From: hakim@bigq.enet.dec.com
Newsgroups: soc.religion.bahai
Subject: The Claims of The Bab (was Refutation of Baha'i....) (Part 01/10)
Date: 4 Dec 92 14:32:11 GMT
Article-I.D.: ogicse.47206
Organization: -

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.  Issa is Arabic for Jesus,
Issa-ibn-i Maryam for Jesus, Son of Mary; the author's use of these
terms stems from the primarily Moslem background of his original
audience --rdt]: 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 [traditions ascribed to Muhammad or His successors --rdt].
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 lengthen 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."

Therefore, 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 readiness 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 to
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,
thought it necessary to employ the parable, Siyyid Ali-Muhammad [i.e.
The Bab], 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 truths. He brings up his child, Humanity; he guides it,
endeavoring always not to frighten it and directs its first steps on a
path which leads it slowly but surely, so that, as soon as it can
proceed alone, it reaches the goal preordained for it from all
eternity."

[The above passage, and other translations from the original French in
this series of articles, may be found in Emily McBride Perigord
(transl.), "Translation of French Foot-Notes of the Dawn-Breakers."
"The Dawn-Breakers" is an extensive history of the Babi era.  The
above passage is on page 15 of "Translation" --rdt]

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
Himself. 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.  Surihs are the "chapters" of the Qur'an. --rdt], 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