Posted by Jonah on September 19, 1999 at 23:29:18:

In Reply to: Question about Tablet of All Food posted by Shane on August 31, 1999 at 21:29:27:

Hi, Shane. Sorry for taking so long to respond, I just noticed your question! Mustaghath does mean "He Who is invoked," as in the invocation "Ya Allahu'l Mustaghath," "O God the Invoked."

The Bab had said that the next Manifestation would come by the time of Mustaghath, and in His early writings, Baha'u'llah Himself often referred to "the time of the Mustaghath." Since the abjad numbering of "mustaghath" is 2001, that means that the Bab (apparently) set the upper limit of the time of the manifestation as 2001 years in the future. This was, in fact, used by the anti-Baha'i movements as evidence against the claims of Baha'u'llah. Baha'u'llah does address this issue, but I forget where.

-Jonah

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