From: hakim@bigq.enet.dec.com (Kamran Hakim)
Subject: The Station of The Bab (Re: A Refutation of Baha'i view....) 1/10
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Date: 28 JAN 93 10:07:55    


Dr. Habib Siddiqui (RBNXHS@rohvm1.rohmhaas.com) writes:

HS>        Bismillahir Rahmaneer Raheem
HS>(In the name of Allah, Most Merciful to all - Muslims and non-Muslims,
HS>in this world, and Most Merciful to ONLY Muslims in the Hereafter)
                                       ^^^^
Very interesting opinion.

HS>Before I confront the Bahai view on the above subject, as presented by
            ^^^^^^^^
HS>Babak Mohajerin, 

Your choice of wording is rather strong. I'd humbly request that we
share opinions, discuss perspectives and learn from one another.

HS>let me give a brief account of this religion how it
HS>started in order that Muslims have a fair understanding of what it stands
                                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
HS>for and why its understanding of certain explicit verses in the Qur'an
   ^^^
HS>are different than Muslims. (References are also cited for proof.)

Let us see HOW FAIR you are in presenting "what it [i.e. Baha'i Faith. KH] 
stands for".

HS>In the middle of the 19th century, Mirza Ali Muhammad Shirazi, an Iranian
HS>claimed to be the agent and Bab (door) of the awaited Imam Mahdi. 
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

In order to get a fuller understanding of this concept of "BABI'YAT", 
or GATEHOOD, one must examine the past Scriptures. The point which becomes 
apparent in this endeavour is that ALL PREVIOUS SCRIPTURES forecast the 
simultaneous appearance of TWO MESSENGERS of God. Examination of the 
relationship between These Messengers and Their tasks clarifies the 
implications associated with the GATEHOOD of Seyyed Ali Muhammad of 
Shiraz. The Jewish Scriptures demonstrates this relationship in the 
clearest manner:

"And the glory of the Lord [i.e. Which translates in Arabic to Baha'u'llah. 
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
KH] came into the house by the way of the GATE [i.e. Which translates in
Arabic to Bab. KH] whose prospect is toward the EAST [i.e. Which is the
direction of their appearance. KH]."
							Ezekiel 43:4
Malachi speaks of the same concept:

"Behold I will send my MESSENGER [i.e. Mihdi. KH], and he shall prepare 
the way BEFORE ME [i.e. Issa. KH]: and the Lord, whom ye seek shall 
suddenly come to his temple..."
							Malachi 3:1
He also said;

"Behold I will send you Elijah [i.e. Mihdi. KH] the prophet before the 
coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord [i.e. Day of Issa, or
when Issa appears. KH]."
							Malachi 4:5

Appearance of TWIN MESSENGERS of God is also verified by the Islamic 
Hadith. Perhaps the following Hadith will demonstrate this issue. 
Saied-ibn-i Jabir reports the following Hadith from Ibn-i Abbas, who 
heard it from Prophet Muhammad Who said:

"My successors after Me are God's proofs for the people of the earth.
They are twelve. First one of them my brother and last of them will be
my child. They asked: O Apostle of God who is your brother? He said
Ali-ibn Abu Talib. They asked who is your child? He said: He is Mihdi
								^^^^^
who will fill the earth with justice, even if it is full of injustice
and wretchedness. I swear to God Who made Me His Messenger even if one
day is left from the age of the world, God will lenghten that day to
the extent that My child Mihdi will become manifest. Then Issa, the
							  ^^^^
Spirit of God descends from heaven and pray behind Him."

Where, Mihdi will USHER the appearance of Issa, or will serve as the 
GATE through Whom people will enter the presence of Issa, or He will be 
made known to people. This is the underlying theological reason for 
which Seyyed Ali Muhammad of Shiraz assumed the title of The Bab. In 
His Writings He often refers to Issa as "Him Whom God will make manifest", 
or "Baha'u'llah" and yearns martyrdom in His path and prepares His 
followers for accepting Him:

"When the Day-star of Baha' [i.e. Issa. KH] will shine resplendent above 
the horizon of eternity it is incumbent upon you to present yourselves 
before His Throne. Beware lest ye be seated in His presence or ask 
questions without His leave. Fear ye God, O concourse of the Mirrors 
[This was a distinction conferred by The Ba'b upon His distinguished 
followers. KH]... Ye have, one and all, been called into being to seek 
His presence and to attain that exalted and glorious station." 

