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Chapter 47
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The Oneness of God, as embodied by the Independent Prophets and the Dependent/Lesser Prophets.
1)
The Manifestation of God: the Manifestation of God's Oneness:
CXXXIII. The ordinances of God have been sent down from the heaven of
His most august Revelation. All must diligently observe them. Man's
supreme distinction, his real advancement, his final victory, have
always depended, and will continue to depend, upon them. Whoso keepeth
the commandments of God shall attain everlasting felicity.
A twofold obligation resteth upon him who hath recognized the Day
Spring of the Unity of God, and acknowledged the truth of Him Who is
the Manifestation of His oneness. The first is steadfastness in His
love, such steadfastness that neither the clamor of the enemy nor the
claims of the idle pretender can deter him from cleaving unto Him Who
is the Eternal Truth, a steadfastness that taketh no account of them
whatever. The second is strict observance of the laws He hath
prescribed -- laws which He hath always ordained, and will continue to
ordain, unto men, and through which the truth may be distinguished and
separated from falsehood.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 289
Some, deluded by their idle fancies, have conceived all created things
as associates and partners of God, and imagined themselves to be the
exponents of His unity. By Him Who is the one true God! Such men have
been, and will continue to remain, the victims of blind imitation, and
are to be numbered with them that have restricted and limited the
conception of God.
He is a true believer in Divine unity who, far from confusing duality
with oneness, refuseth to allow any notion of multiplicity to becloud
his conception of the singleness of God, who will regard the Divine
Being as One Who, by His very nature, transcendeth the limitations of
numbers.
The essence of belief in Divine unity consisteth in regarding Him Who
is the Manifestation of God and Him Who is the invisible, the
inaccessible, the unknowable Essence as one and the same. By this is
meant that whatever pertaineth to the former, all His acts and doings,
whatever He ordaineth or forbiddeth, should be considered, in all their
aspects, and under all circumstances, and without any reservation, as
identical with the Will of God Himself. This is the loftiest station to
which a true believer in the unity of God can ever hope to attain.
Blessed is the man that reacheth this station, and is of them that are
steadfast in their belief.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 166
2)
The following passage on the
"station of pure abstraction and essential unity" of the Manifestations
of God includes Muhammad, Adam, Noah, Moses and Jesus, who are
Independent Prophets; Ali [Imam Ali] and the Imams, who were Dependent (Lesser) Prophets of Muhummad; all or whom are "Exponents of Oneness [the Oneness of God]".
XXII. The Bearers of the Trust of God are made manifest unto the
peoples of the earth as the Exponents of a new Cause and the Revealers
of a new Message. Inasmuch as these Birds of the celestial Throne are
all sent down from the heaven of the Will of God, and as they all arise
to proclaim His irresistible Faith, they, therefore, are regarded as
one soul and the same person. For they all drink from the one Cup of
the love of God, and all partake of the fruit of the same Tree of
Oneness.
These Manifestations of God have each a twofold station. One is the
station of pure abstraction and essential unity. In this respect, if
thou callest them all by one name, and dost ascribe to them the same
attributes, thou hast not erred from the truth. Even as He hath
revealed: "No distinction do We make between any of His Messengers."
For they, one and all, summon the people of the earth to acknowledge
the unity of God, and herald unto them the Kawthar of an infinite grace
and bounty. They are all invested with the robe of prophethood, and are
honored with the mantle of glory. Thus hath Muhammad, the Point of the
Qur'án, revealed: "I am all the Prophets." Likewise, He saith: "I am
the first Adam, Noah, Moses, and Jesus." Similar statements have been
made by Imam Ali. Sayings such as these, which indicate the essential
unity of those Exponents of Oneness, have also emanated from the
Channels of God's immortal utterance, and the Treasuries of the gems of
Divine knowledge, and have been recorded in the Scriptures. These
Countenances are the recipients of the Divine Command, and the Day
Springs of His Revelation. This Revelation is exalted above the veils
of plurality and the exigencies of number. Thus He saith: "Our Cause is
but One." Inasmuch as the Cause is one and the same, the Exponents
thereof also must needs be one and the same. Likewise, the Imams of the
Muhammadan Faith, those lamps of certitude, have said: "Muhammad is our
first, Muhammad is our last, Muhammad our all."
