The Covenant of Baha'u'llah
by Adib Taherzadeh
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chapter 11 | start page | single page | chapter 13 |  |
Chapter 12
'The Day that Shall Not Be Followed by Night'
The Kitab-i-'Ahd has been the most vital and momentous instrument for safeguarding and strengthening the foundations of the Cause of Bahá'u'lláh. On the one hand it tested the faithfulness of the believers, separating the good from the evil; on the other, it provided the means for protecting the unity and ensuring the wholesomeness of the community. It has been and will continue to be the guarantor of the invincibility of the institutions of the Faith and the means of the fulfilment of the words of Bahá'u'lláh that 'this is the day that shall not be followed by night'.Shoghi Effendi describes the Kitab-i-'Ahd in these words:
"To direct and canalize these forces let loose by this Heaven-sent process, and to insure their harmonious and continuous operation after His ascension, an instrument divinely ordained, invested with indisputable authority, organically linked with the Author of the Revelation Himself, was clearly indispensable. That instrument Bahá'u'lláh had expressly provided through the institution of the Covenant, an institution which He had firmly established prior to His ascension. This same Covenant He had anticipated in His Kitab-i-Aqdas, had alluded to it as He bade His last farewell to the members of His family, who had been summoned to His bed-side, in the days immediately preceding His ascension, and had incorporated it in a special document which He designated as 'the Book of My Covenant', and which He entrusted, during His last illness, to His eldest son Abdu'l-Bahá.
"Written entirely in His own hand; unsealed on the ninth day after His ascension in the presence of nine witnesses chosen from amongst His companions and members of His Family; read subsequently, on the afternoon of that same day, before a large company assembled in His Most Holy Tomb, including His sons, some of the Bab's kinsmen, pilgrims and resident believers, this unique and epoch-making Document, designated by Bahá'u'lláh as His 'Most Great Tablet', and alluded to by Him as the 'Crimson Book' in His 'Epistle to the Son of the Wolf', can find no parallel in the Scriptures of any previous Dispensation, not excluding that of the Bab Himself. For nowhere in the books pertaining to any of the world's religious systems, not even among the writings of the Author of the Babi Revelation, do we find any single document establishing a Covenant endowed with an authority comparable to the Covenant which Bahá'u'lláh had Himself instituted." [12-1]
By this momentous document the station of Abdu'l-Bahá as the Centre of the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh was announced to the believers. What was only implicit in the Kitab-i-Aqdas was now made explicit in the Kitab-i-'Ahd. The passage, 'Turn your faces towards Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root', revealed in the former Book, was now clearly stated to mean Abdu'l-Bahá. Bahá'u'lláh unequivocally affirms:
"The object of this sacred Verse is none other except the Most Mighty Branch.[1]
[1 One of Abdu'l-Bahá's titles given to Him by Bahá'u'lláh was 'The Most Mighty Branch'. After the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh, however, Abdu'l-Bahá chose the title of Abdu'l-Bahá (Servant of Bahá'u'lláh) and asked the believers to refer to Him only by this name.]
This clear appointment of Abdu'l-Bahá as the Centre of Covenant safeguards the unity of the Bahá'à community and protects it against schism and all manner of division. No other religious dispensation, including that of the Bab, has brought into being an instrument designed to so ensure the unity of its community. Through the institution of the Covenant, the mighty stronghold of the Cause of God has become invincible in spite of the powerful assaults launched against it over a long period of time by the Covenant-breakers. As we shall see later in this book, Mirza Muhammad-'Ali and his supporters viciously attacked the Cause of God with such ferocity that the opposition made against the faithful in previous Dispensations fades into insignificance compared to it. In spite of this, the Covenant-breakers failed miserably and the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh triumphed.
It was not so in past religions. For instance, as we look back upon the history of Islam we note that after the Prophet passed away, His followers almost immediately became divided into the two major sects of Sunni and Shi'ah. It has been stated already in this book that Muhammad had made a verbal statement appointing Ali-Ibn-i-Abu Talib, known as Imam Ali, as His Successor. But this appointment became a controversial subject as Muhammad left behind no document to support it.
