Explaining the old prophecies and NEW teachings found in the Baha'i religion
(continued--page 2)
by Mirzá Abu'l-Fazl
(Edited by Gregory Watson with added footnotes and commentary.)
It is self evident that all nations are awaiting and anticipating the advent of such a Day and the coming of such a great Cause; nay, they pray and supplicate God to hasten its arrival.
But the greatest obstacles among the nations are the signs and conditions which shall appear with this praiseworthy Manifestation and promised Day; for all the Manifestations of God(6) and founders of religion who have formerly come have mentioned the signs of this great event in their respective books and emphasized and clearly recorded them in their utterances. But every prophet who appeared recorded the self-same signs mentioned by his predecessor and repeated the same words; yet without undertaking to explain the meaning of those signs and conditions or make his object therein known. For instance, consider how for a thousand years His Holiness Moses and the Israelitish prophets spoke and uttered glad tidings to the people of the coming of the Lord of Hosts who would harmonize and unite all in the worship of One God. Among the signs of the day of His coming announced by them are:
First: The rolling up
of the heavens. (7)
Second: The sun shall
be darkened. (8)
Third: The moon shall
not give its light. (9)
Fourth: The stars shall
fall from heaven. (10)
Fifth: The dead
shall arise from their tombs. (11)
Sixth: Ferocious animals
will make peace with grazing animals. (12)
Seventh: They will
share the same pasture and food. (13)
Eighth: The children
will play with poisonous serpents. (14)
Ninth: The people of
Israel who in that day shall have become scattered and humiliated throughout
all the nations of the East and the West will be again assembled together
by the Lord of Hosts, Who will establish them in their promised land and
confer upon them eternal glory and everlasting dominion. (15)
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following scriptures apply to the above prophetic expectations. (6) is below
(7) Isaiah 34:4.
(8) Joel 2:10 & 31.
(9) Joel 2:31 and Isaiah 13:10.
(10) Joel 3:15 and Daniel 8:10.
(11) Isaiah 26:19 and Daniel 12:2.
(12) Isaiah 11:6
(13) Isaiah 11:6.
(14) Isaiah 11:6.
(15) Jeremiah 31:1-10.
THE TEXT (continuing...):
These are, in short, some of the prophesies which all the Israelitish prophets announced to their people and recorded in their books. They did not state, however, that these promises were to be taken in a literal sense without symbolism and interpretation,(16) or that the symbolic texts were subject to commentary.(17)
Fifteen hundred years subsequent to the time of His Holiness Moses, the very same promises and signs were revealed by His Holiness Christ--upon whom be glory! Consider verses 29-31 of the 24th chapter of St. Matthew and the 10th and 11th verses of the 3rd chapter of the Second Epistle of Peter the Apostle [also Rev. 6:12], so that you may witness the mention of these promises and signs with the utmost clearness. Likewise His Holiness Christ and His disciples confined themselves to the mere mentioning of these signs, as was done by the Israelitish Prophets, not undertaking to explain their meaning. Consequently, the Christian doctors disagreed in their interpretation of those holy books. Some said that those promises were literal statements and not subject to interpretation and must be therefore fulfilled outwardly. Others among the commentators stated that they were words requiring interpretation in order that their real meaning might thereby become evident; i.e., that the Seal of the Book might be opened in the latter day.
Six hundred years after His Holiness Christ, the "Seal of the Prophets" (Muhammad) announced His mission and the very same promises were again revealed in the Koran. The same conditions and signs were identically repeated. But again the Koran made no reference to the meaning intended by those prophesies, nor did it state whether they were symbolic or subject to interpretation. Consequently, were a man to consider what has been stated he would most clearly find that the greatest obstacles against the unification of nations have been these very prophesies, glad-tidings, conditions and signs. For the various peoples have been prevented from uniting with each other because the meanings intended by those prophesies were not clear.
EDITOR'S NOTES:
Footnote numbers (7) through (15) are above. #6 refers to the term "Manifestation of God."
(16) On the contrary, the Bible alludes to the abstruse nature of prophesy.
Take for example such verses as Isaiah 29:11---"When men give it to one who can read, saying, 'read this,' he says, 'I cannot, for it is sealed.'" Similarly, in Isaiah 6:9-10--"...make the ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed."
(17) In Miracles and Metaphors, by Juan Cole, Mirzá Abu'l-Fazl is quoted saying that "By figurative interpretation is meant only the original meanings intended, which God veiled in the inner depths of the verses and hid behind a curtain of metaphors." (p. 11)
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