Having barred the way that leadeth unto Thee, Thou hast, by virtue of Thine
authority and through the potency of Thy will, called into being Them Who
are the Manifestations of Thy Self, and hast entrusted Them with Thy message
unto Thy people, and caused Them to become the Day-Springs of Thine
inspiration, the Exponents of Thy Revelation, the Treasuries of Thy
Knowledge and the Repositories of Thy Faith, that all men may, through Them,
turn their faces towards Thee, and may draw nigh unto the kingdom of Thy
Revelation and the heaven of Thy grace.
(Baha'u'llah: Prayers and Meditations, Page: 99)
However, let none construe these utterances to be anthropomorphism, nor
see in them the descent of the worlds of God into the grades of the
creatures; nor should they lead thine Eminence to such assumptions. For God
is, in His Essence, holy above ascent and descent, entrance and exit; He
hath through all eternity been free of the attributes of human creatures,
and ever will remain so. No man hath ever known Him; no soul hath ever
found the pathway to His Being. Every mystic knower hath wandered far
astray in the valley of the knowledge of Him; every saint hath lost his way
in seeking to comprehend His Essence. Sanctified is He above the
understanding of the wise; exalted is He above the knowledge of the knowing!
The way is barred and to seek it is impiety; His proof is His signs; His
being is His evidence
(Baha'u'llah: Seven Valleys and Four Valleys, Pages: 22-23)
HOW BEAUTIFUL IS THIS BY THE SANCTIFIED MARTYRED BAB
I HAVE KNOWN THEE BY THY MAKING KNOWN UNTO ME THAT THOU ART UNKNOWABLE TO
ANYONE SAVE THYSELF. I have become apprised by the creation Thou hast
fashioned out of sheer non-existence that the way to attain the
comprehension of Thine Essence is barred to everyone. Thou art God, besides
Whom there is none other God. No one except Thine Own Self can comprehend
Thy nature. Thou art without peer or partner. From everlasting Thou hast
been alone with no one else besides Thee and unto everlasting Thou wilt
continue to be the same, while no created thing shall ever approach Thine
exalted position.
(The Bab: Selections from the Bab, Page: 196) (added capitals)
Assuming the truth of this hypothesis, "attainment unto the divine Presence"
is in this sense obviously possible to no one, inasmuch as this revelation
is confined to the innermost Essence, unto which no man can attain. "The
way is barred, and all seeking rejected." The minds of the favourites of
heaven, however high they soar, can never attain this station, how much less
the understanding of obscured and limited minds.
(Baha'u'llah: The Kitab-i-Iqan, Page: 141)
AND SO WE ARE LED TO THIS ACME (summit of 'irfaan)
Having recognized thy powerlessness to attain to an adequate understanding
of that Reality which abideth within thee, thou wilt readily admit the
futility of such efforts as may be attempted by thee, or by any of the
created things, to fathom the mystery of the Living God, the Day Star of
unfading glory, the Ancient of everlasting days. This confession of
helplessness which mature contemplation must eventually impel every mind to
make is in itself the acme of human understanding, and marketh the
culmination of man's development.
(Baha'u'llah: Gleanings, Pages: 165-166)
And at the end of our days on our last breath we say: (I hope and I pray
that I will say)
I bear witness that he who hath known Thee hath known God, and he who hath
attained unto Thy presence hath attained unto the presence of God. Great,
therefore, is the blessedness of him who hath believed in Thee, and in Thy
signs, and hath humbled himself before Thy sovereignty, and hath been
honored with meeting Thee, and hath attained the good pleasure of Thy will,
and circled around Thee, and stood before Thy throne. Woe betide him that
hath transgressed against Thee, and hath denied Thee, and repudiated Thy
signs, and gainsaid Thy sovereignty, and risen up against Thee, and waxed
proud before Thy face, and hath disputed Thy testimonies, and fled from Thy
rule and Thy dominion, and been numbered with the infidels whose names have
been inscribed by the fingers of Thy behest upon Thy holy Tablets.
Waft, then, unto me, O my God and my Beloved, from the right hand of
Thy mercy and Thy loving-kindness, the holy breaths of Thy favors, that they
may draw me away from myself and from the world unto the courts of Thy
nearness and Thy presence. Potent art Thou to do what pleaseth Thee. Thou,
truly, hast been supreme over all things.
(Baha'u'llah: Prayers and Meditations, Pages: 311-312)
The first Tajalli which hath dawned from the Day-Star of Truth is the
knowledge of God - exalted be His glory. And the knowledge of the King of
everlasting days can in no wise be attained save by recognizing Him Who is
the Bearer of the Most Great Name. He is, in truth, the Speaker on Sinai
Who is now seated upon the throne of Revelation. He is the Hidden Mystery
and the Treasured Symbol. All the former and latter Books of God are
adorned with His praise and extol His glory. Through Him the standard of
knowledge hath been planted in the world and the ensign of the oneness of
God hath been unfurled amidst all peoples. Attainment unto the Divine
Presence can be realized solely by attaining His presence. Through His
potency everything that hath, from time immemorial, been veiled and hidden,
is now revealed. He is made manifest through the power of Truth and hath
uttered a Word whereby all that are in the heavens and on the earth have
been dumbfounded, except those whom the Almighty was pleased to exempt.
True belief in God and recognition of Him cannot be complete save by
acceptance of that which He hath revealed and by observance of whatsoever
hath been decreed by Him and set down in the Book by the Pen of Glory
(Baha'u'llah: Tablets of Baha'u'llah, Page: 50)
AND YET THE MOSLEM BOOKS OF HADITH MENTION SEEING "GOD"
**"Ye, verily, shall behold your Lord as ye behold the full moon on its
fourteenth night." **
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/060.sbt.html#0
06.060.374
Volume 6, Book 60, Number 374:
Narrated Jarir bin Abdullah:
We were in the company of the Prophet on a fourteenth night (of the lunar
month), and he looked at the (full) moon and said, "You will see your Lord
as you see this moon, and you will have no trouble in looking at Him. So,
whoever can, should not miss the offering of prayers before sunrise (Fajr
prayer) and before sunset (Asr prayer)." Then the Prophet recited:
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/muslim/042.smt.html#04
2.7078
Book 042, Number 7078:
Abu Huraira reported that they (the Companions of the Holy Prophet) said:
God's Messenger, will we be able to see our Lord on the Day of Judgment? He
said: Do you feel any difficulty in seeing the sun in the noon when there is
no cloud over it? They said: No. He again said: Do you feel any difficulty
in seeing the moon on the fourteenth night when there is no cloud over it?
They said: No. Thereupon he said: By God Who is One in Whose Hand is my
life. you will not face any difficulty in seeing your Lord but only so much
as you feel in seeing one of them.
And for
**The Commander of the Faithful (Imam Ali) - peace be upon him - moreover,
saith in the Khutbiy-i-Tutunjiyyih: "Anticipate ye the Revelation of Him Who
conversed with Moses from the Burning Bush on Sinai."
**
please see
http://bahai-library.org/provisionals/tutunjiyyih.html
Sermon of the Gulf [Khutbih-i-Tutunjiyyih] of the Imam 'Ali ***anticipate ye
then the Revelation of the Speaker of Mount Sinai.[10] This will appear with
manifest signs visible unto all, clearly perspicuous to them.
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