Paragraph 229

In another passage He saith: “Woe to every lying sinner, who heareth the verses of God recited to him, and then, as though he heard them not, persisteth in proud disdain! Apprise him of a painful punishment.” The implications of this verse, alone, suffice all that is in heaven and on earth, were the people to ponder the verses of their Lord. For thou hearest how in this day the people disdainfully ignore the divinely revealed verses, as though they were the meanest of all things. And yet, nothing greater than these verses hath ever appeared, nor will ever be made manifest in the world! Say unto them: “O heedless people! Ye repeat what your fathers, in a bygone age, have said. Whatever fruits they have gathered from the tree of their faithlessness, the same shall ye gather also. Ere long shall ye be gathered unto your fathers, and with them shall ye dwell in hellish fire. An ill abode! the abode of the people of tyranny.”

We now move on to the fourth quote from the Qur'an that Baha'u'llah uses in His defense of the Cause of the Bab. Examination of these quotes will carry us all the way through paragraph 145.

He began with the reminder that the Qur'an is the only source of guidance recommended by Muhammad for discovering the Manifestation of God. He continued with the verse that challenges us to try and write even a single Surih that matches it in quality. Then He offered a verse that says if you aren't willing to accept these matchless verses, are you settling for believing in something less worthy? Here, He cites a verse that chastises those who hear the verses of God, but remain proud of their own meager accomplishments, ignoring the greatness of these verses.

This passage, though, has a number of caveats contained within it. First, the person has to have had the verses of God recited to them, or, we presume, reading them would also suffice. Then, after encountering them, they have to pretend that they didn't hear or read them. This would be a form of lying, obviously. And then, despite this encounter with these matchless verses, they would have to remain proud in their contempt of them.

In some ways it reminds us of those who see a beautiful work of art, but refuse to acknowledge the skill of the painter. Of course, this says nothing about the taste of the individual. We may not enjoy the paintings of Picasso, but we still acknowledge his mastery with the brush.

Here, someone would have to read the beautiful poetical words of Muhammad and dismiss them as unworthy. It doesn't say that they have to believe they are from God. That concept is nowhere in this verse. But to hold them in contempt? To regard them as beneath one's dignity? That is truly reprehensible, and shows an egotism of the highest sort.

When Baha'u'llah speaks of the implications of this verse, that is one of them. It implies an ego that is so out of control that it cannot even begin to acknowledge the beauty found within these verses. And that sort of egotism, that "proud disdain", very naturally leads to its own form of punishment. 

At that time there were many Muslims who were ridiculing the verses of the Bab, telling people that they were dangerous and not worth reading. In response to this, and in light of the quote from the Qur'an, Baha'u'llah gives us an answer for when we encounter this sort of behaviour. He literally tells us what to say.

But why would He tell us to remind the people of what their "fathers" said in the past? This goes back to the very beginning of the book when He tells us to "consider the past". He is encouraging us to remind the people that their objections are the exact same objections that were uttered against Muhammad. You are "repeating what your fathers, in a bygone age, have said."

If they condemn the people of the past for not even looking at the verses of Muhammad, they are making exactly the same error.

It is interesting to note, however, that the condemnation does not appear to be for not believing. It seems to be for not considering them, ignoring them. As He says, they "disdainfully ignore the divinely revealed verses". They are not even giving them reasonable consideration. Again, there is a sense of pride involved here. They seem to believe that the verses are beneath them, not even worthy of their attention.

When we come back to the question of faith, if your faith is so weak that it cannot be challenged, then that says a lot about you, more than the challenges. If these verses really were so base, so unworthy, then a study of them would merely be a minor waste of time. But if they are of God, then ignoring them would be a major error.

Muhammad encouraged His followers to study anything and everything that was beneficial to humanity. If you ignore something, how would you ever know if it was beneficial? This is, at the very least, the attention that should be paid to the Writings of the Bab. Then, if you find that it is worthy, a deeper study would be encouraged.

But here, the people that are being condemned are those who are not even willing to take that first step.