It is clear and evident to thee that all the Prophets are the Temples
of the Cause of God, Who have appeared clothed in divers attire. If
thou wilt observe with discriminating eyes, thou wilt behold Them all
abiding in the same tabernacle, soaring in the same heaven, seated upon
the same throne, uttering the same speech, and proclaiming the same
Faith. Such is the unity of those Essences of Being, those Luminaries
of infinite and immeasurable splendor! Wherefore, should one of these
Manifestations of Holiness proclaim saying: "I am the return of all the
Prophets," He, verily, speaketh the truth. In like manner, in every
subsequent Revelation, the return of the former Revelation is a fact,
the truth of which is firmly established....
The other station is the station of distinction, and pertaineth to the
world of creation, and to the limitations thereof. In this respect,
each Manifestation of God hath a distinct individuality, a definitely
prescribed mission, a predestined revelation, and specially designated
limitations. Each one of them is known by a different name, is
characterized by a special attribute, fulfils a definite mission, and
is entrusted with a particular Revelation. Even as He saith: "Some of
the Apostles We have caused to excel the others. To some God hath
spoken, some He hath raised and exalted. And to Jesus, Son of Mary, We
gave manifest signs, and We strengthened Him with the Holy Spirit."
It is because of this difference in their station and mission that the
words and utterances flowing from these Well Springs of Divine
knowledge appear to diverge and differ. Otherwise, in the eyes of them
that are initiated into the mysteries of Divine wisdom, all their
utterances are, in reality, but the expressions of one Truth. As most
of the people have failed to appreciate those stations to which We have
referred, they, therefore, feel perplexed and dismayed at the varying
utterances pronounced by Manifestations that are essentially one and
the same.
It hath ever been evident that all these divergencies of utterance are
attributable to differences of station. Thus, viewed from the
standpoint of their oneness and sublime detachment, the attributes of
Godhead, Divinity, Supreme Singleness, and Inmost Essence, have been,
and are applicable to those Essences of Being, inasmuch as they all
abide on the throne of Divine Revelation, and are established upon the
seat of Divine Concealment. Through their appearance the Revelation of
God is made manifest, and by their countenance the Beauty of God is
revealed. Thus it is that the accents of God Himself have been heard
uttered by these Manifestations of the Divine Being.
Viewed in the light of their second station -- the station of
distinction, differentiation, temporal limitations, characteristics and
standards -- they manifest absolute servitude, utter destitution, and
complete self-effacement. Even as He saith: "I am the servant of God. I
am but a man like you."...
Were any of the all-embracing Manifestations of God to declare: "I am
God," He, verily, speaketh the truth, and no doubt attacheth thereto.
For it hath been repeatedly demonstrated that through their Revelation,
their attributes and names, the Revelation of God, His names and His
attributes, are made manifest in the world. Thus, He hath revealed:
"Those shafts were God's, not Thine." And also He saith: "In truth,
they who plighted fealty unto Thee, really plighted that fealty unto
God." And were any of them to voice the utterance, "I am the Messenger
of God," He, also, speaketh the truth, the indubitable truth. Even as
He saith: "Muhammad is not the father of any man among you, but He is
the Messenger of God." Viewed in this light, they are all but
Messengers of that ideal King, that unchangeable Essence. And were they
all to proclaim, "I am the Seal of the Prophets," they, verily, utter
but the truth, beyond the faintest shadow of doubt. For they are all
but one person, one soul, one spirit, one being, one revelation. They
are all the manifestation of the "Beginning" and the "End," the "First"
and the "Last," the "Seen" and the "Hidden" -- all of which pertain to
Him Who is the Innermost Spirit of Spirits and Eternal Essence of
Essences. And were they to say, "We are the Servants of God," this also
is a manifest and indisputable fact. For they have been made manifest
in the uttermost state of servitude, a servitude the like of which no
man can possibly attain. Thus in moments in which these Essences of
Being were deep immersed beneath the oceans of ancient and everlasting
holiness, or when they soared to the loftiest summits of Divine
mysteries, they claimed their utterances to be the Voice of Divinity,
the Call of God Himself
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 54
There is also the divine unity or entity which is sanctified above all
concept of humanity. It cannot be comprehended nor conceived because it
