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Chapter 50
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Proofs of Prophethood.
Say: The first and foremost testimony establishing His truth is His own
Self. Next to this testimony is His Revelation. For whoso faileth to
recognize either the one or the other He hath established the words He
hath revealed as proof of His reality and truth. This is, verily, an
evidence of His tender mercy unto men. He hath endowed every soul with
the capacity to recognize the signs of God. How could He, otherwise,
have fulfilled His testimony unto men, if ye be of them that ponder His
Cause in their hearts. He will never deal unjustly with any one,
neither will He task a soul beyond its power. He, verily, is the
Compassionate, the All-Merciful.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 105
XX. Know thou of a certainty that the Unseen can in no wise incarnate
His Essence and reveal it unto men. He is, and hath ever been,
immensely exalted beyond all that can either be recounted or perceived.
From His retreat of glory His voice is ever proclaiming: "Verily, I am
God; there is none other God besides Me, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.
I have manifested Myself unto men, and have sent down Him Who is the
Day Spring of the signs of My Revelation. Through Him I have caused all
creation to testify that there is none other God except Him, the
Incomparable, the All-Informed, the All-Wise." He Who is everlastingly
hidden from the eyes of men can never be known except through His
Manifestation, and His Manifestation can adduce no greater proof of the
truth of His Mission than the proof of His own Person.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 48
O affectionate seeker! Shouldst thou soar in the holy realm of the
spirit, thou wouldst recognize God manifest and exalted above all
things, in such wise that thine eyes would behold none else but Him.
"God was alone; there was none else besides Him." So lofty is this
station that no testimony can bear it witness, neither evidence do
justice to its truth. Wert thou to explore the sacred domain of truth,
thou wilt find that all things are known only by the light of His
recognition, that He hath ever been, and will continue for ever to be,
known through Himself. And if thou dwellest in the land of testimony,
content thyself with that which He, Himself, hath revealed: "Is it not
enough for them that We have sent down unto Thee the Book?" This is the
testimony which He, Himself, hath ordained; greater proof than this
there is none, nor ever will be: "This proof is His Word; His own Self,
the testimony of His truth."
-- Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 91
Amongst the proofs demonstrating the truth of this Revelation is this, that in every age and Dispensation, whenever the invisible Essence was revealed in the person of His Manifestation, certain souls, obscure and detached from all worldly entanglements, would seek illumination from the Sun of Prophethood and Moon of divine guidance, and would attain unto the divine Presence.
For this reason, the divines of the age and those possessed of wealth,
would scorn and scoff at these people. Even as He hath revealed
concerning them that erred: "Then said the chiefs of His people who
believed not, 'We see in Thee but a man like ourselves; and we see not
any who have followed Thee except our meanest ones of hasty judgment,
nor see we any excellence in you above ourselves: nay, we deem you
liars.'"[1] They caviled at those holy Manifestations,
and protested saying: "None hath followed you except the abject amongst
us, those who are worthy of no attention." Their aim was to show that
no one amongst the learned, the wealthy, and the renowned believed in
them. By this and similar proofs they sought to demonstrate the falsity
of Him that speaketh naught but the truth.
[1 Qur'án 11:27.]
-- Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 221
Thou well knowest, O my God, that the Revealer of the Bayan (the Bab)
hath commanded all mankind concerning Thy Cause, and Thy Revelation,
and Thy Sovereignty. He hath said, and sweet is His speech: "Beware
lest the Bayan and its Letters keep you back from Him Who is the Most
Merciful and from His sovereignty." He, moreover, hath written: "Were
He to produce no more than one verse, ye must not deny Him. Haste ye
towards Him, that haply He may cause to descend upon you what He
pleaseth, as a token of His grace unto you. He truly is the Possessor
of His servants, and the King of creation."
-- Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 275
The following is an evidence of the sovereignty exercised by Muhammad,
the Day-star of Truth. Hast thou not heard how with one single verse He
hath sundered light from darkness, the righteous from the ungodly, and
the believing from the infidel? All the signs and allusions concerning
the Day of Judgment, which thou hast heard, such as the raising of the
dead, the Day of Reckoning, the Last Judgment, and others have been
made manifest through the revelation of that verse. These revealed
words were a blessing to the righteous who on hearing them exclaimed:
"O God our Lord, we have heard, and obeyed." They were a curse to the
people of iniquity who, on hearing them affirmed: "We have heard and
rebelled." Those words, sharp as the sword of God, have separated the
faithful from the infidel, and severed father from son.
-- Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 110
In another passage He likewise saith: "And if ye be in doubt as to that
which We have sent down to Our Servant, then produce a Súrah like it,
and summon your witnesses, beside God, if ye are men of truth." [Quran
2:23] Behold, how lofty is the station, and how consummate the virtue,
of these verses which He hath declared to be His surest testimony, His
infallible proof, the evidence of His all-subduing power, and a
revelation of the potency of His will. He, the divine King, hath
proclaimed the undisputed supremacy of the verses of His Book over all
things that testify to His truth. For compared with all other proofs
and tokens, the divinely-revealed verses shine as the sun, whilst all
others are as stars. To the peoples of the world they are the abiding
testimony, the incontrovertible proof, the shining light of the ideal
King. Their excellence is unrivalled, their virtue nothing can surpass.