There is an episode widely spoken of, especially among the Shi'ahs, concerning the last days of Muhammad's earthly life. It is claimed that as He lay in His death-bed, four of His outstanding followers were sitting at His bedside. They were Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. Abu Bakr was the father-in-law of the Prophet, and Ali was His cousin and son-in-law. Muhammad is reported to have called for writing materials, wishing to leave some guidance for His followers. But the scheming Umar, a shrewd tactician, did not allow the wish of the Prophet to be realized. He said that the Prophet, so near the time of His death, was not of sound mind and therefore no writing material should be given to Him. The Shi'ahs, who follow Imam Ali, claim that had the Prophet been allowed to write His will he would have confirmed the verbal statement He had made at Ghadir-i-Khumm concerning the appointment of Ali as His Successor.
When Muhammad passed away, Umar rallied the majority of the followers around the old and ailing Abu Bakr who enjoyed a great deal of prestige among the people. He became the first Khalif (Caliph) of Islam. Two years later when Abu Bakr died, Umar became the second Khalif and soon under his direction the military conquests of the Muslims began. Through the influence exerted by Umar the great majority of the followers of Muhammad, the Sunnis, rejected the claims of Imam Ali to successorship.
It is a fundamental belief of the Bahá'Ãs that Imam Ali was the lawful successor of the Prophet of Islam. After him his lineal male descendants known as the 'holy Imams' led the Shi'ah community until the year 260 AH. Bahá'u'lláh regarded the Imams as the legitimate successors of the Prophet, acknowledged the value of their work in the elucidation of the Qur'an, confirmed many of their sayings as recorded in the books of 'Ahadith' (traditions), quoted several of these in His Writings, interpreted their words, extolled their station (especially that of Husayn, the third Imam) in glowing terms, and referred to them as 'those unquenchable lights of divine guidance' [12-2] and 'those lamps of certitude'. [12-3]
Through his misguided opposition to Ali, Umar frustrated the intentions of Muhammad as to His successorship and the direction of the affairs of Islam. Imam Ali attempted to assert his position as Muhammad's verbally designated successor and the expounder of the Words of God as revealed in the Qur'an. But the response of Umar to this claim was his fateful remark: 'The Book of God is sufficient unto us.' This short statement has echoed through the centuries and ages until Abdu'l-Bahá, in His celebrated Tablet, the Lawh-i-Hizar Bayti (Tablet of One Thousand Verses), described its woeful consequences. Abdu'l-Bahá states that it was this very statement which caused the foundation of the religion of God in the Islamic Dispensation to be shattered and the ignoble worshippers of self and passion to rule over the righteous souls. It became a deadly weapon with which the Imam Ali himself was martyred, which caused great divisions within the nation of Islam, and which changed the loving spirit of that nation to that of warriors armed with sword and weapons. As a result of this statement, the head of Imam Husayn, the most illustrious of the Imams, was decapitated on the plain of Karbila, the other holy Imams were inflicted with great sufferings, imprisonment and death, and the blood of countless innocent souls was shed for well-nigh twelve hundred years.
Abdu'l-Bahá further affirms that this statement uttered by Umar was transformed into the hundreds of bullets centuries later which pierced the breast of the Bab in Tabriz, that this statement became the chains which were placed around the blessed neck of Bahá'u'lláh, and brought about the untold sufferings inflicted upon Him in the course of His successive exiles.
All these and many more atrocities committed during the Islamic dispensation Abdu'l-Bahá attributes to the influence of the simple statement 'The Book of God is sufficient unto us'. It deprived the greater part of the Islamic nation from the wealth of spiritual knowledge which the holy Imams imparted to their followers through their interpretation and elucidation of the many abstruse passages in the Qur'an, as well as their illuminating prophecies concerning the advent of the Qa'im, the Promised One of Islam.