			Selections from Writings of The Bab, pp. 164-5
Also;

"Indeed ye have been called into being through the power of the Point of 
the Bayan [i.e. The Ba'b Himself. KH] while the point Himself is resigned 
to the Will of Him Whom God shall make manifest [i.e. Issa. KH]"

			Selections from Writings of The Bab

It is quite apparent from the behavior of The Bab that He was extremely 
judicious and careful about how He addressed His rather emotional Muslim 
contemporaries and their leaders depending on their capacities and readi-
ness to hear the fullest measure of His revelation. This is a behavior 
which a Muslim familiar with Shi'ah prophesies would have expected from 
the Promised Mihdi. Please allow me to offer couple of reasons for this. 
Let us examine the theological reason first. There are several well-known 
Ahadith [i.e. traditions] from the Imams of the Faith that deal with this
issue, one of which I will quote below:

"In our Qa'im [i.e. The Shi'ah term for Mihdi. KH] there shall be four 
signs from four Prophets. Moses, Jesus, Josef, and Muhammad. The sign from 
Moses, is fear and expectation; from Jesus, that which was spoken of Him; 
from Joseph, imprisonment and dissimulation [taqqi'eh. KH]; from Muhammad, 
                              ^^^^^^^^^^^^^  ^^^^^^^^
the Revelation of a Book similar to the Qur'an [i.e. Implying that He will 
bring new laws. KH]." 

I will not spend time on describing how The Bab fulfilled different parts
of this prophecy, so I will focus on "dissimulation".

To dissimulate means: To disguise under a feigned appearance.
                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Taqqi'eh or dissimulation is not a foreign idea to the religious history.
There are numerous examples of it available throughout Scriptures. The 
episode of Jesus meeting the high priest of Pharisees is one such case:

"And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief 
priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, 
saying, Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I 
tell you, ye will not believe: And if I also ask [you], ye will not 
answer me, nor let [me] go. Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the 
right hand of the power of God. Then said they all, Art thou then the 
Son of God? And he said unto them, Ye say that I am. And they said, 
What need we any further witness? for we ourselves have heard of his 
own mouth. And the whole multitude of them arose, and led him unto
Pilate."
					Luke, 22:66-71 to 23:1

Please note that Jesus speaks to the council of elders with RESERVATION.
He does not liberally give them His message in the fullest sense. By the
virtue of dissimulation He minimizes their emotions.

In terms of the logic behind dissimulation The Bab was prophesied to do,
A.L.M. Nicolas, in his introduction to volume I of `Le Bayan Persan' pp. 
3-5, puts it best when he says:

"Everyone agrees in acknowledging that it would be absolutely impossible 
for him [i.e The Bab] to proclaim loudly his doctrine or spread it among 
men. He had to act as does a physician to children, who must disguise a 
bitter medicine in a sweet coating in order to win over his young patients. 
The people in the midst of whom he [i.e The Bab] appeared [i.e Iranians] 
were, and still are, alas more fanatical than the Jews were at the time 
of Jesus, when the majesty of Roman peace was no longer there to put a 
stop to the furious excesses of religious madness of an over-excited 
people. Therefore, if Christ, in spite of the relative calm of the 
surroundings in which He preached, though it necessary to employ the 
parable, Siyyid Ali-Muhammad, a fortiori, was obliged to disguise his 
thought in numerous circuitous ways and only pour out, one drop at a 
time, the filter of his divine truth. He [i.e. The Bab] brings of his 
child, Humanity; he guides it, endeavoring always not to  frighten it 
and directs its first steps on a path which leads it to slowly but surely, 
so that, as soon as it can proceed alone, it reaches the goal preordained 
for it from all eternity."

The Bab Himself offers the following reasoning in one of His later works
known as "Dala'ile Sab'aeh" [Seven Proofs] about the particular approach 
He took in proclaiming His message to the public:

"Consider the kindness of the Promised One [The Bab is referring to Him-
self. KH]. Observe to what extent He has extended His kindness to Muslims 
to rescue them [From their ignorance and prejudice. KH]. The One Whose 
station is Primal among all creation [i.e. The Bab is referring to Himself. 
KH] and Him Who is the manifestation of "Ennani ana-allaha" [i.e. The Bab 
is referring to Himself. KH] had to present Himself as the gate of the 
Qa'im [i.e. Mihdi] of the House of the Prophet and endorse the laws of 
the Qur'an in His first Book [Qayyum'ul-Asma', the Commentary The Bab
revealed on Surih of Joseph. KH]. In order that people do not become 
disturbed by the new Book and the new Revelation, and that they realize 
the similarity between the two Books [i.e. The similarity between Qur'an 
and Qayyum'ul-Asma'. KH] and do not remain deprived of that for which 
they were created [i.e. The recognition of The Bab. KH].

	   My own inadequate translation of a section of Dala'ile Sab'aeh

This specific approach of The Bab became the divine scale for separating 
the true from false among believers, the pure in heart from arrogant, and 
the knowledgeable from ignorant. It allowed for the seed of faith to 
germinate in the hearts of the believers and grow into a mighty tree,
and for the flowers of certitude to blossom and become ready to yield 
their fruit at the time of the descent of Issa-ibn-i Maryam.

						Part 1 of 10
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