his heart, and to gaze, with an open and unbiased
mind, on the signs of His Revelation, the proofs of His Mission, and
the tokens of His glory.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 10
2)
Countenance [of God] as applicable to the Bab, an Independent Prophet.
GOD testifieth that there is none other God but Him. His are the
kingdoms in the heavens and on the earth and all that is between them.
He is exalted above the comprehension of all things, and is inscrutable
to the mind of every created being; none shall be able to fathom the
oneness of His Being or to unravel the nature of His Existence. No peer
or likeness, no similitude or equal can ever be joined with Him. Yield
ye praise then unto Him and glorify Him and bear ye witness to the
sanctity and oneness of His Being and magnify His might and majesty
with wondrous glorification. This will enable you to gain admittance
into the all-highest Paradise. Would that ye had firm faith in the
revelation of the signs of God.
This is the divinely-inscribed Book. This is the outspread Tablet. Say,
this indeed is the Frequented Fane, the sweet-scented Leaf, the Tree of
divine Revelation, the surging Ocean, the Utterance which lay
concealed, the Light above every light... Indeed every light is
generated by God through the power of His behest. He of a truth is the
Light in the kingdom of heaven and earth and whatever is between them.
Through the radiance of His light God imparteth illumination to your
hearts and maketh firm your steps, that perchance ye may yield praise
unto Him.
Say, this of a certainty is the Garden of Repose, the loftiest Point of
adoration, the Tree beyond which there is no passing, the blessed
Lote-Tree, the Most Mighty Sign, the most beauteous Countenance and the
most comely Face.
-- The Bab, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 154
3)
Countenance [of God] as applicable to Moses, an Independent Prophet.
Although the commentators of the Qur'án have related in divers manners
the circumstances attending the revelation of this verse, yet thou
shouldst endeavor to apprehend the purpose thereof. He saith: How false
is that which the Jews have imagined! How can the hand of Him Who is
the King in truth, Who caused the countenance of Moses to be made
manifest, and conferred upon Him the robe of Prophethood--how can the
hand of such a One be chained and fettered? How can He be conceived as
powerless to raise up yet another Messenger after Moses?
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 23
4)
The
following passage on the "station of pure abstraction and essential
unity" of the Manifestations of God includes Muhammad, Adam, Noah,
Moses and Jesus, who are Independent Prophets; and Ali [Imam Ali] and
the Imams, who were Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Muhummad; all of whom are "Countenances", "recipients of the Divine Command", and
"day-springs of His Revelation".
These Manifestations of God have each a twofold station. One is the
station of pure abstraction and essential unity. In this respect, if
thou callest them all by one name, and dost ascribe to them the same
attribute, thou hast not erred from the truth. Even as He hath
revealed: "No distinction do We make between any of His Messengers!"[1]
For they one and all summon the people of the earth to acknowledge the
Unity of God, and herald unto them the Kawthar of an infinite grace and
bounty. They are all invested with the robe of Prophethood, and
honoured with the mantle of glory. Thus hath Muhammad, the Point of the
Qur'án, revealed: "I am all the Prophets." Likewise, He saith: "I am
the first Adam, Noah, Moses, and Jesus." Similar statements have been
made by Ali. Sayings such as this, which indicate the essential unity
of those Exponents of Oneness, have also emanated from the Channels of
God's immortal utterance, and the Treasuries of the gems of divine
knowledge, and have been recorded in the scriptures. These Countenances
are the recipients of the Divine Command, and the day-springs of His
Revelation. This Revelation is exalted above the veils of plurality and
the exigencies of number. Thus He saith: "Our Cause is but one."[2]
Inasmuch as the Cause is one and the same, the Exponents thereof also
must needs be one and the same. Likewise, the Imams of the Muhammadan
Faith, those lamps of certitude, have said: "Muhammad is our first,
Muhammad our last, Muhammad our all."
[1 Qur'án 2:285.]
[2 Qur'án 54:50.]
-- Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 152
5)
Countenance of the Dependent
Prophet ("Maid of Heaven") of Bahá'u'lláh. "Step out of Thy holy chamber" -- the pre-existent Dependent Prophet is summoned to appear on earth.