The course of history itself changed as a result of Umar's opposition to Imam Ali. The successful breaking of the Covenant of Muhammad by Umar through his refusal to submit to Imam Ali as the lawful successor of the Prophet and the interpreter of His words, brought about, according to Abdu'l-Bahá, the direst of consequences for many nations and peoples. Who knows in what manner the Faith of Islam would have spread and its community developed had all the followers remained faithful to the wishes of Muhammad and followed Imam Ali as His lawful successor? Abdu'l-Bahá implies in the above Tablet that if the nation of Islam had been faithful to Ali, many of the atrocities and cruelties committed since the passing of Muhammad could have been mitigated or avoided.
Abdu'l-Bahá wrote the Tablet of Hizar Bayti to Jalil-i-Khu'i,[1] a
believer who was being drawn into the Covenant-breakers' net in the
province of Adhirbayjan. The reason why Abdu'l-Bahá dwells at
length in this Tablet on the episode of Umar and explains the dire
results of his action in leading the people away from the lawful
successor of Muhammad is in order to demonstrate the evils of
Covenant-breaking and the tragic consequences of the violation of
the Kitab-i-'Ahd, Bahá'u'lláh's Will and Testament.
[1 See below, p. 166.]
In past Dispensations the Prophets did not establish a firm and unequivocal Covenant with their followers concerning their successors, nor did they leave behind clear guidance as to how to conduct the affairs of the community after their departure from this world. Consequently, religions became divided into many sects resulting in conflicts and disunity among the followers. But the non-existence of a clear Covenant and lack of guidance should not be construed as a failure on the part of the Founders of religions. To attribute to the Manifestations of God a lack of understanding, of vision and knowledge, is tantamount to attributing shortcomings and imperfections to God Himself. That the Manifestations of God are possessed of divine knowledge and are infallible in their actions constitutes the bedrock of faith and belief in God.
We may ask ourselves, then, why did the Founders of the past religions leave no clear guidance for their followers and what were the reasons which prevented them from making a Covenant in writing as did Bahá'u'lláh?
A careful study of the history of religions will enable us to realize that the Manifestations of old, those embodiments of God's attributes, did not make an unequivocal written Covenant with their followers because of the immaturity of the people of the age, who could not have sustained the rigours, the tests and the strict discipline which the observance of such a Covenant would inevitably have required. Mankind has gone through the stages of infancy, childhood and adolescence. This is the day of the coming of age of humanity. For the Manifestations of God in past ages to establish a written Covenant with their followers would have been like giving a child new clothes and expecting him to keep them clean and tidy forever. It is obvious that he will not be able to comply. A child may roll in mud and stain his clothes, but that is normal for his age: he cannot realistically be assigned a responsibility that he will be unable to undertake. One cannot ask a child to be accountable beyond his stage of development. Only when he comes of age will he become accountable for his actions according to adult expectations.
Some of the qualities which are essential for remaining faithful to the Covenant are humility and self-abnegation, steadfastness in one's faith and unquestioned loyalty to the Centre of the Cause, the Successor to the Prophet. The acquiring of these spiritual qualities and the living in accordance with them place great responsibilities on the believers. God therefore relieved the followers of past religions of this burden, knowing that it was beyond their capacity at that time to be held responsible for observing the terms of the Covenant. However, now that mankind is destined to come of age in this day, God has for the first time established a mighty and irrefutable Covenant, and required His servants to obey His commandments and be answerable for their deeds.
In spite of the many divisions, schisms and sects formed in past religions, and the great conflicts which ensued as a result, each division flourished and gained strength with the passage of time. For instance, Christians divided themselves into several denominations, and these multiplied as the years went by. Yet the tree of Christianity blossomed even after acquiring several more branches, and each one remained verdant and flourishing. The denominations have survived centuries of conflict and bloodshed. This turmoil and discord within the communities were the growing pains of humanity characteristic of the period of childhood, through which it was passing, and Christ in His all-encompassing wisdom did not impose upon His followers a Covenant whose terms would have been beyond their capacity.