is infinite reality and cannot become finite. Human minds are incapable
of surrounding that reality because all thoughts and conceptions of it
are finite, intellectual creations and not the reality of divine being
which alone knows itself. For example, if we form a conception of
divinity as a living, almighty, self-subsisting, eternal being, this is
only a concept apprehended by a human intellectual reality. It would
not be the outward, visible reality which is beyond the power of human
mind to conceive or encompass. We ourselves have an external, visible
entity but even our concept of it is the product of our own brain and
limited comprehension. The reality of divinity is sanctified above this
degree of knowing and realization. It has ever been hidden and secluded
in its own holiness and sanctity above our comprehending. Although it
transcends our realization, its lights, bestowals, traces and virtues
have become manifest in the realities of the prophets, even as the sun
becomes resplendent in various mirrors. These holy realities are as
reflectors, and the reality of divinity is as the sun which although it
is reflected from the mirrors, and its virtues and perfections become
resplendent therein, does not stoop from its own station of majesty and
glory and seek abode in the mirrors; it remains in its heaven of
sanctity. At most it is this, that its lights become manifest and
evident in its mirrors or manifestations. Therefore its bounty
proceeding from them is one bounty but the recipients of that bounty
are many. This is the unity of God; this is oneness; -- unity of
divinity, holy above ascent or descent, embodiment, comprehension or
idealization; -- divine unity -- the prophets are its mirrors;
its lights are revealed through them; its virtues become resplendent in
them, but the Sun of Reality never descends from its own highest point
and station. This is unity, oneness, sanctity; this is glorification
whereby we praise and adore God.
-- Abdu'l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 67
3)
In the passage below it says,
"it is towards the inmost essence of these Prophets, therefore, that
the eye of every man of discernment must be directed" as they are the
Face of God on earth, the exponents of God's Oneness. In like manner,
Imam Ali, the first Dependent Prophet in the era of Muhammad states, "I
am He Who can neither be named, nor described." and "Outwardly I am an
Imám; inwardly I am the Unseen, the Unknowable [the Manifestation of God]."
The Prophets of God should be regarded as physicians whose task is to
foster the well-being of the world and its peoples, that, through the
spirit of oneness, they may heal the sickness of a divided humanity. To
none is given the right to question their words or disparage their
conduct, for they are the only ones who can claim to have understood
the patient and to have correctly diagnosed its ailments. No man,
however acute his perception, can ever hope to reach the heights which
the wisdom and understanding of the Divine Physician have attained.
Little wonder, then, if the treatment prescribed by the physician in
this day should not be found to be identical with that which he
prescribed before. How could it be otherwise when the ills affecting
the sufferer necessitate at every stage of his sickness a special
remedy? In like manner, every time the Prophets of God have illumined
the world with the resplendent radiance of the Day Star of Divine
knowledge, they have invariably summoned its peoples to embrace the
light of God through such means as best befitted the exigencies of the
age in which they appeared. They were thus able to scatter the darkness
of ignorance, and to shed upon the world the glory of their own
knowledge. It is towards the inmost essence of these Prophets,
therefore, that the eye of every man of discernment must be directed,
inasmuch as their one and only purpose hath always been to guide the
erring, and give peace to the afflicted.... These are not days of
prosperity and triumph. The whole of mankind is in the grip of manifold
ills. Strive, therefore, to save its life through the wholesome
medicine which the almighty hand of the unerring Physician hath
prepared.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 80
The Commander of the Faithful (Imám `Alí) hath said: "I am He Who can
neither be named, nor described." And likewise He hath said: "Outwardly
I am an Imám; inwardly I am the Unseen, the Unknowable [the Manifestation of God]."
Abú-Ja'far-i-Túsí hath said: "I said to Ábí `Abdi'lláh: `You are the
Way mentioned in the Book of God, and you are the Impost, and you are
the Pilgrimage.' He replied: `O man! We are the Way mentioned in the
Book of God,--exalted and glorified be He--and We are the Impost, and
We are the Fast, and We are the Pilgrimage, and We are the Sacred
Month, and We are the Sacred City, and We are the Kaaba of God, and We
are the Qiblih of God, and We are the Face of God.'"
