First of all, that website is an unscholarly polemical attack on the Babi and Baha'i religions; it's full of misrepresentations, distortions, mistranslations, false claims and outright errors. If you read Arabic, you can see and read the Arabic Bayan for yourself on the web. For instance, here is Chapter 1 of the Arabic Bayan: http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/areprint/bab/A-F/b/bayana/ba082.gif
http://www.h-net.org/~bahai/areprint/bab/A-F/b/bayana/bayana.htm So, please find those quotes for me in the Arabic Bayan and we can then have a discussion. Second, you still don't get my point. Or maybe you just don't want to. Anyhow, the early Babis had Shi`ah Muslim expectations. Thirdly, although the Babi religion is now recognized as an independent religion different from Islam and Christianity, the early Babis did not have that self-understanding. At least, an overwhelming Majority of them didn't. The fact the Bab managed to contain the zealots is simply astounding. Fourthly, the Bab teaches that sovereignty and dominion, *in principle*, belongs to the Manifestation of God; but, in actual practice, He lays out certain stipulations and conditions that have to be fulfilled before any Babi can seize anthing. For example, He says that if such an act causes grief (or sadness) (i.e., "huzn" in Arabic), then it can't be done. On a concrete level and in actual practice, He makes it impossible. Warmest regards, Iskandar The information contained in this e-mail and any attachments thereto ("e-mail") is sent by the Johnson County Community College ("JCCC") and is intended to be confidential and for the use of only the individual or entity named above. The information may be protected by federal and state privacy and disclosures acts or other legal rules. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, you are notified that retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error please immediately notify JCCC by email reply and immediately and permanently delete this e-mail message and any attachments thereto. Thank you. __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/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/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