Islam experienced similar conflicts in its turbulent history. Although it is the most recent of the older religions, yet Muhammad's followers were not sufficiently mature to be given a firm Covenant, similar to that established by Bahá'u'lláh, requiring them to obey strictly the Prophet's commandments and above all, not to create divisions within their ranks.
There was another feature in Islam which it is important to understand. Since Muhammad had made a verbal declaration concerning the station of Imam Ali implying that he was to be His successor, as we have already stated, the majority of the Muslims violated the wishes of their Prophet, rejected Ali, and for centuries dominated over those who had followed him. Bahá'u'lláh explains in the Tablet of Salman[1] that the domination of the unfaithful over the faithful in the Islamic Dispensation was a pre-destined phenomenon which was foreshadowed in a verse of the Qur'an: 'There is none other God but God.' This phrase contains the most fundamental truth upon which the religion of Islam is based. It is the cardinal statement of faith which every Muslim must make in order to declare his belief in Islam. Bahá'u'lláh states that there is a mystery hidden in this verse which no one had been able to discover until He revealed it in this Day.
[1 See The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, vol. 2, ch. 13.]
In this Tablet, Bahá'u'lláh affirms that God, through His wisdom, so worded this phrase that the letter of negation in it ('none') precedes that of affirmation. He thus attributes the domination of the unfaithful over the faithful in the Dispensation of Islam to the mysterious influence of this sacred phrase, which appears repeatedly in the Qur'an. Therefore, as a result of the creative influence of this phrase ever since it was revealed by Muhammad, the violators of His unwritten Covenant — those who rejected Ali and represented by the letters of negation — ruled over His faithful followers. All the suffering which the hands of the unfaithful — those who disregarded Muhammad's wishes and opposed His intended successor — inflicted upon the steadfast Muslims was indeed the fulfilment of the hidden significance of this utterance of Muhammad. He must have known, through the mystery enshrined in the verse, 'There is none other God but God', that His followers would be incapable of maintaining their unity after Him. God had, through His wisdom, so destined that the froward and the insincere took precedence over the obedient and the faithful.
Referring to this phrase, Bahá'u'lláh in the same Tablet proclaims in majestic and powerful language that in this day He has removed the letter of negation which had been placed before that of affirmation. This phrase, which the Prophet of Islam regarded as the cornerstone of His Faith, is now in the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh symbolically replaced by the affirmative phrase 'He is God'. This signifies that the Author of this Faith holds within His own hands the reins of authority, and, unlike the Dispensations of the past, no one will have the power to wrest it from Him. Hence the assurance in His Writings that this is 'the Day which shall not be followed by night'.
In another of His Tablets He reveals these reassuring words:
"The Hand of Omnipotence hath established His Revelation upon an unassailable, an enduring foundation. Storms of human strife are powerless to undermine its basis, nor will men's fanciful theories succeed in damaging its structure." [12-4]
There is yet another mystery in the Tablet of Salman: while effecting the removal of the letter of negation and replacing it with that of affirmation, Bahá'u'lláh indicates that He will be issuing the command for this change and communicating it to the believers at a later time. After the ascension of Bahá'u'lláh, the believers who were steadfast in the Covenant were convinced that the command for removing the letter of negation as described in the Tablet of Salman was none other than the Kitab-i-'Ahd, the Will and Testament of Bahá'u'lláh.
Through this mighty document the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh was established and its Centre appointed. The proof that the letter of negation has been removed is that in this Dispensation the Covenant-breakers have never been, nor will they ever be, able to undermine the unity of the followers of Bahá'u'lláh or to seize the reins of authority from the divinely ordained institutions which are charged by Bahá'u'lláh to direct the affairs of His Cause. History has so far confirmed this, and it is one of the distinguishing features of this Dispensation. There have been many powerful attacks launched against the Centre of the Cause from within. Those who rebelled against Abdu'l-Bahá were not ignorant or senseless people. On the contrary, most of them were intelligent and capable; some were highly knowledgeable teachers, immensely respected by the Bahá'à community in Persia. In the Holy Land too, some members of the family of Bahá'u'lláh were knowledgeable and powerful men. Mirza Muhammad-'Ali, who so prided himself on his talents, was a master of calligraphy, which in those days carried great prestige in the community. He also exerted great influence over people. The ceaseless efforts of the Covenant-breakers at the time of Abdu'l-Bahá to destroy the edifice of the Cause of God appeared to many to be successful at first, but as we have seen, all of them, together with their misguided notions and theories, were thrown into the abyss of extinction and perished miserably.