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 112
4)
The Surih of the Temple, an important tablet revealed by Baha'u'llah, is another
place where Baha'u'llah refers to His many Dependent Prophets ("temples
of the Oneness of God") in separate paragraphs, in addition to other
important themes covered. Below is one such reference to a Dependent
Prophet of Baha'u'llah. "O Living Temple!" refers to the pre-existent
Dependent Prophet when on this earthly plane. "Temple"
is one of the many titles Baha'u'llah uses to refer to Prophets. As
indicated by the words, "we have appointed Thee as the Manifestation of
Our own Self unto all who are in the heavens and on the earth", the
Dependent Prophet is the Face of God -- a Temple of the Oneness of God.
1.12
O Pen of the Most High! Hearken unto the Call of Thy Lord, raised from
the Divine Lote-Tree in the holy and luminous Spot, that the sweet
accents of Thy Lord, the All-Merciful, may fill Thy soul with joy and
fervour, and that the breezes that waft from My name, the
Ever-Forgiving, may dispel Thy cares and sorrows. Raise up, then, from
this Temple, the temples of the Oneness of God, that they may tell out,
in the kingdom of creation, the tidings of their Lord, the Most
Exalted, the All-Glorious, and be of them that are illumined by His
light.
-- Baha'u'llah, Suri of the Temple, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 7
1.81
O Living Temple! We, verily, have made Thee a mirror unto the kingdom
of names, that Thou mayest be, amidst all mankind, a sign of My
sovereignty, a herald unto My presence, a summoner unto My beauty, and
a guide unto My straight and perspicuous Path. We have exalted Thy Name
among Our servants as a bounty from Our presence. I, verily, am the
All-Bountiful, the Ancient of Days. We have, moreover, adorned Thee
with the ornament of Our own Self, and have imparted unto Thee Our
Word, that Thou mayest ordain in this contingent world whatsoever Thou
willest and accomplish whatsoever Thou pleasest. We have destined for
Thee all the good of the heavens and of the earth, and decreed that
none may attain unto a portion thereof unless he entereth beneath Thy
shadow, as bidden by Thy Lord, the All-Knowing, the All-Informed. We
have conferred upon Thee the Staff of authority and the Writ of
judgement, that Thou mayest test the wisdom of every command. We have
caused the oceans of inner meaning and explanation to surge from Thy
heart in remembrance of Thy Lord, the God of mercy, that Thou mayest
render thanks and praise unto Him and be of those who are truly
thankful. We have singled Thee out from amongst all Our creatures, and
have appointed Thee as the Manifestation of Our own Self unto all who
are in the heavens and on the earth.
-- Baha'u'llah, Suri of the Temple, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 43
5)
In the passage below, from the
writings of Abdu'l-Baha, the "torches of God's oneness" is another
reference to Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah, "who would be
the very embodiments of guidance". They are said to be
"torches of God's oneness", "shining in the heavens where God reigneth
alone" as they are Face of God on earth (like
the Holy Imams in the era of Muhammad); and those who recognise and follow
them show "staunchness [firmness] in the Covenant".
203. O thou who art enamoured of the Covenant! The Blessed Beauty hath
promised this servant that souls would be raised up who would be the
very embodiments of guidance, and banners of the Concourse on high,
torches of God's oneness, and stars of His pure truth, shining in the
heavens where God reigneth alone. They would give sight to the blind,
and would make the deaf to hear; they would raise the dead to life.
They would confront all the peoples of the earth, pleading their Cause
with proofs of the Lord of the seven spheres.
It is my hope that in His bounty He will soon raise up these souls,
that His Cause may be exalted. The lodestone which will attract this
grace is staunchness in the Covenant. Render thou thanks unto God that
thou art firmest of the firm.
O my God, aid Thou Thy servant to raise up the Word, and to refute what
is vain and false, to establish the truth, to spread the sacred verses
abroad, reveal the splendours, and make the morning's light to dawn in
the hearts of the righteous.
Thou art verily the Generous, the Forgiving.
-- Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 250
6)
In the following passage, "His
loved ones" and they "whose hearts witness to His unity, whose tongues
proclaim His oneness, and who speak not except by His leave" are
Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah, who are the Face of God.
True believers in the Unity of God follow them, faithful to the
commandment: "forget not His covenant with you, and be not of them that
are shut out as by a veil from Him."
