In http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist/m43013.html
Gilberto writes: Gilberto: Do you have any insight as to why that might be appealing? Personally, I don't think the religion is so much about authority or that individual anyway. I like religions more based on principles, like Taoism and Buddhism, and I think it probably shows up in how I see the prophetic religions as well. That's probably why Perennialism appeals to me. The message is more important than the messenger. There are timeless principles which are more fundamental than a timeless sequence of persons. Gilberto:: I understand that. Bahais say there will be future prophets. Muslims say there won't be future prophets. Christians seem really open to the idea that there will be future "prophets" ** Dear Gilberto I always read your emails with great interest and affection I read again what you write with great interest. The necessity for Progressive Revelation and the absolute need for the Bab and Baha'u'llah to have come is that the Sacred Pledge of Islam re the Latter Day [Yawm il aakhir] must needs be fulfilled. **** 034.029 YUSUFALI: They say: "When will THIS PROMISE (come to pass) if ye are telling the truth?" PICKTHAL: And they say: When is this promise (to be fulfilled) if ye are truthful? SHAKIR: And they say: When will this promise be (fulfilled) if you are truthful? 034.030 YUSUFALI: Say: "The APPOINTMENT TO YOU IS FOR A DAY, which ye cannot put back for an hour nor put forward." PICKTHAL: Say (O Muhammad): Yours is the promise of a Day which ye cannot postpone nor hasten by an hour. SHAKIR: Say: You have the appointment of a day from which you cannot hold back any while, nor can you bring it on. 022.047 YUSUFALI: Yet they ask thee to hasten on the Punishment! But God will not fail in His Promise. Verily a Day in the sight of thy Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning. PICKTHAL: And they will bid thee hasten on the Doom, and God faileth not His promise, BUT LO! A DAY WITH GOD IS AS A THOUSAND YEARS OF WHAT YE RECKON. SHAKIR: And they ask you to hasten on the punishment, and God will by no means fail in His promise, AND SURELY A DAY WITH YOUR LORD IS AS A THOUSAND YEARS OF WHAT YOU NUMBER. A thousand lunar years after the year 260 after Hejra was 1260 AH [which is 1844 AD the year of the inception of the Bahai Faith] *** Give ear to His voice calling aloud over land and sea, announcing to all mankind the advent of this Revelation - a Revelation through the agency of which the Tongue of Grandeur is now proclaiming: `Lo, THE SACRED PLEDGE hath been fulfilled, for He, the Promised One, is come!'" (Baha'u'llah)*** So in addition to the Teaching that God is One, the Light that shineth from His Divine Essence [Dhaat] is One, we have the sacred notion in the Babi/Bahai Revelations of the Sacred Pledge and the thousand year duration after the setting of the star of the Imamate. [( The Muhammadan Dispensation must have, therefore, lasted no less than one thousand years, which is precisely the period that has elapsed from the SETTING OF THE STAR OF THE IMAMATE [260AH] to the advent of the Dispensation proclaimed by the Bab. [1260 AH] (Shoghi Effendi: World Order of Baha'u'llah, Page: 102))] Further it is evident that many bad things happened in Islamic history after the Covenant of the Prophet Muhammad was not accorded dur recognition. For a review see the utterances of the Imam 'Ali in His Sermon the Shiqshiqiyyah and the all-important consequences of this episode see... http://majalla.org/books/balagha/003.htm accessed 1/1/2005 1) al-Hakam ibn Abi'l-`As who had been exiled from Medina by the Prophet was allowed back in the city not only against the Prophet's sunnah but also against the conduct of the first two Caliphs and he was paid three hundred thousand Dirhams from the public fund. (Ansab al-ashraf, vol.5, pp.27, 28, 125) 2) al-Walid ibn `Uqbah who has been named hypocrite in the Qur'an was paid one hundred thousand Dirhams from the Muslim's public fund. (al-`Iqd al-farid, vol.3, p.94) Etc etc. The great Promise of the Holy Qur'an is that on THAT DAY all will be gathered *** 003.009 YUSUFALI: "Our Lord! Thou art He that will gather mankind Together against a day about which there is no doubt; for God never fails in His promise." PICKTHAL: Our Lord! Lo! it is Thou Who gatherest mankind together to a Day of which there is no doubt. Lo! God faileth not to keep the tryst. SHAKIR: Our Lord! surely Thou art the Gatherer of men on a day about which there is no doubt; surely God will not fail (His) promise.*** That Day dearest Gilberto is now...The Day of the Covenant mentioned in Sura 3 verse 81 ****** 003.081 YUSUFALI: Behold! God took the covenant of the prophets, saying: "I give you a Book and Wisdom; then comes to you a messenger, confirming what is with you; do ye believe in him and render him help." God said: "Do ye agree, and take this my Covenant as binding on you?" They said: "We agree." He said: "Then bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses." PICKTHAL: When God made (His) covenant with the prophets, (He said): Behold that which I have given you of the Scripture and knowledge. AND AFTERWARD there will come unto you a messenger, confirming that which ye possess. Ye shall believe in him and ye shall help him. He said: Do ye agree, and will ye take up My burden (which I lay upon you) in this (matter)? They answered: We agree. He said: Then bear ye witness. I will be a witness with you. SHAKIR: And when God made a covenant through the prophets: Certainly what I have given you of Book and wisdom-- then an messenger comes to you verifying that which is with you, you must believe in him, and you must aid him. He said: Do you affirm and accept My compact in this (matter)? They said: We do affirm. He said: Then bear witness, and I (too) am of the bearers of witness with you.**** This Covenant was with all the Prophets [Nabiyyin] and this Covenant would have included the Seal of these Nabiyyin [Khaatam un Nabiyyin] then there is the great THUMMA [Then] and then a Messenger [ Baha'u'llah]. I am offering some thoughts most lovingly on this new day of the Christian calendar. I have no desire to convince but these thoughts are like the straw in the proverbial wind so that we may appreciate whence the wind cometh humblest khazeh __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu