Posted by Nick Stone on May 24, 2101 at 14:25:45:

In Reply to: Re: Baha'u'llah can't be a prophet of God. posted by David on May 22, 2101 at 07:45:56:

Hi Dave,

A few things.

1.) Fair enough, this kind of "miracle" you cannot accept because you were not there. I didn't mean to put forward Baha'u'llah as a prophet because of his "miracles". It was just a few things that I, as a Baha'i, find amazing and believable according to science.

2.) You asked about Baha'u'llah anticipating the end of the Cold War. This was not my point. My point was that contemporary historians and analysts cannot even predict the future for 1 year in advance, let alone identify the trends for 150 years. AND they have all the information and computers to use which Baha'u'llah did not. He had no library, no books, no scholars to discuss with. He had a pen and paper that's all.

3.) Not every Iranian Muslim can master Arabic without schooling. Baha'u'llah did not want the world to become Baha'i through miracles. For Him to have revealed Tablets in a foreign language would have been too much I think, for people to ignore. I think somewhere Baha'u'llah says that "Were it His Will, He would, through but a single word proceeding from His presence, lay hold on all mankind."

There is another point worth making here as well. I heard a story about Mohammad and the Koran. In this book, the challenge is repeatedly made for people to produce a book like it. Now, I believe someone actually did, and somehow proved that grammatically-wise, their book was more beautiful. However, of course no one followed this man, whereas Mohammad has had one of the biggest influences upon mankind in world history. It is the power endowed within the words that no one can match.

4.) I suggest you do some independent research into the extent to which Baha'u'llah was educated. As I said before, penmanship is an art which takes a lifetime to master. Certainly Baha'u'llah spent no more than a few years of his lifetime at school.

5.) I don't know about this Tablet. I have never come across it. Where is it?

6.)it is good you have many questions. My points about repeated denial were not really to do with you, but to do with people who seem to understand that Baha'u'llah has the answers, but whose pride prevents them from admitting it. I don't hold you in that category!

You asked about what distinguishes a good man from a Prophet. One of the things is that very few good men claim to be Prophets, and whose claims are accepted and whose followers and Faith grows after he has died. I suggest you do some research and make a probability graph of the people in history who have claimed to be prophets, and who have actually succeeded in establishing a religion which has outlasted their death by a considerable margin. I don't know the answers, but I am willing to bet that there are very few people who have made claims who have been successful in their claims. And by successful I mean that their religion wasn't a temporary cult which disintegrated after the founder's death.

This is what 'Abdu'l-Baha had to say about the matter:

NINE QUALIFICATIONS BY WHICH THE GREAT MASTER MAY BE RECOGNISED

The Great Master should be the educator of the world of humanity.
His teachings should be universal and confer illumination upon mankind.
His knowledge should be innate and spontaneous, not acquired.
He should answer the questions of all sages, solve the difficult problems of humanity, and be able to withstand all the persecutions and sufferings heaped upon him.
He should be a joy-bringer and the herald of the kingdom of happiness.
His knowledge should be infinite and his wisdom all-comprehensive.
The penetration of his Word and the potency of his influence should be so great as to humble his worst enemies.
Sorrows and tribulations must not vex him. His courage and conviction must be God-like. Day unto day he must become firmer and more zealous.
He should be the establisher of universal civilization, the unifier of religions, the standard-bearer of universal peace, and the embodiment of all the highest and noblest virtues of the world of humanity.

Whenever you find these conditions realized in a human temple, to him look for guidance and illumination.....
'Abdu'l-Bahá in Star of the West

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