They are the treasury of the divine pearls and the depository of the
divine mysteries. They constitute the indissoluble Bond, the firm Cord,
the Urvatu'l-Vuthqá, the inextinguishable Light.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 204
The evidence set forth by God can never be compared with the evidences
produced by any one of the peoples and kindreds of the earth; and
beyond a shadow of doubt no evidence is set forth by God save through
the One Who is appointed as His supreme Testimony. Moreover, the proof
of revealed verses doth, alone and of itself, conclusively demonstrate
the utter impotence of all created things on earth, for this is a proof
which hath proceeded from God and shall endure until the Day of
Resurrection.
And if anyone should reflect on the appearance of this Tree, he will
undoubtedly testify to the loftiness of the Cause of God. For if one
from whose life only twenty-four years have passed, and who is devoid
of those sciences wherein all are learned, now reciteth verses after
such fashion without thought or hesitation, writes a thousand verses of
prayer in the course of five hours without pause of the pen, and
produceth commentaries and learned treatises on such lofty themes as
the true understanding of God and of the oneness of His Being, in a
manner which doctors and philosophers confess surpasseth their power of
understanding, then there is no doubt that all that hath been
manifested is divinely inspired. Notwithstanding their life-long
diligent study, what pains do these divines take when writing a single
line in Arabic!
Yet after such efforts the result is but words which are unworthy of mention.
All these things are for a proof unto the people; otherwise the
religion of God is too mighty and glorious for anyone to comprehend
through aught but itself; rather by it all else is understood.
-- The Báb, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 109
Inasmuch as His Holiness Moses through the influence of his great
mission was instrumental in releasing the Israelites from a low state
of debasement and humiliation, establishing them in a station of
prestige and glorification, disciplining and educating them, it is
necessary for us to reach a fair and just judgment in regard to such a
marvelous teacher. For in this great accomplishment he stood single and
alone. Could he have made such a change and brought about such a
condition among these people without the sanction and assistance of a
heavenly power? Could he have transformed a people from humiliation to
glory without a holy and divine support?
No other than a divine power could have done this. Therein lies the
proof of prophethood because the mission of a prophet is education of
the human race such as this personage accomplished, proving him to be a
mighty prophet among the prophets, and his book the very Book of God.
This is a rational, direct and perfect proof.
-- `Abdu'l-Bahá, Foundations of World Unity, p. 95
It has become the subject of much talk, but the people do not
understand: The miracles that have been mentioned and attributed to
this abased one are lies fabricated by prevaricators. But those
attributed to the original Point (the Bab) the wellspring of the primal
emanation and to the Mirrors who speak of him, are true, a truth to
which the sincere attain. What he revealed in the Bayan from the heaven
of bounty and the clouds of compassion is, moreover, a universal and
convincing proof. Aside from revealing verses, he did not affirm
anything. This was and is God's proof to the people of the earth. Any
sign beyond it that appears from the mine of grace and glory is a
bounty from God.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Book of the Tigris (a provisional translation by Juan Cole)
We have decreed, O people, that the highest and last end of all
learning be the recognition of Him Who is the Object of all knowledge;
and yet, behold how ye have allowed your learning to shut you out, as
by a veil, from Him Who is the Day Spring of this Light, through Whom
every hidden thing hath been revealed. Could ye but discover the source
whence the splendor of this utterance is diffused, ye would cast away
the peoples of the world and all that they possess, and would draw nigh
unto this most blessed Seat of glory.
Say: This, verily, is the heaven in which the Mother Book is treasured,
could ye but comprehend it. He it is Who hath caused the Rock to shout,
and the Burning Bush to lift up its voice, upon the Mount rising above
the Holy Land, and proclaim: "The Kingdom is God's, the sovereign Lord
of all, the All-Powerful, the Loving!"
We have not entered any school, nor read any of your dissertations.
Incline your ears to the words of this unlettered One, wherewith He
summoneth you unto God, the Ever-Abiding. Better is this for you than
all the treasures of the earth, could ye but comprehend it.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 198
As they have literally interpreted the Word of God, and the sayings and traditions of the Letters
of Unity, and expounded them according to their own deficient
understanding, they have therefore deprived themselves and all their
people of the bountiful showers of the grace and mercies of God. And
yet they bear witness to this well-known tradition: "Verily Our Word is
abstruse, bewilderingly abstruse." In another instance, it is said:
"Our Cause is sorely trying, highly perplexing; none can bear it except
a favorite of heaven, or an inspired Prophet, or he whose faith God
hath tested." These leaders of religion admit that none of these three
specified conditions is applicable to them. The first two conditions
are manifestly beyond their reach; as to the third, it is evident that
at no time have they been proof against at have been sent by God, and
that when the divine Touchstone appeared, they have shown themselves to
be naught but dross.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 82
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