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Chapter 61
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Hidden meanings explained by Prophets.
1)
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
2)
These things We mention only that the people may not be dismayed
because of certain traditions and utterances, which have not yet been
literally fulfilled, that they may rather attribute their perplexity to
their own lack of understanding, and not to the non-fulfilment of the
promises in the traditions, inasmuch as the meaning intended by the
Imams of the Faith is not known by this people, as evidenced by the
traditions themselves. The people, therefore, must not allow such
utterances to deprive them of the divine bounties, but should rather seek enlightenment from them who are the recognized Expounders thereof, so that the hidden mysteries may be unravelled, and be made manifest unto them.
We perceive none, however, amongst the people of the earth who, sincerely yearning for the Truth, seeketh the guidance of the divine Manifestations concerning the abstruse matters of his Faith.
All are dwellers in the land of oblivion, and all are followers of the
people of wickedness and rebellion. God will verily do unto them that
which they themselves are doing, and will forget them even as they have
ignored His Presence in His day. Such is His decree unto those that
have denied Him, and such will it be unto them that have rejected His
signs.
-- Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 255
3)
Know then that He who uttered these words in the realms of glory meant
to describe the attributes of the One Who is to come in such veiled and
enigmatic terms as to elude the understanding of the people of error.
Now, when He saith: "His eyes were as a flame of fire", He alludeth but
to the keenness of sight and acuteness of vision of the Promised One,
Who with His eyes burneth away every veil and covering, maketh known
the eternal mysteries in the contingent world, and distinguisheth the
faces that are obscured with the dust of hell from those that shine
with the light of paradise.51 Were His eyes not made of the blazing
fire of God, how could He consume every veil and burn away all that the
people possess? How could He behold the signs of God in the Kingdom of
His names and in the world of creation? How could He see all things
with the all-perceiving eye of God? Thus have we conferred upon Him a
penetrating vision in this day. Would that ye believe in the verses of
God! For, indeed, what fire is fiercer than this flame that shineth in
the Sinai of His eyes, whereby He consumeth all that hath veiled the
peoples of the world? Immeasurably exalted shall God remain above all
that hath been revealed in His unerring Tablets concerning the
mysteries of the beginning and the end until that day when the Crier
will cry out, the day whereon we shall all return unto Him.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gems of Divine Mysteries, p. 53
4)
The following is said of the handmaidens
(the pre-existent Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah, one of the two
classes of Prophets), who explain hidden meanings in the Holy
Texts: "Create, moreover, within it, O my God, out of the
lights shed by Thy throne, handmaidens who will intone the melodies of
Thy wondrous and most sweet invention, that they may magnify Thy name
with such words as have not been heard by any of Thy creatures, be they
the inmates of Thy heaven or the dwellers of Thine earth, nor been comprehended by any of Thy people." In the subsequent passage it's also said of the 'Living Temple', "We
have caused the oceans of inner meaning and explanation to surge from
Thy heart in remembrance of Thy Lord, the God of mercy".
Since Thou hast purposed, O my God, to cause all created things to
enter into the tabernacle of Thy transcendent grace and favor, and to
waft over the entire creation the fragrances of the raiment of Thy
glorious unity, and to look upon all things with the eyes of Thy bounty
and Thy oneness, I beseech Thee, therefore, by Thy love, which Thou
hast made to be the mainspring of the revelations of Thine eternal
holiness, and the flame that gloweth within the hearts of such of Thy
creatures as yearn towards Thee, to create, this very moment, for those
of Thy people who are wholly devoted to Thee, and for such of Thy loved
ones as love Thee, out of the essence of Thy bounty and Thy generosity,
and from the inmost spirit of Thy grace and Thy glory, Thy Paradise of
transcendent holiness, and to exalt it above everything except Thee,
and to sanctify it from aught else save Thyself. Create, moreover,
within it, O my God, out of the lights shed by Thy throne, handmaidens
who will intone the melodies of Thy wondrous and most sweet invention,
that they may magnify Thy name with such words as have not been heard
by any of Thy creatures, be they the inmates of Thy heaven or the
dwellers of Thine earth, nor been comprehended by any of Thy people.
Unlock, then, the gates of this Paradise to the faces of Thy loved
ones, that haply they may enter them in Thy name, and by the power of
Thy sovereignty, that thereby the sovereign bounties vouchsafed by Thee
unto Thy chosen ones and the transcendent gifts granted unto Thy
trusted ones be perfected, that they may extol Thy virtues with such
melodies as none can either intone or describe, and that none of Thy
people may conceive the design of appearing in the guise of any of Thy
chosen ones, or of emulating the example of Thy loved ones, and that
none may fail to discern between Thy friends and Thine enemies, or to
distinguish them that are devoted to Thee from such as stubbornly
oppose Thee. Potent art Thou to do what Thou willest, and powerful and
supreme art Thou over all things.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Prayers and Meditations, p. 326-327
1.81
O Living Temple!
We, verily, have made Thee a mirror unto the kingdom of names, that
Thou mayest be, amidst all mankind, a sign of My sovereignty, a herald
unto My presence, a summoner unto My beauty, and a guide unto My straight and perspicuous Path.
We have exalted Thy Name among Our servants as a bounty from Our
presence. I, verily, am the All-Bountiful, the Ancient of Days. We
have, moreover, adorned Thee with the ornament of Our own Self, and
have imparted unto Thee Our Word, that Thou mayest ordain in this
contingent world whatsoever Thou willest and accomplish whatsoever Thou
pleasest. We have destined for Thee all the good of the heavens and of
the earth, and decreed that none may attain unto a portion thereof
unless he entereth beneath Thy shadow, as bidden by Thy Lord, the
All-Knowing, the All-Informed. We have conferred upon Thee the Staff of
authority and the Writ of judgement, that Thou mayest test the wisdom
of every command. We have caused the oceans of inner meaning and explanation to surge from Thy heart in remembrance of Thy Lord, the God of mercy,
that Thou mayest render thanks and praise unto Him and be of those who
are truly thankful. We have singled Thee out from amongst all Our
creatures, and have appointed Thee as the Manifestation of Our own Self unto all who are in the heavens and on the earth.