5.42
The days of your life are far spent, O people, and your end is fast
approaching. Put away, therefore, the things ye have devised and to
which ye cleave, and take firm hold on the precepts of God, that haply
ye may attain that which He hath purposed for you, and be of them that
pursue a right course. Delight not yourselves in the things of the
world and its vain ornaments, neither set your hopes on them. Let your
reliance be on the remembrance of God, the Most Exalted, the Most
Great. He will, erelong, bring to naught all the things ye possess. Let
Him be your fear, and forget not His covenant with you, and be not of
them that are shut out as by a veil from Him.
5.43
Beware that ye swell not with pride before God, and disdainfully reject
His loved ones. Defer ye humbly to the faithful, they that have
believed in God and in His signs, whose hearts witness to His unity,
whose tongues proclaim His oneness, and who speak not except by His
leave. Thus do We exhort you with justice, and warn you with truth,
that perchance ye may be awakened.
-- Baha'u'llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 202
7)
The Oneness of God as applicable to Jesus, an Independent Prophet.
The epitome of the discourse is that the Reality of Christ was a clear
mirror, and the Sun of Reality -- that is to say, the Essence of
Oneness, with its infinite perfections and attributes -- became visible
in the mirror. The meaning is not that the Sun, which is the Essence of
the Divinity, became divided and multiplied -- for the Sun is one --
but it appeared in the mirror. This is why Christ said, "The Father is
in the Son," meaning that the Sun is visible and manifest in this
mirror.
The Holy Spirit is the Bounty of God which becomes visible and evident
in the Reality of Christ. The Sonship station is the heart of Christ,
and the Holy Spirit is the station of the spirit of Christ. Hence it
has become certain and proved that the Essence of Divinity is
absolutely unique and has no equal, no likeness, no equivalent.
This is the signification of the Three Persons of the Trinity. If it
were otherwise, the foundations of the Religion of God would rest upon
an illogical proposition which the mind could never conceive, and how
can the mind be forced to believe a thing which it cannot conceive? A
thing cannot be grasped by the intelligence except when it is clothed
in an intelligible form; otherwise, it is but an effort of the
imagination.
It has now become clear, from this explanation, what is the meaning of
the Three Persons of the Trinity. The Oneness of God is also proved.
-- Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 114
8)
The Oneness of God as applicable to the twelve Apostles of Jesus.
Thou didst ask as to the tenth to the seventeenth verses of the
twenty-first chapter of Saint John the Divine's Revelation. Know thou
that according to mathematical principles, the firmament of this
earth's brilliant day-star hath been divided among twelve
constellations, which they call the twelve zodiacal signs. In the same
way, the Sun of Truth shineth out from and sheddeth its bounties
through twelve stations of holiness, and by these heavenly signs are
meant those stainless and unsullied personages who are the very
well-springs of sanctity, and the dawning-points proclaiming the
oneness of God.
Consider how in the days of the Interlocutor (Moses), there were twelve
holy beings who were leaders of the twelve tribes; and likewise in the
dispensation of the Spirit (Christ), note that there were twelve
Apostles gathered within the sheltering shade of that supernal Light,
and from those splendid dawning-points the Sun of Truth shone forth
even as the sun in the sky. Again, in the days of Muhammad, observe
that there were twelve dawning-points of holiness, the manifestors of
God's confirming help. Such is the way of it.
Accordingly did Saint John the Divine tell of twelve gates in his
vision, and twelve foundations. By `that great city, the holy
Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God' is meant the holy Law of
God, and this is set forth in many Tablets and still to be read in the
Scriptures of the Prophets of the past: for instance, that Jerusalem
was seen going out into the wilderness.
The meaning of the passage is that this heavenly Jerusalem hath twelve
gates, through which the blessed enter into the City of God. These
gates are souls who are as guiding stars, as portals of knowledge and
grace; and within these gates there stand twelve angels. By `angel' is
meant the power of the confirmations of God--that the candle of God's
confirming power shineth out from the lamp-niche of those
souls--meaning that every one of those beings will be granted the most
vehement confirming support.
These twelve gates surround the entire world, that is they are a
shelter for all creatures. And further, these twelve gates are the
foundation of the City of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and on each one
of these foundations is written the name of one of the Apostles of
Christ. That is to say, each one maketh manifest the perfections, the
joyous message, and the excellency of that holy Being.
-- `Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 165
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