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Chapter 60
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References on the Seal of the Prophets.
1)
33:40 Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the
Apostle of God, and the Seal of the Prophets: and God has full
knowledge of all things.
-- Qur'an: 33 - AL-AHZAB,
One meaning of "Seal" is a reference to Muhammad being the last Independent Prophet in the Cycle of Prophecy.
When God sent forth His Prophet Muhammad, on that day the termination
of the prophetic cycle was foreordained in the knowledge of God. Yea,
that promise hath indeed come true and the decree of God hath been
accomplished as He hath ordained. Assuredly we are today living in the
Days of God. These are the glorious days on the like of which the sun
hath never risen in the past.
-- The Báb, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 161
XXV. It is evident that every age in which a Manifestation of God hath
lived is divinely ordained, and may, in a sense, be characterized as
God's appointed Day. This Day, however, is unique, and is to be
distinguished from those that have preceded it. The designation "Seal
of the Prophets" fully revealeth its high station. The Prophetic Cycle
hath, verily, ended. The Eternal Truth is now come. He hath lifted up
the Ensign of Power, and is now shedding upon the world the unclouded
splendor of His Revelation.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 60
2)
Another meaning of "Seal" is a reference to Muhammad being the latest Prophet of God. "Seal" is also applied to Imam Ali meaning he is the latest Imam.
Muhammad is the Seal of the Prophets (khátim al-anbiyá) and I am the Seal of the Successors (khátim al-wasiyyin).
-- Imam Ali (First Imam), Hadith an-Nuraniyya
Were any of the all-embracing Manifestations of God to declare: "I am
God!" He verily speaketh the truth, and no doubt attacheth thereto. For
it hath been repeatedly demonstrated that through their Revelation,
their attributes and names, the Revelation of God, His name and His
attributes, are made manifest in the world. Thus, He hath revealed:
"Those shafts were God's, not Thine!" And also He saith: "In truth,
they who plighted fealty unto thee, really plighted that fealty unto
God." And were any of them to voice the utterance: "I am the Messenger
of God," He also speaketh the truth, the indubitable truth. Even as He
saith: "Muhammad is not the father of any man among you, but He is the
Messenger of God." Viewed in this light, they are all but Messengers of
that ideal King, that unchangeable Essence. And
were they all to proclaim: "I am the Seal of the Prophets," they verily
utter but the truth, beyond the faintest shadow of doubt. For they are
all but one person, one soul, one spirit, one being, one revelation.
They are all the manifestation of the "Beginning" and the "End," the
"First" and the "Last," the "Seen" and "Hidden" --all of which pertain
to Him Who is the innermost Spirit of Spirits and eternal Essence of
Essences.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 178-179
Notwithstanding the obviousness of this theme, in the eyes of those
that have quaffed the wine of knowledge and certitude, yet how many are
those who, through failure to understand its meaning, have allowed the
term "Seal of the Prophets" to obscure their understanding, and deprive
them of the grace of all His manifold bounties! Hath not Muhammad,
Himself, declared: "I am all the Prophets?" Hath He not said as We have
already mentioned: "I am Adam, Noah, Moses, and Jesus?" Why should
Muhammad, that immortal Beauty, Who hath said: "I am the first Adam" be incapable of saying also: "I am the last Adam"? For
even as He regarded Himself to be the "First of the Prophets"--that is
Adam--in like manner, the "Seal of the Prophets" is also applicable
unto that Divine Beauty. It is admittedly obvious that being the "First
of the Prophets," He likewise is their "Seal."
The mystery of this theme hath, in this Dispensation, been a sore test
unto all mankind. Behold, how many are those who, clinging unto these
words, have disbelieved Him Who is their true Revealer.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 161-162
Know then that the paradise that appeareth in the day of God surpasseth
every other paradise and excelleth the realities of Heaven. For when
God - blessed and glorified is He - sealed the station of prophethood
in the person of Him Who was His Friend, His Chosen One, and His
Treasure amongst His creatures, as hath been revealed from the Kingdom
of glory: "but He is the Apostle of God and the Seal of the Prophets",
He promised all men that they shall attain unto His own presence in the
Day of Resurrection. In this He meant to emphasize the greatness of the
Revelation to come, as it hath indeed been manifested through the power
of truth. And there is of a certainty no paradise greater than this,
nor station higher, should ye reflect upon the verses of the Qur'án.
Blessed be he who knoweth of a certainty that he shall attain unto the
presence of God on that day when His Beauty shall be made manifest.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gems of Divine Mysteries, p. 43
Say: O People of the Qur'an! Ponder ye in the Book that was revealed in
truth unto Muhammad in which he sealed Prophethood with the coming of
His beloved Prophet until the day of resurrection. But this day is the
day of Resurrection
whereon God has risen in the Manifestation of His Self but you have
become veiled from it just as the peoples before have become veiled on
the advent of Muhammad and you have become drowned in the depths of an
ocean of ignorance and denial.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablet of Job (a provisional translation by Juan Cole)
In the passage below "Seal" can
also be interpreted as referring to Baha'u'llah as the latest (and
logically also the first) Prophet.
Glorified art Thou, O Lord my God! I beseech Thee by Thy Chosen Ones,
and by the Bearers of Thy Trust, and by Him Whom Thou hast ordained to
be the Seal of Thy Prophets and of Thy Messengers, to let Thy
remembrance be my companion, and Thy love my aim, and Thy face my goal,
and Thy name my lamp, and Thy wish my desire, and Thy pleasure my
delight.
-- Compilation, Baha'i Prayers, p. 72
I beseech Thee by Thy Lastness which is the same as Thy Firstness,
and by Thy Revelation which is identical with Thy Concealment, to grant
that they who are dear to Thee, and their children, and their kindred,
may become the revealers of Thy purity amidst Thy creatures, and the
manifestations of Thy sanctity amongst Thy servants.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations, p. 229
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