Chapter 53
---------------
Conflicting writings regarding when Divine Revelation ends in the era of Baha'u'llah. Last updated: 2024/04/06.
Passage 1 by Shoghi Effendi, states that the ascension of Baha'u'llah brought "to a definite termination
the period of Divine Revelation" in the Baha'i
era; which conflicts with the writings of Baha'u'llah. Keeping in mind
the teaching not to deviate from what Baha'u'llah revealed, not "even to the extent of a hair's breadth". It also conflicts with Divine Unity. The
same way Divine Revelation continued in the era of Muhammad through the Holy Imams (Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Muhammad), who Baha'u'llah refers to as "the Day Springs of His
Revelation" and Abdu'l-Baha refers to as "stars of the
heaven of Divine Unity"; it also continues in the era of Baha'u'llah
through the Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah, about whom (in passage 2) Baha'u'llah says, "All proclaim His Revelation". In passage 3, "I have summoned the Maids of Heaven to emerge from behind
the veil of concealment": Bahá'u'lláh
has called on His pre-existent Dependent/Lesser Prophets to appear on
earth; who are "a revelation of His resplendent
mercy". Those who "violate
not the Covenant of God" recognise the Dependent/Lesser Prophets, who are the Face of God (like
the Holy Imams in the era of Muhammad), and who "Break not the bond that
uniteth you with your Creator". In passage 4, "one of the Beauties of the Most
Sublime Paradise", is also a reference to one of the Dependent Prophets of Baha'u'llah, who brings divine revelation.
1)
Dearly-beloved brethren in 'Abdu'l-Bahá! With the ascension of
Bahá'u'lláh the Day-Star [Independent Prophet] of Divine guidance which, as foretold by
Shaykh Ahmad and Siyyid Kazim, had risen in Shiraz [as the Bab, who Declared His Prophetic Mission in 1844, the Day of Resurrection], and, while pursuing
its westward course, had mounted its zenith in Adrianople [as Baha'u'llah, who Declared His Prophetic Mission in 1863, the Day of the Latter Resurrection], had finally
sunk below the horizon of 'Akká, never to rise again ere the complete revolution of one thousand years.
The setting of so effulgent an Orb brought to a definite termination
the period of Divine Revelation -- the initial and most vitalizing
stage in the Bahá'í era.
-- Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 139
2)
By God! This Bird of Heaven [Baha'u'llah, the Independent Prophet], now dwelling upon the dust, can, besides
these melodies, utter a myriad songs, and is able, apart from these
utterances, to unfold innumerable mysteries. Every single note of its
unpronounced utterances is immeasurably exalted above all that hath
already been revealed, and immensely glorified beyond that which hath
streamed from this Pen. Let the future disclose the hour when the Brides of inner meaning [Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah] will, as decreed by the Will of God, hasten forth, unveiled, out of their mystic mansions,
and manifest themselves in the ancient realm of being. Nothing
whatsoever is possible without His permission; no power can endure save
through His power, and there is none other God but He. His is the world
of creation, and His the Cause of God. All proclaim His Revelation, and all unfold the mysteries of His Spirit.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 175
3)
Wherefore, O My servants, defile not your wings with the clay of
waywardness and vain desires, and suffer them not to be stained with
the dust of envy and hate, that ye may not be hindered from soaring in
the heavens of My divine knowledge.
O My servants! Through the might of God and His power, and out of the
treasury of His knowledge and wisdom, I have brought forth and revealed
unto you the pearls that lay concealed in the depths of His everlasting
ocean. I have summoned the Maids of Heaven [Dependent/Lesser Prophets of Baha'u'llah] to emerge from behind
the veil of concealment, and have clothed them with these words of Mine
-- words of consummate power and wisdom. I have, moreover, with the
hand of divine power, unsealed the choice wine of My Revelation, and
have wafted its holy, its hidden, and musk-laden fragrance upon all
created things. Who else but yourselves is to be blamed if ye choose to
remain unendowed with so great an outpouring of God's transcendent and
all-encompassing grace, with so bright a revelation of His resplendent
mercy?...
O My servants! There shineth nothing else in Mine heart except the
unfading light of the Morn of Divine guidance, and out of My mouth
proceedeth naught but the essence of truth, which the Lord your God
hath revealed. Follow not, therefore, your earthly desires, and violate
not the Covenant of God, nor break your pledge to Him. With firm
determination, with the whole affection of your heart, and with the
full force of your words, turn ye unto Him, and walk not in the ways of
the foolish. The world is but a show, vain and empty, a mere nothing,
bearing the semblance of reality. Set not your affections upon it.
Break not the bond that uniteth you with your Creator, and be not of
those that have erred and strayed from His ways.
-- Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 328
4)
"We will now mention unto thee Trustworthiness and the station thereof
in the estimation of God, thy Lord, the Lord of the Mighty Throne. One
day of days We repaired unto Our Green Island. Upon Our arrival, We
beheld its streams flowing, and its trees luxuriant, and the sunlight
playing in their midst. Turning Our face to the right, We beheld what
the pen is powerless to describe; nor can it set forth that which the
eye of the Lord of Mankind witnessed in that most sanctified, that most
sublime, that blest, and most exalted Spot. Turning, then, to the left
We gazed on one of the Beauties of the Most Sublime Paradise, standing
on a pillar of light, and calling aloud saying: `O inmates of earth and
heaven! Behold ye My beauty, and My radiance, and My revelation, and My
effulgence. By God, the True One! I am Trustworthiness and the
revelation thereof, and the beauty thereof. I will recompense whosoever
will cleave unto Me, and recognize My rank and station, and hold fast
unto My hem. I am the most great ornament of the people of Bahá, and the vesture of
glory unto all who are in the kingdom of creation. I am the supreme
instrument for the prosperity of the world, and the horizon of
assurance unto all beings.' Thus have We sent down for thee that which
will draw men nigh unto the Lord of creation."
This Wronged One hath, at all times, summoned the peoples of the world
unto that which will exalt them, and draw them nigh unto God. From the
Most Sublime Horizon there hath shone forth that which leaveth no room
unto any one for vacillation, repudiation or denial. The wayward,
however, have failed to profit therefrom; nay, it shall only increase
their loss.
-- Bahá'u'lláh, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 136-137
Back to Table of Contents.