Say: Step out of Thy holy chamber, O Maid of Heaven, inmate of the
Exalted Paradise! Drape thyself in whatever manner pleaseth Thee in the
silken Vesture of Immortality, and put on, in the name of the
All-Glorious, the broidered Robe of Light. Hear, then, the sweet, the
wondrous accent of the Voice that cometh from the Throne of Thy Lord,
the Inaccessible, the Most High. Unveil Thy face, and manifest the
beauty of the black-eyed Damsel, and suffer not the servants of God to
be deprived of the light of Thy shining countenance. Grieve not if Thou
hearest the sighs of the dwellers of the earth, or the voice of the
lamentation of the denizens of heaven. Leave them to perish on the dust
of extinction. Let them be reduced to nothingness, inasmuch as the
flame of hatred hath been kindled within their breasts. Intone, then,
before the face of the peoples of earth and heaven, and in a most
melodious voice, the anthem of praise, for a remembrance of Him Who is
the King of the names and attributes of God. Thus have We decreed Thy destiny. Well able are We to achieve Our purpose.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh, p. 282
6)
Immortal Countenance, the
Dependent Prophet of Bahá'u'lláh. Those heedless of the immortal
countenance reject the Dependent Prophet (similar to
those who rejected the Holy Imams in the era of Muhammad).
... 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 of the spiritual youth, they forbade entry to all. Afterwards, there occurred what is inscribed upon the guarded tablet.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of the Holy Mariner (from the Persian). A provisional translation by Juan Cole.
7)
"Those countenances which are
hid within the chambers of chastity" and "the manifestations of Thy
Divine holiness" refers to the pre-existent Dependent Prophets of Bahá'u'lláh..
Lauded be Thy name, O Thou Who art the Goal of my desire! I swear by
Thy glory! How great is my wish to attain unto a detachment so complete
that were there to appear before me those countenances which are hid
within the chambers of chastity, and the beauty of which Thou didst
veil from the eyes of the entire creation, and whose faces Thou didst
sanctify from the sight of all beings,and were they to unveil
themselves in all the glory of the splendors of Thine incomparable
beauty, I would refuse to look upon them, and would behold them solely
for the purpose of discerning the mysteries of Thy handiwork, which
have perplexed the minds of such as have drawn nigh unto Thee, and awed
the souls of all them that have recognized Thee. I would, by Thy power
and Thy might, soar to such heights that nothing whatsoever would have
the power to keep me back from the manifold evidences of Thy
transcendent dominion, nor would any earthly scheme shut me out from
the manifestations of Thy Divine holiness.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations, p. 337
8)
Countenance of Bahá'u'lláh (the Maid of Heaven), the Independent Prophet:
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Whereupon the maid of heaven [Bahá'u'lláh] looked out from her exalted chamber,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And with her brow signed to the Celestial Concourse,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Flooding with the light of her countenance the heaven and the earth,
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of the Holy Mariner.
9)
Countenance of the Dependent
Prophet of Bahá'u'lláh -- "Thereupon the countenance of the favored
damsel beamed above the celestial chambers even as the light that
shineth from the face of the Youth above His mortal temple". The Youth
is Baha'u'llah. "she rose to her full height in the midmost heart of
creation" refers to the declaration of the Dependent Prophet, similar
to the description in the subsequent passage.:
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Thereupon she [the Maid of Heaven, Baha'u'llah, the Independent
Prophet] summoned unto herself one maiden [one Dependent Prophet of
Baha'u'llah] from her handmaidens,
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
And commanded her: "Descend into space [appear on earth] from the mansions of eternity,...
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
Thereupon the countenance of the favored damsel beamed above the
celestial chambers even as the light that shineth from the face of the
Youth above His mortal temple;
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She then descended with such an adorning as to illumine the heavens and all that is therein.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
She bestirred herself and perfumed all things in the lands of holiness and grandeur.
Glorified be my Lord, the All-Glorious!
When she reached that place she rose to her full height in the midmost heart of creation,
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of the Holy Mariner.
By the righteousness of God! The world's horizon is resplendent with
the light of the Most Great Luminary, yet the generality of mankind
perceive it not. Verily He Who is the Sovereign Truth moveth before the
eyes of all men. Unto this beareth witness the One Who is proclaiming
in the midmost heart of the world, 'In truth no God is there but Me,
Omnipotent over all things, whether of the past or of the future.'
Great is the blessedness of the believer who hath directed himself
towards Him and hath gained admittance into His presence, and woe
betide every disbeliever who hath turned away from God and followed the
wayward and the outcast.
-- Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 235
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