Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Paragraph 124

Gracious God! How far have that people strayed from the way of God! Although the Day of Resurrection was ushered in through the Revelation of Muḥammad, although His light and tokens had encompassed the earth and all that is therein, yet that people derided Him, gave themselves up to those idols which the divines of that age, in their vain and idle fancy, had conceived, and deprived themselves of the light of heavenly grace and of the showers of divine mercy. Yea, the abject beetle can never scent the fragrance of holiness, and the bat of darkness can never face the splendour of the sun.


"Gracious God!" Well, yes, He is, but this is not a reference to the Graciousness of our Lord, obviously. It is really an exclamation of exasperation. He is stunned and dumbfounded at the obtuseness of the people. Which people? Those people at the time of Muhammad, referred to in the previous few paragraphs, who did not see that the Day of Resurrection occurred at the time of the Prophet. This seems to totally mystify Him.

But then He makes an interesting comment that can be seen as a literal statement, as well as an oblique statement on the people of His day. He says they "gave themselves up to those idols which the divines of that age... had conceived". These were the very people who were so blinded that they preferred to worship the stone and wooden idols in the Kaaba, as opposed to the living Manifestation in their very midst.

It can also be seen as a condemnation of those similar divines who have made an idol of their interpretation of the prophecies and terms of the past. They are so in love with their understanding of such terms as resurrection, judgment, paradise and hell, that if anyone comes along with a different interpretation, they condemn him as a heretic. They have made an idol of their interpretations.

This is so important a theme that He spent almost all of Part 1 of this book talking about it. Remember, He took a single passage from Matthew and showed the many layers of meaning within it. Any single term had multiple definitions and could be seen in numerous ways, all of which led us to a better understanding of the world around us and prepared us for the coming Manifestation.

But again, Baha'u'llah is referring to those people who would deny this, or any interpretation that is not the exact same as theirs. When we fall prey to this form of egotism, believing that we have the answer and everyone else must be wrong, this is when we will find ourselves "deprived... of the light of heavenly grace and of the showers of divine mercy". We are so rapt in our own vain imaginings that we are unable to see the beautiful teachings that we may have missed. And as we get caught up in this egotistic net, we find that we will become more and more fanatical in our defense of this position, thus depriving ourselves of any mercy that we may so desperately need.

It is so easy to think of those poor souls who began with such a love for the sacred Text, but then became dogmatic in their belief. We can just see them frothing at the mouth, forgetting the initial beauty that attracted them, unaware of all that they have lost.

This is when they become like that "abject beetle", which destroys the agriculture in an area and is so hated by those around them. Of course, we are also reminded of those other beetles that live amidst the dung.

This is also when they become like the bat, virtually blind, flitting around in the darkness hoping to catch a few paltry insects to survive. They miss out on the radiant beauty and warmth of the sun.

As if this wasn't bad enough, they even drag so many of those people around them down to their own level. Gracious God, indeed.

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Paragraph 123

Nay, by “trumpet” is meant the trumpet-call of Muḥammad’s Revelation, which was sounded in the heart of the universe, and by “resurrection” is meant His own rise to proclaim the Cause of God. He bade the erring and wayward arise and speed out of the sepulchres of their bodies, arrayed them with the beauteous robe of faith, and quickened them with the breath of a new and wondrous life. Thus at the hour when Muḥammad, that divine Beauty, purposed to unveil one of the mysteries hidden in the symbolic terms “resurrection,” “judgment,” “paradise,” and “hell,” Gabriel, the Voice of Inspiration, was heard saying: “Erelong will they wag their heads at Thee, and say, ‘When shall this be?’ Say: ‘Perchance it is nigh.’” The implications of this verse alone suffice the peoples of the world, were they to ponder it in their hearts.


This is interesting, as you will recall that it comes at a point in the book when Baha'u'llah is discussing how the Bab demonstrates the sovereignty of the Qa'im. He points out that what we typically think of as the sovereignty that the Promised One is to show is not what He actually will demonstrate in His lifetime. Over and over throughout Part 1 of this book Baha'u'llah has encouraged us to remember what we know of the religions of old, and be detached from our own expectations of what is to come. He shows us very clearly some of the many meanings in the prophecies of ancient times, and reminds us over and over that there is a clear pattern throughout all the religions of God, if we but take notice and keep an open heart.

Here He is reminding us that it is not just the term "sovereignty" that will be redefined by the Manifestation of God, but many terms. The Manifestation does not conform to the will and expectations of the generation in which They live. The people expect these various prophecies to come true at some point in the future, and Baha'u'llah is pointing out that "Perchance it is nigh", as was mentioned in the Qur'an. All of these things refer to the time of Muhammad, as well as the time of all the other Messengers of God.

There are a few things that catch our attention in this paragraph, as you would expect. The first one we want to point out is the various terms that Baha'u'llah is redefining here. We don't think they are random. We suspect that they are very precisely chosen. They are, in order, "trumpet", "resurrection", "judgment", "paradise" and "hell". It seems to us that there is a bit of a path alluded to here. The Messenger is always heralded in with a trumpet blast. This, it warns, is the Day of Judgment. All the various phenotypes of old, as Baha'u''llah points out throughout this book, are resurrected. They come back, again and again. And from there, the Messenger judges the people according to the divine standard, not the low standard set forth by men, and either rewards the people with heaven or condemns them to hell. To us, this feels like another subtle warning. He seems to be saying, as He has a few times previously, that this is another Day of Judgment. Will we be sent to paradise or hell? It is through the path we choose as set forth in this book that will decide where we end up.

Another interesting point here is the sentence that describes this resurrection. Muhammad, He says, called the people out of their speulchres, which is where you would inter a dead body. After calling them arise, He gave them a new robe. He clothed them, so that they were no longer naked, or in their burial shrouds. They were now dressed in beautiful robes. Then, after they were dressed nicely, He gave them a new life.

It's interesting to us because we would have expected the new life to come before the dressing in the new clothes. But it makes sense, doesn't it? You rise up, and are given this faith, but you still have to grow into it. You don't really change when you become a Baha'i, for example. You are given the tools to change. The actual transformation of behaviour takes time and often occurs long after the declaration of faith. Then, with this new behaviour firmly in place, you become more attractive, as someone dressed in fine clothes.

And finally, He reminds us once more to ponder. You will, of course, recall how often He told us to ponder and meditate and reflect throughout Part 1. This always occurred when He had given us a lot to think about, as if we needed a few moments to reflect and allow these new ideas to set in.

So what is the new idea here that we need to ponder? Perhaps it is just this idea of these terms being redefined. Or maybe it is the idea that the Day of Resurrection is now, and not at some distant point in the future. Either way, this is a point in the text where we need to be certain to allow our previously held ideas of what these terms mean to fall by the wayside. We need to open ourselves up to these potentially new definitions, and not instinctively fall back on what we were taught they would mean.