-- Baha'u'llah, Surih of the Temple, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 43.
5)
The following prophecy about Muhammad and the 12 Imams in the Book of Revelation appears to be an example of holy writings that can only be explained by a Prophet.
12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with
the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of
twelve stars:
-- Bible: Revelation
21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and
the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
-- Bible: Revelation
The Law of God is also compared to an adorned bride who appears with
most beautiful ornaments, as it has been said in chapter 21 of the
Revelation of St. John: "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband." And in chapter 12, verse 1, it is said: "And there appeared a
great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon
under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." This woman
is that bride, the Law of God that descended upon Muhammad. The sun
with which she was clothed, and the moon which was under her feet, are
the two nations which are under the shadow of that Law, the Persian and
Ottoman kingdoms; for the emblem of Persia is the sun, and that of the
Ottoman Empire is the crescent moon. Thus the sun and moon are the
emblems of two kingdoms which are under the power of the Law of God.
Afterward it is said: "upon her head is a crown of twelve stars." These
twelve stars are the twelve Imáms, who were the promoters of the Law of
Muhammad and the educators of the people, shining like stars in the
heaven of guidance.
-- `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 68
The term "suns" hath many a time been applied in the writings of the
"immaculate Souls" unto the Prophets of God, those luminous Emblems of
Detachment. Among those writings are the following words recorded in
the "Prayer of Nudbih":[1] "Whither are gone the resplendent Suns?
Whereunto have departed those shining Moons and sparkling Stars?" Thus,
it hath become evident that the terms "sun," "moon," and "stars"
primarily signify the Prophets of God, the saints, and their
companions, those Luminaries, the light of Whose knowledge hath shed
illumination upon the worlds of the visible and the invisible.
[1 "Lamentation" attributed to the Twelfth Imam.]
-- Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 35
6)
Bahá'u'lláh uses similar
symbolism to the passage above from the Book of Revelation in the
Tablet of the Maiden to announce his Revelation.
Praise be to Thee, O God, My God. I make mention of Thee at this time,
when the sun of Thy Godhead hath risen from the horizon of the splendid
divinity of Thy oneness,...
There arose the houri [the Maid of Heaven, the Independent Prophet], Who
had dwelt in pre-eternity in the pavilions of holiness, protection, and
glorification and in the canopies of sinlessness, greatness and
splendor...
... Then the firmament was illumined by the radiance of its light,
contingent beings were made resplendent by its appearance and
effulgence, and by its rays infinite numbers of suns dawned forth, as
though they trekked through heavens that were without beginning or end.
I became bewildered at the pen of God's handiwork, and at what it had
inscribed upon Her temple. It was as though She had appeared with a
body of light in the forms of the spirit, as though She moved upon the
earth of essence in the substance of manifestation. I noticed that the
houris [the Maids of Heaven, the Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah] had poked their heads out
of their rooms [chambers] and were suspended in the air above Her. They
grew perplexed at Her appearance and Her beauty, and were entranced by
the raptures of Her song. Praise be to Her creator, fashioner, and
maker -- to the one Who made Her manifest...
Thus do we address you, O concourse of paradise, with a vision of
eternity. Interpret it for Me, if ye can interpret the vision of the
spirit.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, the Tablet of the Maiden (a provisional translation by Juan Cole)
7)
Daniel fortells coming of the Baha'u'llah, explained by Abdu'l-Baha.
12:6 And one said to the man clothed in linen, which was upon the
waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?
12:7 And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of
the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto
heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a
time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to
scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be
finished.
12:8 And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
12:9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.
12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked
shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the
wise shall nderstand.
12:11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away,
and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a
thousand two hundred and ninety days.
12:12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
12:13 But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.
-- Bible: Daniel
To conclude, let us now explain the date of the manifestation of
Bahá'u'lláh from the Bible. The date of Bahá'u'lláh is calculated
according to lunar years from the mission and the Hejira of Muhammad;
for in the religion of Muhammad the lunar year is in use, as also it is
the lunar year which is employed concerning all commands of worship.
In Daniel, chapter 12, verse 6, it is said: "And one said to the man
clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long
shall it be to the end of these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in
linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his
right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by Him that liveth
for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and that when
He shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all
these things shall be finished."
As I have already explained the signification of one day, it is not
necessary to explain it further; but we will say briefly that each day
of the Father counts as a year, and in each year there are twelve
months. Thus three years and a half make forty-two months, and
forty-two months are twelve hundred and sixty days. The Báb, the
precursor of Bahá'u'lláh, appeared in the year 1260 from the Hejira of
Muhammad, by the reckoning of Islám.
Afterward, in verse 11, it is said: "And from the time that the daily
sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh
desolation be set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety
days. Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three
hundred and five and thirty days."
The beginning of this lunar reckoning is from the day of the
proclamation of the prophethood of Muhammad in the country of Hijáz;
and that was three years after His mission, because in the beginning
the prophethood of Muhammad was kept secret, and no one knew it save
Khadíjah and Ibn Nawfal. After three years it was announced. And
Bahá'u'lláh, in the year 1290 from the proclamation of the mission of
Muhammad, caused His manifestation to be known.
-- `Abdu'l-Bahá, Some Answered Questions, p. 44
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