Paragraph 121

When the light of Qur’ánic Revelation was kindled within the chamber of Muḥammad’s holy heart, He passed upon the people the verdict of the Last Day, the verdict of resurrection, of judgment, of life, and of death. Thereupon the standards of revolt were hoisted, and the doors of derision opened. Thus hath He, the Spirit of God, recorded, as spoken by the infidels: “And if thou shouldst say, ‘After death ye shall surely be raised again,’ the infidels will certainly exclaim, ‘This is nothing but manifest sorcery.’” Again He speaketh: “If ever thou dost marvel, marvellous surely is their saying, ‘What! When we have become dust, shall we be restored in a new creation?’” Thus, in another passage, He wrathfully exclaimeth: “Are We wearied out with the first creation? Yet are they in doubt with regard to a new creation!”

This is a very interesting paragraph. After all, Baha'u''llah has talked a lot about the spiritual interpretation of sacred Text quite a lot already, yet this paragraph here seems to be an oddity. Why is it here? and what on earth can we say about it? It seems to be just a few quotes that don't appear to have much more to say except that we need to look at all these quotes with a spiritual eye.

But is that it?

We have just read a number of paragraphs, circling around the overarching theme of sovereignty, that deal with the idea of spiritual interpretation. Remember that phrase from a few paragraphs ago, regarding the wolf and the lamb? "Besides, of what profit would it be to the world were such a thing to take place?" This seems to be a very important concept here. If we take a literal view of these lines, what good would it do the world?

And remember, this is in response to a series of questions from the uncle of the Bab regarding His Sovereignty. "Where is it? How was He a sovereign?" It also deals with the other questions regarding other signs of the Day of Resurrection, or the Last Days.

The uncle of the Bab, like most Muslims of his day, saw the Day of Resurrection as referring to some day in the distant future. Yet it seems as if Muhammad is referring to His own day, here in these quotes.

In that first quote, Muhammad is letting His followers know that if they talk about the resurrection, the infidels will claim it to be sorcery. Ok. Fine. No problem, just a warning.

In the second quote, He seems to be saying that if we are ever struck with wonder, we should really wonder that the unbelievers don't believe in the Resurrection.

That third quote, exclaimed in anger, says "Oh, I'm sick and tired of it all", in essence. And yet, He says, they doubt that there is a new creation happening right before their very eyes.

Baha'u'llah is not really giving us any answers here. He is, instead, leading us on with questions, which will be answered in the upcoming paragraphs.

Muhammad passed judgment on those around Him, and was met with derision, as evidenced by these quotes. And yet today, or the today of a hundred and fifty years ago, we don't question Him. Similarly, judgment was passed by the Bab, and He was met with this same derision.

Right now, Baha'u'llah seems to be merely pointing out a parallel reaction. Anything further will be explained in the next few paragraphs.

But for us, we just want to make sure that it is crystal clear that this Day of Resurrection, and all the prophecies that refer to it, applies to every single Manifestation of God. Yes, it refers to some distant future, but it also applies to the time of Muhammad, and Jesus, and Buddha, and even the next Messenger after Baha'u'llah. This seems to be so important a concept that He refers to it over and over again in these pages.

And finally, we just wanted to point out another "progression" that He does. If you look at the quotes that He refers to in this paragraph, there is a bit of a path. In the first quote, you die but are raised again. It seems like not a lot of time has passed, either minutes or days. In the second quote, you have already become dust. A lot more time has elapsed in this one, so much so that you have completely decayed. That takes a long time, but still, the result is the same, in that you are restored. In the third, all of creation has passed away. Now we are talking ages, possibly eons. A huge amount of time has gone by. But not to worry, an entirely new creation has replaced it. All is good in the world.