The Kitab-i-'Ahd has been referred to by Bahá'u'lláh as the Crimson Book.[1] He used this term in alluding to it about a year before His ascension, in His Epistle to the Son of the Wolf. This designation is not used exclusively to refer to the Kitab-i-'Ahd, but that Tablet is certainly a document which became instrumental in testing the faith of every believer, resulting in separation between the pure in heart and the insincere. Everything revealed in this mighty document may be summarized in one short phrase: 'Turn toward'.
[1 'Crimson' implies, among other things, tests and sacrifice.]
"When the ocean of My presence has ebbed and the Book of My Revelation is ended, turn your faces toward Him Whom God hath purposed, Who hath branched from this Ancient Root." [12-5]
The spiritual forces released by the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh for forty years were thus vouchsafed to Abdu'l-Bahá. His words, although not of the same rank, have the same validity as the Words of Bahá'u'lláh. Everything that Bahá'u'lláh had brought to mankind was deposited within the soul of Abdu'l-Bahá and to receive these the believers had to 'turn toward' Him. This act of 'turning' is the pivot round which the Covenant of Bahá'u'lláh revolves for all time, and steadfastness in the Covenant will be determined by the extent to which a believer readily turns to the Centre of the Cause.
To recognize the station of Bahá'u'lláh and believe in Him as the Supreme Manifestation of God is the first and the most essential step for man in his journey to his spiritual abode. But belief in Bahá'u'lláh will not be acceptable to God unless the believer turns to the Centre of the Covenant, is submissive to Him and wholeheartedly carries out His commandments. Moreover, this magical phrase 'turn toward' is not limited to the Ministry of Abdu'l-Bahá only. It is applicable for all time. After the passing of Abdu'l-Bahá, the believers had again to 'turn toward' Shoghi Effendi, and today toward the Universal House of Justice.
To emphasize this important feature of the Covenant the following analogy may be helpful. An aircraft flies in the air because its engines create a special condition which enables the machine to fly; without them the craft will not move. Similarly, belief in Bahá'u'lláh as the Supreme Manifestation of God in this age uplifts the soul and enables it to soar into the spiritual realms. A believer's faith in Bahá'u'lláh thus acts like the engine in the above analogy. But a powerful engine, however needed, cannot ensure the safety of an aircraft or its smooth landing at its destination. There is a need for the navigational signals which a modern aircraft receives from the control tower to determine its direction, height and speed, and the pilot obeys these instructions almost blindly until the machine lands safely. Without navigational aids and the readiness of the pilot to follow these signals, there is every likelihood that a disaster will take place.
Similarly, faith in Bahá'u'lláh is not completely sufficient unto itself. The believer has to faithfully obey the guidance he receives from the Centre of the Cause. During the Ministry of Bahá'u'lláh, it was to Him that the believers turned for guidance. Later it was Abdu'l-Bahá who became the Centre for this guidance, after Him Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Faith, and today the Universal House of Justice. If someone reaches the pinnacle of faith and certitude in the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, but refuses to follow the guidance of Abdu'l-Bahá, of Shoghi Effendi, or the House of Justice, he cannot be considered a true believer. Those who regarded themselves to be followers of Bahá'u'lláh but arose actively in opposition to Abdu'l-Bahá or Shoghi Effendi were pronounced as Covenant-breakers and cast out of the Community of the Most Great Name.
It is the same today. Those who claim to be believers, accepting the station of Abdu'l-Bahá and Shoghi Effendi, but who oppose the Universal House of Justice, are treated in the same way. The imperative necessity of removing such people from the community will become clear as we continue the story.
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